Bill Chase – Jazz Rocks!

Jazz Rocks!!

This has always been one of my favorite jazz genres. I mean it was the first sort of rock I heard. Although my mother was a very capable singer with a beautiful voice, the music available in the household was fairly limited, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole. Soft stuff, you know. No Elvis or Beatles or anything close. When I started playing the trumpet, I gravitated to the trumpet records by Louis Armstrong, Al Hirt, and of course the old ‘Echoes of an Era’ Maynard Ferguson Orchestra stuff. So, when my friends showed up one day with the Bill Chase ‘Pure Music’ album, I was completely blown away. Mind you, I was all of 12 years old at the time. To this day, that is still one of my favorites. Although, I now find myself listening to Bill Chase’s ‘Ennea’ album more than the others. Strange what age will do to you! I mean if you want a practice work out, start transcribing and playing some of that stuff. Four highly skilled trumpet players playing just absolutely amazing. Songs like Poseidon and Zeus. Oh yeah!
[Read more]

Happy Birthday to Kenny Dorham

McKinley Howard Dorham, aka Kenny Dorham
August 30, 1924 – December 5, 1972.
 

Trumpet Dude salutes one of the best today, Happy Birthday Kenny! Yes, Kenny Dorham was one of the best voices to ever travel the trajectories of a trumpet. While his playing voice was incredible, he never received the accolades he should have from the jazz establishment, always overshadowed by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Clifford Brown and Fats Navarro. Perhaps this is simply because he didn’t have a flamboyant personality like the others. I can only speculate, but in fact, he was referred to as ‘quiet Kenny.’ Regardless, his playing has stood the test of time and is now considered some of the best and a must listen for any aspiring jazz trumpeter today. I myself had not heard of Kenny until trumpeter Dave Scott turned me on to him some years ago, asserting that Kenny was his favorite. To this day, I am utterly amazed and challenged by the music that Kenny composed in his improvisations.
[Read more]

Happy Birthday Art Farmer!

Happy Birthday Art Farmer!

Arthur Stewart Farmer, August 21, 1928 – October 4, 1999.

 I would like to say a special Happy Birthday to one of my personal mentors, Art Farmer. Art began performing as a jazz trumpeter in the 1940’s and 50’s. He, along with Clark Terry, was influential in bringing the flugelhorn into the sounds of jazz. He also later played what I just learned was called a Flumpet, a combination trumpet and flugelhorn designed for him by David Monette.
[Read more]

Mathias Eick

Recently I came across an upcoming jazz player, trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist, Mathias Eick. Mathias was the 2007 Recipient of the International Jazz Award for new talent. I was impressed with his style and sound. The Guardian aptly described his playing as, “silky un-brass like sound…an undulating groove landscape.”

Mathias has previously worked with the divergent likes of Chick Corea and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra to Norwegian psychedelic rock band Motorpsycho.
[Read more]

Happy Birthday Louis Daniel Armstrong!!

Happy Birthday Louis Daniel Armstrong!!
August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971, although Louis thought that he was born July 4, 1900!
Trumpeter, Vocalist, Bandleader, Actor, All-round Great Guy
[Read more]

Rising Star – Jeremy Pelt

As I promised in the ‘About’ section of this site, I will discover and promote as many modern day and up and coming artists as possible. Well today, I came across one such artist. He is a relatively young cat named Jeremy Pelt. From the pieces I have heard, he is truly an artist, one who not only sounds good but one truly expresses musical ideas in an experimental and expressive manner. A short while after graduating from Berklee College of Music in 1998, Jeremy began to play with the Minus Big Band in New York. Since that time he has had much success, voted rising star for five years in a row by Downbeat and featured on the cover of both Downbeat and Jazz Colour. He has been fortunate to play with some of today’s and yesterday’s jazz luminaries, including Ravi Coltrane, Vincent Herring, Nancy Wilson, Bobby “Blue” Bland, The Skatalites and many more. He has also been featured in the Roy Hargrove Band and the Duke Ellington Big Band.
[Read more]

Musical Colorist – Johnny Coles

As artists we must take in as many ideas, colors, textures, and sounds as possible, all of which become our own palette to draw from when we create. This is especially true in Jazz, as it is a collaborative art form where we learn from each other.

Well, last night, having worked too late into the evening, I wasn’t in the mood for high note antics or the like. You might say I was feeling a bit mellow. Thumbing through some CD’s I hadn’t listened to in a while, I came across ‘Little Johnny C,’ by Johnny Coles. I had forgotten what an experience it is to listen to this cat play. Oh man, I mean his sound lights a fire deep into my spine. Warm but cool, with shades of purple, green and yellow. While Johnny Coles is not a household name in the jazz world, as trumpeters he is one player that you should be familiar with. Johnny grew up in Philadelphia and started playing the trumpet at age ten. He was mostly self-taught, with the extent of his formal music training being received at a vocational high school. He played in army bands during the war years and thereafter began to play in various R&B groups, including Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson’s group, which included John Coltrane. After this period, Johnny hooked up with James Moody and played with his group from 1956-1958. When he left Moody, he began an association with Gil Evans that lasted until 1964. During those years he played on several Evans productions, including several Evans-Davis collaborations, such as ‘Porgy and Bess’ and ‘Sketches of Spain’. Some have commented that his association with Evans deprived him his just dessert and caused him to be seen as merely a Miles Davis understudy. Regardless, Mr. Coles exploited the fullness of his trumpet’s qualities, as he was truly a capable musical colorist that understood how to use a color’s shades well. After separating with Evans, he toured with the Charles Mingus group for a period. There is a Charles Mingus DVD set entitled ‘Live in ’64,’ that contains live footage of the group’s performances in Europe. Johnny also played with Herbie Hancock during 1968-69. A great chart to hear his genius on is entitled, ‘The Prisoner’ on the Herbie Hancock album of the same name. During the remainder of his life, Johnny played with Ray Charles, Duke Ellington and Count Basie, among others. You can enjoy the warm sound of Johnny Coles on these fine productions.

Shake, Rattle and Roll

“Shake, rattle and roll”, yes there’s some good vibrations going on in Lala land once again. 5.4 on the Richter today! I lived in LA during the last big Northridge Quake, what a trip!   LA always reminds me of a concert I had the privilege to attend while out there. It was dedicated to Dizzy Gillespie and held at the Hollywood Bowl, “To Diz with Love-Celebrating the Dizzy Gillespie Diamond Jubilee,” with Slide Hampton as Musical Director-and of course playing his bone. Freddie Hubbard played the lead trumpet part, along with a fairly young Roy Hargrove. Clark Terry, Harry “Sweets” Edison and Claudio Roditi were also playing in the trumpet section. At one point Dizzy came on stage all decked out in a bright yellow leisure suit and, of course, received an immediate standing ovation.  Having been a fan of his since middle school, it was quite a treat.  James Moody, David Sanchez and Paquito D’Rivera held down the saxophone section.
[Read more]