Phil Schaap Jazz

CONTINUING FROM THE PREVIOUS POST THAT FOCUSED ON MINGUS' RECORD LABELS PARTICULARLY ATLANTIC RECORDS 1956 - 1961: The Atlantic album "Oh Yeah", indeed all of the music recorded on November 6, 1961, hails from a special period in Charles Mingus units - already called Jazz Workshops - when Mingus switched to piano; hired the Detroit bassist, Doug Watkins; and brought on the unique multi-instrumentalist, largely the reeds, Rahsaan Roland Kirk. When Rahsaan stayed on tenor sax, ...there was a two tenor tandem with Booker Ervin. As work for Jazz musicians - even the greatest - was becoming sporadic, there was much personnel, group size, and instrumentation variation; but they were a gigging group. Further, at least in the studio, Charles chose to sing ... sort of. Zeroing in on - "Eat That Chicken" and "Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me, these works fall into a category of Charles Mingus compositions that would lay under the umbrella term - novelty. Certainly, "Eat That Chicken" is performed for humor - but there is so much more to it. Mingus is providing a satire on the racist stereotypes of false caricatures of African Americans. Eat That Chicken with its viewpoint and as portrayed can stand alone. But Charles Mingus wished to expand its social commentary by connecting it to Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me. That piece spoke to the large universal social problem: fear of a nuclear holocaust. Charles Mingus told me that he wanted Atlantic Records to issue a 45RPM single such records were the path to mass exposure in 1961 that would couple Eat That Chicken and Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb On Me. [For the youngins: singles were two-sided 7 in diameter records with large spindle holes. Almost always, they would contain two songs, one on each side of a vinyl record.] Mingus raised this wish once again with Atlantic Records when he recorded for them in the 1970s, an entirely different epoch, a vastly different period at Atlantic Records, the beginning of the relatively short-lived Charles Mingus (d. 1/5/1979, age 56) high profiled last hurrah but still the era of the popular 45RPM single. It was in the 1970s that Charles told me of his vision of the {never to be issued} 45RPM single that would have taken a broadside at contemporary society of nearly 60 years ago or even of the 1970s or even of today.

This first post will be followed later by an envisioned 45RPM that Charles Mingus told me he hoped Atlantic Records would issue. FIRST: Discographically, Charles Mingus had an off and on relationship with Atlantic Records. ... The key period was the first in 1956 and 1957 as Mingus' own label, Debut Records, was foundering. Charles Mingus briefly had an Agreement with the huge RCA Victor Records that resulted in Summer 1957 recordings; none of them would be issued until 1962. This led to some freelance (read: one off) albums, an episode which concluded with the album "Blues and Roots" for Atlantic done in one session of February 4, 1959. Charles' second and more successful foray - however brief - into the bigtime of major labels came in the Spring and Fall of 1959 when Mingus signed with Columbia Records that had recently become the largest record company in the world. There was then an album for Mercury Records; but in 1960, Charles Mingus was heavily involved in the astoundingly ambitious records on the Candid label, a subsidiary of Cadence Records. Candid albums did not sell well, and Cadence dropped the brand in 1961. Before Mingus signed briefly with United Artists Records and soon thereafter recorded more extensively for Impulse Records; to be followed by Mingus' second own label, Jazz Workshop Records - he recorded once again and, once again, for only one day for Atlantic Records that resulted in the album "Oh Yeah". This was recorded on November 6, 1961. Some selections not utilized on "Oh Yeah" were combined with Atlantic tracks from March 12, 1957 for the quasi-anthology album, "Tonight At Noon".

Learn about a rarely mentioned but wonderful trumpeter: the great Joe Thomas! Tonight, Monday December 7, on the Hot Club zoom meeting the Fat Cat Matthew Rivera will follow up on a topic raised a while ago when Charles Iselin played Joe Marsala's "Don't Let it End" from the original Black and White label 78... a Joe Thomas night, featuring music of the wonderful trumpeter. The Fat Cat will add to that Joe Thomas the tenor player of Jimmie Lunceford fame, and a shout to Joe T...homas the pianist in the Seattle Harmony Kings. Hopefully Charles and Melissa Jones will put on some records, whether featuring Joe Thomas or not, and most of all I hope you'll join the meeting. The rarity of the week is one of trumpeter Joe Thomas's first records, "Functionizin'"/"Ain't it Nice" by Alex Hill on Vocalion 2826. A rare and hot bird this one. As per usual, the Zoom meeting is from 7pm to 10pm ET on Monday at https://zoom.us/j/833482351. You can also find the link at hotclubny.com.

The Fat Cat, Jazz Expert Matthew Rivera, has been helping me in several Jazz endeavors. Matthew has just posted one of my recent essays at the "college of Jazz knowledge" found of the homepage of philschaapjazz.com. That essay and all the other posted Jazz prose with its accuracies and explanations are available for free at the "college of Jazz knowledge" found of the homepage of philschaapjazz.com. From an old Jazz adage: "the stuff is there and it's mellow".

The Worcester Hot Club sends greetings to you among the holidays. They’ve just created a new event: "They Played at the Five Spot" night. Celebrating it will be the substance of their next listening session--this Thursday evening, December 3. They’ll make a field trip (vicariously and virtually) of 200 miles and just about 60 years, to the New York bar called the Five Spot that went from being a little dive to a major destination for modern Jazz, especially in 195762. Music... from Thelonious Monk, Kenny Burrell, Ornette Coleman, Pepper Adams, Jimmy Giuffre, Charles Mingus, Cecil Taylor, George Russell and. . . they’ll see if they’ve got time for anyone else. With favorable winds, they should enjoy some erudite first-person testimony from Bob Michel and Lenny Silverberg, reporting on their first-person field research in the glory days of this venue on the Bowery. Good music guaranteedof a modernist bent, and plentifully electrifying! Opening act is at 5:30 By 6:30 we’ll check in, tell some stories and roll with the great music until about 8pm. Tell a friend about it. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82144450614

I've been able to return to my essay about Don Redman and his breakthrough arrangement of "Cherry". This leads to several messages within this single post. From May through September, I've suffered some aggressive chemotherapy. The tests to see how well it worked come in November. During this month of October, the 'chemo poison' is clearing my system and I'm incrementally rebounding; improvements that will hopefully continue pending the November tests.... Given a free month and my head clearing, I returned to the Don Redman/"Cherry" essay that my health situation had forced me to abandon this spring. I've finished it and I'm pleased. It might be a bit overwhelming to many/most of you Dear Readers and I'll point out it's as much about the Rules of Evidence as it is about music. The great Fat Cat, Matthew Rivera, has put it up in the "college of jazz knowledge" found on the homepage of philschaapjazz.com. It's the first post that you'll find listed when you click on the "college of jazz knowledge". It's free. There is a great deal of FREE Jazz presentations found on the homepage of philschaapjazz.com. Just click on "radio" for my programs on the music and click on the aforementioned "college of jazz knowledge" for essays of Jazz truth and quality explanation. That's the real purpose of the philschaapjazz.com website.

Some of the more prestigious Jazz performance academies now include Chick Corea's "Humpty Dumpty" as a piece that prospective students have to deal with. The spirit of the late Jamil Nasser must be encouraged by this preference, as in his later years he became dispirited when he was brought to instruct at budding Jazz programs, including HBC institutions, and when he asked the students what would they like to play with him, they often requested "Spain" (another Chick Corea co...mposition) but never asked to just jam on the Blues. The spirit of the long since deceased Fud Livingston (Joseph Anthony "Fud" Livingston b. 4/10/1906 - d. 3/25/1957) would be encouraged and ongoing entities such as Vince Giordano, Colin Hancock, and the Fat Cat, Matthew Rivera would celebrate if Fud's "Humpty Dumpty" was added to such lists in parallel to Corea's work of the same name. Speaking of the Fat Cat, Matthew played some tracks ON 78RPM with Lee Konitz on this Tuesday's (October 13, 2020) Hot Club of the Air Out To Lunch broadcast. It picked me up that Lee is still here as he would have turned 93 today, our first October 13th without the great Konitz physically present.

Arguably, every week the Hot Club of New York plays New Orleans records on Zoom, but the Fat Cat Matthew Rivera figures today being Indigenous Peoples Day is as good a day as any to play some New Orleans records as a reminder of the various Indian slave uprisings over the period of colonization in New Orleans (an essential part of jazz). The rarity of the week is from OKeh's 1925 trip to New Orleans which produced a good deal of gorgeous, bubbling over jazz. This one, OKeh 40...113, is the only record we have of the legendary Fate Marable's riverboat orchestra. It's also Zutty Singleton's first record! Colin Hancock estimates there are only 20 known copies of this extremely rare disc. One of them will be on the turntable tonight around 8pm. The Zoom meeting is from 7pm to 10pm ET on Monday at https://zoom.us/j/833482351 You can also find the link at hotclubny.com.

Dizzy Gillespie loved Nat King Cole’s recording of The Song of Delilah and played the record for Max Roach, suggesting that it would be a great tune for Roach’s new quintet with Clifford Brown. Delilah was the very first thing the Roach-Brown Quintet did in the studio. And Parisian Thoroughfare was the second piece the Roach-Brown Quintet did in the studio. Parisian Thoroughfare is an evocative composition of BeBop’s greatest pianist, Bud Powell the older brother of Richie, who was the group’s piano player.

The Worcester Hot Club is back in action tomorrow evening with a session devoted to the records of Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon, one of the irresistible personalities of Chicago's South Side entertainment in the prohibition era. In person, Jaxon was a magnetic figure as singer, dancer, blackface comedian, and female impersonator. At least some of those dimensions carried over to his delivery on records with Tampa Red, Cow Cow Davenport, Georgia Tom Dorsey, and other Chicago nota...bles. They’ll hear music from 1926-33 at least, and perhaps even drop in a few screen gems to round the picture. Music gets rolling at 5:30 without much annotation. 6:30 to 8:00 they’ll examine / outline the special skills of this special cat, and then keep the sounds rolling in an after-dinner playlist for another hour. Jump in as you like for some or all, and pass the word to a friend who might be interested: Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82144450614

In 1924, when Duke Ellington was overwhelmingly impressed by George Gershwin and Gershwin’s premier of his Rhapsody In Blue at Aeolian Hall on 2/12/1924, Duke’s trumpet star, Bubber Miley, admonished Ellington with the creed: It Don’t Mean A Thing, If It Ain’t Got That Swing. Eight years later, when Miley was near death (James Bubber Miley b. 4/3/1903 d. 5/20/1932), The Maestro turned Miley's advisory into a song an anthem to Jazz’s essential ingredient.

Tonight the Fat Cat's Hot Club on Zoom will be raising their proverbial glasses to the great bassist Jimmie Blanton, whose birthday is today. In his tragically short life, Blanton completely changed the way the bass is played and had a key role in the sound of the golden 1939-41 Duke Ellington Orchestra. The rarity of the week is Blanton's first record, with a quintessentially Blanton-sounding bass break already on his first outing: "I like Pie, I Like Cake" by St. Louis's Je...ter-Pillars Orchestra on Vocalion 3715. Join the celebration, and listen to the music of Jimmie Blanton! 7pm to 10pm ET on Monday at https://zoom.us/j/833482351 You can also find the link at hotclubny.com.

Al Gallodoro - who I met a few times and who often played in his later years with my cousin Vicki Rickard - classical - was recording in an adjacent studio to where Aaron Sachs with Terry Gibbs, Gene Dinovi, Clyde Lombardi, and Tiny Kahn were making a BeBop session for Manor (June 8, 1946) that included the first 'Donna Lee' entitled "Tiny's Con" (by drummer Norman "Tiny" Kahn). On Gallodoro's break or he might have finished first, he came in and listen to Sachs' quintet. He was pleased with what he felt was both wild and wonderful music and used a then current or recent slang term - a positive: "This is the berries!" - to encourage the very young and extremely early BeBoppers.

The Fat Cat's Hot Club is back tonight on Zoom featuring the Hub label, an obscure little operation that put out a handful of 78s with much blues interest including sides with Don Byas, Eddie Durham, Tab Smith, and Big Bill Broonzy. The rarity of the week is a record that on which many people do not know Eddie Durham appears. Don Byas is on the record as well. It's Hub 3013, Don't Care Blues/A Woman Gets Tired of One Man All the Time featuring the veteran vaudevillian blue si...nger, George Williams. The Hot Clubs are still the best place to catch 78s, and join the discussion, hot club style! The Zoom meeting is from 7pm to 10pm ET on Monday at https://zoom.us/j/833482351 You can also find the link at hotclubny.com.

For tonight’s Worcester Hot Club session, they’ll be taking a listen to the music of the legendary, politically groundbreaking Café Society down in Greenwich Village, in Manhattan. The Club provided first class jazz and other musical forms, comedy, and dance. The owner, Barney Josephson, was a friend of John Hammond of Columbia Records, who became his chief talent scout. He gave the artists respect, and let no one in the crowd disrespect them. He gave them long-term engagemen...ts, good pay, and good promotion. He was so successful, he was able to open another night club uptown, on 58th St., between Madison and Park Avenues. He helped launch the careers of many artists, including Hazel Scott, Lena Horne, the Boogie Woogie Trio, Zero Mostel, and Josh White. And he provided work to one jazz great after another, from the late 30’s to the early 50’s. The untimely demise of the Café Society is also part of the story for Thursday night. They’ll be gathering at 5:30 for the prelims, then getting into the story from 6:30 till 8:00. Hope to see you there. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82144450614

Ray Carman, long time President of the New York chapter of The Duke Ellington Society (TDES), the most prominent and active chapter to this international organization has died. Ray Carman's love of Duke Ellington's music and his activism to spread that gospel dominated his final decades and will prove his legacy, but just over 65 years ago Ray Carman was a basketball star at St. Francis alongside the legendary Maurice Stokes. The 1953-54 and 1954-55 teams are still considered... the school's greatest. They twice went deep into the NIT, then considered more prominent than the NCAA Tournament. I was friends with Ray Carman for a half-century. We had two inside "jokes" that cemented our bond. At points in the second half of the 1960s, we, independently, crossed the path of Alexander Kerensky (!). Kerensky became Prime Minister of Russia in 1917 following the fall of the Czar and before the Lenin led Communists took power. How many people enjoying and studying the music of Duke Ellington as the 21st Century headed into its third decade met Alexander Kerensky? We also shared memories of the Paradise Club on West 110th Street at the southwestern corner of Harlem. Ray and I would make trips to the long-closed Jazz spot, with its diamond shape openings in a gate, fencing in what looked to be a burned interior. Our insider "joke" came after the building - many buildings - were torn down and a huge apartment building covered the block. Our laugh was that despite the obliteration and new structure, we could still go to the exact spot where the Paradise Club stood. The odd angled entry to the subway at the "IND" (now 'C', 'B', and late night 'A' trains - yes: the 'A' train)West 110th Street stop in a non-right angled corner provided a fixed point from which we could find that exact spot. Such offbeat, perhaps ridiculous or meaningless tidbits, can, nevertheless, deepened and personalize a friendship. I am assuming that my friend Ray Carman died of cancer. He called me at the end of August from his hospice care, easily stating that he was facing that lonesome road. The news and its delivery handcuffed my response: I am nowhere near as sick as he must have been. But Ray - stunningly - was also contrite. I've been ill with cancer since summer 2018 and until the pandemic, Ray wished for me to volunteer a lecture for our beloved Duke Ellington Society. Because I was so ill, I needed to turn him down. All Ray Carman wish to say to me as he was facing imminent death, was that he was sorry to have pestered me: he now knew what I had been going through. WHAT A MAN! Ray also was thankful for the Lester Young - Charlie Parker Birthday Broadcast that he was listening to. It gave him comfort - Rest In Peace Ray Carman.

Tonight the Fat Cat's Hot Club will be spicing up their Monday night musicking with jazz records that precede the hegemony of Swing with a capital Sacoustic era recordings by the likes of the Original Memphis Five, the Louisiana Five, Johnny Dunn, Lovie Austin, and other beautiful artists whom perhaps we've neglected up to now. The rarity of the week is a recent acquisition: Johnny Dunn's Cornet Blues/You've Never Heard the Blues before on the original Columbia flags label, 124-D. It's quite a disc if you've never heard it, and if you've never heard it, well.... As per usual, the Zoom meeting is from 7pm to 10pm ET on Monday at https://zoom.us/j/833482351 You can also find the link at hotclubny.com.

I've recently relistened to some of the earliest Duke Ellington orchestral recordings - "Jubilee Stomp" for instance on Victor, OKeh, and even Romeo - and I was struck by Duke's long term utilization/acceptance of Fred Guy's banjo paired with Wellman Braud's string bass. There's a textural and dynamic miss match, as the early Jazz rhythm sections usually contained either banjo with tuba or acoustic guitar with string bass. Duke Ellington was very early to switching from tuba ...to string bass in his rhythm section (the arrival of Wellman Braud) but as much as six years (I'm thinking 1927 to 1933) passed before Fred Guy switched to acoustic guitar from the banjo. Behind Guy's transition is this information from the late Lawrence Lucie. In the very early 1930s, Fred Guy took a vacation from the Duke Ellington Cotton Club Orchestra and the Maestro hired Lucie to fill in for two weeks. On the first night, Lawrence Lucie brought both his banjo and guitar. Ellington so much enjoyed hearing guitar in his rhythm section, that he told Lawrence to just bring the guitar for the subsequent nights. The band broadcast from the Cotton Club and Fred Guy, on vacation, listened in and heard the guitar but no banjo from his sub. When the vacation was over, Fred Guy had reasoned that he had best learn the guitar and give up the banjo. This he did and the matched set of string bass and acoustic guitar would be constant in the Duke Ellington rhythm section until the end of the Swing Era (Guy exited the orchestra in 1949). Postscript: In 1949, Ellington asked Lucie to replace Guy, but Lawrence preferred his own gig that kept him off the road. Duke then converted to the now commonplace 3 piece rhythm section of piano, bass, and drums. Postscript #2: The two rhythm sections power the swing differently as I learned directly from Lawrence Lucie. The four piece rhythm section has a teeter totter way towards propelling the ensemble: 1. The bass player is in charge of 1 and 3. 2. The guitar player is in charge of 2 and 4. 3. The drummer is in charge of making sure that the music is swinging. 4. The piano player is in charge of the music. 5. The bass player & the guitar player TOGETHER are in charge of making sure the drummer doesn’t rush.