Erroll Garner Trio - "Just One of Those Things" (1964)

Hello Friends,

Here's everyone's favorite groaning pianist ripping through a version of Cole Porter's "Just One of Those Things" like nobody's business.

Not bad for a guy who never took a lesson or could read a lick of music.

Fun Fact: Garner was The Tonight Show's Johnny Carson's favorite musician!

Concert by the Sea

Erroll Garner - "Concert by the Sea" (1956) - Columbia Records

Hello Friends,

All-time classic Jazz LP on the turntable tonight.

Erroll Garner's famous live concert performance at the Sunset Arts Center in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, featuring Garner on piano (and groans) with Eddie Calhoun on bass & Denzil Best on drums.

Opening with a rollicking version of "I'll Remember April", the album also contains great versions of standards like "Teach Me Tonight", "Autumn Leaves", "It's All Right With Me", "April in Paris", "They Can't Take That Away From Me", "Where or When" and lesser known pieces like Lionel Hampton's "Red Top" and Tyree Glenn's "How Can You Do A Thing Like That To Me?"  

There's also two Garner originals, "Mambo Carmel" and the 50 second "Erroll's Theme" to end the record.

Its a rainy Saturday night tonight and this hopped up Vince Guaraldi music is the perfect mood setter for the tiki bar.

RATING: 5 how can you do a thing like that to me out of 5

Chicago Transit Authority

Chicago Transit Authority - "Chicago Transit Authority" (1969) - Columbia

Hello Friends,

Chicago Transit Authority is the very first album by the band Chicago Transit Authority (after its initial release the band was threatened by legal action by the actual Chicago Transit Authority which lead to them shortening their name to just plain, old "Chicago").

Our reaction to this record could be best described by the immortal words of Gomer Pyle, "surprise, surprise, surprise!" 

First off, its a double album which is completely nuts for a debut record! What's even nuttier is how there's really not a stinker among the bunch.

As one might expect from a Chicago record, there's lots of horns & jazzy-stuff going on, but at this early stage in the game, the music is both heavy-sounding and incredibly soulful.  It's very bass and guitar heavy with some nice psychedelic touches thrown in for good measure.  There's definitely stuff on here to please the stoners in the audience (check out the guitar solo at the beginning of "Poem 58", it sounds like Blue Cheer!) 

Of course, there's the head-bobbing hits that helped propel Chicago into one of the 70's most successful bands (songs like "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?", "Beginnings", "Questions 67 and 68" and their cover of The Spencer Davis Group's "I'm A Man"), but there's some mind-meltingly good guitar work courtesy of guitarist and occasional singer, Terry Kath.  There's even a feedbacky, experimental guitar noise track ("Free Form Guitar") that, according to legend, features no overdubbing or electronic gimmicks. This sounds a heck of a lot more like the music on "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast" than it does "Saturday in the Park".

This is a Chicago record for people (like us) who don't even like Chicago.

Its very 60's in its sound and approach.  Its all over the place sonically and we mean that in the best way possible!

In the spirit of the times, there's even an element of social awareness to be found on the record.  On Side Four's "Prologue (August 29, 1968)" & "Someday (August 29, 1968)", the band samples the "The Whole World Is Watching" chant from the protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention (in Chicago) who were about to get their skulls knocked in by the local coppers.  Goddamned Hipsters!
   The album's opener, "Introduction" pretty much sets the stage for the entire album. Heavy and funky with a throbbing organ, a killer guitar solo and a driving (though economical) horn section.  There's great drumming, some great bass-playing, and throughout the song several shifts in both time-signatures and mood.  Its complex without being complicated. A theme that continues pretty much throughout the record.  Who woulda thunk it?

RATING: 4.5 men come up to me and ask me what the time was on my watch out of 5

The Benny Goodman Story

Soundtrack - "The Benny Goodman Story, volume 2" (1956) - Decca

Hey Friends,

The tiki bar is swinging tonight, friends!

This LP is the second soundtrack release from 1956's The Benny Goodman Story starring Steve Allen & Donna Reed.

Never saw the movie, but we picked this record up at a thrift store and were pretty happy with it.

Side One is comprised of four songs played by the Benny Goodman Trio/Quartet featuring Goodman on clarinet, Teddy Wilson on piano, Gene Krupa on drums and Lionel Hampton on vibes.

Side Two has five songs all of which feature Goodman's full orchestra, including one song with vocals, "And The Angels Sing" as sung by Martha Tilton.

The album ends with a rousing version of Goodman's signature song, the Louis Prima-penned, "Sing, Sing, Sing".

Can't help but listen to Gene Krupa's drumming throughout this record and be reminded of the movie Whiplash. 

Just waiting for J.K. Simmons to show up at the tiki bar, lift the needle off of the record and ask, "Were you rushing or were you dragging?"

RATING: 4 Silver Waves That Break on Some Undiscovered Shore out of 5

Chet Baker & Paul Desmond - "Autumn Leaves" (1974)

Thank-fucking-god that Fall's finally here!

When it comes to the four seasons Fall is heads and shoulder's above the rest!

Time for sipping bourbon on cool, dark nights; smoking pipes; carving pumpkins; reaping harvests; watching football while eating Sunday roasts; scary movies and slutty Halloween costumes!  What's not to love?

Especially when this summer has been such a killer.

Fun Facts: Mabon is the pagan celebration of the Autumnal Equinox.

Here's a kind of sexy witch named Courtney to explain it further!  Enjoy!

* She better watch it with all the Isis talk before Courtney gets her witchy-ass landed on a watch list!

** Also, isn't Courtney probably the worst witch name ever?  Its not even scary! #dumbwitchnames

Louis Armstrong - "Basin Street Blues" (1964)

Nice color footage of Louis and his All Stars live on NBC's long-running Bell Telephone Hour.

Enjoy!

Duke Ellington - "Take The A Train" (1964)

Hello Friends,

Keepin' it classy on a Friday! Is it 5 o'clock yet?

Great live version of Ellington's theme tune from 1964.

Featuring a rare on-camera clip of composer Billy Strayhorn! 

That's Ernie Shepard on double-bass & vocals!

Enjoy!

Muted Jazz

Jonah Jones - "Muted Jazz" (1957) - Capitol Records

Hello Friends,

While Snowstorm Jonah is pounding the east coast tonight, we're hunkered down indoors, in the warm glow of the tiki bar lights and doing some pounding of our own.  Pounding drinks, that is.

And we got another Jonah blowing up a storm of his own, jazz trumpeter and bandleader, Jonah Jones.

Jones here sounds like Louis Armstrong-lite.  Bouncy and safe swing arrangements with far less gravel on the vocals and much less cojones on the solos.  Still Muted Jazz is the perfect album for a cold and blustery winter evening.  Transforming the tiki bar into a cozy and nostalgic NYC supper club.

Bring on the snow, we're gonna burn some us some steaks! 

SIDE A

Rose Room

Mack the Knife

I Can't Get Started

On The Street Where You Live

Undecided

SIDE B

St. James Infirmary

Too Close For Comfort

Main Title from The Man With The Golden Arm

My Blue Heaven

Royal Garden Blues

As Tiki T. put it (through wine-stained lips), "What are we in a fucking Woody Allen movie?"

RATING: 4 stretched our on a long white table, so cold, so sweet, so fair out of 5

Sunday Jazz Brunch on the tiny island of Espiritu Santo

Les Brown and his Band of Renown - "Dance to South Pacific" (1958) - Capitol Records

Hello Friends,

We're enjoying another Sunday brunch here on Vinyl in the Valley.  The mimosas are flowing and Tiki T. is poaching up some eggs benny.  I'm no soothsayer, but I can see into the future of this Sunday and I see a lot NOT getting done today!

The chores can wait.  In the meantime, we've got this great Les Brown record on the turntable.  Twelve mostly swinging tracks lifted from the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical that captivated the nation throughout the fifties, South Pacific.

"Dites-Moi" and "Some Enchanted Evening" are fun, bouncy numbers punctuated by a solid brass section.  Frank Comstock's arrangement of the brunch-themed "Bloody Mary" is pretty solid as well.   "This Nearly Was Mine" is Brown and his orchestra at their somber creamiest.  "There Is Nothin' Like A Dame" sounds like something that The Count Basie orchestra might have recorded. The album's highlight is probably Billy May's cha-cha arrangement of the tiki anthem, "Bali Ha'i". 

All today needs to be perfect is a hammock strapped between two palm trees and a sexy native bringing me rum drinks in hollowed-out pineapples!

Oh and if someone can do the dishes!

RATING: 3.5 gonna wash that man right outta my hairs out of 5

Pass the Sausage... its a Sunday Jazz Brunch!

Jack Teagarden - "Jazz Maverick!" (1960) - Roulette Records

Hello Friends,

Its Sunday Jazz Brunch time on Vinyl in the Valley and we need some coffee, some French Toast and some breakfast links to help soak up the ample quantities of booze we drowned ourselves with last night.

On the turntable, we got a great record by Mr. Jack Teagarden aka "The Father of Jazz Trombone".  Jazz Maverick is the perfect soundtrack record for an early Spring Sunday Brunch/hangover cure; its bright and upbeat without being too manic-sounding or overly complex.  

A self-taught jazz trombonist originally from the Texas panhandle, Teagarden eventually made his way to New York and, later, Chicago playing with a who's who of jazzmen along the way including Glenn Miller, Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Bix Beiderbecke and, perhaps most famously, Louis Armstong. (Some of his best work was done as a member of Armstrong's All Stars from 1946 to 1951; their duet of "Rockin' Chair" is always worth a listen!)

An all-time great, Teagarden would be best remembered for his blues-influenced, ethereal-sounding, slightly-behind-the-beat trombone playing.  And his gravelly, world-weary tenor would complement his trombone playing perfectly.  Not bad for a white guy!

This record would sadly be one of his last recordings as he would die of a heart attack in January of 1964, age 58.  Its a first rate recording, opting for a more a throwback/traditional swing sound rather than the bebop that had all the hipster's hopped up!  

Side One contains the upbeat "Ever Lovin' Baby", "Riverboat Shuffle", a breakneck version of "High Society" and the pretty ballads, "Aunt Hager's Country Home" & "Blue Dawn".

Side Two kicks off with "Roundtable Romp" and a pensive version of Fat Waller's "Ain't 'Cha Glad".  Perhaps the album's best track is Teagarden's take on the melancholy standard, "A Hundred Years From Today" with heartbreaking lyrics like: "The Moon is shining and that's a good sign / Cling to me closer and say you'll be mine / Remember darling, we won't see it shine / A hundred years from today."  F'ing Great!

(A "hundred years from today" is when it feels like my hangover will be going away! Know when to say when, kids!)

The side and record closes out with a fantastic update on The New Orleans Rhythm Kings' 1923 classic, "Tin Roof Blues".  Great record from start to finish, not a stinker in the bunch!

Now pass the syrup!

RATING: 4 its always Spring and music is the thing 'round Aunt Hager's Country Home out of 5

Indigos

Duke Ellington and His Orchestra - "Ellington Indigos" (1958) - Columbia Records

Hello Friends,

Sipping a well-made Old Fashioned with some Duke Ellington on the turntable sounds like a perfect Fall record for a perfect Fall night!

This 1958 recording of ballads and torch songs is nothing short of masterful.  Laid-back, incredibly melodic, warm and familiar, the eight songs here capture the immortal Ellington at his atmospheric finest, setting the perfect mood for an October evening in New England: a full moon rising in the burnt black sky, the stars out in full array, the ubiquitous rustling of leaves, a lone dog howls in the distance. 

The opening track, "Solitude" (an Ellington original from 1934) is worth the price of admission alone.  It begins with Ellington's lone, sad-sounding piano stumbling through the melody for two minutes until the tempo picks up and the full band kicks in! 

Side One is also home to Rodgers & Hart's "Where or When" (featuring some haunting Paul Gonsalves tenor sax), "Mood Indigo" and "Autumn Leaves" (featuring Ozzie Bailey on the album's lone vocal performance!)

Side Two is in very much the tone and mood as Side One.  There's Ellington's own "Prelude to a Kiss" (featuring Johnny Hodges on the alto sax solo), "Willow Weep For Me" (with Shorty Baker on trumpet), "Tenderly" (Jimmy Hamilton on clarinet) and "Dancing in the Dark" (Harry Carney on baritone sax).  

Another terrific set by Duke and the boys!  Time for another Old Fashioned!

RATING: 4.5 I Miss You Most of All My Darling When Autumn Leaves Start to Fall out of 5

Go, Get the Butter

Gato Barbieri - "Last Tango In Paris" Soundtrack (1972) - Liberty

Hello Friends,

Bernardo Bertolucci's acclaimed 1972 film, Last Tango in Paris, is about two strangers (Marlon Brando & Maria Schneider) who meet on the streets of Paris and begin a salacious, anonymous sexual tryst.  Its your basic boy-meets-girl story with lots of nudity, afternoon sodomy, tangoing and butter-covered fingers inserted into rectums!  Don't bring your kids to see this one!

Argentinian composer & musician, Gato Barbieri, was recruited for the film's soundtrack. For the score he crafted a melodic, saxophone-laden, Latin jazz score in a very 1970's vain.  Its like a cross between Henry Mancini, early Santana and Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street".  Jazz composer (and fellow saxophonist), Oliver Nelson, aided Barbieri in the arrangements and the music fits the film perfectly.

In fact, its some of the most memorable saxophone heard in a film second only to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuJ9YNfKC2o.

The film holds up well as a masterpiece of the cynical 70's.

Brando, up to this point, has never been so sleazy and so creepy! 

The soundtrack album holds its own as well. When heard out of the context of the film it comes across sounding a little lite, a little soft jazzy, a little bit like a remorseful cop beneath a street lamp in the rain!

Now, if I only knew where Tiki T. hid the nail clippers!

RATING: 4 better not lay a finger on my butterfingers out of 5

Thanks to Danny & Ross for this one! An import from Italy, no less!  

Once you go Black Orpheus...

The Vince Guaraldi Trio - "Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus" (1962) - Fantasy Records

Hello Friends,

Three years before he would start composing music for the Peanuts' television specials, Vince Guaraldi released this album of songs from, and inspired by, the 1959 Brazilian film, Black Orpheus; a movie that transplants the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to the gritty and musical streets of Rio de Janeiro during Carnavale!   We haven't seen it, but it sounds pretty great!  
Its as hot as hell so we're turning the tiki bar into a favela tonight friends! (Editors Note: No we're not!)

Who doesn't love a good threesome?  With Guaraldi on piano, Colin Bailey on drums and Monty Budwig on upright bass, Side One does jazzy justice to the bossanova tunes originally composed by Luiz Bonfá and Antonio Carlos Jobim for the film.  Think Charlie Brown with a Latin flair!  Charlie Marrón, if you will!  Olé!

The second side features Guaraldi's hit, "Cast Your Fate to the Wind"-- a chart topper as well as a Grammy winner!  Atta boy Vince!  There's also a behind-the-beat version of "Moon River", another Latin-flavored original ("Alma-ville"), and a sublime and loungey (in a good way) rendition of Buddy Johnson' jazz standard, "Since I Fell For You." 



Overall a great, fun and relaxed record.  Perfect a late night caprihana at the tiki bar!

"Anyone seen Tiki T?"

RATING: 4.5 Days in the Life of a Fool out 5

Feels like the first time

Duke Ellington & Count Basie - "The Count Meets the Duke: First Time!" (1961) - Columbia Records

Hello Friends,

There's jazz royalty aplenty on this fantastic 1961 LP where the Duke Ellington orchestra and the Count Basie orchestra team up for a big band supergroup.  

The bombastic and uptempo Ellington composition, "Battle Royal" kicks things off.  Right away you can tell there's a lot of talent in the studio but these professionals are not going to let the sound become too overwhelming or overcrowded sounding.  

Thad Jones's subtle and restrained ballad, "To You" is up next and it quiets everything down a bit with its melancholy mood.   Billy Strayhorn's "Take the 'A' Train" and Freddie Greene's "Until I Met You" (formerly known as "Corner Pocket") round out the first side of the LP.  The latter features some great, understated dueling pianos courtesy of Count & Duke.

Side Two begins with another Ellington tune, the exotic-sounding "Wild Man".  The musicians featured here play like a who's who jazz greats including Juan Tizol, Lawrence Brown, Johnny Hodges, Thad Jones, Cat Anderson, Frank Foster & Paul Gonsalves.

"Segue in C" is from the Basie songbook and "BDB" (for Basie, Duke & Billy) is an original composition from Ellington & Strayhorn written for these sessions.

The closing number, "Jumpin' at the Woodside" is the old Basie standard on steroids.      

A highly enjoyable record, the first and (unfortunately) last of its kind!  By 1961, the era of the Big Band was long past its prime.  The hipsters had all moved onto bebop and the youngsters were embracing Rock & Roll.  Basie and Ellington, both pillars of the art form they helped create, would hang around for a few more years and continue to produce some pretty great music.  Ellington would pass away in 1974 and Basie, ten years later, in 1984.  Giants among giants, they don't make 'em like this anymore!  (I'm looking at you Skrillex!)   

RATING: 4.5 Quickest Ways to Harlem out of 5

11 Days of Xmas: Duke Ellington - "The Nutcracker Suite" (1960)

Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - "The Nutcracker Suite" (1960) - Columbia Records

Hello Friends,

We're having a swinging, hipster Xmas party on Vinyl in the Valley tonight featuring Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's arrangement of Tchaikovsy's famous "Nutcracker Suite".


Things are jumping on this 1960 release featuring expertly arranged jazz renditions of the Russian composer's most famous work.  And this is some first rate shit!  Ellington & co. at their best.  Mitchell "Booty" Wood's muted trombone on the opening number, "Overture" is worth the price of admission alone.



In additional to Booty Wood and the Duke himself on piano, other players sound like a who's who roster: Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Paul Gonzalves, Russell Procope (Saxes), Ray Nance (Trumpet), Juan Tizol (Trombone) and Sam Woodyard on drums.

Tiki T. says listening to album is like sitting at a bar at Grand Central Station waiting for train during holidays!  If she keeps downing these Old Fashioned's, I think she's going to miss her train altogether!

RATING: 5 Sugar Rum Cherries out of 5

RIP Dave Brubeck

Dave Brubeck (Dec 6, 1920 - Dec 5, 2012)

one day shy of his 92nd birthday!

September in the Rain

Frank Sinatra - "Sinatra's Swingin' Session!!!" (1961) - Capitol Records

Hello Friends,

Tonight on Vinyl in the Valley we're rocking out to some late Capitol-era Frank Sinatra.  Ol' Blue Eyes is in peak form on this 1961 release covering such classics as "When You're Smiling", "Blue Moon", "Paper Moon", "September in the Rain", "My Blue Heaven" and "Always."

Backed by Nelson Riddle's fiery and upbeat orchestra, these tunes are among the fastest tunes ever recorded by Sinatra.  Some tunes-- like "Paper Moon" and "My Blue Heaven"-- almost seem like they've been recorded in double-time.  Hey Frank... pass those jazz salts down this way!  A swingin' session indeed!

RATING:  4 Leaves of Brown Coming Down out of 5

Live at the Roosevelt Grill

Bobby Hackett - "Live at the Roosevelt Grill" (1977) - Chiaroscuro

Hello Friends,

Jazz trumpeter Bobby Hackett is perhaps best known for his work with the Jackie Gleason orchestra playing atmospheric trumpet and cornet solos against a back-drop of lush string arrangements that conveyed both dreaminess and solitude.  He was an accomplished jazz musician who played with Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, The Andrew Sisters, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and many other jazz greats.

In 1970, Bobby's quintet had a regular gig at New York's Roosevelt Grill and producer Hank O'Neal had the good sense to record a number of these gigs.  This album was recorded in 1970 but released posthumously in 1977 (Hackett died of a heart attack in 1976.)  

Unlike his "easy listening" work of the late 50's and early 60's, these live recordings are tried and true tributes to Dixieland music.  The arrangements are solid and upbeat, definitely tipping a hat to the early Hot Fives' and Hot Sevens' recordings of Louis Armstrong.  Some very good cornet work by Hackett and some nice trombone solos by Vic Dickenson.

Perhaps the best thing about this LP are the really snarky and cantankerous liner notes written by producer, Hank O'Neal.  He uses this space as his pulpit to really demolish contemporary jazz/dixieland music, musicians and audiences.   For instance, he writes how contemporary musicians became "victims of their own laziness" with an "audience... so generally stupid that they couldn't tell the difference."  OUCH!  And how "the fault lay with the guys... that kept playing the same tunes over and over because the drunks who listened to them wanted to hear them!" YIKES!  And how by giving "these tunes a listen" you'll realize "what time, tone and taste can do for a tune!"  MEEEEEOWWW!

RATING: 3.5 Fidgety Feet out of 5     

Any Old Time

Artie Shaw & his Orchestra - "Any Old Time" (1958) - RCA Victor

Hello friends,

Tonight on the turntable we've got Jazz's favorite introvert, Artie Shaw.

This compilation, released in 1958, contains tracks recorded between 1938 & 1945 and was released four years after Shaw permanently retired from music.  RCA's Down Beat Jazz Milestone series are pretty good compilations that usually contain 22 to 24 minutes of music per album side.

Hailing from New Haven, Connecticut, Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky) was one of the Big Band Era's most famous bandleaders.  Known as the "King of Clarinet", he was an introvert and perfectionist; sort of the thinking man's Benny Goodman.  He died in 2004 after spending many years self-exiled in Europe and a small fortune in divorce court. Shaw was married 8 times, including to the actresses, Lana Turner & the future Mrs. Sinatra, Ava Gardner!  ("Hey Frank! How's my dick taste?")

The LP's titular tune features Billie Holiday on lead vocals.  Shaw was one of the first white bandleaders to hire a black lead vocalist to tour with him!  Good for him!  



Other great tracks include "It Had to Be You", "All I Remember Is You" (featuring Helen Forrest on vocals), "St. James Infirmary" (featuring "Hot Lips" Page on vocals), "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You", "Love Me A Little" (featuring Lena Horne), and the outstanding, nine-minute, "Concerto for Clarinet."

RATING: 4.5 Guess Who's Not Fun at Parties out of 5  

Welcome to the "In" Crowd

The Ramsey Lewis Trio - "The In Crowd" (1965) - Cadet

Hello friends,

Imagine for a second that its May 1965 and you're out carousing in our Nation's capital.  You and your girl are few drinks in when you stumble upon the Bohemian Caverns, a dark, basement nightclub on 11th Street.  You hear the strains of live jazz music seeping into street and you decide to pop in for a nightcap (or two.)

Inside is a crowd of mostly young people engulfed a low cloud of thick smoke.  On stage are three black guys: Eldee Young on upright bass, Red Holt on drum kit and Mr. Ramsey Lewis on the black & whites.  Alright, you think to yourself, this is The Ramsey Lewis trio that's been all the talk around these parts.  

What you didn't realize is tonight's concert would turn out to be an historical one as their performance was being committed to tape and would soon be released as an LP entitled, "The In Crowd".  This album would become a jazz classic, popularizing the rhythm & bluesy title track into a chart-topping standard.  Other cuts like "Since I Fell For You", "You've Been Talkin' 'Bout Me Baby" and Duke Ellington's "Come Sunday" capture Ramsey Lewis and his virtuoso rhythm section their absolute live best.      

You take your seats, order some drinks and your date smiles and looks at you approvingly.  You're in the "In Crowd" tonight for sure! (wink, wink)

RATING: 4.5 dark, smoke-filled nightclubs out of 5