Volume 24 Issue 4 - December 2018 / January 2019

the rarity of the music and the as-always-superb production values,
these are actually a bargain:
The Savory Collection: 1935-40 - 6 CDs, $99 US. Bill Savory was
a recording engineer in NYC whose day job was editing transcription
recordings for overseas consumption. By night he took to
recording the blazing jazz being played in various clubs such as The
Famous Door, the Onyx and others. His collection of tapes languished
unknown for years until recently when they were discovered, curated
and partially issued as downloadable files by jazz scholar and saxophonist
Loren Schoenberg. Mosaic has gathered more of them and
issued them on CD for the first time. The quality of both the music and
sound is staggering; featuring the Count Basie Orchestra, Fats Waller,
Coleman Hawkins, the John Kirby Sextet and many others.
Classic Brunswick & Columbia Teddy Wilson Sessions: 1934-42
– 7 CDs, $119 US. A cornucopia of great music from the most artistic
swing pianist of them all, leading a stunning array of star-studded
groups. Much of it is seeing the light of day for the first time in
decades. So this is not to be missed.
Classic 1936-47 Count Basie & Lester Young Studio Sessions – 8
CDs, $136 US. This set features Basie and Young, both together and
separately, during their respective primes. Many fans will already have
some of this music in their collections, but probably not all of it; and
thanks to Mosaic’s superb mastering, it’s never sounded this good.
Desert island music.
DVDs – Neither of these are particularly new, but are of such high
quality that even fans who have already seen them would like to have
them to watch over and over again.
I Called Him Morgan – Directed, produced and written by Kasper
Collins. Released 2016, available at amazon.ca and other sites. This
documentary tells the complex and cautionary tale of the relationship
between star trumpeter Lee Morgan and his common-law wife Helen,
who rescued him from severe heroin addiction, nurtured him back
to health and oversaw the most successful years of his career, only
to shoot him dead on the bandstand at Slug’s in February, 1972. The
story is told so well that even those who could never otherwise forgive
Helen Morgan for the murder are forced to view her with compassion
and to admit that she paid sorely for the crime; and that if left
to his own devices, Lee Morgan would have died long before he did
at her hand.
The Jazz Loft According to Eugene W. Smith – Directed by Sara
Fishko. Released September, 2016; available at amazon.com. For my
money, this is the best jazz documentary ever made. Fishko and her
team did a phenomenal job of editing a mountain of raw material
into a linear and cohesive story, which tells two tales. Firstly, that of
Eugene W. Smith, the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who virtually
created the photo-essay genre while at Life magazine, and who
took some of the most famous black-and white photographs of the
20th century. In the mid-50s he began to unravel under the pressure
of his own obsessiveness with his work, leaving his wife and children
and taking a loft in an abandoned, rat-infested building located
in New York’s flower district, where he lived between 1957 and 1965.
While there he took over 40,000 photographs and secretly recorded
4,000 hours of the jazz played in the all-night jam sessions that
were held in the building for years. These form the soundtrack for
the movie, a kind of rare insider’s view into an underground scene
only a city like New York could produce. Zoot Sims, Pepper Adams
and Bob Brookmeyer were among the “frequent fliers” and Sims in
particular receives a lot of attention. There are jazz tales from other
denizens of the building such as drummer Ronnie Free, who arrived
from the South an innocent with much promise but got hooked on
heroin and barely survived. And there’s a stunning sequence between
composer/arranger Hall Overton, who had a studio in the building,
and Thelonious Monk, preparing the music for Monk’s Town Hall
concert featuring a ten-piece band which rehearsed in the building.
This doc makes a fascinating peak period in jazz history come alive. I
could watch it every day, but I’d never get anything done.
I’d like to add to this jazz Christmas list my best wishes to
WholeNote readers everywhere for a safe and joyous holiday and a
Happy New Year.
JAZZ NOTES QUICK PICKS
!!
DEC 7, 8PM: Koerner Hall. Royal Conservatory of Music presents Paquito D’Rivera
with the Harlem Quartet. The great alto saxophonist/clarinetist in an interesting
program featuring some rags, Debussy, Bolcom, Webern and music reflecting his
Cuban roots.
!!
DEC 8, 8PM: Gallery 345; 345 Sorauren Ave. The Art of the Piano: Hilario Durán. If
you like Cuban-inflected jazz piano – and who doesn’t these days? – this is the concert
for you; in an intimate setting with an excellent piano.
U of T 12tet
!!
FEB 6, 7:30PM: Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building. 80 Queen’s Park. U of T 12tet,
directed by Terry Promane. I love small big bands ranging from 9 to 14 members and
this, comprising some of the best jazz students U of T has to offer, is an excellent one,
expertly directed and arranged for by Promane.
Toronto bassist Steve Wallace writes a blog called “Steve
Wallace jazz, baseball, life and other ephemera” which
can be accessed at wallacebass.com. Aside from the topics
mentioned, he sometimes writes about movies and food.
A gift that’s ALWAYS
in season.
Long & McQuade Gift Cards!
In any denomination. For any product or service.
Purchase in-store or online today!
www.long-mcquade.com
thewholenote.com December 2018 / January 2019 | 33