Kind of Blue - 50th Anniversary

The jazz world is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis' classic LP, Kind of Blue. Bop City has updated its playlist with the entire LP.

Kind of Blue, an album that sounds like it's never been in a good mood it didn't consider fleeting or a bad one it couldn't brood its way out of. When Davis and his band commenced recording in 1959, they settled on a new form of "modal" jazz that called for improvising through scales as opposed to preordained chord changes. And even if that doesn't sound apparent to an untrained musical ear, it's suggested by a spectral sense of wandering-an ease with uncertainty that comes across in no uncertain terms. Artists playing with Miles on Kind of Blue were Cannonball Adderly, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb.

Sony's Legacy Recordings has released a fabulous 50th anniversary edition of Kind of Blue. This will make a holiday gift that will never be forgotten for the jazz lovers in your life. You can help support Bop City's broadcast by purchasing this box set through the link below the box set's description.

The SUPER-DELUXE 12-INCH SLIPCASE BOX SET CONTAINS:

• Two CDs (original album plus studio sequences, false starts, and alternate takes from 1958-59 sessions, plus 17-minute “So What” live in Holland, 1960)
• DVD: newly-produced documentary featuring superstars of jazz
• 60-page ‘perfect-bound’ 12x12 full-color book, tons of photos
AND
• 180-gram blue vinyl 12-inch LP-first time ever in a Legacy box set!

In-depth liner note essays written by award-winning Miles Davis authorities Francis Davis and Gerald Early; session transcripts by Ashley Kahn; detailed 1957-60 quintet/sextet timeline by Bob Belden and Ken Vail

Box set memorabilia: 3-page hand-written liner notes by Bill Evans; reproduction of 1959 Columbia promo brochure; six 8"x10" photos; and 22"x 33" foldout poster.

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Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray - The Hunt

The Hunt also accrued its mythology because of its mention in two iconic books by Beat writers John Clellon Holmes and Jack Kerouac. John Clellon Holmes (1926-1988) was a writer, poet, and professor, best known for his 1952 book Go, considered the first "Beat" novel, which depicted events in his life with friends Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, and Allen Ginsberg. In Go, he writes, "The Hunt: listen there for the anthem in which we jettisoned the intellectual Dixieland of atheism, rationalism, liberalism—and found our group's rebel streak at last." Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) hardly needs an introduction. Not only is he the most famous Beat writer, he is credited with creating the term "Beat." In his novel, On the Road, the defining work of the postwar Beat Generation, he writes:

"They ate voraciously as Dean, sandwich in hand, stood bowed and jumping before the big phonograph, listening to a wild bop record I had just bought called "The Hunt," with Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray blowing their tops before a screaming audience that gave the record fantastic frenzied volume."

Dexter and Wardell recorded The Hunt at the Elks Auditorium, also known as the Elks Hall, the Elks Ballroom, and the Elks Club. Mention Elks or its street, Central Avenue, to a jazz fan and you will likely elicit a knowing bebop nod of the head and insider's smile; the mythology has immortalized the place and its better events. A listen of The Hunt reveals that the song "Cherokee" (also referred to as "Geronimo" and "Cherrykoke") sends the crowd into a frenzy—and rightly so. The playing sounds incredible, not least because of Dexter's sinuous lines that carry most of the song until Wardell joins in and intensifies the heat for the last two or three minutes. Sheer delight for the crowd then and listeners now. The concert recording is a reminder, though, that this music, bebop, emerges out of a thriving cultural community. Two thousand people with the music and with the musicians, listening and dancing. It's a Bebop moment, alright — Sunday, July 6th, 1947.

Franz Jackson 1912 - 2008

Franz Jackson was born in Rock Island, Illinois on November 1, 1912. He passed away on May 6, 2008.

Bob Koester of Jazz Record Mart and Delmark Records said, "With the passing of Franz Jackson, Chicago lost a kind and gentle man, an excellent reed player and band organizer and a valuable contact with jazz history."

A synopsis of his career and additional information can be found at The University of Chicago's Online Library.

The Keep Swinging Blog features an excellent two part posting on the career and life of Franz Jackson.

Milt Hinton - The Judge

Milt Hinton is one of the greatest jazz bassists to ever live. He has been nicknamed "The Judge" for his outstanding musical ability. Milt was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, on June 23, 1910. He lived in Vicksburg until the age of eleven when he moved to Chicago, Illinois. He attended Wendell Phillips High School and Crane Junior College. While attending these schools, Milt learned to play the bass horn, tuba, cello and the bass violin.

In the late 1920's and early 30s, Milt continued to live in Chicago, and he worked as a free lance musician. During this time, he worked with famous jazz musicians such as Jabbo Smith, Eddie South, and Art Tatum. In 1936, he joined a band led by Cab Calloway. Members of this band included Chu Berry, Cozy Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, Illinois Jacquet, Jonah Jones, Ike Quebec, Ben Webster, and Danny Barker.

Hinton possessed a formidable technique and was equally adept and bowing, pizzicato, and "slapping," a technique for which he became famous while playing with the big band of Cab Calloway in the 1930s. Unusually for a double bass player, Hinton was frequently given the spotlight by Calloway, taking virtuosic bass solos in tunes like "Pluckin' the Bass." His work can be heard on the Branford Marsalis album Trio Jeepy.

Also a fine photographer, Hinton documented many of the great jazz musicians via photographs he took over the course of his career. Milt Hinton was one of the best friends of the great jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong.

Purchase Milt Hinton's fabulous book of photography or these recordings that feature his bass work from Amazon and help support Bop City's broadcast.

Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was a jazz pianist and composer.

He is known for his unique improvisational style and many contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including his classic works "'Round Midnight" and "Blue Monk". Monk is often regarded as a founder of bebop although his playing style evolved away from the form. His compositions and improvisations often highlight rhythmic and spatial relationships rather than melody.

Links:
The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz

Bop City's Essential Recordings:

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was one of the most distinguished jazz musicians of the latter half of the 20th century. A trumpeter, bandleader and composer, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s. He played on some early bebop records and recorded the first cool jazz records. He was partially responsible for the development of modal jazz, and jazz fusion arose from his work with other musicians in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Free jazz was the only post-war jazz style not significantly influenced by Davis, although some musicians from his bands later pursued this style. His recordings, along with the live performances of his many influential bands, were vital in jazz's acceptance as music with lasting artistic value. A popularizer as well as an innovator, Davis became famous for his languid, melodic style and his laconic, and at times confrontational, personality. As an increasingly well-paid and fashionably-dressed jazz musician, Davis was also a symbol of jazz music's commercial potential.

Links:
Official Miles Davis Website
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Page

Bop City's Essential Recordings:

Charlie Parker

Charles "Bird" Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Early in his career Parker was dubbed "Yardbird" (there are many contradictory stories of its origin). It was later shortened to "Bird" and remained Parker's nickname for the rest of his life and inspiration for the titles of his works, such as "Yardbird Suite" and "Bird Feathers". The New York City nightclub Birdland was named after him, as was the George Shearing song "Lullaby of Birdland."

Parker is commonly considered one of the greatest jazz musicians, ranked with such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis. Jazz critic Scott Yanow speaks for many jazz fans and musicians when he states that "Parker was arguably the greatest saxophonist of all time." A founding father of bebop, Parker's innovative approach to melody, rhythm and harmony was enormously influential on his contemporaries, and his music remains an inspiration and resource for jazz and other musicians. Several of Parker's songs have become standards of the repertoire, such as "Billies Bounce" and "Anthropology".

Links:
The Official Charlie Parker Website
Discography

Bop City's Essential Recordings:

Art Blakey

Arthur (Art) Blakey (October 11, 1919–October 16, 1990), also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Along with Kenny Clarke and Max Roach, he was one of the inventors of the modern, bebop style of drumming. He was known as a powerful musician and a ferocious groover. He is undoubtedly one of the most influential jazz musicians ever; his brand of bluesy, funky hard bop was (and remains) profoundly influential on mainstream jazz.

Links:
ArtBlakey.com
Art Blakey at BlueNote.com

Bop City's Essential Recordings: