Volume 10 Issue 7 - April 2005

JAZZ
Glamour Rendezvous
Various Artists
Cristal Records CR31 l
Here's a calming, not quite lace-night
compilation of some great jazz from
the '40s and '50s. Alcernating instrumental
and vocal artists are offered
in a mellow collection of twenty·
well-chosen selections.
The leadoff track by Sir Charles
Thompson. Memories Of You sets the
pace. featuring lovely trumpet work
by Joe Newman. In France (the
source of this release) Don Byas'
Laura has the status of a classic like
oleman Hawkins' Body And Soul,
so is welcome here. Django Reinhardt
is on electric guitar for I Cover
The Wate1fro111; a small group
Paris rewrding of Sweet Lorraine
by Dizzy Gillespie shows what a
wonderful trumpet player he was,
while Chet Baker's horn is cushioned
on strings for You Don't Know What
Love ls A very young Sonny Rollins
shows his promise with This Love
Of Mine, and a slightly older Miles
Davis caresses Yesterdays. His erstwhile
boss, Charlie Parker has big
band backing for I Can't Get Started.
and tenor man Ben Webster plays
Stardust in a rarely-heard version
with Johnny Otis' band. In an MJQlike
setting vibraphonist Milt Jackson
sparkle on Love Me Pretty
Bahy.
Most of the ingers are women,
and these superior artists put the capital
D back in Diva. The under-recognized
Dinah Washington does I
Want To Be Loved; Billie Holiday
sings There Is No Greater Love; Ella
Fitzgerald interprets I 've Got The
World On A String; Peggy Lee, (in
a version long before Dean Martin
put his tonsils on it) makes us be-
1 ieve £ve1ybody Loves Somebody
Sometime. Anita O'Day's version of
the familiar Memories Of You differs
from Sir Charles' in almost every
way, while Sarah Vaughan's After
Hours is not the A very Parrish
piano hit ol'the '40s but another song
with the same title. Male singers are
Nat King Cole with his original recording
of Sweet Lorraine (compare
it to Dizzy's); Frank Sinatra in a 1947
7ll
Night And Day; and Al Hibbler's
Do Nothing 'Tit You Hear From Me
is done with the Ellington Orchestra.
The '50s bopper Jackie Paris
duecs wich one Tamara Hayes on I
Miss You So.
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Ted O'Reilly
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A Tribute to Jack Johnson
Miles Davis
Columbia/Legacy CK 93599
Reissued yet again - chis time to take
advantage of Ken Burns' recent Jack
Johnson documentary - Miles Davis'
1970 classic still packs a punch.
Assembled as a soundtrack for William
Cayton's Jack Johnson documentary
film, the final resulcs owe
as much to producer Teo Macero as
they do to Miles. Macera worked
with scraps that Miles and his sidemen
had recorded over a · 16-week
period and crafted this roiling, hypnotic,
two-part collage. Together,
Righi Off and' Yesternow play for
nearly·an hour.
Miles' colleagues are Steve Grossman
on soprano saxophone; Herbie
Hancock, organ; John McLaughlin,
electric guitar; Michael Henderson,
electric bass, and Billy Cobham,
drums. Annotator Bill Milkowski
tells us that "some of the music was
wriuen out and rehearsed ahead of
time over at Miles' home, though
most of it was spontaneously worked
up in the studio in impromptu fashion."
But Milkowski's study of the
raw materials in Columbia's tape
vaults clearly demonstrates that Teo
Macera, a protege of electronic
music pioneer Edgar Varese, had as
much to do with the success of Jack
Johnson.as Miles Davis did. (Interestingly
enough, Macera even adds
·a snippet of music from Miles' very
first electric album - l 969's In A
Silem Way - about eleven minutes Justin Time JTR8512-2
into Right Off)
I remember when the original album
came out. Even those of us who
didn't care for Miles' "electric" recordings
were forced to admit that
this one achieved its purpose.
Mingus Erectus
.
·
Don Brown
Normand Guilbeault Ensemble
Ambiances Magnetiques
AM 134CD
There aren't all that many fascinating
tributes around being made to
the great Charles Mingus, so when
Canadian bassist ormand Guilbeault
decides to record ''Mingus
Erectus", there is only reason for
celebration. Gathering an all-star
[Quebec-based] cast, he tramples
on competition to give us a heartfelt
homage to the late great master
of the bass. Sometimes you don't
have to stretch or be on a mission
to prove something in order to come
up with a great recording. Playing it
straight can be an adventure in itself.
All the pieces here don't sound
all too different from their original
selves. Jean Derome's saxophone
playing is joyful as ever, rising Lo
the occasion at all the right moments.
Trumpet playing courtesy
of Ivanhoe Jolicoeur is riveting as
he scales those high notes and
blows them sky high.
Finally, the bass playing of Normand
Guilbeault himself is driven,
precise, but too often it just falls a
little flat. There are moments when
I don't quite hear the bass as high
up in the mix as it should be. But
then again, this is a technical aspect
of the record. Let's face it; you can't
really recreate the music that Mingus
made. You can only bring your
own two cents into the pot, and for
now "Mingus Erectus" is as good
an homage as you're likely to hear.
Tom Sekowski
Editor's note: At the time we received
"Mingus Erectus" for review
we were not aware of Dave Young's
"Mainly Mingus" (see next review)
which arrived just in time (no pun
intended) for inclusion in this issue.
Mainly Mingus
Dave Young Quintet
WWW.TH£WHOL£NOT£.COM
I've never believed the maxim that
"every jazz player is a composer"
(too many bad tunes for that), but
there are some who have created real
jazz compositions: Jelly Roll, Ellington,
Monk. Mingus and few others.
Dave Young is to be congratulated
for keeping the music of Mingus'
alive in performances and recordings.
(This disc is both: the source is
a well-recorded live CBC taping
from Toronto's Top O' The Senator
on January 24, 2002). Young & Co.
don't try to slavishly copy the great
bassist's style, but they do achieve
the passion - almost rudeness - of
one of jazz' great creators.
Young is one of the best bassists
in jazz. Stylistically far-removed
from Mingus' prayer-meeting abandon
I would have thought. but he
shows here he can dig deeply and
whiplash a band along as effectively
as anyone. Young doesn't hog the
solo space but takes a dexterous spin
on (appropriately) Bass Clef. and
plays a lovely noble introduction to
Self-Portrait In Three Co/ors.
Young presents a classic quintet
with younger stars Kevin Turcotte
on trumpet and reedman Perry White
in the front line, with powerful
drummer Terry Clarke (this music
needs a strong drummer). and the
under-recognized master pianist
Gary Williamson, who shines everywhere,
especially in Wham Bam
Thank You Ma'am. The requiem to
Lester Young, Goodbye Pork Pie
Hat is a highlight for Turcotte's way
of caressing a ballad; and the rhythmically-sure
Perry White rollicks on
the opening Oscar Pelliford and
throughout.
It's unfortunate that the last selection,
Cherokee, Revisited, is only
a mere wisp of a deftly-played head.
faded out. At just 641/2 minutes, the
disc has room for the complete performance.
Swingin' Trenet
Alain Brunet
Cristal Records CDM09
Ted O'Reilly
Though barely known in North
America, Charles Trenet is one of
the world's great songwriters, perhaps
France's equivalent to George
Gershwin. Cabaret singer, actor,
creator of about a thousand songs,
films, novels and paintings in his long
life, Trenet is a French treasure. His
APRIL 1 - MAY 7 2005