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Reminiscing in Tempo * Memories and Opinion _____      "Reminiscing in Tempo" is part of a continuing effort to provide Jerry Jazz Musician readers with unique forms of "edu-tainment." Every month (or as often as possible), Jerry Jazz Musician poses one question via e mail to a small number of prominent and diverse people. The question is designed to provoke a lively response that will potentially include the memories and/or opinion of those solicited.      Since it is not possible to know who will answer the question, the diversity of the participants will often depend on factors beyond the control of the publisher. The responses from the people who chose to participate in this edition are published below with only minor stylistic editing. No follow-up questions take place. _____ What recording session do you wish you could have witnessed? Originally published February, 2006 Herman Leonard * Photographer, famous for his portraits of jazz musicians during the 1950's; Marlon Brando's personal photographer in 1956; former European photographer for Playboy; entire collection of photographs is housed in the Smithsonian Institution's permanent archives of musical history      It was not too difficult for me to find an answer to your question.   Although I was privileged to witness many great sessions, the ones I most regret having missed were all the Miles Davis/Gil Evans series.   Combining these two geniuses with such great composers as Gershwin and Rodrigo has produced a monumental musical experience unlike any other in jazz history. These recordings will be the first on my list when I retire to that desert island. __________ Concierto De Aranjuez      I didn't think there were any at first -- but then -- seconds later I thought how interesting it would have been to be at an early Ella Fitzgerald session with Chick Webb and/or the Jazz at the Philharmonic concert recordings. Both situations were totally opposed to my quite "formal" recordings with Ella in later years of seventy-seven arrangements I did for her! __________ I'll Chase The Blues Away Buddy Bregman (with Ella Fitzgerald) * Producer, director, writer, composer, conductor, arranger in the fields of music, records, television and motion pictures; worked with Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, countless others Lalo Schifrin * Pianist, composer and conductor; Dizzy Gillespie's pianist and arranger; writer of over one hundred scores for films and television, among them Mission Impossible, Mannix, The Fox, Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt, and Dirty Harry; winner of four Grammy Awards, one Cable ACE Award, and has been nominated for an Oscar six times      To answer your question, the musical recording session that I wish I could have witnessed is: The studio recording of "Manteca" by Dizzy Gillespie, his big band, and Chano Pozo on congas in the 1940's. __________ Manteca      I wish I could have been sitting in a front row table at the Village Vanguard when Bill Evans recorded the Village Vanguard Sessions with his trio with Paul Motion and Scott LaFaro. __________ All Of You photo Susan Cook Jane Ira Bloom * Soprano saxophonist, composer; Arabesque Jazz recording artist; a pioneer in the use of live electronics and movement in jazz; has collaborated with jazz artists Kenny Wheeler, Charlie Haden, Rufus Reid, Bob Brookmeyer, Julian Priester, Jay Clayton, Bobby Previte, Fred Hersch, and many others Lee Tanner (with granddaughter Katie) * Photographer; work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Jazz Times, American Photo and Popular Photography; photos have appeared on the covers of LP's and CD's produced by Atlantic, Sony/Columbia, Verve, Fantasy, Rhino and Prestige; several collections of work is published in books, posters and calendars; author of Images of Jazz and Images of Blues      The Jazz at the Philharmonic Concert, Vol #4 in Los Angeles, with Nat Cole, piano and Les Paul, guitar on "Blues."  Illinois Jacquet (ts), Jack McVea (ts), J. J. Johnson (tb), “Shorty” Nadine ( = Nat King Cole) (p), Les Paul (g), Johnny Miller (b), Lee Young (ds).   Recorded live at the Philharmonic Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA, on July 02, 1944. __________ Flying Home      I'll be greedy and ask to be at the Louis Armstrong Hot Five sessions of December 4, 5 and 7, 1928. If I am allowed only one day, make it December 5 and the session that produced "Weather Bird." I want to be there when Armstrong and Earl Hines create their wild duet, a living metaphor for the independence, interdependence, imagination, musicianship and mastery of time that add up to jazz; a metaphor for what jazz is. __________ Weather Bird Doug Ramsey * Journalist, author of Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond; creator of Rifftides, a blog on jazz David Liebman * Saxophonist; composer; recording artist and leader of countless albums for ECM, A&M, Timeless, and others; has played with Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, Bob Moses, Chick Corea, John Scofield,; current group includes guitarist Vic Juris, bassist Tony Marino and drummer Marko Marcinko; has received several distinguished awards including two NEA grants for composition and performance; an Honorary Doctorate from the Sibelius Acadamy of Helsinki; Finland; a Grammy nomination for Best Solo Performance in 1998; induction into the International Association of Jazz Educator's Hall of Fame in 2000      That is a good question. I would say that almost any of the Impulse dates of the John Coltrane Quartet during the 1960s would've been great to hear. The reason is that the recordings of this group were so different from the live performances, many of which I witnessed. It would've been great to see how Trane changed the atmosphere in the studio to accomodate his objectives. __________ After The Rain      I think without question, the session I wish I could have witnessed is Kind of Blue. Like many musicians and fans, that record has always been an inspiration for me. I don't know how many copies I've worn out. __________ Blue In Green Bill Moody * Mystery writer; author of Looking for Chet Baker, Bird Lives! and three other Evan Horne novels; professional jazz drummer. Ingrid Jensen * Trumpeter; Enja recording artist; has performed with Terence Blanchard, Eddie Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Garrett and many others; currently on the faculty at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore      It’s all Miles dates for me. From Kind of Blue, to Nefertiti, Amandla and beyond. If I were to pick one session (actually sessions) it would be the Plugged Nickel. Even before reading Wayne Shorter’s book (Footprints) I found fresh energy and heavy inspiration from the playing of the entire band, especially Wayne. I have gained even deeper admiration for that particular period of ‘the quintet’ since reading about the process that was involved in the evolution of the music. Thanks to the band’s fearless approach to harmony, rhythm and interplay, jazz was given a fresh life and a wild new open range of territory to explore. As an improviser fortunate enough to be playing with like-minded players, I often refer back to the Plugged Nickel sessions to get a taste of what is available. Of course, as a trumpet-player brought up on Louis Armstrong, there is nothing like a good hit of Pops to make the day complete. Any session of Louis and his pals would have been a hoot for sure! __________ Milestones      As a historian, I am always interested in beginnings, those events from which so much that we know, treasure and take for granted sprang. If some time machine could transport me back (temporarily, please!) to the summer of 1890, I would quickly get myself to the modest storefront offices of the New Jersey Phonograph Company, 758 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey, to witness the first commercial recording session by a black artist, and the making of the first hit record by a black artist during the first decade of the record industry.      This seminal event has so fascinated me that I tried in my book Lost Sounds to imagine what it might have been like. The singer, an itinerant street musician from New York City named George W. Johnson, had been recruited by an ambitious young, white part-time employee named Victor Emerson. Emerson, 24, knew that the company was about to go under trying to sell the new-fangled phonograph as an office dictating machine, so he convinced his bosses to let him make a few musical records to see if they could sell some of those. Why, in those rigidly segregated times, was one of the very first people he brought in a black man? Johnson was nearly twice his age, a genial, older man (for those times), who starred nowhere but on street corners, whistling and singing for coins. Who chose the two songs he would sing, a silly novelty called "The Laughing Song" and a rather demeaning but also jovial minstrel tune called "The Whistling Coon"?       And how did this first attempt by a rank amateur to make some musical records by a black man to sell to white people actually unfold? There was no real studio, just a few Edison machines that recorded acoustically on wax cylinders, one at a time. Johnson would have to sing loudly into a funnel-shaped horn, hoping that the sound waves would cut deeply enough into the soft wax to produce a audible impression. And, since there was no way of duplicating the resulting cylinders, he would have to sing the same songs over and over again to create enough copies for Emerson to sell. (Maybe I wouldn't stay for the whole day.)      Was this choice of a middle-aged street busker to be the "first black recording artist" a happy accident? And was the choice of those two songs random? Emerson was either very lucky, or very smart. Johnson's two tunes, recorded by him over and over again, became the two biggest sellers of the 1890s, black or white. They were heard across the country and into the next century. They showed that whatever else white America thought of Negroes, they could certainly sell records, opening the doors first for a number of black quartets to record, then for established entertainers like Bert Williams and the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and eventually for early jazz musicians like Jim Europe and Wilbur Sweatman.      And all that started in a cramped little room at 758 Broad Street, Newark, New Jersey. I wish I could have been there. __________ Laughing Song Tim Brooks * Author of Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919, and Little Wonder Records: A History and Discography; coauthor of The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows and The Columbia Master Book Discography; Executive Vice President of Research at Lifetime Television; past President of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections Next edition's question: What do you remember about your first experience buying a record album or CD? * "Reminiscing in Tempo" Home Page

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