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Saturday July 27th, 2024, 10:00 PM – Deep Jazz. In the world of the Big Band, Count Basie is one of the big names. Basie’s orchestra, founded in the 1930s, continued to exist even after his death in 1984 and is alive and well to this day. The Count Basie Orchestra regularly collaborated with guest soloists, including vocalists. One of them was Frank Sinatra. Sinatra-Basie: An Historic Musical First was released in 1962. Two years later, the combination created the album It Might as Well Be Swing, led by arranger/conductor Quincy Jones. He expanded the orchestra with a string section. Vocalist + arranger + orchestra appear to be an ideal match. The key word in the album title is ‘Swing’. That creates an expectation. And that is amply fulfilled. I Wish You Love is the American version of a French Chanson from the 1940s. The song has been recorded by dozens of musicians, both instrumentally and vocally. There are versions in Italian and even Arabic. The piece opens with “Goodbye (….) This is where our story ends (…)” Text, minor key and strings create a melancholy mood. But after this introduction, the verse, it all changes to major! And who has the last word in the closing bars? The Count himself, with his musical signature. ———————————– The collaboration between orchestra and vocalist suits both parties well. Quincy Jones is also the arranger/conductor when the Sinatra-Basie tandem performs in Las Vegas. Sinatra at the Sands is the title of a live recording from 1966. It is Sinatra’s first live album to be released commercially. And this is also a swing party. Come Fly with Me, written in 1958 by Jimmy Van Heusen & Sammy Cahn, is a repertoire piece by Sinatra. He is in good spirits and communicates in a relaxed way with the audience and orchestra. He spreads the intro with a spoken story, and then starts the song rather abruptly. The arrangement builds tension and leads to a thrilling finale. Basie’s piano is also here – almost! – the point. “Don’t worry ’bout me, I’ll get along. Just you forget about me, Be happy, my love.”The love is really over now. How to deal with this… that’s what it’s about. A similarity with I Wish You Love. But the slow tempo and Sinatra’s tone and diction seem to be expressions of a different state of mind. “It was probably the most exciting engagement I have ever done in my life, since I started performing.” (Frank Sinatra on the concerts at The Sands in 1966) Playlist in the Guide Deep Jazz – Hans Mantel

Saturday July 20th, 2024, 5:00 PM – House of Hard Bop. Wonderboy Lee Morgan (photo) made his recording debut with Blue Note Records in 1956, when he was 18 years old! – Lee Morgan Indeed! His discography with the top label will amount to more than 25 titles. Two years later, in 1958, he became the frontman of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. A meteoric career. That career, by the way not a level one, came to a dramatic end after fifteen years. A gunshot from his ex kills him. Morgan will then be 33. He is influenced by trumpet virtuosos Dizzy Gillespie and Clifford Brown. With flawless technique, mastery of the high register and a powerful tone, Morgan exudes fire from his instrument. Especially in his younger years, he never allowed himself a moment’s rest in up-tempo solos. Later, under the influence of Miles Davis, he teaches himself to create more ‘space’. Morgan: “You have to learn how to use space. If there hadn’t been Miles, I probably would still be trying to put in as much as I could get into a chorus.” One day after his debut recording Lee Morgan Indeed! he is asked to replace trumpeter Art Farmer in a studio session (Savoy) by tenorist Hank Mobley. Savoy releases the album under the title Introducing Lee Morgan. Morgan’s photo on the cover, his name in large letters, the name Mobley barely legible. Hank wouldn’t have been happy about that. And neither is Blue Note. Hank Jones piano – Doug Watkins bass – Art Taylor drums. You will hear all seven pieces. Hank’s Shout, a composition by Mobley, is the energetic opening. The blues form is also audible in the theme: a-a-b. Nostalgia (Fats Navarro) slows down a bit. Intro by pianist Hank Jones, with his pleasantly subtle touch. Relaxed solo by Morgan on stopped trumpet. Before resuming the theme, a four-by-four dialogue between tenor and trumpet. The pace of Nostalgia is maintained in Bet by Doug Watkins. After the unison theme, trumpet, sax, piano and bass each improvise two choruses, after which drummer Taylor also makes himself heard. The remaining four, somewhat shorter pieces flow into each other without interruption – a medley. Each piece features a different soloist. Everyone has their turn, except the drummer. 4. The standard Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise is a feature for bassist Watkins. The transition to the ballad 5. P.S. I Love You is not going smoothly. There is also that break in the tempo. Morgan solos. 6. The ballad tempo remains in Easy Living. Hank Jones. 7. Hank Mobley closes with That’s All. ——————————————- Four years later, Lee-Way, also spelled Leeway, appears on Blue Note. (Don’t miss the pun in the title.) Next to Morgan is altoist Jackie McLean. Furthermore, with Bobby Timmons piano, Paul Chambers bass – borrowed from Miles Davis – and Art Blakey drums. A line-up with a high Jazz Messengers quality. Morgan himself, as pianist and drummer, has been part of this top notch hard bop quintet since 1958. With tenorist Benny Golson and bassist Jymie Merritt, the Messengers line-up, with pieces such as Moanin’ and Blues March, will go down in history as ‘legendary’. These Are Soulful Days is a composition by Cal Massey. (More about this lesser-known trumpeter/composer in the next News item.) The theme contains a nice bit of asymmetry. Bassist Paul Chambers opens the improvisational choruses. Morgan, strikingly, takes the last solo. Art Blakey keeps quiet, but in the closing bars he comes up with his characteristic triplet pep figure. Midtown Blues by Jackie McLean throws us into the Soul atmosphere. Drummer Blakey opts for a – also characteristic – backbeat that he never lets go. More from this album in the next broadcast. House of Hard Bop – Eric Ineke

Saturday July 13th, 2024, 4:00 PM – Moanin’ the Blues. He did not like to tour, preferring to stay in his hometown of Houston (Texas). His music did cross state and national borders via gramophone records – (My woman has a) Black Cat Bone became a standard. Rock guitarists such as Rolling Stone Ron Wood and Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac were influenced by blues legend Hop Wilson (1921-1975). Ron Wood: “There’s another guitar player called Hop Wilson. I got songs that I wrote like ‘Black Limousine’ from him, those kinds of licks.” Hop Wilson had a raw, powerful voice, but his guitar playing became his trademark. He used an eight-string steel guitar – a horizontally played, fretless instrument. A steel bar in the left hand ‘slides’ over the strings, creating the characteristic sound. Wilson’s sliding style was unique. And influential. And he liked a spicy sound. You will hear more than twenty pieces, including his first single Chicken Stuff. Playlist in the Guide.

Exclusive Gerald Clayton piano recital in Utrecht film studio ConcertLab, new platform for international top musicians. On Monday evening, July 15th, American Blue Note pianist Gerald Clayton will make a special stopover during his European tour in Utrecht to give an exclusive first solo recital for ConcertLab. This is the only concert the pianist will be giving in the Netherlands for the time being. Gerald Clayton’s performance is an initiative of ConcertLab, the world’s first high-tech studio, specially designed for filming acoustic music. Here, international top musicians from the jazz, classical and pop worlds have the opportunity to make high-quality film recordings of repertoire of their own choosing, at the invitation of ConcertLab. This is captured with an ‘indoor drone’ camera developed by ConcertLab itself, which floats silently through the entire space and films the artist from all conceivable angles. The sound is recorded separately and optimally as ‘Dolby Atmos spatial audio’ with skilled technicians and high-quality equipment. And then there are the beautiful acoustics of Gasthuis Leeuwenbergh, the location where the ConcertLab performances and film recordings are recorded. The Leeuwenbergh is a monumental national monument from 1567 in the historic city center of Utrecht. It was built as a plague house and has had a variety of functions over the past centuries, from guest and hospital, barracks and chemical laboratory to concert hall. Gerald Clayton’s recital is the first of which many will follow in the future. Do not miss it! Tickets are available for €25 | Address: Leeuwenbergh, Servaasbolwerk 1A | Start: 8 p.m. | More info: concertlab.com | lionenbergh.me https://www.eventbrite.nl/e/gerald-clayton-piano-solo-recital-at-concertlab-tickets-933690041047