heart of gold - The New York City Jazz Record

Ted Brown
by Clifford Allen
ENCORE
Perhaps there’s a
simple reason why
followers of creative
improvisation are
inspired by and have
embraced the music of
‘50s ‘00s the school around
pianist-composer Lennie Tristano. Tenorman Ted
Brown, who began studying with Tristano in
November 1948 and continued working with him
throughout the ‘50s, puts it this way: “Tristano taught
me how to get as free as possible on a tune and its
structure. We would practice a tune enough that it
became second nature - it was a feeling more than
something strict or clearly laid out.”
Brown was born Dec. 1st, 1927 in Rochester, NY
and had the good fortune of a musical family. Brown’s
father, a professional pilot, was recruited following
Pearl Harbor and was eventually stationed in
California, necessitating a move to the West Coast in
October 1943. “By the time I got to Redondo Beach in
the fall, all the classes had filled up and I wasn’t sure
what to take. I wasn’t planning on taking music
classes, but band was one of the few things still open,
so I joined the school band.”
Brown graduated in 1945 from Long Beach High
School, where he’d transferred a year earlier and had
started playing in an area rehearsal band. “I got on a
USO tour of the army bases that fall... I was shipped off
to Virginia for eight weeks of basic training, but since I
listed my occupation as a musician, I was able to be in
the army band. It was very boring - our training was
like how to go up and down a C Major scale. I got to
know some other musicians, though, like the Chicago
saxophonist Lloyd Shad, who really got me listening to
Lester Young. Don Ferraro was also there and Red
Mitchell. I first heard Charlie Parker in the Army.”
It was also during his service that he visited New
York City for the first time, and saw Lester Young,
Allen Eager and Bud Powell. After being discharged,
Brown went back to Southern California, sitting in on
sessions in LA and San Pedro. But New York was
calling, so Brown moved there in September 1948. His
Army buddy Bob Stacy, a clarinetist, was a student of
Lennie Tristano and recommended he stop by a
session; that November, Brown began studying with
him. “I finally found someone to answer my questions
LEST WE FORGET
Tony Williams (1945-97)
by Donald Elfman
He wants people to feel that drums are the most beautiful
instrument in the world, as romantic as violins, heroic as
trumpets. It’s not a matter of style, of who plays what how.
- Mike Zwerin on Tony Williams
Tony Williams was born in Chicago on Dec. 12, 1945.
His family moved to Boston and he studied at an early
age with drummer Alan Dawson. By age 13 he was
playing professionally with Sam Rivers and at 16 was
hired to work and record with Jackie McLean. In his
early years he also recorded with trumpeter Kenny
Dorham, pianist Andrew Hill, reedman Eric Dolphy
and trombonist Grachan Moncur III.
At 17, Williams received the call of a lifetime. It
was Miles Davis and Williams was off to play in the
10 January 2011 | ALLABOUTJAZZ-NEW YORK
about chord changes and progressions and I also
wanted to become more confident in my improvising.
Lennie convinced me that I only needed some basic
information and helped me to understand chords and
rhythmic figures.
“At the beginning, sessions were on Wednesday
and Saturday. I played with Lennie and the drummer
Al Levitt on Wednesday nights while Warne [Marsh]
and Lee [Konitz] played on Saturdays. When Lee went
on the road with Stan Kenton in 1952, I substituted
with him on Saturday.” From 1952-55, Brown had a
lesson once a week with Tristano and made the
Saturday sessions. The 32nd Street studio was
condemned in 1956, forcing the end of the New York
school. Marsh moved to Los Angeles to find work and
Brown, who had recently married, followed suit that
year. “We had some pretty good gigs at the Lighthouse
in Hermosa Beach and in Hollywood. Three weeks
after I got there, Warne had a date for Imperial, which
came out as Jazz of Two Cities.”
Marsh’s manager was pushing him toward a
group with Art Pepper, so Ted left the band and, tiring
of LA, returned to New York in April 1957 to begin
raising a family. “In 1961, my day job was with a
company that went bankrupt right before Christmas - I
had two kids and a wife and I wasn’t sure if I could
make rent. My wife was from Massachusetts so we
moved to Lawrence, MA. and I got a job in a textile
mill, which I completely hated.”
In 1972, a former student who was interested in
learning some of Tristano’s lines asked Brown to sit in,
which got him playing again. He returned to New
York in 1976 after the mill laid him off; Brown began
spending time with Konitz and they gigged together in
New York and New Jersey, which resulted in the
Konitz-Brown quintet recording Figure and Spirit
(Progressive). Music was becoming, once again, a
major factor - in 1987, he went to Holland with pianist
Hod O’Brien and he later worked with Konitz and
Dutch pianist Rein de Graaff. This European live
presence, though still sporadic, resulted in recordings
for Criss Cross Jazz and SteepleChase, including dates
with Konitz, pianist Harold Danko and guitarist Steve
LaMattina. As for his current group, bassist Joe
Solomon, a student of Tristano, invited Brown to a
session with pianist Michael Kanan. “He impressed me
right away; I could sense where he was and everybody
was listening and interacting... Improvising in this
way, when it happens and everyone is aware, is what
keeps me sane and healthy.” At 83 years old, we can
only hope for many more opportunities like this from
Brown and his mates. K
legendary band with Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock,
Wayne Shorter and Miles. Davis, in his autobiography,
called Williams, “the center that the group’s sound
revolved around.” From 1963-69, Williams was the
drummer on 15 Davis recordings - from Seven Steps to
Heaven through In A Silent Way.
Williams was also a leader and composer. In 1964
he had recorded the first album under his own name,
Lifetime, for the Blue Note label and also composed the
album’s five tunes. A year later the label released his
Spring, with five more Williams originals.
In 1969, Williams left Miles Davis to become a
leader once again. The Tony Williams Lifetime - with
Larry Young on organ and John McLaughlin on guitar
- was one of the most electrically volcanic and original
of all the emerging fusion bands. Lifetime combined
rock, rhythm and blues and jazz in a most inventive
way and its first album, Emergency, is one of the most
dynamic and exciting albums ever recorded.
In the mid and late ‘70s, Williams reconnected
Brown is at The Kitano Jan. 12th. See Calendar.
Recommended Listening:
• Ted Brown - Free Wheeling (Vanguard, 1956)
• Warne Marsh Quintet - Jazz of Two Cities
(Winds of Marsh) (Imperial-Capitol Jazz, 1956)
• Lee Konitz - Figure and Spirit (Progressive, 1976)
• Ted Brown - Free Spirit (Criss Cross Jazz, 1987)
• Ted Brown - Preservation (SteepleChase, 2002)
• Ted Brown - Shades of Brown (SteepleChase, 2007)
January 11th
Santi Debriano
Quartet
January 25th
Jorge Sylvester
and Ace
with former bandmates, playing with Shorter,
Hancock and Carter (Miles was replaced by Freddie
Hubbard) in V.S.O.P. and with John McLaughlin with
Trio of Doom, alongside bassist Jaco Pastorius.
The ‘80s found Tony fronting another group, this
time a quintet including Wallace Roney (trumpet),
Mulgrew Miller (piano), Bill Pierce (tenor and soprano
saxophone) and Charnett Moffett (bass). The band
toured and recorded (six terrific albums for Blue Note,
reissued by Mosaic) into the early ‘90s.
Williams lived and taught in the San Francisco
area but on Feb. 23rd, 1997 died of a heart attack after
routine gall bladder surgery. He will be remembered
as a player who helped change the role of the drums.
In person he was extraordinary to watch and hear,
creating powerful polyrhythms and finding a world of
colors in his playing and writing. K
A Tony Williams/Lifetime Tribute is at Blue Note Jan. 27th-
30th. See Calendar.