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the first A&R chief for A&M, was visiting theNew York offices of Helios Music, a song publishingcompany, trolling for new material.A German native of a small border town nowpart of Poland, Ogerman moved to New York in1959. When Creed Taylor brought Ogerman toVerve as musical director in 1963, his orchestralarranging and conducting gigs included writingcharts for Getz, Connie Francis, WesMontgomery, Oscar Peterson and Kai Winding.Seminal pairings in 1967 with Jobim and Sinatracemented his reputation even further.“A guy wearing an elegant looking suitwalked in, and one of the songwriters asked if Iwanted to meet the boss and introduced me toClaus,” LiPuma said. “I was astounded, becauseI knew that Claus was a famous arranger andhad worked on two records I loved, AntonioCarlos Jobim’s Composer Of Desafinado, Playsand Bill Evans’ With Symphony Orchestra. Isensed I’d found a kindred spirit.”They kept up their bicoastal friendship for afew years, but busy schedules kept them apartthrough the early 1970s. After landing at WarnerBros. in 1975, LiPuma started producing a newGeorge Benson record, which called for strings.With Ogerman’s help, the resulting album,Breezin’, became a big hit, with the single “ThisMasquerade” reaching No. 1 across theBillboard pop, jazz and r&b charts and winningthe Grammy for Record of the Year. Their collaborationlater that year on Gilberto’s Amorosokicked their musical partnership into gear.With LiPuma’s connections to various artistsand with his unwavering support, Ogerman wasable to focus on his compositional gifts andother longstanding musical dream projects.Although by the mid-’70s Ogerman began tohave his own compositions recorded by artistslike Jobim and Evans, LiPuma helped spearheadalbum projects that put a spotlight on thewriting, like Gate Of Dreams, Cityscape andClaus Ogerman Featuring Michael Brecker.At the October 2007 sessions for Across TheCrystal Sea in New York, Pérez impressedOgerman so much during the rehearsals that thecomposer tweaked the scores to give the pianistmore solo space. Apprehensive beforehandbecause Ogerman delivered the music to himjust days before the recordings began, Pérezsaid being given a greater role in the projectmade him even more nervous.“It put more of a challenge on me,” Pérezsaid. “But that was fine. Claus’ music alwaysseems to be floating by, there’s no rush to it. Allthe songs were stories—he told us how much alot of the music meant to him as a kid, and thatput me into the feeling he was looking for.”Pérez notes that two tracks, “The PurpleCondor,” which is based on de Falla’s musicand opens with bassist Christian McBride andpercussionist Luis Quintero locked in a dance,and “The Saga Of Rita Joe,” from a theme byMassenet, were opened up considerably.“I’d worked with everyone in the rhythmsection, and we saw that the trick was not tooverplay, even though, for jazz musicians,there’s that temptation,” Pérez said. “WithWayne, I’ve learned that less is more, whichserved me well on Across The Crystal Sea.”Pérez added the only time Ogerman gavehim some guided instruction was on the closing“Another Autumn,” asking him to listen to arecording by Cristina Branco, the Portuguesefado singer, to appreciate the feeling of thesong’s legato notes.“Claus is so good at letting artists find themselves,”Pérez said. “On ‘The Purple Condor,’ Iwas given 100 bars to improvise on, and I’mthinking, ‘Oh, God.’ Claus’ reply was, ‘You,need this’—and on our first day of recording.”Asked to compare Shorter and Ogerman,Pérez said, “Wayne treats music as if it belongsto the galaxy, and Claus is more interested ingreen flowers and intense colors.”Bringing in Cassandra Wilson to performwas Ogerman’s idea, who said that letting theorchestra play on and on “gets tiresome.” Afterthe singer’s tracks were finished, the tapes werebrought Los Angeles and the orchestration wasrecorded in the Capitol Recording Studios’vaunted Room A. By that time, LiPuma saidthat Ogerman had decided that he was going torelinquish his top billing on the album to Pérez.“Claus, being the gentleman and smart individualthat he is, knows Danilo has more notorietythan he does, so it made sense to put thecredit for the CD on him,” LiPuma said. “Itended up being a gift.”Because the album’s rhythm, piano andvocal tracks were recorded separately from theorchestral arrangements, no one heard thealbum in its entirety until after the sessions weremixed. When he finally heard the completedalbum, Pérez said, “I understood what Claushad in mind. I just had no idea—it was so beautiful.So often when I was improvising duringthe sessions I was worried that I was taking toomany chances, maybe bumping against thestrings’ lower tones. Listening to how it cametogether was emotional.” —Thomas StaudterThe ARCHIVESForty Years of theNomadic HerdBy Herb Nolan“There is a brilliant future forbands,” Woody Hermansaid. “If we can get financialand other kinds of help fromthe record industry first,then radio and television.They invest money in a lotof projects but thus far havebeen deaf to the big bandsound. I don’t think bigbands have to be a dyingproposition. If it does happen,it will be because wewere defeated, but I don’tthink the young people comingup are going to put up with it.There’s a great deal of involvementon their part and therecord industry is stupid forignoring it.”Von Freeman:Underrated butUndauntedBy John Litweiler“Sometimes on records I wonderif I was able to get what I wasreally thinking,” Von Freemansaid. “Sometimes it might beonly eight bars or a chorus, thenthat thing would escape me. Notthat anything I’ve had to say isEarth-shaking, but some of thesehard numbers, there’s so manybeautiful ways to play, and youknow you’re missing them. Iheard that Beethoven wrote thislittle part eight times before hegot it right. Now, maybe you andI would be satisfied with the firstseven versions.”November 4,1976Albert King: True to HisType of the BluesBy Chuck Berg“Little things can make youhave the blues,” Albert Kingsaid. “You don’t have to be oldto have the blues. You live andstruggle. Even in your businessyou can have two or three blowupsand you say, ‘Why me!’And naturally, you ain’t got noup spirit. So you want to hearsome good blues music. But theblues, they’re always there. Aslong as things go OK you don’tthink about them. But when youhit that rough spot, that’s whenthey come around. So bluesmusic is going to be here along time.”DB14 DOWNBEAT November 2008