From Bret "Jazz Video Guy" Primack, here is the Horace Silver Sextet playing "Tokyo Blues" at the 1987 Berlin Jazz Festival. The band lineup here is the sextet itself, minus vocalist Andy Bey. Horace Silver on piano, Brian Bromberg on double bass, Carl Burnett on drums, Dave Douglas on trumpet, and Vincent Herring on saxes (alto and tenor). You will notice Herring plays his solo on alto, and switches to tenor for the remainder of the tune as the band finishes the solos and returns to del cappo (the head) of the composition, and the horns play out with the rest of the band after Brian Bromberg's wicked double bass solo. Great tune. Dig it.
Here is Bud Powell once again, with "I Want To Be Happy" live in Paris, France in 1961, with his trio. The trio is Bud Powell on piano, Jean Marie Ingrand on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums.
Not exactly sure where or when this performance takes place, but it is a good one. The blues standard "Sinner's Prayer" performed by two of the late, great giants of music, the late B.B. King and Billy Preston on guitar and organ, and (still with us), actor and blues harmonica player, Bruce Willis. Check out this performance.
Full Concert Friday this week, takes us back to the 1990 Mellon Jazz Festival and a performance by a quartet of jazz royalty. Herbie Hancock on piano and keyboards, Pat Metheny on guitar, Dave Holland on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums. The show was performed on June 23rd, 1990, at the Mellon Jazz Festival in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The set list.
What follows are Bret "Jazz Video Guy" Primack's recollections of the late, great jazz trombone master, Slide Hampton.
I heard Slide live once, at a Salsa Meets Jazz program at the Village Gate, where Jazz artists would sit in with a group of Latin musicians. Slide came out and his solo was, in a word, incredible. I went up to him after the set, to compliment him. He said to me, "there's one thing you should know about the trombone, it's impossible."
Slide Hampton's distinguished career spans decades in the evolution of jazz. At the age of 12 he was already touring the Midwest with the Indianapolisbased Hampton Band, led by his father and comprising other members of his musical family. During these tours, Hampton encountered jazz musicians such as J.J. Johnson and Wes Montgomery, who became early influences. By 1952, at the age of 20, he was performing at Carnegie Hall with the Lionel Hampton Band. He then joined Maynard Ferguson's band, playing trombone and providing exciting charts on such popular tunes as "The Fugue," "Three Little Foxes," and "Slide's Derangement."
As his reputation grew, he soon began working with bands led by Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Barry Harris, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, and Max Roach, again contributing both original compositions and arrangements. In 1962, he formed the Slide Hampton Octet, which included stellar horn players Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard, and George Coleman. The band toured the U.S. and Europe and recorded on several labels.
From 1964 to 1967, he served as music director for various orchestras and artists. Then, following a 1968 tour with Woody Herman, he elected to stay in Europe, performing with other expatriates such as Benny Bailey, Kenny Clarke, Kenny Drew, Art Farmer, and Dexter Gordon. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1977, he began a series of master classes at Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, De Paul University in Chicago, and Indiana University. During this period he formed the illustrious World of Trombones: an ensemble of nine trombones and a rhythm section.
In 1989, with Paquito D'Rivera, he was musical director of Dizzy's Diamond Jubilee, a year-long series of celebrations honoring Dizzy Gillespie's 75th birthday. Hampton's countless collaborations with the most prominent musicians of jazz were acknowledged by the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Arrangement with a Vocalist for Dee Dee Bridgewater's recording "Cotton Tail." Most recently, he has served as musical advisor to the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band. A charismatic figure, master arranger, and formidable trombonist, Hampton holds a place of distinction in the jazz tradition.
From the 2011 concert, Muriel Anderson's All Star Guitar Night, three awesome pickers, jamming on the legend Merle Haggard's "Workin' Man Blues". Brent Mason, Seymour Duncan, and James Burton, pay tribute to the working man, showcasing their chicken pickin', and bringing the Telecaster country and western twang in spades. Check it out.
The late, great, Michel Petrucianni on piano, playing "So What" by Miles Davis. Petrucianni is joined by Michael Bowie on bass and Wilby Fletcher on drums. Credit for the video goes to Bret "Jazz Video Guy" Primack.
Time for another Full Album Friday. From 1972, Buzz Feiten and Neil Larsen with their band "Full Moon" and the full self-titled record. YouTube user Robert Harmon, who has uploaded this video, describes the band. Full Moon....A Classic Album from 1972 Buzzy Feiten, Neil Larson, Gene
Dinwiddie, Philip Wilson, Freddie Beckmeier. A Terrific, Rare and
hard to find Album of Jazz, Rock, Blues and R&B all mixed together.
The track list:
1. The Heavy Scuffles On
2. To Know
3. Malibu
4. Take This Winter Out of My Mind
5. Midnight Pass
6. Need Your Love
7. Selfish People
The band lineup is:
Buzzy Feiten - Guitars, Vocals, Percussion
Neil Larson - Piano, Organ, Synthesizers
Gene Dinwiddie - Saxophones, Flute, Mandolin, Vocals
Philip Wilson - Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Freddie Beckmeier - Bass
Robin Clark, Tasha Thomas - Backround Vocals
Guest Performers:
Airto Moriera - Percussion
Dave Holland - Bass
Randy Brecker - Trumpet
Ray Baretto - Percussion
Recorded at Media Sound Studios
Recording Engineers - Jeffrey Lesser / Toni Bongiovi
Produced by Alan Douglas w/help from Ron Alexenburg.
More from Lachy Doley and the Studio 301 Sessions. Here is their vibrant cover of Johnny Nash's (and Jimmy Cliff's) reggae infused pop hit, "I Can See Clearly Now".
Piano legend Lenny Tristano performing at the 1965 Berlin Piano Workshop.
Berlin Piano Workshop, 1965.
Lennie Tristano, byname of Leonard Joseph Tristano, (born March 19, 1919, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.—died November 18, 1978, New York City, New York), American jazz pianist, a major figure of cool jazz and an influential teacher.
Tristano, who became totally blind as a child, began playing piano in taverns at age 12. He grew up in Chicago, where he studied at the American Conservatory of Music (B.Mus., 1943) and was a noted performer and teacher before moving to New York City in 1946.
There his advanced concepts of improvisation and of harmony soon brought him dedicated followers, most notably saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh and guitarist Billy Bauer. They played in Tristano’s noted 1949 sextet recordings, which included “Wow” and “Crosscurrent” and were characterized by brilliant ensemble melodic interplay. The recordings also featured two free-form collective improvisations, “Intuition” and “Digression,” which predated the free jazz of Ornette Coleman by nearly a decade. In 1951 Tristano opened a school of jazz, which he ran until 1956, after which he spent most of his time teaching privately. He performed and recorded rarely; his last public appearance in the United States was in 1968.
Widespread Panic covering a Jerry Joseph composition, the reggae flavored "Chainsaw City" from their 2010 performance at The Fox Theater in Oakland, California, on October 15th, 2010.
From Jazz Video Guy (Bret Primack) on YouTube. Alto saxophonists David Sanborn and Jan Prak covering jazz bass legend Marcus Miller's composition "Run For Cover". Yet another fabulous version of this song showcasing the styles of the two alto saxophonists on their solos. Run For Cover (Marcus Miller) - David Sanborn Band - Live in Budapest, Hungary, April 15, 2015. David Sanborn - alto sax, Nicky Moroch - guitar, Ricky Peterson - keyboards, Andre Berry - bass guitar, Chris Coleman - Drums and Guest: Jan Prax - sax.
Full Concert Friday this week features alto saxophonist Jan Prax and his quartet performing at the 2020 Leverkusener Jazztage, doing a tribute set to Charlie Mingus. The set list is:
From 1982, at The White House, performing for then President Ronald Reagan, First Lady Nancy Reagan, Vice President, George H.W. Bush, and his wife, Barbara Bush, and other dignitaries. Violinist Itzhak Perlman is also in the audience here. The trio is three legends. Chick Corea on piano, Miroslav Vitous on upright bass, and Roy Haynes on drums. The video is credited to Jazz Video Guy (Bret Primack). Watch the video on YouTube. Check it out.
Studio and live versions of Widespread Panic's cover of David Byrne's (Talking Heads), "Imitation Leather Shoes". The studio track is from their 2001 record "Don't Tell The Band" while the two live performances come from The Classic Center in Athens, Georgia during their 2011 run of shows there, and from their 2000 show at Oak Mountain in Pelham, Alabama. Two different guitarists were in the band at these times of course. In 2011, Jimmy Herring is playing lead guitar, and in 2000 at Oak Mountain, their original lead guitarist, Michael Houser was still in the band before his passing in 2002.
Homestretch Blues - Aurex Jazz Festival, Japan, September 7 1980. Freddie Hubbard, Randy Brecker, trumpets; Michael Brecker, Joe Henderson, Joe Farrell, tenor saxophones; Robben Ford, guitar; George Duke, piano; Alphonso Johnson, bass and Peter Erskine on drums.
Continuing our tribute to the late, great Pat Martino, a giant of jazz guitar, who the world of jazz lost back on November 1st. The first tribute video in his memory of a couple, from Bret "Jazz Video Guy" Primack, on YouTube, is titled R.I.P. Pat Martino, August 25, 1944 - November 1, 2021.
This video is a performance, in a duo, with Pat on guitar and pianist Dave Frank, playing "Alone Together" from the DVD "Dave Frank's Master Class with Pat Martino".
The second performance is also from the same master class on playing jazz with Pat Martino on guitar and Dave Frank on piano, a composition entitled "Lean Years".
Born Pat Azzara in Philadelphia in 1944, Pat Martino was first exposed to jazz through his father, Carmen "Mickey" Azzara, who sang in local clubs and briefly studied guitar with Eddie Lang. He took Pat to all the city's hot-spots to hear and meet Wes Montgomery and other musical giants. "I have always admired my father and have wanted to impress him. As a result, it forced me to get serious with my creative powers."
He began playing guitar when he was twelve years old. and left school in tenth grade to devote himself to music. During Visits to his music teacher Dennis Sandole, Pat often ran into another gifted student, John Coltrane, who would treat the youngster to hot chocolate as they talked about music.
Besides first-hand encounters with `Trane and Montgomery, whose album Grooveyard had "an enormous influence" on Martino, he also cites Johnny Smith, a Stan Getz associate, as an early inspiration. "He seemed to me, as a child. to understand everything about music," Pat recalls.
Martino became actively involved with the , early rock scene in Philadelphia, alongside stars like Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker and Bobby Darin. His first road gig was with jazz organist Charles Earland, a high school friend. His reputation soon spread among other jazz players, and he was recruited by bandleader Lloyd Price to play hits such as Stagger Lee on-stage with musicians like Slide Hampton and Red Holloway.
Martino moved to Harlem to immerse himself in the "soul jazz" played by Earland and others. Previously, he had "heard all of the white man's jazz. I never heard that other part of the culture," he remembers. The organ trio concept had a profound influence on Martino's rhythmic and harmonic approach. and he remained in the idiom as a sideman, gigging with Jack McDuff and Don Patterson. An icon before his eighteenth birthday, Pat was signed as a leader for Prestige Records when he was twenty. His seminal albums from this period include classics like Strings!, Desperado, El Hombre and Baiyina (The Clear Evidence), one of jazz's first successful ventures into psychedelia.
In 1976, Martino began experiencing the excruciating headaches which were eventually diagnosed as symptoms of his aneurysms. After his surgery and recovery, he resumed his career when he appeared in1987 in New York, a gig that was released on a CD with an appropriate name, The Return. He then took another hiatus when both of his parents became ill, and he didn't record again until 1994, when he recorded Interchange and then The Maker.
A special Full Concert Friday to pay tribute to the late, great jazz guitar legend, Pat Martino, who just passed away on Monday of this week, November 1st, at the age of 77. More tributes to Pat will come. Stay tuned for that. We begin the remembrance of his life and musical legacy on this Full Concert Friday with a performance from the 2002 Umbria Jazz Festival with Pat and his trio, playing a gig there with special guests Joey DeFrancesco on Hammond organ and fellow jazz guitar legend, John Scofield. Rest In Peace, Pat Martino. We remember your legacy and your gift to the world of jazz. Your music will live on forever, in our hearts.
There will be more tributes to Pat Martino to come. Stay tuned.
Re-posting a song that was posted a long, long time ago, and then disappeared. But it is back now. Once again, from Herbie Hancock's "Thrust" album from 1974, here is "Spank-A-Lee" featuring Herbie Hancock on Rhodes piano, Clavinet, and ARP 2600, Odyssey, and Soloist synthesizers, Bennie Maupin on tenor and soprano saxophones, Paul Jackson on bass, and Mike Clark on drums. The live version is also from 1974 during the Headhunters' tour, recorded in November of that year, 47 years ago, at Musikladen in Bremen, Germany.
From Jazz Video Guy (Bret Primack) on YouTube, a 1988 tribute to the one and the only John Coltrane in Japan. Coltrane's composition "Blues Minor" played by the quintet of McCoy Tyner on piano, Richard Davis on bass, Elvin Jones on drums, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, and Sonny Fortune on tenor saxophone. Mr. Richard Davis on bass is the only surviving member of this quintet, but the music is eternal, living forever. Dig it.
From their October 28th, 2021 show at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas, Nevada, here is Phish with the tune "Seven Below". Once again, the ever present lineup of Trey Anastasio on guitar, Page McConnell on piano and keyboards, Mike Gordon on bass, and Jon Fishman on drums, takes you on a musical journey through time and space.
