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Who Passed in 2014: Jazz-Nekrolog 2014 – Wikipedia

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http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz-Nekrolog_2014#Dezember

Horace Silver 2. September 1928 – 18. Juni 2014

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Remembering Sam Cooke 50 Years After His Death – Speakeasy – WSJ

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http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/12/09/remembering-sam-cooke-50-years-after-his-death/?KEYWORDS=jim+fusilli

** Remembering Sam Cooke 50 Years After His Death
————————————————————

Sam Cooke performing on television in the early 1960s
Everett Collection

Sam Cooke died 50 years ago this week, an anniversary that is receiving little or no organized fanfare. It’s not that Cooke is entirely forgotten: His 1960 hit “(What A) Wonderful World” – “Don’t know much about history…” – has been streamed more than 15 million times on Spotify,and his reading of his civil-rights anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come” is approaching 10 million streams on the service.

In 2005, he was the subject of “Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke,” a comprehensive biography by Peter Guralnick, who documented the life of Elvis Presley with similar thoroughness.

RCA issued an eight-disk boxed set of Cooke’s music in 2012 and a decade before that, Specialty released a three-disk set of his recordings with the Soul Stirrers, the gospel giants. The documentary “Crossing Over” was broadcast in 2011 on PBS’s “American Masters” series. Cobbled together, all that may add up to an ample tribute, but it seems short of enough for Cooke, whose contribution to American music and the way African-American musicians were to be perceived should not be lost to misty memory.

Considering Cooke was at work in popular music at the same time as James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Etta James, Little Willie John and Little Richard, among others, it may seem dubious to claim he was the greatest of his era, but few would’ve thought it outrageous a half-century ago. Between 1957 and after his death at age 33, Cooke had 30 hits on the Billboard singles charts including “You Send Me,” “Chain Gang,” “Cupid,” “Twistin’ the Night Away,” “Bring It On Home to Me” and “Another Saturday Night” – all of which he wrote.

On stage, he conveyed cool confidence, which in its quiet, sensuous way was every bit as dynamic as the sweat-dripping performances of his contemporary, the great Jackie Wilson. Aware his music appealed equally to both white and African-American audiences, Cooke sought the status not of his R&B counterparts, but mainstream stars Harry Belafonte, Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis and Frank Sinatra. Taking the long view, he ran his own record label, owned his publishing rights, composed for other singers and employed the best musicians regardless of race. “I have organized my career on a business-like basis,” he told the Pittsburgh Courier in 1960.

Cooke knew where he was headed from his childhood days in Chicago Heights, where his family relocated from Clarksdale, Mississippi. L.C. Cooke, a terrific soul singer in his own right, reported that his older brother articulated his ambitions while still in grade school: To prepare for public life, he jabbed Popsicle sticks into the ground and sang to them as if they were an audience. Having impressed gospel fans as lead tenor with the QCs, in 1950 he replaced the influential R.H. Harris in the Soul Stirrers. Given the popularity of gospel at the time – Ebony magazine reported that gospel singers were selling more records than were popular crooners and blues artist – it was a career-making move.

In retrospect, the seeds of Cooke’s career in pop and R&B are evident in the Soul Stirrers’ “He’s My Friend Until the End,” “Wonderful,” the somber ballad “Any Day Now,” the Cooke composition “Nearer to Thee” and other gospel hits in which he was featured. Gospel singers like Clyde McPhatter and the Orioles’ Sonny Til had crossed over to secular music, and Ray Charles and Willie Dixon had based hits on gospel tunes. A path had been cleared, and in ’57, Cooke left the Soul Stirrers to become a pop star.

With guitarist Clif White, who had backed the Mills Brothers, Cooke cut “You Send Me,” which was a number-one hit on the Billboard R&B and Pop charts. Rooted in gospel – it featured some of the same vocal filigrees he used in “Wonderful” – “You Send Me” also had the candor of folk music and it helped usher in a form of American music known as soul. Two albums cut in ’63 reveal his many sides: the limber, rough-edged live set recorded with King Curtis at the Harlem Square Club in Miami; and the intimate, gospel- and blues-inspired “Night Beat.”

Subjected often to racism, in time Cooke came to refuse to perform before segregated audiences, following the lead of Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, McPhatter and others. After the August 1963 march on Washington that featured Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech and performances by Marian Anderson and Mahalia Jackson, Cooke, inspired in part by Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” wrote “A Change is Gonna Come.” He sang it once in public: On “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” Two days later, the Beatles made their first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” an event that elbowed aside soul and R&B for many American music fans.

By the time “A Change Is Gonna Come” was released as a single, Cooke was dead, shot by a motel owner after he protested vehemently that a woman who turned out to be a prostitute had taken off with his cash and clothes. His body lay in state before thousands of fans in Los Angeles and Chicago.

Today Cooke is part of the pop pantheon, but perhaps not with the status he deserves as a quintessential Americana artist and music-business role model. The 50^th anniversary of his death is a good time to revisit his contribution to popular music and revel in his enormous talent.

For the latest entertainment news

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Remembering Sam Cooke 50 Years After His Death – Speakeasy – WSJ

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http://twitter.com/#!/jazzpromo https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jazz-Promo-Services/216022288429676

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/12/09/remembering-sam-cooke-50-years-after-his-death/?KEYWORDS=jim+fusilli

** Remembering Sam Cooke 50 Years After His Death
————————————————————

Sam Cooke performing on television in the early 1960s
Everett Collection

Sam Cooke died 50 years ago this week, an anniversary that is receiving little or no organized fanfare. It’s not that Cooke is entirely forgotten: His 1960 hit “(What A) Wonderful World” – “Don’t know much about history…” – has been streamed more than 15 million times on Spotify,and his reading of his civil-rights anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come” is approaching 10 million streams on the service.

In 2005, he was the subject of “Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke,” a comprehensive biography by Peter Guralnick, who documented the life of Elvis Presley with similar thoroughness.

RCA issued an eight-disk boxed set of Cooke’s music in 2012 and a decade before that, Specialty released a three-disk set of his recordings with the Soul Stirrers, the gospel giants. The documentary “Crossing Over” was broadcast in 2011 on PBS’s “American Masters” series. Cobbled together, all that may add up to an ample tribute, but it seems short of enough for Cooke, whose contribution to American music and the way African-American musicians were to be perceived should not be lost to misty memory.

Considering Cooke was at work in popular music at the same time as James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Etta James, Little Willie John and Little Richard, among others, it may seem dubious to claim he was the greatest of his era, but few would’ve thought it outrageous a half-century ago. Between 1957 and after his death at age 33, Cooke had 30 hits on the Billboard singles charts including “You Send Me,” “Chain Gang,” “Cupid,” “Twistin’ the Night Away,” “Bring It On Home to Me” and “Another Saturday Night” – all of which he wrote.

On stage, he conveyed cool confidence, which in its quiet, sensuous way was every bit as dynamic as the sweat-dripping performances of his contemporary, the great Jackie Wilson. Aware his music appealed equally to both white and African-American audiences, Cooke sought the status not of his R&B counterparts, but mainstream stars Harry Belafonte, Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis and Frank Sinatra. Taking the long view, he ran his own record label, owned his publishing rights, composed for other singers and employed the best musicians regardless of race. “I have organized my career on a business-like basis,” he told the Pittsburgh Courier in 1960.

Cooke knew where he was headed from his childhood days in Chicago Heights, where his family relocated from Clarksdale, Mississippi. L.C. Cooke, a terrific soul singer in his own right, reported that his older brother articulated his ambitions while still in grade school: To prepare for public life, he jabbed Popsicle sticks into the ground and sang to them as if they were an audience. Having impressed gospel fans as lead tenor with the QCs, in 1950 he replaced the influential R.H. Harris in the Soul Stirrers. Given the popularity of gospel at the time – Ebony magazine reported that gospel singers were selling more records than were popular crooners and blues artist – it was a career-making move.

In retrospect, the seeds of Cooke’s career in pop and R&B are evident in the Soul Stirrers’ “He’s My Friend Until the End,” “Wonderful,” the somber ballad “Any Day Now,” the Cooke composition “Nearer to Thee” and other gospel hits in which he was featured. Gospel singers like Clyde McPhatter and the Orioles’ Sonny Til had crossed over to secular music, and Ray Charles and Willie Dixon had based hits on gospel tunes. A path had been cleared, and in ’57, Cooke left the Soul Stirrers to become a pop star.

With guitarist Clif White, who had backed the Mills Brothers, Cooke cut “You Send Me,” which was a number-one hit on the Billboard R&B and Pop charts. Rooted in gospel – it featured some of the same vocal filigrees he used in “Wonderful” – “You Send Me” also had the candor of folk music and it helped usher in a form of American music known as soul. Two albums cut in ’63 reveal his many sides: the limber, rough-edged live set recorded with King Curtis at the Harlem Square Club in Miami; and the intimate, gospel- and blues-inspired “Night Beat.”

Subjected often to racism, in time Cooke came to refuse to perform before segregated audiences, following the lead of Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, McPhatter and others. After the August 1963 march on Washington that featured Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech and performances by Marian Anderson and Mahalia Jackson, Cooke, inspired in part by Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” wrote “A Change is Gonna Come.” He sang it once in public: On “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” Two days later, the Beatles made their first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” an event that elbowed aside soul and R&B for many American music fans.

By the time “A Change Is Gonna Come” was released as a single, Cooke was dead, shot by a motel owner after he protested vehemently that a woman who turned out to be a prostitute had taken off with his cash and clothes. His body lay in state before thousands of fans in Los Angeles and Chicago.

Today Cooke is part of the pop pantheon, but perhaps not with the status he deserves as a quintessential Americana artist and music-business role model. The 50^th anniversary of his death is a good time to revisit his contribution to popular music and revel in his enormous talent.

For the latest entertainment news

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=8a787e6cff) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=8a787e6cff&e=[UNIQID])

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Copyright (C) 2014 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Remembering Sam Cooke 50 Years After His Death – Speakeasy – WSJ

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/jazzpromo https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jazz-Promo-Services/216022288429676

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/12/09/remembering-sam-cooke-50-years-after-his-death/?KEYWORDS=jim+fusilli

** Remembering Sam Cooke 50 Years After His Death
————————————————————

Sam Cooke performing on television in the early 1960s
Everett Collection

Sam Cooke died 50 years ago this week, an anniversary that is receiving little or no organized fanfare. It’s not that Cooke is entirely forgotten: His 1960 hit “(What A) Wonderful World” – “Don’t know much about history…” – has been streamed more than 15 million times on Spotify,and his reading of his civil-rights anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come” is approaching 10 million streams on the service.

In 2005, he was the subject of “Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke,” a comprehensive biography by Peter Guralnick, who documented the life of Elvis Presley with similar thoroughness.

RCA issued an eight-disk boxed set of Cooke’s music in 2012 and a decade before that, Specialty released a three-disk set of his recordings with the Soul Stirrers, the gospel giants. The documentary “Crossing Over” was broadcast in 2011 on PBS’s “American Masters” series. Cobbled together, all that may add up to an ample tribute, but it seems short of enough for Cooke, whose contribution to American music and the way African-American musicians were to be perceived should not be lost to misty memory.

Considering Cooke was at work in popular music at the same time as James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Etta James, Little Willie John and Little Richard, among others, it may seem dubious to claim he was the greatest of his era, but few would’ve thought it outrageous a half-century ago. Between 1957 and after his death at age 33, Cooke had 30 hits on the Billboard singles charts including “You Send Me,” “Chain Gang,” “Cupid,” “Twistin’ the Night Away,” “Bring It On Home to Me” and “Another Saturday Night” – all of which he wrote.

On stage, he conveyed cool confidence, which in its quiet, sensuous way was every bit as dynamic as the sweat-dripping performances of his contemporary, the great Jackie Wilson. Aware his music appealed equally to both white and African-American audiences, Cooke sought the status not of his R&B counterparts, but mainstream stars Harry Belafonte, Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis and Frank Sinatra. Taking the long view, he ran his own record label, owned his publishing rights, composed for other singers and employed the best musicians regardless of race. “I have organized my career on a business-like basis,” he told the Pittsburgh Courier in 1960.

Cooke knew where he was headed from his childhood days in Chicago Heights, where his family relocated from Clarksdale, Mississippi. L.C. Cooke, a terrific soul singer in his own right, reported that his older brother articulated his ambitions while still in grade school: To prepare for public life, he jabbed Popsicle sticks into the ground and sang to them as if they were an audience. Having impressed gospel fans as lead tenor with the QCs, in 1950 he replaced the influential R.H. Harris in the Soul Stirrers. Given the popularity of gospel at the time – Ebony magazine reported that gospel singers were selling more records than were popular crooners and blues artist – it was a career-making move.

In retrospect, the seeds of Cooke’s career in pop and R&B are evident in the Soul Stirrers’ “He’s My Friend Until the End,” “Wonderful,” the somber ballad “Any Day Now,” the Cooke composition “Nearer to Thee” and other gospel hits in which he was featured. Gospel singers like Clyde McPhatter and the Orioles’ Sonny Til had crossed over to secular music, and Ray Charles and Willie Dixon had based hits on gospel tunes. A path had been cleared, and in ’57, Cooke left the Soul Stirrers to become a pop star.

With guitarist Clif White, who had backed the Mills Brothers, Cooke cut “You Send Me,” which was a number-one hit on the Billboard R&B and Pop charts. Rooted in gospel – it featured some of the same vocal filigrees he used in “Wonderful” – “You Send Me” also had the candor of folk music and it helped usher in a form of American music known as soul. Two albums cut in ’63 reveal his many sides: the limber, rough-edged live set recorded with King Curtis at the Harlem Square Club in Miami; and the intimate, gospel- and blues-inspired “Night Beat.”

Subjected often to racism, in time Cooke came to refuse to perform before segregated audiences, following the lead of Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, McPhatter and others. After the August 1963 march on Washington that featured Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech and performances by Marian Anderson and Mahalia Jackson, Cooke, inspired in part by Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” wrote “A Change is Gonna Come.” He sang it once in public: On “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” Two days later, the Beatles made their first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” an event that elbowed aside soul and R&B for many American music fans.

By the time “A Change Is Gonna Come” was released as a single, Cooke was dead, shot by a motel owner after he protested vehemently that a woman who turned out to be a prostitute had taken off with his cash and clothes. His body lay in state before thousands of fans in Los Angeles and Chicago.

Today Cooke is part of the pop pantheon, but perhaps not with the status he deserves as a quintessential Americana artist and music-business role model. The 50^th anniversary of his death is a good time to revisit his contribution to popular music and revel in his enormous talent.

For the latest entertainment news

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=8a787e6cff) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=8a787e6cff&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2014 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

The new Chairman Of The Board: Bob Dylan Will ‘Uncover’ Frank Sinatra Classics on New Album | Rolling Stone

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http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-frank-sinatra-new-album-20141209

** Bob Dylan Will ‘Uncover’ Frank Sinatra Classics on New Album
————————————————————
Bob Dylan
By Andy Greene (safari-reader://www.rollingstone.com/contributor/andy-greene) | December 9, 2014

After months of rumors, Bob Dylan (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/bob-dylan) has finally announced the details of his upcoming record Shadows in the Night. Produced by Dylan under his longtime pseudonym Jack Frost, the album features 10 songs popularized by Frank Sinatra, including “Autumn Leaves,” “Some Enchanted Evening,” “The Night We Called It a Day” and “I’m a Fool to Want You.” It hits stores on February 3rd, 2015, but is now available for pre-order (http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Night-Bob-Dylan/dp/B00Q7SKT28/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1418136579&sr=8-13&keywords=bob+dylan+shadows+in+the+night) .

“It was a real privilege to make this album,” Dylan said in a statement. “I’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time but was never brave enough to approach 30-piece complicated arrangements and refine them down for a five-piece band. That’s the key to all these performances.

“We knew these songs extremely well. It was all done live. Maybe one or two takes. No overdubbing. No vocal booths. No headphones. No separate tracking, and, for the most part, mixed as it was recorded. I don’t see myself as covering these songs in any way. They’ve been covered enough. Buried, as a matter a fact. What me and my band are basically doing is uncovering them. Lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day.”

Dylan released his cover (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-releases-frank-sinatra-cover-plans-new-album-20140513) of the album track “Full Moon and Empty Arms” in May and began playing “Stay With Me” on tour a few months later. The rest of the tracks have yet to be heard. “There are no strings, obvious horns, background vocals or other such devices often found on albums that feature standard ballads,” Columbia Records Chairman Rob Stringer said in a statement. “Instead, Bob has managed to find a way to infuse these songs with new life and contemporary relevance. It is a brilliant record and we are extremely excited to be presenting it to the world very soon.”

Dylan wrapped up the 2014 leg of his Never Ending Tour last week with a show at New York’s Beacon Theater (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/live-reviews/bob-dylan-closes-2014-tour-with-masterful-beacon-theatre-gig-20141204) . He’s expected to continue the tour next year, but has yet to announce any dates.

Shadows in the Night track listing:

1. “I’m a Fool to Want You”
2. “The Night We Called It a Day”
3. “Stay With Me”
4. “Autumn Leaves”
5. “Why Try to Change Me Now”
6. “Some Enchanted Evening”
7. “Full Moon and Empty Arms”
8. “Where Are You?
9. “What’ll I Do”
10. “That Lucky Old Sun”

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Copyright (C) 2014 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

The new Chairman Of The Board: Bob Dylan Will ‘Uncover’ Frank Sinatra Classics on New Album | Rolling Stone

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http://twitter.com/#!/jazzpromo https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jazz-Promo-Services/216022288429676

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-frank-sinatra-new-album-20141209

** Bob Dylan Will ‘Uncover’ Frank Sinatra Classics on New Album
————————————————————
Bob Dylan
By Andy Greene (safari-reader://www.rollingstone.com/contributor/andy-greene) | December 9, 2014

After months of rumors, Bob Dylan (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/bob-dylan) has finally announced the details of his upcoming record Shadows in the Night. Produced by Dylan under his longtime pseudonym Jack Frost, the album features 10 songs popularized by Frank Sinatra, including “Autumn Leaves,” “Some Enchanted Evening,” “The Night We Called It a Day” and “I’m a Fool to Want You.” It hits stores on February 3rd, 2015, but is now available for pre-order (http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Night-Bob-Dylan/dp/B00Q7SKT28/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1418136579&sr=8-13&keywords=bob+dylan+shadows+in+the+night) .

“It was a real privilege to make this album,” Dylan said in a statement. “I’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time but was never brave enough to approach 30-piece complicated arrangements and refine them down for a five-piece band. That’s the key to all these performances.

“We knew these songs extremely well. It was all done live. Maybe one or two takes. No overdubbing. No vocal booths. No headphones. No separate tracking, and, for the most part, mixed as it was recorded. I don’t see myself as covering these songs in any way. They’ve been covered enough. Buried, as a matter a fact. What me and my band are basically doing is uncovering them. Lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day.”

Dylan released his cover (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-releases-frank-sinatra-cover-plans-new-album-20140513) of the album track “Full Moon and Empty Arms” in May and began playing “Stay With Me” on tour a few months later. The rest of the tracks have yet to be heard. “There are no strings, obvious horns, background vocals or other such devices often found on albums that feature standard ballads,” Columbia Records Chairman Rob Stringer said in a statement. “Instead, Bob has managed to find a way to infuse these songs with new life and contemporary relevance. It is a brilliant record and we are extremely excited to be presenting it to the world very soon.”

Dylan wrapped up the 2014 leg of his Never Ending Tour last week with a show at New York’s Beacon Theater (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/live-reviews/bob-dylan-closes-2014-tour-with-masterful-beacon-theatre-gig-20141204) . He’s expected to continue the tour next year, but has yet to announce any dates.

Shadows in the Night track listing:

1. “I’m a Fool to Want You”
2. “The Night We Called It a Day”
3. “Stay With Me”
4. “Autumn Leaves”
5. “Why Try to Change Me Now”
6. “Some Enchanted Evening”
7. “Full Moon and Empty Arms”
8. “Where Are You?
9. “What’ll I Do”
10. “That Lucky Old Sun”

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=858007d4d6) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=858007d4d6&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2014 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

The new Chairman Of The Board: Bob Dylan Will ‘Uncover’ Frank Sinatra Classics on New Album | Rolling Stone

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http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-frank-sinatra-new-album-20141209

** Bob Dylan Will ‘Uncover’ Frank Sinatra Classics on New Album
————————————————————
Bob Dylan
By Andy Greene (safari-reader://www.rollingstone.com/contributor/andy-greene) | December 9, 2014

After months of rumors, Bob Dylan (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/bob-dylan) has finally announced the details of his upcoming record Shadows in the Night. Produced by Dylan under his longtime pseudonym Jack Frost, the album features 10 songs popularized by Frank Sinatra, including “Autumn Leaves,” “Some Enchanted Evening,” “The Night We Called It a Day” and “I’m a Fool to Want You.” It hits stores on February 3rd, 2015, but is now available for pre-order (http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Night-Bob-Dylan/dp/B00Q7SKT28/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1418136579&sr=8-13&keywords=bob+dylan+shadows+in+the+night) .

“It was a real privilege to make this album,” Dylan said in a statement. “I’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time but was never brave enough to approach 30-piece complicated arrangements and refine them down for a five-piece band. That’s the key to all these performances.

“We knew these songs extremely well. It was all done live. Maybe one or two takes. No overdubbing. No vocal booths. No headphones. No separate tracking, and, for the most part, mixed as it was recorded. I don’t see myself as covering these songs in any way. They’ve been covered enough. Buried, as a matter a fact. What me and my band are basically doing is uncovering them. Lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day.”

Dylan released his cover (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bob-dylan-releases-frank-sinatra-cover-plans-new-album-20140513) of the album track “Full Moon and Empty Arms” in May and began playing “Stay With Me” on tour a few months later. The rest of the tracks have yet to be heard. “There are no strings, obvious horns, background vocals or other such devices often found on albums that feature standard ballads,” Columbia Records Chairman Rob Stringer said in a statement. “Instead, Bob has managed to find a way to infuse these songs with new life and contemporary relevance. It is a brilliant record and we are extremely excited to be presenting it to the world very soon.”

Dylan wrapped up the 2014 leg of his Never Ending Tour last week with a show at New York’s Beacon Theater (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/live-reviews/bob-dylan-closes-2014-tour-with-masterful-beacon-theatre-gig-20141204) . He’s expected to continue the tour next year, but has yet to announce any dates.

Shadows in the Night track listing:

1. “I’m a Fool to Want You”
2. “The Night We Called It a Day”
3. “Stay With Me”
4. “Autumn Leaves”
5. “Why Try to Change Me Now”
6. “Some Enchanted Evening”
7. “Full Moon and Empty Arms”
8. “Where Are You?
9. “What’ll I Do”
10. “That Lucky Old Sun”

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Videos: Bud Powell in Europe – JazzWax

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** Videos: Bud Powell in Europe
————————————————————

http://marcmyers.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008dca1f0883401b7c71b7b60970b-popup
Yesterday it poured in New York with a whipping wind, turning the city into the inside of a car wash. As always, I spent the day indoors writing (except for my daily pre-dawn swim). For some reason the weather made me want to listen to The Complete Bud Powell on Verve (http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Bud-Powell-Verve/dp/B001O4R0OU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418158265&sr=8-1&keywords=complete+bud+powell+on+verve&pebp=1418158269006) .

http://marcmyers.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008dca1f0883401b7c71b85a5970b-popup
No other jazz pianist had a greater influence on other pianists in the late 1940s and 1950s than Powell. While Art Tatum left a deep impression on Charlie Parker and other high-velocity reed and trumpet players, Powell’s attack and keyboard elegance can be heard in virtually every pianist on the East and West coasts up until Bill Evans, who also had some Bud in his hands. Excluding Thelonious Monk, of course.

After listening to Powell on Verve, I turned to YouTube and found these three gems:

Dig (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73tY15sDM24) Bud Powell and singer Trudy Peters on I Cover the Waterfront in 1960. Love the juxtaposition between Peters’ glassy eyes and Powell’s mouthing of notes. But who was Trudy Peters and where is she now?…

Here’s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSstSaegTaA) Powell in France in July 1960 with Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy (as), Ted Curson (tp), Booker Ervin (ts) and Danny Richmond (d). Dig Powell’s monster, flawless solo, rendering the horns redundant…

And here’s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaSDinL6pC8) Bud Powell in Copenhagen in 1962…

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Videos: Bud Powell in Europe – JazzWax

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** Videos: Bud Powell in Europe
————————————————————

http://marcmyers.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008dca1f0883401b7c71b7b60970b-popup
Yesterday it poured in New York with a whipping wind, turning the city into the inside of a car wash. As always, I spent the day indoors writing (except for my daily pre-dawn swim). For some reason the weather made me want to listen to The Complete Bud Powell on Verve (http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Bud-Powell-Verve/dp/B001O4R0OU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418158265&sr=8-1&keywords=complete+bud+powell+on+verve&pebp=1418158269006) .

http://marcmyers.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008dca1f0883401b7c71b85a5970b-popup
No other jazz pianist had a greater influence on other pianists in the late 1940s and 1950s than Powell. While Art Tatum left a deep impression on Charlie Parker and other high-velocity reed and trumpet players, Powell’s attack and keyboard elegance can be heard in virtually every pianist on the East and West coasts up until Bill Evans, who also had some Bud in his hands. Excluding Thelonious Monk, of course.

After listening to Powell on Verve, I turned to YouTube and found these three gems:

Dig (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73tY15sDM24) Bud Powell and singer Trudy Peters on I Cover the Waterfront in 1960. Love the juxtaposition between Peters’ glassy eyes and Powell’s mouthing of notes. But who was Trudy Peters and where is she now?…

Here’s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSstSaegTaA) Powell in France in July 1960 with Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy (as), Ted Curson (tp), Booker Ervin (ts) and Danny Richmond (d). Dig Powell’s monster, flawless solo, rendering the horns redundant…

And here’s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaSDinL6pC8) Bud Powell in Copenhagen in 1962…

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=6459ac1da9) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=6459ac1da9&e=[UNIQID])

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Copyright (C) 2014 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Videos: Bud Powell in Europe – JazzWax

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/jazzpromo https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jazz-Promo-Services/216022288429676

http://www.jazzwax.com/2014/12/videos-bud-powell-in-europe.html?utm_source=feedburner

** Videos: Bud Powell in Europe
————————————————————

http://marcmyers.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008dca1f0883401b7c71b7b60970b-popup
Yesterday it poured in New York with a whipping wind, turning the city into the inside of a car wash. As always, I spent the day indoors writing (except for my daily pre-dawn swim). For some reason the weather made me want to listen to The Complete Bud Powell on Verve (http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Bud-Powell-Verve/dp/B001O4R0OU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418158265&sr=8-1&keywords=complete+bud+powell+on+verve&pebp=1418158269006) .

http://marcmyers.typepad.com/.a/6a00e008dca1f0883401b7c71b85a5970b-popup
No other jazz pianist had a greater influence on other pianists in the late 1940s and 1950s than Powell. While Art Tatum left a deep impression on Charlie Parker and other high-velocity reed and trumpet players, Powell’s attack and keyboard elegance can be heard in virtually every pianist on the East and West coasts up until Bill Evans, who also had some Bud in his hands. Excluding Thelonious Monk, of course.

After listening to Powell on Verve, I turned to YouTube and found these three gems:

Dig (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73tY15sDM24) Bud Powell and singer Trudy Peters on I Cover the Waterfront in 1960. Love the juxtaposition between Peters’ glassy eyes and Powell’s mouthing of notes. But who was Trudy Peters and where is she now?…

Here’s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSstSaegTaA) Powell in France in July 1960 with Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy (as), Ted Curson (tp), Booker Ervin (ts) and Danny Richmond (d). Dig Powell’s monster, flawless solo, rendering the horns redundant…

And here’s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaSDinL6pC8) Bud Powell in Copenhagen in 1962…

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=6459ac1da9) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=6459ac1da9&e=[UNIQID])

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269 State Route 94 South
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Cornel West Celebrates Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’ w/ Archie Shepp/Lewis Porter/Stanley Crouch & Others

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http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/50-years-a-love-supreme-coltrane/547db9fbfe34442307000035

50 years ago, the John Coltrane quartet recorded “A Love Supreme,” a jazz masterwork recognized as one of the greatest albums in history. Cornel West, Archie Shepp and others join to discuss the album’s lasting musical, cultural and spiritual impact.

Originally aired on December 9, 2014

http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/50-years-a-love-supreme-coltrane/547db9fbfe34442307000035

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USA

Cornel West Celebrates Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’ w/ Archie Shepp/Lewis Porter/Stanley Crouch & Others

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http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/50-years-a-love-supreme-coltrane/547db9fbfe34442307000035

50 years ago, the John Coltrane quartet recorded “A Love Supreme,” a jazz masterwork recognized as one of the greatest albums in history. Cornel West, Archie Shepp and others join to discuss the album’s lasting musical, cultural and spiritual impact.

Originally aired on December 9, 2014

http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/50-years-a-love-supreme-coltrane/547db9fbfe34442307000035

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USA

Cornel West Celebrates Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’ w/ Archie Shepp/Lewis Porter/Stanley Crouch & Others

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http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/50-years-a-love-supreme-coltrane/547db9fbfe34442307000035

50 years ago, the John Coltrane quartet recorded “A Love Supreme,” a jazz masterwork recognized as one of the greatest albums in history. Cornel West, Archie Shepp and others join to discuss the album’s lasting musical, cultural and spiritual impact.

Originally aired on December 9, 2014

http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/50-years-a-love-supreme-coltrane/547db9fbfe34442307000035

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New Books by Herbie Hancock and George Benson – NYTimes.com

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/books/review/new-books-by-herbie-hancock-and-george-benson.html?_r=1

** New Books by Herbie Hancock and George Benson
————————————————————
Photo
Herbie Hancock Credit Supri/Reuters

When he was 11 he performed a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In his 20s he was in a Miles Davis quintet widely regarded as one of the great small groups in jazz history. He’s an Oscar-winning film composer and the first jazz instrumentalist in four decades to win the Grammy Award for album of the year.

He’s also a crosser of musical boundaries who has been a target of jazz critics and jazz purists ever since he combined electronic instruments and funk grooves on the hit 1973 album “Head Hunters.”

Herbie Hancock has led a fascinating life. And the story of that life makes a fascinating book.

What is most impressive about Hancock’s autobiography, “Possibilities,” is his facility — his co-author, Lisa Dickey, surely deserves some of the credit — for writing about music in a way that is neither too technical for the musically illiterate nor too dumbed-down for the knowledgeable. This is clear from the first page, when Hancock recalls a mid-1960s concert at which, while accompanying a Miles Davis trumpet solo, he plays a wrong chord and Davis, rather than being thrown, plays “some notes that somehow, miraculously, make my chord sound right.”

In addition to neatly illustrating both the perils and the delights of improvisation, Hancock treats this story, to which he circles back at the end of the book, as a life lesson: “Jazz is about being in the moment, at every moment. It’s about trusting yourself to respond on the fly. If you can allow yourself to do that, you never stop exploring, you never stop learning, in music or in life.”

Many of Hancock’s other stories also serve a dual purpose. His account of how he came to write one of his most famous compositions, the hypnotic “Maiden Voyage,” is both an intimate look at the creative process (“Something in my head told me to stop trying so hard and just listen to what the song was telling me”) and an expression of gratitude to his girlfriend, Gigi Meixner, who as he tells it threw him out of bed to force him to finish writing the song.

She later became, and remains, his wife, and Hancock’s long-lasting marriage figures prominently in “Possibilities.” So does his faith. He has been a practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism since the early 1970s, chanting “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo” to help him achieve his life goals, and I imagine that even the most skeptical reader will be impressed by the sincerity of his belief.

It was while chanting, he writes, that he decided to break up his group Mwandishi, which specialized in a brand of high-wire collective improvisation that Hancock himself repeatedly characterizes as “far out,” and form a funk band: “I saw an image of me sitting with Sly Stone’s band,” followed by an image of Sly Stone playing with his band, and — after a brief internal struggle with “the same old musical elitism I had been fighting against” — he made his move.
Photo
George Benson CreditBenson Family Archives

It’s easy to dismiss Hancock’s turn to funk — or, as the new band’s sound evolved, to a “gray area between jazz and funk” — as motivated simply by the desire for a hit record. Many have. And “Head Hunters” did indeed go on to sell more copies than not just any Herbie Hancock album, but any album by any jazz artist, had sold before. He insists his critics have it wrong:
Continue reading the main story

“How could I possibly have known our jazz-funk experiment would be that popular? There was no guarantee I’d gain any listeners at all — and there was a real risk that I’d lose part of the audience I already had!” (Full disclosure: I had some dealings with Hancock when I was briefly a CBS Records publicist in the post-“Head Hunters” years. I can testify only that he was happy when his records sold well.)

Critical backlash was an inconvenience Hancock learned to shake off — it got worse in 1983, when he entered the realm of hip-hop with his next monster hit, “Rockit” — and he unapologetically celebrates every musical direction he has pursued. He also celebrates his longtime fascination with electronics, even while acknowledging that there are those who find it anathema to the jazz tradition. He writes about synthesizers and vocoders with the endearing geekiness of the engineering major he once was at a small Midwestern college.

Hancock treats every aspect of his life with self-awareness and candor, including his drug use. It’s not surprising to learn that he was dabbling in LSD before and during the “far-out” Mwandishi years, or even that he once dropped acid before a performance. (“I don’t remember all that much about the gig,” he writes, “but I do remember that we played one song for nearly an hour before we even found our way to the melody.”) It issurprising to learn that he was, for many years, a secret crack smoker.

If you find the idea of Herbie Hancock as a crack addict at odds with the image of Herbie Hancock as a serious, spiritually centered artist, rest assured that so does he. “My Buddhist practice had made me more empathetic and more compassionate,” he writes, but “doing crack brought out the exact opposite in me.” He eventually entered rehab, he writes, and is now drug- and alcohol-free.

I don’t know if there’s a lesson to be learned from this particular story, other than “Nobody’s perfect,” or maybe “Don’t do what I did.” But I admire Hancock for telling it.

George Benson’s “Benson: The Autobiography” is, as its generic title suggests, not quite the gripping read that “Possibilities” is. That’s largely because, while Benson’s career roughly parallels Hancock’s — he too was a critically praised jazzman who became a critically slammed pop star, and he too has some choice words for his critics — his career path has always been far more linear; if Hancock is primarily an explorer, Benson is primarily an entertainer. It’s also because Benson is far less forthcoming about the nonmusical aspects of his life.

Early on he notes that when he was 19, just before he went on the road to play guitar with the organist Brother Jack McDuff, he got in trouble with the law for having “roughed up” his wife. The wife is never named, nor is the infant son who was seriously ill at the time, and with the exception of a few passing and equally vague later references to a wife and a family, his personal life goes pretty much unmentioned. That’s his prerogative, but it makes for a somewhat one-dimensional narrative.
Continue reading the main story

Happily, Benson is as voluble about music as Hancock is, if more visceral: “I’d hit a groove, and the people went, ‘Mmm hmm.’ Then I’d throw in a bit of rhythm, and the people went, ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ Then I’d play eight or 12 bars of fast lines, and the people went, ‘Go, George, go!’ Then I’d finish it up with a blues lick, and the people went, ‘Yeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!’ ”

Benson and his co-author, Alan Goldsher, relate with warmth and wit the process by which a pre-teenage crooner who accompanied himself on ukulele became “an R & B guitar player who knew a little something about jazz,” then one of the great jazz guitarists, and finally a bona fide superstar better known for his singing than for his playing. Along the way there are affectionate and revealing glimpses of the likes of Benny Goodman (who also has a bit part in “Possibilities”); Wes Montgomery, Benson’s friend, fellow guitarist and acknowledged inspiration; and Miles Davis, because no jazz musician’s autobiography is complete without a Miles Davis story — and although Benson worked with him only once, briefly, in the recording studio, he managed to get a priceless story out of the experience.

The book virtually stops not long after Benson becomes world famous; he rushes from the success of his 1980 album, “Give Me the Night,” to the present in just a few pages. That’s all right with me. His stories about his scuffling early days and his subsequent rise to the top are more entertaining than a long litany of “And then I recorded” would have been. Struggle is usually more entertaining than success, and the best part about George Benson’s struggle is that it had a happy ending.

**
————————————————————

POSSIBILITIES

By Herbie Hancock with Lisa Dickey

Illustrated. 344 pp. Viking. $29.95.

**
————————————————————

BENSON

The Autobiography

By George Benson with Alan Goldsher

Illustrated. 222 pp. Da Capo Press. $25.99.

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New Books by Herbie Hancock and George Benson – NYTimes.com

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** New Books by Herbie Hancock and George Benson
————————————————————
Photo
Herbie Hancock Credit Supri/Reuters

When he was 11 he performed a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In his 20s he was in a Miles Davis quintet widely regarded as one of the great small groups in jazz history. He’s an Oscar-winning film composer and the first jazz instrumentalist in four decades to win the Grammy Award for album of the year.

He’s also a crosser of musical boundaries who has been a target of jazz critics and jazz purists ever since he combined electronic instruments and funk grooves on the hit 1973 album “Head Hunters.”

Herbie Hancock has led a fascinating life. And the story of that life makes a fascinating book.

What is most impressive about Hancock’s autobiography, “Possibilities,” is his facility — his co-author, Lisa Dickey, surely deserves some of the credit — for writing about music in a way that is neither too technical for the musically illiterate nor too dumbed-down for the knowledgeable. This is clear from the first page, when Hancock recalls a mid-1960s concert at which, while accompanying a Miles Davis trumpet solo, he plays a wrong chord and Davis, rather than being thrown, plays “some notes that somehow, miraculously, make my chord sound right.”

In addition to neatly illustrating both the perils and the delights of improvisation, Hancock treats this story, to which he circles back at the end of the book, as a life lesson: “Jazz is about being in the moment, at every moment. It’s about trusting yourself to respond on the fly. If you can allow yourself to do that, you never stop exploring, you never stop learning, in music or in life.”

Many of Hancock’s other stories also serve a dual purpose. His account of how he came to write one of his most famous compositions, the hypnotic “Maiden Voyage,” is both an intimate look at the creative process (“Something in my head told me to stop trying so hard and just listen to what the song was telling me”) and an expression of gratitude to his girlfriend, Gigi Meixner, who as he tells it threw him out of bed to force him to finish writing the song.

She later became, and remains, his wife, and Hancock’s long-lasting marriage figures prominently in “Possibilities.” So does his faith. He has been a practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism since the early 1970s, chanting “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo” to help him achieve his life goals, and I imagine that even the most skeptical reader will be impressed by the sincerity of his belief.

It was while chanting, he writes, that he decided to break up his group Mwandishi, which specialized in a brand of high-wire collective improvisation that Hancock himself repeatedly characterizes as “far out,” and form a funk band: “I saw an image of me sitting with Sly Stone’s band,” followed by an image of Sly Stone playing with his band, and — after a brief internal struggle with “the same old musical elitism I had been fighting against” — he made his move.
Photo
George Benson CreditBenson Family Archives

It’s easy to dismiss Hancock’s turn to funk — or, as the new band’s sound evolved, to a “gray area between jazz and funk” — as motivated simply by the desire for a hit record. Many have. And “Head Hunters” did indeed go on to sell more copies than not just any Herbie Hancock album, but any album by any jazz artist, had sold before. He insists his critics have it wrong:
Continue reading the main story

“How could I possibly have known our jazz-funk experiment would be that popular? There was no guarantee I’d gain any listeners at all — and there was a real risk that I’d lose part of the audience I already had!” (Full disclosure: I had some dealings with Hancock when I was briefly a CBS Records publicist in the post-“Head Hunters” years. I can testify only that he was happy when his records sold well.)

Critical backlash was an inconvenience Hancock learned to shake off — it got worse in 1983, when he entered the realm of hip-hop with his next monster hit, “Rockit” — and he unapologetically celebrates every musical direction he has pursued. He also celebrates his longtime fascination with electronics, even while acknowledging that there are those who find it anathema to the jazz tradition. He writes about synthesizers and vocoders with the endearing geekiness of the engineering major he once was at a small Midwestern college.

Hancock treats every aspect of his life with self-awareness and candor, including his drug use. It’s not surprising to learn that he was dabbling in LSD before and during the “far-out” Mwandishi years, or even that he once dropped acid before a performance. (“I don’t remember all that much about the gig,” he writes, “but I do remember that we played one song for nearly an hour before we even found our way to the melody.”) It issurprising to learn that he was, for many years, a secret crack smoker.

If you find the idea of Herbie Hancock as a crack addict at odds with the image of Herbie Hancock as a serious, spiritually centered artist, rest assured that so does he. “My Buddhist practice had made me more empathetic and more compassionate,” he writes, but “doing crack brought out the exact opposite in me.” He eventually entered rehab, he writes, and is now drug- and alcohol-free.

I don’t know if there’s a lesson to be learned from this particular story, other than “Nobody’s perfect,” or maybe “Don’t do what I did.” But I admire Hancock for telling it.

George Benson’s “Benson: The Autobiography” is, as its generic title suggests, not quite the gripping read that “Possibilities” is. That’s largely because, while Benson’s career roughly parallels Hancock’s — he too was a critically praised jazzman who became a critically slammed pop star, and he too has some choice words for his critics — his career path has always been far more linear; if Hancock is primarily an explorer, Benson is primarily an entertainer. It’s also because Benson is far less forthcoming about the nonmusical aspects of his life.

Early on he notes that when he was 19, just before he went on the road to play guitar with the organist Brother Jack McDuff, he got in trouble with the law for having “roughed up” his wife. The wife is never named, nor is the infant son who was seriously ill at the time, and with the exception of a few passing and equally vague later references to a wife and a family, his personal life goes pretty much unmentioned. That’s his prerogative, but it makes for a somewhat one-dimensional narrative.
Continue reading the main story

Happily, Benson is as voluble about music as Hancock is, if more visceral: “I’d hit a groove, and the people went, ‘Mmm hmm.’ Then I’d throw in a bit of rhythm, and the people went, ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ Then I’d play eight or 12 bars of fast lines, and the people went, ‘Go, George, go!’ Then I’d finish it up with a blues lick, and the people went, ‘Yeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!’ ”

Benson and his co-author, Alan Goldsher, relate with warmth and wit the process by which a pre-teenage crooner who accompanied himself on ukulele became “an R & B guitar player who knew a little something about jazz,” then one of the great jazz guitarists, and finally a bona fide superstar better known for his singing than for his playing. Along the way there are affectionate and revealing glimpses of the likes of Benny Goodman (who also has a bit part in “Possibilities”); Wes Montgomery, Benson’s friend, fellow guitarist and acknowledged inspiration; and Miles Davis, because no jazz musician’s autobiography is complete without a Miles Davis story — and although Benson worked with him only once, briefly, in the recording studio, he managed to get a priceless story out of the experience.

The book virtually stops not long after Benson becomes world famous; he rushes from the success of his 1980 album, “Give Me the Night,” to the present in just a few pages. That’s all right with me. His stories about his scuffling early days and his subsequent rise to the top are more entertaining than a long litany of “And then I recorded” would have been. Struggle is usually more entertaining than success, and the best part about George Benson’s struggle is that it had a happy ending.

**
————————————————————

POSSIBILITIES

By Herbie Hancock with Lisa Dickey

Illustrated. 344 pp. Viking. $29.95.

**
————————————————————

BENSON

The Autobiography

By George Benson with Alan Goldsher

Illustrated. 222 pp. Da Capo Press. $25.99.

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269 State Route 94 South
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New Books by Herbie Hancock and George Benson – NYTimes.com

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/jazzpromo https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jazz-Promo-Services/216022288429676

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/books/review/new-books-by-herbie-hancock-and-george-benson.html?_r=1

** New Books by Herbie Hancock and George Benson
————————————————————
Photo
Herbie Hancock Credit Supri/Reuters

When he was 11 he performed a Mozart piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In his 20s he was in a Miles Davis quintet widely regarded as one of the great small groups in jazz history. He’s an Oscar-winning film composer and the first jazz instrumentalist in four decades to win the Grammy Award for album of the year.

He’s also a crosser of musical boundaries who has been a target of jazz critics and jazz purists ever since he combined electronic instruments and funk grooves on the hit 1973 album “Head Hunters.”

Herbie Hancock has led a fascinating life. And the story of that life makes a fascinating book.

What is most impressive about Hancock’s autobiography, “Possibilities,” is his facility — his co-author, Lisa Dickey, surely deserves some of the credit — for writing about music in a way that is neither too technical for the musically illiterate nor too dumbed-down for the knowledgeable. This is clear from the first page, when Hancock recalls a mid-1960s concert at which, while accompanying a Miles Davis trumpet solo, he plays a wrong chord and Davis, rather than being thrown, plays “some notes that somehow, miraculously, make my chord sound right.”

In addition to neatly illustrating both the perils and the delights of improvisation, Hancock treats this story, to which he circles back at the end of the book, as a life lesson: “Jazz is about being in the moment, at every moment. It’s about trusting yourself to respond on the fly. If you can allow yourself to do that, you never stop exploring, you never stop learning, in music or in life.”

Many of Hancock’s other stories also serve a dual purpose. His account of how he came to write one of his most famous compositions, the hypnotic “Maiden Voyage,” is both an intimate look at the creative process (“Something in my head told me to stop trying so hard and just listen to what the song was telling me”) and an expression of gratitude to his girlfriend, Gigi Meixner, who as he tells it threw him out of bed to force him to finish writing the song.

She later became, and remains, his wife, and Hancock’s long-lasting marriage figures prominently in “Possibilities.” So does his faith. He has been a practitioner of Nichiren Buddhism since the early 1970s, chanting “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo” to help him achieve his life goals, and I imagine that even the most skeptical reader will be impressed by the sincerity of his belief.

It was while chanting, he writes, that he decided to break up his group Mwandishi, which specialized in a brand of high-wire collective improvisation that Hancock himself repeatedly characterizes as “far out,” and form a funk band: “I saw an image of me sitting with Sly Stone’s band,” followed by an image of Sly Stone playing with his band, and — after a brief internal struggle with “the same old musical elitism I had been fighting against” — he made his move.
Photo
George Benson CreditBenson Family Archives

It’s easy to dismiss Hancock’s turn to funk — or, as the new band’s sound evolved, to a “gray area between jazz and funk” — as motivated simply by the desire for a hit record. Many have. And “Head Hunters” did indeed go on to sell more copies than not just any Herbie Hancock album, but any album by any jazz artist, had sold before. He insists his critics have it wrong:
Continue reading the main story

“How could I possibly have known our jazz-funk experiment would be that popular? There was no guarantee I’d gain any listeners at all — and there was a real risk that I’d lose part of the audience I already had!” (Full disclosure: I had some dealings with Hancock when I was briefly a CBS Records publicist in the post-“Head Hunters” years. I can testify only that he was happy when his records sold well.)

Critical backlash was an inconvenience Hancock learned to shake off — it got worse in 1983, when he entered the realm of hip-hop with his next monster hit, “Rockit” — and he unapologetically celebrates every musical direction he has pursued. He also celebrates his longtime fascination with electronics, even while acknowledging that there are those who find it anathema to the jazz tradition. He writes about synthesizers and vocoders with the endearing geekiness of the engineering major he once was at a small Midwestern college.

Hancock treats every aspect of his life with self-awareness and candor, including his drug use. It’s not surprising to learn that he was dabbling in LSD before and during the “far-out” Mwandishi years, or even that he once dropped acid before a performance. (“I don’t remember all that much about the gig,” he writes, “but I do remember that we played one song for nearly an hour before we even found our way to the melody.”) It issurprising to learn that he was, for many years, a secret crack smoker.

If you find the idea of Herbie Hancock as a crack addict at odds with the image of Herbie Hancock as a serious, spiritually centered artist, rest assured that so does he. “My Buddhist practice had made me more empathetic and more compassionate,” he writes, but “doing crack brought out the exact opposite in me.” He eventually entered rehab, he writes, and is now drug- and alcohol-free.

I don’t know if there’s a lesson to be learned from this particular story, other than “Nobody’s perfect,” or maybe “Don’t do what I did.” But I admire Hancock for telling it.

George Benson’s “Benson: The Autobiography” is, as its generic title suggests, not quite the gripping read that “Possibilities” is. That’s largely because, while Benson’s career roughly parallels Hancock’s — he too was a critically praised jazzman who became a critically slammed pop star, and he too has some choice words for his critics — his career path has always been far more linear; if Hancock is primarily an explorer, Benson is primarily an entertainer. It’s also because Benson is far less forthcoming about the nonmusical aspects of his life.

Early on he notes that when he was 19, just before he went on the road to play guitar with the organist Brother Jack McDuff, he got in trouble with the law for having “roughed up” his wife. The wife is never named, nor is the infant son who was seriously ill at the time, and with the exception of a few passing and equally vague later references to a wife and a family, his personal life goes pretty much unmentioned. That’s his prerogative, but it makes for a somewhat one-dimensional narrative.
Continue reading the main story

Happily, Benson is as voluble about music as Hancock is, if more visceral: “I’d hit a groove, and the people went, ‘Mmm hmm.’ Then I’d throw in a bit of rhythm, and the people went, ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ Then I’d play eight or 12 bars of fast lines, and the people went, ‘Go, George, go!’ Then I’d finish it up with a blues lick, and the people went, ‘Yeeeeeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!’ ”

Benson and his co-author, Alan Goldsher, relate with warmth and wit the process by which a pre-teenage crooner who accompanied himself on ukulele became “an R & B guitar player who knew a little something about jazz,” then one of the great jazz guitarists, and finally a bona fide superstar better known for his singing than for his playing. Along the way there are affectionate and revealing glimpses of the likes of Benny Goodman (who also has a bit part in “Possibilities”); Wes Montgomery, Benson’s friend, fellow guitarist and acknowledged inspiration; and Miles Davis, because no jazz musician’s autobiography is complete without a Miles Davis story — and although Benson worked with him only once, briefly, in the recording studio, he managed to get a priceless story out of the experience.

The book virtually stops not long after Benson becomes world famous; he rushes from the success of his 1980 album, “Give Me the Night,” to the present in just a few pages. That’s all right with me. His stories about his scuffling early days and his subsequent rise to the top are more entertaining than a long litany of “And then I recorded” would have been. Struggle is usually more entertaining than success, and the best part about George Benson’s struggle is that it had a happy ending.

**
————————————————————

POSSIBILITIES

By Herbie Hancock with Lisa Dickey

Illustrated. 344 pp. Viking. $29.95.

**
————————————————————

BENSON

The Autobiography

By George Benson with Alan Goldsher

Illustrated. 222 pp. Da Capo Press. $25.99.

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=805056afd6) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=805056afd6&e=[UNIQID])

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Copyright (C) 2014 All rights reserved.

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Warwick, Ny 10990
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The American jazz musician who saved my life | Life and style | The Guardian

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http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/06/the-american-jazz-musician-who-saved-my-life

** The American jazz musician who saved my life
————————————————————
Francois Grosjean

One day, when I was a student in Paris, I went to my father’s home for dinner. When I arrived, I saw that there was a guest there. My father introduced him to me, “This is Jimmy Davis. He’s a jazz musician and you owe him a lot.”

I smiled at this man, who must have been in his 50s, and said hello. Then I asked my father, “How so?” He told me that Jimmy had been friends with him and my mother when they were still together, just after the second world war, and that Jimmy had encouraged my mother to have me, or something to that effect. It was rather vague.

I don’t remember much more about our dinner with Jimmy Davis and as the years went by, I almost forgot about him. From time to time, I would tell family members or close friends that an American jazz musician had played an important role in my early life, but I was no longer sure how – not that I ever really knew. Little by little my memory of that evening faded away.

Time went by, I got married, became a parent and moved to the United States before coming back to Europe and Switzerland. At the age of 64, 45 years after that dinner at my father’s, I inherited some family documents from my British mother from whom I had been estranged since my adolescence. Among them was a short autobiography of her early life in England and then in France where she had joined my father in 1945. They had met in England two years earlier (my father had been a Free French fighter pilot) and had lived together for only four years before separating.
Jimmy Davis in 1941 Jazz musician and songwriter Jimmy Davis in 1941

As I was reading about her pregnancy, I came across a few sentences that startled me, and that I had to read twice. My mother had written, “One day (my husband) brought home to dinner an American soldier, Jimmy Davis, a musician. He had just finished writing a song called Lover Man (http://illkeepyouposted.typepad.com/ill_keep_you_posted/2012/02/jimmy-davis-lover-man-1.html) which became a big success. He persuaded me that it was wrong to abort. With his help, I decided to keep the baby.”

For a few minutes everything around me stood still and I immediately thought back to that dinner and the jazz musician I had met so briefly. So that was how he had “encouraged my mother to have me”. Basically, he had saved my life by convincing my mother to keep the baby she was expecting. I owed my life to someone I knew nothing about and whom I could hardly remember.

As my father had been dead for some 30 years, I phoned my elderly stepmother, my father’s second wife, to tell her what I had found out and to ask her if she had known Jimmy Davis. She had, she said, although she hadn’t known about this particular event, but she couldn’t tell me much more apart from the fact that she remembered him as a very kind gentleman.

So I started my search for him. Above all, I wanted to see his face and to hear his voice to find out what kind of person he had been. I looked him up on the web, and quickly saw that his hit song, Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be) had been – and still is – a major success. It had been interpreted not only by Billie Holiday in 1941, but also by a score of other artists since then: Ella Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston, Norah Jones, Jimmy Somerville, Barbra Streisand (http://www.theguardian.com/culture/barbra-streisand) , and many others.

Eventually I found two photos of Jimmy Davis: one of him as a very young man and another in army uniform with Billie Holiday a few years later. I was struck by his eyes – beautiful dark eyes that reflected intelligence and kindliness – something I thought I might see in the man who had played such an important role in my life.

Billie Holiday singing Jimmy Davis’s song, Mr Lover Man

As for listening to his voice, I had to wait a few years until recordings of him singing were reissued on the web. The ones I have been listening to these last months are part of a record digitised by the French National Library and entitled Jimmy “Loverman” Davis. There I discovered his voice, melodious, warm and teasing at times, in the three languages he sang in: English, his first language, French, the language of the country he lived in most of his life, and Spanish.

One particular song – he wrote many during his career – is called C’est Beau (It’s Beautiful) and in it he lists some of the little things in life that he finds wonderful. One particular verse has struck a chord with me: “A baby who sleeps quietly in his cradle … it’s so beautiful; his upturned nose, his small hands … that’s so lovely.” When I hear those words, I can’t help asking myself whether he had visited my parents before they separated and had seen me asleep in my cradle. As it happens, I do have an upturned nose … and it was even more striking when I was a baby.
Francois Grossjean as a child Francois Grossjean as a child. Did he inspire Jimmy Davis’s song C’est Beau as a sleeping baby?

My aim now is to find out more about Jimmy Davis, his life and career. From what I have gathered, he was an excellent pianist and a wonderful lyricist who wrote songs in his three languages. I know also that he lived on Avenue Reille, near the lovely Parc Montsouris, in Paris, and I can picture him strolling around the small lake there thinking of his next song and composing its music. But I still know so little: when and where he was born, when he moved to Paris for good, how he made a living, when he died and where he is buried.

I hope to find all that out despite the fact that most of his contemporaries are no longer with us. And, hopefully, one day I will be able to visit the cemetery where he is buried and lay a rose on his grave. It would be my small gesture of love for the man who saved my life.

francoisgrosjean.ch (http://francoisgrosjean.ch/)

https://www.facebook.com/wyntonmarsalis

Yesterday we drove 4 hours from Fayetteville, Arkansas to Pine Bluff to visit the great Clark Terry (CT as we call him). This was a day off and originally planned as a trip to his home to celebrate his upcoming 94th birthday (on December 14th) but an emergency on Friday night had landed CT in the hospital. With literally no lead-time, the hospital was able to source and set up a classroom so we could come in and play for him. As we pulled up to the everyday world of the hospital, with two tour buses and an equipment truck, we knew it would be special. From the security guards who set aside parking spaces for us, to the hospital administrators, aides and the assistants working specifically with Clark, to his wife Gwen and some of their friends, everyone and everything was soaked in hospitality, human feeling and soul.

We filed in and quickly set the band up. CT has been such a positive influence on so many of us in the orchestra; we were of one mind about the way we wanted to play for him. Swing! Even before we started playing, many of us were full of emotion.

I reflected on the depth of Clark’s impact on me and was overcome. At 14-15, he was the first great jazz trumpeter I had ever heard actually playing live. His spectacular playing made me want to practice (of course) but his warmth and optimism made me to want to be a part of the world of Jazz. I would try to stand like him, play like him, announce tunes like him and treat people the way he did. And each of us in the band had personal stories like that about Clark. For our trumpet section, he is a Great Immortal. Back when Ryan Kisor was a high school kid in Iowa, CT was the first one to tell me, “There’s a young boy in Iowa who can truly play.” “Iowa?” “Yeah man, for real!”

Moving a big band around on a scheduled day off can be very complicated. And any last minute adjustments will definitely create logistical havoc. But a number of our team displayed dedication and determination to make things go smoothly. Victor demonstrated his advanced communication skills in coordinating all of the particulars with Gwen. Big Boss Murphy kept us on point by responding to each challenge with a calm even-handedness. Gabrielle Armand and our JALC staff in New York provided whatever was needed to assist with the hospitality. Chris Crenshaw transcribed a couple of Jimmy Heath arrangements that featured Clark on lead trumpet: “West Coast Blues”, a Wes Montgomery composition from Blue Mitchell’s album entitled “A Sure Thing” and “Nails”, from a Jimmy Heath Orchestra recording entitled “Really Big!”

As Clark’s bed was wheeled in we launched into Duke and Strayhorn’s “Peanut Brittle Brigade” from their version of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker”. After playing, we each went over to his bed, introduced ourselves and said a little something about our pedigree and how much we appreciated his contributions to our personal development and to the music. He recognized each of us and responded to every salutation with some pithy comment of joyful appreciation.

The hospital staff stood by watching in amazement as this informal caravan of musicians who had transformed this classroom into a concert hall, genuflected one by one before a patient who they knew was important for some reason…. but this type of homage perhaps meant something different from whatever their perceptions might have been. Without knowing his music or his profoundly personal influence on so many of us it was probably impossible for them to realize that they were caring for one of the world’s great Maestros.

When it was his turn, Carlos enthusiastically told Clark, “I’m representing all of the Puerto Ricans in the Bronx. They send their love.” And we all cracked up.

We then played Basie’s “Good Morning Blues” and let him check out Cécile. She stood right next to his bed and sang into a microphone connected to his headphones. She too was overcome with emotion, but she sang with poise and so poetically. It was elegant, yet intimate, like someone singing to a beloved family member. As soon as he recognized that unique quality in her voice, he started cosigning her and demonstrating that infectious personality that always made you feel great about playing.

Chris introduced the “West Coast Blues” and told Clark when it was recorded. He didn’t remember so Chris started to sing it. After a few bars of Clark trying to remember Chris said, “You’ll know it when you hear it.” We played and cats were swinging hard for him. As we were playing, he asked Gwen to identify each soloist. Our sound stylist, David Robinson, helped her call everyone out.

We didn’t want to stop, but it was time for all of us to go. But before that somber moment, we gathered around the bed and played “Happy Birthday” for him. When he went to blow out the candles, he broke down. Many of us joined him.

We all said goodbye and he once again recognized each individual with a touch and some kind words. We took a good picture with the trumpet section of which Vincent said, “This is the only time I’ll make way for y’all.” And then it was that time.

What is deeper than respect and love? That’s what we felt: veneration.

Later we went to Clark’s home. Gwen and some friends had a spread laid out. Good fried chicken and catfish, coleslaw, succotash…you know, the usual suspects that never wear out their welcome. Pure southern soul.

After eating, Ted and I sat in Clark’s den surrounded by memorabilia from his career plus a not-completely-assembled drum set and a couple of African drums. The mantelpiece was dominated by a large picture of CT and Sweets Edison playing together. Right after Sweets passed away, I remember Clark telling me that he had left him his suits. “How am I going to wear those big-ass suits?” was what he said. And we laughed thinking about how Sweets would have laughed at that.

Ted and I reminisced about seeing Clark play on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson during the 70’s. He had all kinds of tricks like playing the trumpet with both hands or upside down, or playing trumpet and flugelhorn at once. These antics amazed and delighted audiences, but he was playing great ideas the whole time. I recalled him coming to see me play with the New Orleans Philharmonic when I was 16 and telling me how much he loved it at the club later that night. Ted recounted playing with the California all state high school jazz band in 1975 when he was 15. They performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival and Clark was guest soloist. On one song, a blues, Ted came out front to play the soprano saxophone with him. When the song finished, CT grabbed the mic and said enthusiastically “Ted Nash on soprano!” The feeling in that introduction by the great Clark Terry of an unknown high school musician gave an almost spiritual validation to Ted’s playing.

We recognized that he also did that for many thousands of other musicians throughout his career. He lived as a jazzman, full of soul and sophistication, sass, grit and mother wit, and he made us want to become real jazz musicians.

We talked about how good it felt that many of us were moved to tears in his presence. And we weren’t emotional because he was blind and bedridden, or because he was having trouble hearing, had lost some of his limbs and was in a hospital. He’s 94! We were full of emotion because his presence reminded us of how much of himself he had given to the world, this country, our music, our instrument and each of us individually. And it hit us. All the gigs, recordings, lessons, bands, students, all state jazz orchestras, master classes, TV shows, world beating concerts with Basie and Ellington, his own groups, jam sessions – and all of it at the absolute highest level of engagement- was laying in the bed before us. And we wanted him to be proud and feel the love we felt for him. It was palpable. After we left I said, “Man, CT always had a way of lifting you up.” Ted countered and said, “HAD a way? He still IS that way. It was there today.”

Yeah. He blessed us.

Wynton

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USA

The American jazz musician who saved my life | Life and style | The Guardian

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http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/06/the-american-jazz-musician-who-saved-my-life

** The American jazz musician who saved my life
————————————————————
Francois Grosjean

One day, when I was a student in Paris, I went to my father’s home for dinner. When I arrived, I saw that there was a guest there. My father introduced him to me, “This is Jimmy Davis. He’s a jazz musician and you owe him a lot.”

I smiled at this man, who must have been in his 50s, and said hello. Then I asked my father, “How so?” He told me that Jimmy had been friends with him and my mother when they were still together, just after the second world war, and that Jimmy had encouraged my mother to have me, or something to that effect. It was rather vague.

I don’t remember much more about our dinner with Jimmy Davis and as the years went by, I almost forgot about him. From time to time, I would tell family members or close friends that an American jazz musician had played an important role in my early life, but I was no longer sure how – not that I ever really knew. Little by little my memory of that evening faded away.

Time went by, I got married, became a parent and moved to the United States before coming back to Europe and Switzerland. At the age of 64, 45 years after that dinner at my father’s, I inherited some family documents from my British mother from whom I had been estranged since my adolescence. Among them was a short autobiography of her early life in England and then in France where she had joined my father in 1945. They had met in England two years earlier (my father had been a Free French fighter pilot) and had lived together for only four years before separating.
Jimmy Davis in 1941 Jazz musician and songwriter Jimmy Davis in 1941

As I was reading about her pregnancy, I came across a few sentences that startled me, and that I had to read twice. My mother had written, “One day (my husband) brought home to dinner an American soldier, Jimmy Davis, a musician. He had just finished writing a song called Lover Man (http://illkeepyouposted.typepad.com/ill_keep_you_posted/2012/02/jimmy-davis-lover-man-1.html) which became a big success. He persuaded me that it was wrong to abort. With his help, I decided to keep the baby.”

For a few minutes everything around me stood still and I immediately thought back to that dinner and the jazz musician I had met so briefly. So that was how he had “encouraged my mother to have me”. Basically, he had saved my life by convincing my mother to keep the baby she was expecting. I owed my life to someone I knew nothing about and whom I could hardly remember.

As my father had been dead for some 30 years, I phoned my elderly stepmother, my father’s second wife, to tell her what I had found out and to ask her if she had known Jimmy Davis. She had, she said, although she hadn’t known about this particular event, but she couldn’t tell me much more apart from the fact that she remembered him as a very kind gentleman.

So I started my search for him. Above all, I wanted to see his face and to hear his voice to find out what kind of person he had been. I looked him up on the web, and quickly saw that his hit song, Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be) had been – and still is – a major success. It had been interpreted not only by Billie Holiday in 1941, but also by a score of other artists since then: Ella Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston, Norah Jones, Jimmy Somerville, Barbra Streisand (http://www.theguardian.com/culture/barbra-streisand) , and many others.

Eventually I found two photos of Jimmy Davis: one of him as a very young man and another in army uniform with Billie Holiday a few years later. I was struck by his eyes – beautiful dark eyes that reflected intelligence and kindliness – something I thought I might see in the man who had played such an important role in my life.

Billie Holiday singing Jimmy Davis’s song, Mr Lover Man

As for listening to his voice, I had to wait a few years until recordings of him singing were reissued on the web. The ones I have been listening to these last months are part of a record digitised by the French National Library and entitled Jimmy “Loverman” Davis. There I discovered his voice, melodious, warm and teasing at times, in the three languages he sang in: English, his first language, French, the language of the country he lived in most of his life, and Spanish.

One particular song – he wrote many during his career – is called C’est Beau (It’s Beautiful) and in it he lists some of the little things in life that he finds wonderful. One particular verse has struck a chord with me: “A baby who sleeps quietly in his cradle … it’s so beautiful; his upturned nose, his small hands … that’s so lovely.” When I hear those words, I can’t help asking myself whether he had visited my parents before they separated and had seen me asleep in my cradle. As it happens, I do have an upturned nose … and it was even more striking when I was a baby.
Francois Grossjean as a child Francois Grossjean as a child. Did he inspire Jimmy Davis’s song C’est Beau as a sleeping baby?

My aim now is to find out more about Jimmy Davis, his life and career. From what I have gathered, he was an excellent pianist and a wonderful lyricist who wrote songs in his three languages. I know also that he lived on Avenue Reille, near the lovely Parc Montsouris, in Paris, and I can picture him strolling around the small lake there thinking of his next song and composing its music. But I still know so little: when and where he was born, when he moved to Paris for good, how he made a living, when he died and where he is buried.

I hope to find all that out despite the fact that most of his contemporaries are no longer with us. And, hopefully, one day I will be able to visit the cemetery where he is buried and lay a rose on his grave. It would be my small gesture of love for the man who saved my life.

francoisgrosjean.ch (http://francoisgrosjean.ch/)

https://www.facebook.com/wyntonmarsalis

Yesterday we drove 4 hours from Fayetteville, Arkansas to Pine Bluff to visit the great Clark Terry (CT as we call him). This was a day off and originally planned as a trip to his home to celebrate his upcoming 94th birthday (on December 14th) but an emergency on Friday night had landed CT in the hospital. With literally no lead-time, the hospital was able to source and set up a classroom so we could come in and play for him. As we pulled up to the everyday world of the hospital, with two tour buses and an equipment truck, we knew it would be special. From the security guards who set aside parking spaces for us, to the hospital administrators, aides and the assistants working specifically with Clark, to his wife Gwen and some of their friends, everyone and everything was soaked in hospitality, human feeling and soul.

We filed in and quickly set the band up. CT has been such a positive influence on so many of us in the orchestra; we were of one mind about the way we wanted to play for him. Swing! Even before we started playing, many of us were full of emotion.

I reflected on the depth of Clark’s impact on me and was overcome. At 14-15, he was the first great jazz trumpeter I had ever heard actually playing live. His spectacular playing made me want to practice (of course) but his warmth and optimism made me to want to be a part of the world of Jazz. I would try to stand like him, play like him, announce tunes like him and treat people the way he did. And each of us in the band had personal stories like that about Clark. For our trumpet section, he is a Great Immortal. Back when Ryan Kisor was a high school kid in Iowa, CT was the first one to tell me, “There’s a young boy in Iowa who can truly play.” “Iowa?” “Yeah man, for real!”

Moving a big band around on a scheduled day off can be very complicated. And any last minute adjustments will definitely create logistical havoc. But a number of our team displayed dedication and determination to make things go smoothly. Victor demonstrated his advanced communication skills in coordinating all of the particulars with Gwen. Big Boss Murphy kept us on point by responding to each challenge with a calm even-handedness. Gabrielle Armand and our JALC staff in New York provided whatever was needed to assist with the hospitality. Chris Crenshaw transcribed a couple of Jimmy Heath arrangements that featured Clark on lead trumpet: “West Coast Blues”, a Wes Montgomery composition from Blue Mitchell’s album entitled “A Sure Thing” and “Nails”, from a Jimmy Heath Orchestra recording entitled “Really Big!”

As Clark’s bed was wheeled in we launched into Duke and Strayhorn’s “Peanut Brittle Brigade” from their version of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker”. After playing, we each went over to his bed, introduced ourselves and said a little something about our pedigree and how much we appreciated his contributions to our personal development and to the music. He recognized each of us and responded to every salutation with some pithy comment of joyful appreciation.

The hospital staff stood by watching in amazement as this informal caravan of musicians who had transformed this classroom into a concert hall, genuflected one by one before a patient who they knew was important for some reason…. but this type of homage perhaps meant something different from whatever their perceptions might have been. Without knowing his music or his profoundly personal influence on so many of us it was probably impossible for them to realize that they were caring for one of the world’s great Maestros.

When it was his turn, Carlos enthusiastically told Clark, “I’m representing all of the Puerto Ricans in the Bronx. They send their love.” And we all cracked up.

We then played Basie’s “Good Morning Blues” and let him check out Cécile. She stood right next to his bed and sang into a microphone connected to his headphones. She too was overcome with emotion, but she sang with poise and so poetically. It was elegant, yet intimate, like someone singing to a beloved family member. As soon as he recognized that unique quality in her voice, he started cosigning her and demonstrating that infectious personality that always made you feel great about playing.

Chris introduced the “West Coast Blues” and told Clark when it was recorded. He didn’t remember so Chris started to sing it. After a few bars of Clark trying to remember Chris said, “You’ll know it when you hear it.” We played and cats were swinging hard for him. As we were playing, he asked Gwen to identify each soloist. Our sound stylist, David Robinson, helped her call everyone out.

We didn’t want to stop, but it was time for all of us to go. But before that somber moment, we gathered around the bed and played “Happy Birthday” for him. When he went to blow out the candles, he broke down. Many of us joined him.

We all said goodbye and he once again recognized each individual with a touch and some kind words. We took a good picture with the trumpet section of which Vincent said, “This is the only time I’ll make way for y’all.” And then it was that time.

What is deeper than respect and love? That’s what we felt: veneration.

Later we went to Clark’s home. Gwen and some friends had a spread laid out. Good fried chicken and catfish, coleslaw, succotash…you know, the usual suspects that never wear out their welcome. Pure southern soul.

After eating, Ted and I sat in Clark’s den surrounded by memorabilia from his career plus a not-completely-assembled drum set and a couple of African drums. The mantelpiece was dominated by a large picture of CT and Sweets Edison playing together. Right after Sweets passed away, I remember Clark telling me that he had left him his suits. “How am I going to wear those big-ass suits?” was what he said. And we laughed thinking about how Sweets would have laughed at that.

Ted and I reminisced about seeing Clark play on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson during the 70’s. He had all kinds of tricks like playing the trumpet with both hands or upside down, or playing trumpet and flugelhorn at once. These antics amazed and delighted audiences, but he was playing great ideas the whole time. I recalled him coming to see me play with the New Orleans Philharmonic when I was 16 and telling me how much he loved it at the club later that night. Ted recounted playing with the California all state high school jazz band in 1975 when he was 15. They performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival and Clark was guest soloist. On one song, a blues, Ted came out front to play the soprano saxophone with him. When the song finished, CT grabbed the mic and said enthusiastically “Ted Nash on soprano!” The feeling in that introduction by the great Clark Terry of an unknown high school musician gave an almost spiritual validation to Ted’s playing.

We recognized that he also did that for many thousands of other musicians throughout his career. He lived as a jazzman, full of soul and sophistication, sass, grit and mother wit, and he made us want to become real jazz musicians.

We talked about how good it felt that many of us were moved to tears in his presence. And we weren’t emotional because he was blind and bedridden, or because he was having trouble hearing, had lost some of his limbs and was in a hospital. He’s 94! We were full of emotion because his presence reminded us of how much of himself he had given to the world, this country, our music, our instrument and each of us individually. And it hit us. All the gigs, recordings, lessons, bands, students, all state jazz orchestras, master classes, TV shows, world beating concerts with Basie and Ellington, his own groups, jam sessions – and all of it at the absolute highest level of engagement- was laying in the bed before us. And we wanted him to be proud and feel the love we felt for him. It was palpable. After we left I said, “Man, CT always had a way of lifting you up.” Ted countered and said, “HAD a way? He still IS that way. It was there today.”

Yeah. He blessed us.

Wynton

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PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2014 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

The American jazz musician who saved my life | Life and style | The Guardian

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/jazzpromo https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jazz-Promo-Services/216022288429676
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/dec/06/the-american-jazz-musician-who-saved-my-life

** The American jazz musician who saved my life
————————————————————
Francois Grosjean

One day, when I was a student in Paris, I went to my father’s home for dinner. When I arrived, I saw that there was a guest there. My father introduced him to me, “This is Jimmy Davis. He’s a jazz musician and you owe him a lot.”

I smiled at this man, who must have been in his 50s, and said hello. Then I asked my father, “How so?” He told me that Jimmy had been friends with him and my mother when they were still together, just after the second world war, and that Jimmy had encouraged my mother to have me, or something to that effect. It was rather vague.

I don’t remember much more about our dinner with Jimmy Davis and as the years went by, I almost forgot about him. From time to time, I would tell family members or close friends that an American jazz musician had played an important role in my early life, but I was no longer sure how – not that I ever really knew. Little by little my memory of that evening faded away.

Time went by, I got married, became a parent and moved to the United States before coming back to Europe and Switzerland. At the age of 64, 45 years after that dinner at my father’s, I inherited some family documents from my British mother from whom I had been estranged since my adolescence. Among them was a short autobiography of her early life in England and then in France where she had joined my father in 1945. They had met in England two years earlier (my father had been a Free French fighter pilot) and had lived together for only four years before separating.
Jimmy Davis in 1941 Jazz musician and songwriter Jimmy Davis in 1941

As I was reading about her pregnancy, I came across a few sentences that startled me, and that I had to read twice. My mother had written, “One day (my husband) brought home to dinner an American soldier, Jimmy Davis, a musician. He had just finished writing a song called Lover Man (http://illkeepyouposted.typepad.com/ill_keep_you_posted/2012/02/jimmy-davis-lover-man-1.html) which became a big success. He persuaded me that it was wrong to abort. With his help, I decided to keep the baby.”

For a few minutes everything around me stood still and I immediately thought back to that dinner and the jazz musician I had met so briefly. So that was how he had “encouraged my mother to have me”. Basically, he had saved my life by convincing my mother to keep the baby she was expecting. I owed my life to someone I knew nothing about and whom I could hardly remember.

As my father had been dead for some 30 years, I phoned my elderly stepmother, my father’s second wife, to tell her what I had found out and to ask her if she had known Jimmy Davis. She had, she said, although she hadn’t known about this particular event, but she couldn’t tell me much more apart from the fact that she remembered him as a very kind gentleman.

So I started my search for him. Above all, I wanted to see his face and to hear his voice to find out what kind of person he had been. I looked him up on the web, and quickly saw that his hit song, Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be) had been – and still is – a major success. It had been interpreted not only by Billie Holiday in 1941, but also by a score of other artists since then: Ella Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston, Norah Jones, Jimmy Somerville, Barbra Streisand (http://www.theguardian.com/culture/barbra-streisand) , and many others.

Eventually I found two photos of Jimmy Davis: one of him as a very young man and another in army uniform with Billie Holiday a few years later. I was struck by his eyes – beautiful dark eyes that reflected intelligence and kindliness – something I thought I might see in the man who had played such an important role in my life.

Billie Holiday singing Jimmy Davis’s song, Mr Lover Man

As for listening to his voice, I had to wait a few years until recordings of him singing were reissued on the web. The ones I have been listening to these last months are part of a record digitised by the French National Library and entitled Jimmy “Loverman” Davis. There I discovered his voice, melodious, warm and teasing at times, in the three languages he sang in: English, his first language, French, the language of the country he lived in most of his life, and Spanish.

One particular song – he wrote many during his career – is called C’est Beau (It’s Beautiful) and in it he lists some of the little things in life that he finds wonderful. One particular verse has struck a chord with me: “A baby who sleeps quietly in his cradle … it’s so beautiful; his upturned nose, his small hands … that’s so lovely.” When I hear those words, I can’t help asking myself whether he had visited my parents before they separated and had seen me asleep in my cradle. As it happens, I do have an upturned nose … and it was even more striking when I was a baby.
Francois Grossjean as a child Francois Grossjean as a child. Did he inspire Jimmy Davis’s song C’est Beau as a sleeping baby?

My aim now is to find out more about Jimmy Davis, his life and career. From what I have gathered, he was an excellent pianist and a wonderful lyricist who wrote songs in his three languages. I know also that he lived on Avenue Reille, near the lovely Parc Montsouris, in Paris, and I can picture him strolling around the small lake there thinking of his next song and composing its music. But I still know so little: when and where he was born, when he moved to Paris for good, how he made a living, when he died and where he is buried.

I hope to find all that out despite the fact that most of his contemporaries are no longer with us. And, hopefully, one day I will be able to visit the cemetery where he is buried and lay a rose on his grave. It would be my small gesture of love for the man who saved my life.

francoisgrosjean.ch (http://francoisgrosjean.ch/)

https://www.facebook.com/wyntonmarsalis

Yesterday we drove 4 hours from Fayetteville, Arkansas to Pine Bluff to visit the great Clark Terry (CT as we call him). This was a day off and originally planned as a trip to his home to celebrate his upcoming 94th birthday (on December 14th) but an emergency on Friday night had landed CT in the hospital. With literally no lead-time, the hospital was able to source and set up a classroom so we could come in and play for him. As we pulled up to the everyday world of the hospital, with two tour buses and an equipment truck, we knew it would be special. From the security guards who set aside parking spaces for us, to the hospital administrators, aides and the assistants working specifically with Clark, to his wife Gwen and some of their friends, everyone and everything was soaked in hospitality, human feeling and soul.

We filed in and quickly set the band up. CT has been such a positive influence on so many of us in the orchestra; we were of one mind about the way we wanted to play for him. Swing! Even before we started playing, many of us were full of emotion.

I reflected on the depth of Clark’s impact on me and was overcome. At 14-15, he was the first great jazz trumpeter I had ever heard actually playing live. His spectacular playing made me want to practice (of course) but his warmth and optimism made me to want to be a part of the world of Jazz. I would try to stand like him, play like him, announce tunes like him and treat people the way he did. And each of us in the band had personal stories like that about Clark. For our trumpet section, he is a Great Immortal. Back when Ryan Kisor was a high school kid in Iowa, CT was the first one to tell me, “There’s a young boy in Iowa who can truly play.” “Iowa?” “Yeah man, for real!”

Moving a big band around on a scheduled day off can be very complicated. And any last minute adjustments will definitely create logistical havoc. But a number of our team displayed dedication and determination to make things go smoothly. Victor demonstrated his advanced communication skills in coordinating all of the particulars with Gwen. Big Boss Murphy kept us on point by responding to each challenge with a calm even-handedness. Gabrielle Armand and our JALC staff in New York provided whatever was needed to assist with the hospitality. Chris Crenshaw transcribed a couple of Jimmy Heath arrangements that featured Clark on lead trumpet: “West Coast Blues”, a Wes Montgomery composition from Blue Mitchell’s album entitled “A Sure Thing” and “Nails”, from a Jimmy Heath Orchestra recording entitled “Really Big!”

As Clark’s bed was wheeled in we launched into Duke and Strayhorn’s “Peanut Brittle Brigade” from their version of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker”. After playing, we each went over to his bed, introduced ourselves and said a little something about our pedigree and how much we appreciated his contributions to our personal development and to the music. He recognized each of us and responded to every salutation with some pithy comment of joyful appreciation.

The hospital staff stood by watching in amazement as this informal caravan of musicians who had transformed this classroom into a concert hall, genuflected one by one before a patient who they knew was important for some reason…. but this type of homage perhaps meant something different from whatever their perceptions might have been. Without knowing his music or his profoundly personal influence on so many of us it was probably impossible for them to realize that they were caring for one of the world’s great Maestros.

When it was his turn, Carlos enthusiastically told Clark, “I’m representing all of the Puerto Ricans in the Bronx. They send their love.” And we all cracked up.

We then played Basie’s “Good Morning Blues” and let him check out Cécile. She stood right next to his bed and sang into a microphone connected to his headphones. She too was overcome with emotion, but she sang with poise and so poetically. It was elegant, yet intimate, like someone singing to a beloved family member. As soon as he recognized that unique quality in her voice, he started cosigning her and demonstrating that infectious personality that always made you feel great about playing.

Chris introduced the “West Coast Blues” and told Clark when it was recorded. He didn’t remember so Chris started to sing it. After a few bars of Clark trying to remember Chris said, “You’ll know it when you hear it.” We played and cats were swinging hard for him. As we were playing, he asked Gwen to identify each soloist. Our sound stylist, David Robinson, helped her call everyone out.

We didn’t want to stop, but it was time for all of us to go. But before that somber moment, we gathered around the bed and played “Happy Birthday” for him. When he went to blow out the candles, he broke down. Many of us joined him.

We all said goodbye and he once again recognized each individual with a touch and some kind words. We took a good picture with the trumpet section of which Vincent said, “This is the only time I’ll make way for y’all.” And then it was that time.

What is deeper than respect and love? That’s what we felt: veneration.

Later we went to Clark’s home. Gwen and some friends had a spread laid out. Good fried chicken and catfish, coleslaw, succotash…you know, the usual suspects that never wear out their welcome. Pure southern soul.

After eating, Ted and I sat in Clark’s den surrounded by memorabilia from his career plus a not-completely-assembled drum set and a couple of African drums. The mantelpiece was dominated by a large picture of CT and Sweets Edison playing together. Right after Sweets passed away, I remember Clark telling me that he had left him his suits. “How am I going to wear those big-ass suits?” was what he said. And we laughed thinking about how Sweets would have laughed at that.

Ted and I reminisced about seeing Clark play on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson during the 70’s. He had all kinds of tricks like playing the trumpet with both hands or upside down, or playing trumpet and flugelhorn at once. These antics amazed and delighted audiences, but he was playing great ideas the whole time. I recalled him coming to see me play with the New Orleans Philharmonic when I was 16 and telling me how much he loved it at the club later that night. Ted recounted playing with the California all state high school jazz band in 1975 when he was 15. They performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival and Clark was guest soloist. On one song, a blues, Ted came out front to play the soprano saxophone with him. When the song finished, CT grabbed the mic and said enthusiastically “Ted Nash on soprano!” The feeling in that introduction by the great Clark Terry of an unknown high school musician gave an almost spiritual validation to Ted’s playing.

We recognized that he also did that for many thousands of other musicians throughout his career. He lived as a jazzman, full of soul and sophistication, sass, grit and mother wit, and he made us want to become real jazz musicians.

We talked about how good it felt that many of us were moved to tears in his presence. And we weren’t emotional because he was blind and bedridden, or because he was having trouble hearing, had lost some of his limbs and was in a hospital. He’s 94! We were full of emotion because his presence reminded us of how much of himself he had given to the world, this country, our music, our instrument and each of us individually. And it hit us. All the gigs, recordings, lessons, bands, students, all state jazz orchestras, master classes, TV shows, world beating concerts with Basie and Ellington, his own groups, jam sessions – and all of it at the absolute highest level of engagement- was laying in the bed before us. And we wanted him to be proud and feel the love we felt for him. It was palpable. After we left I said, “Man, CT always had a way of lifting you up.” Ted countered and said, “HAD a way? He still IS that way. It was there today.”

Yeah. He blessed us.

Wynton

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=36a13bf4fc) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=36a13bf4fc&e=[UNIQID])

PLEASE NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE ON THIS MAILING LIST PLEASE RESPOND WITH ‘REMOVE’ IN THE SUBJECT LINE. IF YOU ARE RECEIVING DUPLICATE EMAILS OUR APOLOGIES, JAZZ PROMO SERVICES ANNOUNCEMENT LIST IS GROWING LARGER EVERY DAY…..PLEASE LET US KNOW AND WE WILL FIX IT IMMEDIATELY!

Copyright (C) 2014 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Wynton Marsalis & JALC Orch Visit Clark Terry in the Hospital

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http://twitter.com/#!/jazzpromo https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jazz-Promo-Services/216022288429676
https://www.facebook.com/wyntonmarsalis

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Yesterday we drove 4 hours from Fayetteville, Arkansas to Pine Bluff to visit the great Clark Terry (CT as we call him). This was a day off and originally planned as a trip to his home to celebrate his upcoming 94th birthday (on December 14th) but an emergency on Friday night had landed CT in the hospital. With literally no lead-time, the hospital was able to source and set up a classroom so we could come in and play for him. As we pulled up to the everyday world of the hospital, with two tour buses and an equipment truck, we knew it would be special. From the security guards who set aside parking spaces for us, to the hospital administrators, aides and the assistants working specifically with Clark, to his wife Gwen and some of their friends, everyone and everything was soaked in hospitality, human feeling and soul.

We filed in and quickly set the band up. CT has been such a positive influence on so many of us in the orchestra; we were of one mind about the way we wanted to play for him. Swing! Even before we started playing, many of us were full of emotion.

I reflected on the depth of Clark’s impact on me and was overcome. At 14-15, he was the first great jazz trumpeter I had ever heard actually playing live. His spectacular playing made me want to practice (of course) but his warmth and optimism made me to want to be a part of the world of Jazz. I would try to stand like him, play like him, announce tunes like him and treat people the way he did. And each of us in the band had personal stories like that about Clark. For our trumpet section, he is a Great Immortal. Back when Ryan Kisor was a high school kid in Iowa, CT was the first one to tell me, “There’s a young boy in Iowa who can truly play.” “Iowa?” “Yeah man, for real!”

Moving a big band around on a scheduled day off can be very complicated. And any last minute adjustments will definitely create logistical havoc. But a number of our team displayed dedication and determination to make things go smoothly. Victor demonstrated his advanced communication skills in coordinating all of the particulars with Gwen. Big Boss Murphy kept us on point by responding to each challenge with a calm even-handedness. Gabrielle Armand and our JALC staff in New York provided whatever was needed to assist with the hospitality. Chris Crenshaw transcribed a couple of Jimmy Heath arrangements that featured Clark on lead trumpet: “West Coast Blues”, a Wes Montgomery composition from Blue Mitchell’s album entitled “A Sure Thing” and “Nails”, from a Jimmy Heath Orchestra recording entitled “Really Big!”

As Clark’s bed was wheeled in we launched into Duke and Strayhorn’s “Peanut Brittle Brigade” from their version of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker”. After playing, we each went over to his bed, introduced ourselves and said a little something about our pedigree and how much we appreciated his contributions to our personal development and to the music. He recognized each of us and responded to every salutation with some pithy comment of joyful appreciation.

The hospital staff stood by watching in amazement as this informal caravan of musicians who had transformed this classroom into a concert hall, genuflected one by one before a patient who they knew was important for some reason…. but this type of homage perhaps meant something different from whatever their perceptions might have been. Without knowing his music or his profoundly personal influence on so many of us it was probably impossible for them to realize that they were caring for one of the world’s great Maestros.

When it was his turn, Carlos enthusiastically told Clark, “I’m representing all of the Puerto Ricans in the Bronx. They send their love.” And we all cracked up.

We then played Basie’s “Good Morning Blues” and let him check out Cécile. She stood right next to his bed and sang into a microphone connected to his headphones. She too was overcome with emotion, but she sang with poise and so poetically. It was elegant, yet intimate, like someone singing to a beloved family member. As soon as he recognized that unique quality in her voice, he started cosigning her and demonstrating that infectious personality that always made you feel great about playing.

Chris introduced the “West Coast Blues” and told Clark when it was recorded. He didn’t remember so Chris started to sing it. After a few bars of Clark trying to remember Chris said, “You’ll know it when you hear it.” We played and cats were swinging hard for him. As we were playing, he asked Gwen to identify each soloist. Our sound stylist, David Robinson, helped her call everyone out.

We didn’t want to stop, but it was time for all of us to go. But before that somber moment, we gathered around the bed and played “Happy Birthday” for him. When he went to blow out the candles, he broke down. Many of us joined him.

We all said goodbye and he once again recognized each individual with a touch and some kind words. We took a good picture with the trumpet section of which Vincent said, “This is the only time I’ll make way for y’all.” And then it was that time.

What is deeper than respect and love? That’s what we felt: veneration.

Later we went to Clark’s home. Gwen and some friends had a spread laid out. Good fried chicken and catfish, coleslaw, succotash…you know, the usual suspects that never wear out their welcome. Pure southern soul.

After eating, Ted and I sat in Clark’s den surrounded by memorabilia from his career plus a not-completely-assembled drum set and a couple of African drums. The mantelpiece was dominated by a large picture of CT and Sweets Edison playing together. Right after Sweets passed away, I remember Clark telling me that he had left him his suits. “How am I going to wear those big-ass suits?” was what he said. And we laughed thinking about how Sweets would have laughed at that.

Ted and I reminisced about seeing Clark play on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson during the 70’s. He had all kinds of tricks like playing the trumpet with both hands or upside down, or playing trumpet and flugelhorn at once. These antics amazed and delighted audiences, but he was playing great ideas the whole time. I recalled him coming to see me play with the New Orleans Philharmonic when I was 16 and telling me how much he loved it at the club later that night. Ted recounted playing with the California all state high school jazz band in 1975 when he was 15. They performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival and Clark was guest soloist. On one song, a blues, Ted came out front to play the soprano saxophone with him. When the song finished, CT grabbed the mic and said enthusiastically “Ted Nash on soprano!” The feeling in that introduction by the great Clark Terry of an unknown high school musician gave an almost spiritual validation to Ted’s playing.

We recognized that he also did that for many thousands of other musicians throughout his career. He lived as a jazzman, full of soul and sophistication, sass, grit and mother wit, and he made us want to become real jazz musicians.

We talked about how good it felt that many of us were moved to tears in his presence. And we weren’t emotional because he was blind and bedridden, or because he was having trouble hearing, had lost some of his limbs and was in a hospital. He’s 94! We were full of emotion because his presence reminded us of how much of himself he had given to the world, this country, our music, our instrument and each of us individually. And it hit us. All the gigs, recordings, lessons, bands, students, all state jazz orchestras, master classes, TV shows, world beating concerts with Basie and Ellington, his own groups, jam sessions – and all of it at the absolute highest level of engagement- was laying in the bed before us. And we wanted him to be proud and feel the love we felt for him. It was palpable. After we left I said, “Man, CT always had a way of lifting you up.” Ted countered and said, “HAD a way? He still IS that way. It was there today.”

Yeah. He blessed us.

Wynton

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Wynton Marsalis & JALC Orch Visit Clark Terry in the Hospital

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/jazzpromo https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jazz-Promo-Services/216022288429676
https://www.facebook.com/wyntonmarsalis

https://www.facebook.com/wyntonmarsalis

Yesterday we drove 4 hours from Fayetteville, Arkansas to Pine Bluff to visit the great Clark Terry (CT as we call him). This was a day off and originally planned as a trip to his home to celebrate his upcoming 94th birthday (on December 14th) but an emergency on Friday night had landed CT in the hospital. With literally no lead-time, the hospital was able to source and set up a classroom so we could come in and play for him. As we pulled up to the everyday world of the hospital, with two tour buses and an equipment truck, we knew it would be special. From the security guards who set aside parking spaces for us, to the hospital administrators, aides and the assistants working specifically with Clark, to his wife Gwen and some of their friends, everyone and everything was soaked in hospitality, human feeling and soul.

We filed in and quickly set the band up. CT has been such a positive influence on so many of us in the orchestra; we were of one mind about the way we wanted to play for him. Swing! Even before we started playing, many of us were full of emotion.

I reflected on the depth of Clark’s impact on me and was overcome. At 14-15, he was the first great jazz trumpeter I had ever heard actually playing live. His spectacular playing made me want to practice (of course) but his warmth and optimism made me to want to be a part of the world of Jazz. I would try to stand like him, play like him, announce tunes like him and treat people the way he did. And each of us in the band had personal stories like that about Clark. For our trumpet section, he is a Great Immortal. Back when Ryan Kisor was a high school kid in Iowa, CT was the first one to tell me, “There’s a young boy in Iowa who can truly play.” “Iowa?” “Yeah man, for real!”

Moving a big band around on a scheduled day off can be very complicated. And any last minute adjustments will definitely create logistical havoc. But a number of our team displayed dedication and determination to make things go smoothly. Victor demonstrated his advanced communication skills in coordinating all of the particulars with Gwen. Big Boss Murphy kept us on point by responding to each challenge with a calm even-handedness. Gabrielle Armand and our JALC staff in New York provided whatever was needed to assist with the hospitality. Chris Crenshaw transcribed a couple of Jimmy Heath arrangements that featured Clark on lead trumpet: “West Coast Blues”, a Wes Montgomery composition from Blue Mitchell’s album entitled “A Sure Thing” and “Nails”, from a Jimmy Heath Orchestra recording entitled “Really Big!”

As Clark’s bed was wheeled in we launched into Duke and Strayhorn’s “Peanut Brittle Brigade” from their version of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker”. After playing, we each went over to his bed, introduced ourselves and said a little something about our pedigree and how much we appreciated his contributions to our personal development and to the music. He recognized each of us and responded to every salutation with some pithy comment of joyful appreciation.

The hospital staff stood by watching in amazement as this informal caravan of musicians who had transformed this classroom into a concert hall, genuflected one by one before a patient who they knew was important for some reason…. but this type of homage perhaps meant something different from whatever their perceptions might have been. Without knowing his music or his profoundly personal influence on so many of us it was probably impossible for them to realize that they were caring for one of the world’s great Maestros.

When it was his turn, Carlos enthusiastically told Clark, “I’m representing all of the Puerto Ricans in the Bronx. They send their love.” And we all cracked up.

We then played Basie’s “Good Morning Blues” and let him check out Cécile. She stood right next to his bed and sang into a microphone connected to his headphones. She too was overcome with emotion, but she sang with poise and so poetically. It was elegant, yet intimate, like someone singing to a beloved family member. As soon as he recognized that unique quality in her voice, he started cosigning her and demonstrating that infectious personality that always made you feel great about playing.

Chris introduced the “West Coast Blues” and told Clark when it was recorded. He didn’t remember so Chris started to sing it. After a few bars of Clark trying to remember Chris said, “You’ll know it when you hear it.” We played and cats were swinging hard for him. As we were playing, he asked Gwen to identify each soloist. Our sound stylist, David Robinson, helped her call everyone out.

We didn’t want to stop, but it was time for all of us to go. But before that somber moment, we gathered around the bed and played “Happy Birthday” for him. When he went to blow out the candles, he broke down. Many of us joined him.

We all said goodbye and he once again recognized each individual with a touch and some kind words. We took a good picture with the trumpet section of which Vincent said, “This is the only time I’ll make way for y’all.” And then it was that time.

What is deeper than respect and love? That’s what we felt: veneration.

Later we went to Clark’s home. Gwen and some friends had a spread laid out. Good fried chicken and catfish, coleslaw, succotash…you know, the usual suspects that never wear out their welcome. Pure southern soul.

After eating, Ted and I sat in Clark’s den surrounded by memorabilia from his career plus a not-completely-assembled drum set and a couple of African drums. The mantelpiece was dominated by a large picture of CT and Sweets Edison playing together. Right after Sweets passed away, I remember Clark telling me that he had left him his suits. “How am I going to wear those big-ass suits?” was what he said. And we laughed thinking about how Sweets would have laughed at that.

Ted and I reminisced about seeing Clark play on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson during the 70’s. He had all kinds of tricks like playing the trumpet with both hands or upside down, or playing trumpet and flugelhorn at once. These antics amazed and delighted audiences, but he was playing great ideas the whole time. I recalled him coming to see me play with the New Orleans Philharmonic when I was 16 and telling me how much he loved it at the club later that night. Ted recounted playing with the California all state high school jazz band in 1975 when he was 15. They performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival and Clark was guest soloist. On one song, a blues, Ted came out front to play the soprano saxophone with him. When the song finished, CT grabbed the mic and said enthusiastically “Ted Nash on soprano!” The feeling in that introduction by the great Clark Terry of an unknown high school musician gave an almost spiritual validation to Ted’s playing.

We recognized that he also did that for many thousands of other musicians throughout his career. He lived as a jazzman, full of soul and sophistication, sass, grit and mother wit, and he made us want to become real jazz musicians.

We talked about how good it felt that many of us were moved to tears in his presence. And we weren’t emotional because he was blind and bedridden, or because he was having trouble hearing, had lost some of his limbs and was in a hospital. He’s 94! We were full of emotion because his presence reminded us of how much of himself he had given to the world, this country, our music, our instrument and each of us individually. And it hit us. All the gigs, recordings, lessons, bands, students, all state jazz orchestras, master classes, TV shows, world beating concerts with Basie and Ellington, his own groups, jam sessions – and all of it at the absolute highest level of engagement- was laying in the bed before us. And we wanted him to be proud and feel the love we felt for him. It was palpable. After we left I said, “Man, CT always had a way of lifting you up.” Ted countered and said, “HAD a way? He still IS that way. It was there today.”

Yeah. He blessed us.

Wynton

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Copyright (C) 2014 All rights reserved.

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269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Wynton Marsalis & JALC Orch Visit Clark Terry in the Hospital

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/jazzpromo https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jazz-Promo-Services/216022288429676
https://www.facebook.com/wyntonmarsalis

https://www.facebook.com/wyntonmarsalis

Yesterday we drove 4 hours from Fayetteville, Arkansas to Pine Bluff to visit the great Clark Terry (CT as we call him). This was a day off and originally planned as a trip to his home to celebrate his upcoming 94th birthday (on December 14th) but an emergency on Friday night had landed CT in the hospital. With literally no lead-time, the hospital was able to source and set up a classroom so we could come in and play for him. As we pulled up to the everyday world of the hospital, with two tour buses and an equipment truck, we knew it would be special. From the security guards who set aside parking spaces for us, to the hospital administrators, aides and the assistants working specifically with Clark, to his wife Gwen and some of their friends, everyone and everything was soaked in hospitality, human feeling and soul.

We filed in and quickly set the band up. CT has been such a positive influence on so many of us in the orchestra; we were of one mind about the way we wanted to play for him. Swing! Even before we started playing, many of us were full of emotion.

I reflected on the depth of Clark’s impact on me and was overcome. At 14-15, he was the first great jazz trumpeter I had ever heard actually playing live. His spectacular playing made me want to practice (of course) but his warmth and optimism made me to want to be a part of the world of Jazz. I would try to stand like him, play like him, announce tunes like him and treat people the way he did. And each of us in the band had personal stories like that about Clark. For our trumpet section, he is a Great Immortal. Back when Ryan Kisor was a high school kid in Iowa, CT was the first one to tell me, “There’s a young boy in Iowa who can truly play.” “Iowa?” “Yeah man, for real!”

Moving a big band around on a scheduled day off can be very complicated. And any last minute adjustments will definitely create logistical havoc. But a number of our team displayed dedication and determination to make things go smoothly. Victor demonstrated his advanced communication skills in coordinating all of the particulars with Gwen. Big Boss Murphy kept us on point by responding to each challenge with a calm even-handedness. Gabrielle Armand and our JALC staff in New York provided whatever was needed to assist with the hospitality. Chris Crenshaw transcribed a couple of Jimmy Heath arrangements that featured Clark on lead trumpet: “West Coast Blues”, a Wes Montgomery composition from Blue Mitchell’s album entitled “A Sure Thing” and “Nails”, from a Jimmy Heath Orchestra recording entitled “Really Big!”

As Clark’s bed was wheeled in we launched into Duke and Strayhorn’s “Peanut Brittle Brigade” from their version of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker”. After playing, we each went over to his bed, introduced ourselves and said a little something about our pedigree and how much we appreciated his contributions to our personal development and to the music. He recognized each of us and responded to every salutation with some pithy comment of joyful appreciation.

The hospital staff stood by watching in amazement as this informal caravan of musicians who had transformed this classroom into a concert hall, genuflected one by one before a patient who they knew was important for some reason…. but this type of homage perhaps meant something different from whatever their perceptions might have been. Without knowing his music or his profoundly personal influence on so many of us it was probably impossible for them to realize that they were caring for one of the world’s great Maestros.

When it was his turn, Carlos enthusiastically told Clark, “I’m representing all of the Puerto Ricans in the Bronx. They send their love.” And we all cracked up.

We then played Basie’s “Good Morning Blues” and let him check out Cécile. She stood right next to his bed and sang into a microphone connected to his headphones. She too was overcome with emotion, but she sang with poise and so poetically. It was elegant, yet intimate, like someone singing to a beloved family member. As soon as he recognized that unique quality in her voice, he started cosigning her and demonstrating that infectious personality that always made you feel great about playing.

Chris introduced the “West Coast Blues” and told Clark when it was recorded. He didn’t remember so Chris started to sing it. After a few bars of Clark trying to remember Chris said, “You’ll know it when you hear it.” We played and cats were swinging hard for him. As we were playing, he asked Gwen to identify each soloist. Our sound stylist, David Robinson, helped her call everyone out.

We didn’t want to stop, but it was time for all of us to go. But before that somber moment, we gathered around the bed and played “Happy Birthday” for him. When he went to blow out the candles, he broke down. Many of us joined him.

We all said goodbye and he once again recognized each individual with a touch and some kind words. We took a good picture with the trumpet section of which Vincent said, “This is the only time I’ll make way for y’all.” And then it was that time.

What is deeper than respect and love? That’s what we felt: veneration.

Later we went to Clark’s home. Gwen and some friends had a spread laid out. Good fried chicken and catfish, coleslaw, succotash…you know, the usual suspects that never wear out their welcome. Pure southern soul.

After eating, Ted and I sat in Clark’s den surrounded by memorabilia from his career plus a not-completely-assembled drum set and a couple of African drums. The mantelpiece was dominated by a large picture of CT and Sweets Edison playing together. Right after Sweets passed away, I remember Clark telling me that he had left him his suits. “How am I going to wear those big-ass suits?” was what he said. And we laughed thinking about how Sweets would have laughed at that.

Ted and I reminisced about seeing Clark play on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson during the 70’s. He had all kinds of tricks like playing the trumpet with both hands or upside down, or playing trumpet and flugelhorn at once. These antics amazed and delighted audiences, but he was playing great ideas the whole time. I recalled him coming to see me play with the New Orleans Philharmonic when I was 16 and telling me how much he loved it at the club later that night. Ted recounted playing with the California all state high school jazz band in 1975 when he was 15. They performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival and Clark was guest soloist. On one song, a blues, Ted came out front to play the soprano saxophone with him. When the song finished, CT grabbed the mic and said enthusiastically “Ted Nash on soprano!” The feeling in that introduction by the great Clark Terry of an unknown high school musician gave an almost spiritual validation to Ted’s playing.

We recognized that he also did that for many thousands of other musicians throughout his career. He lived as a jazzman, full of soul and sophistication, sass, grit and mother wit, and he made us want to become real jazz musicians.

We talked about how good it felt that many of us were moved to tears in his presence. And we weren’t emotional because he was blind and bedridden, or because he was having trouble hearing, had lost some of his limbs and was in a hospital. He’s 94! We were full of emotion because his presence reminded us of how much of himself he had given to the world, this country, our music, our instrument and each of us individually. And it hit us. All the gigs, recordings, lessons, bands, students, all state jazz orchestras, master classes, TV shows, world beating concerts with Basie and Ellington, his own groups, jam sessions – and all of it at the absolute highest level of engagement- was laying in the bed before us. And we wanted him to be proud and feel the love we felt for him. It was palpable. After we left I said, “Man, CT always had a way of lifting you up.” Ted countered and said, “HAD a way? He still IS that way. It was there today.”

Yeah. He blessed us.

Wynton

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Copyright (C) 2014 All rights reserved.

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USA

Jazz Articles: Bassist and Educator Chris White Dies at 78 – By Jeff Tamarkin — Jazz Articles

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http://jazztimes.com/sections/news/articles/148920-bassist-and-educator-chris-white-dies-at-78

12/03/14

** Bassist and Educator Chris White Dies at 78
————————————————————

** Played with Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone, others
————————————————————

By Jeff Tamarkin (http://jazztimes.com/contributors/10422-jeff-tamarkin)

Bassist, producer, arranger and educator Chris White, whose recording and performance credits included work with as Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Nina Simone, Mary Lou Williams, Billy Taylor, Kenny Barron, Chick Corea, Teddy Wilson, Mary Lou Williams, Sarah Vaughan, Ramsey Lewis, James Moody, Quincy Jones, Carmen McRae, Billy Cobham and others, died Nov. 2. Details regarding the cause and place of death were unavailable.

Born Christopher Wesley White in Harlem on July 6, 1936, and raised in Brooklyn, White turned professional in his teens and later graduated from the Manhattan School of Music. He went on to earn a Masters of Education degree from the University of Massachusetts.

In the 1950s, White played with pianist Cecil Taylor. In the early ’60s he accompanied Simone and later that decade, Gillespie. He founded the group Jazz Survivors and was a member of Prism. White released his only solo album The Chris White Project, in 1992.

White was the first executive director of the Jazzmobile project in New York and the first director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University. He also founded the MUSE jazz program at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and was a faculty member at Bloomfield College in New Jersey.

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Copyright (C) 2014 All rights reserved.

Jazz Promo Services
269 State Route 94 South
Warwick, Ny 10990
USA

Jazz Articles: Bassist and Educator Chris White Dies at 78 – By Jeff Tamarkin — Jazz Articles

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/jazzpromo https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jazz-Promo-Services/216022288429676

http://jazztimes.com/sections/news/articles/148920-bassist-and-educator-chris-white-dies-at-78

12/03/14

** Bassist and Educator Chris White Dies at 78
————————————————————

** Played with Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone, others
————————————————————

By Jeff Tamarkin (http://jazztimes.com/contributors/10422-jeff-tamarkin)

Bassist, producer, arranger and educator Chris White, whose recording and performance credits included work with as Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Nina Simone, Mary Lou Williams, Billy Taylor, Kenny Barron, Chick Corea, Teddy Wilson, Mary Lou Williams, Sarah Vaughan, Ramsey Lewis, James Moody, Quincy Jones, Carmen McRae, Billy Cobham and others, died Nov. 2. Details regarding the cause and place of death were unavailable.

Born Christopher Wesley White in Harlem on July 6, 1936, and raised in Brooklyn, White turned professional in his teens and later graduated from the Manhattan School of Music. He went on to earn a Masters of Education degree from the University of Massachusetts.

In the 1950s, White played with pianist Cecil Taylor. In the early ’60s he accompanied Simone and later that decade, Gillespie. He founded the group Jazz Survivors and was a member of Prism. White released his only solo album The Chris White Project, in 1992.

White was the first executive director of the Jazzmobile project in New York and the first director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University. He also founded the MUSE jazz program at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and was a faculty member at Bloomfield College in New Jersey.

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Jazz Articles: Bassist and Educator Chris White Dies at 78 – By Jeff Tamarkin — Jazz Articles

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http://jazztimes.com/sections/news/articles/148920-bassist-and-educator-chris-white-dies-at-78

12/03/14

** Bassist and Educator Chris White Dies at 78
————————————————————

** Played with Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone, others
————————————————————

By Jeff Tamarkin (http://jazztimes.com/contributors/10422-jeff-tamarkin)

Bassist, producer, arranger and educator Chris White, whose recording and performance credits included work with as Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Nina Simone, Mary Lou Williams, Billy Taylor, Kenny Barron, Chick Corea, Teddy Wilson, Mary Lou Williams, Sarah Vaughan, Ramsey Lewis, James Moody, Quincy Jones, Carmen McRae, Billy Cobham and others, died Nov. 2. Details regarding the cause and place of death were unavailable.

Born Christopher Wesley White in Harlem on July 6, 1936, and raised in Brooklyn, White turned professional in his teens and later graduated from the Manhattan School of Music. He went on to earn a Masters of Education degree from the University of Massachusetts.

In the 1950s, White played with pianist Cecil Taylor. In the early ’60s he accompanied Simone and later that decade, Gillespie. He founded the group Jazz Survivors and was a member of Prism. White released his only solo album The Chris White Project, in 1992.

White was the first executive director of the Jazzmobile project in New York and the first director of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University. He also founded the MUSE jazz program at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum and was a faculty member at Bloomfield College in New Jersey.

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RIP Manuel de Sica: son of famed Italian director; arranged for Jones-Lewis Orch

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Manuel De Sica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica) (24 February 1949 – 5 December 2014) was an Italian composer. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica)

Born in Rome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome) , the son of Vittorio De Sica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_De_Sica) and María Mercader (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Mercader) , De Sica enrolled at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accademia_Nazionale_di_Santa_Cecilia) , in which he studied with Bruno Maderna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Maderna) .^[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-1) He debuted as a composer in 1968, in Vittorio De Sica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_De_Sica) ‘s A Place for Lovers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Place_for_Lovers) .

In 1993, De Sica won the Nastro d’Argento for Best Score (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nastro_d%27Argento_for_Best_Score) for Carlo Verdone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Verdone) ‘s Al lupo, al lupo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_lupo,_al_lupo) .^[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-premi-2) In 1996 he won the David di Donatello for Best Score (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_di_Donatello_for_Best_Score) for Carlo Lizzani (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Lizzani) ‘s Celluloide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celluloide) .^[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-premi-2) In 2005 he was honored with the title of Commendatore of the Italian Republic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendatore_of_the_Italian_Republic) .^[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-3) He died of a heart attack on 5 December 2014.^[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-4)

http://www.manueldesica.com/index_eng.html

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RIP Manuel de Sica: son of famed Italian director; arranged for Jones-Lewis Orch

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Manuel De Sica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica) (24 February 1949 – 5 December 2014) was an Italian composer. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica)

Born in Rome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome) , the son of Vittorio De Sica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_De_Sica) and María Mercader (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Mercader) , De Sica enrolled at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accademia_Nazionale_di_Santa_Cecilia) , in which he studied with Bruno Maderna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Maderna) .^[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-1) He debuted as a composer in 1968, in Vittorio De Sica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_De_Sica) ‘s A Place for Lovers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Place_for_Lovers) .

In 1993, De Sica won the Nastro d’Argento for Best Score (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nastro_d%27Argento_for_Best_Score) for Carlo Verdone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Verdone) ‘s Al lupo, al lupo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_lupo,_al_lupo) .^[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-premi-2) In 1996 he won the David di Donatello for Best Score (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_di_Donatello_for_Best_Score) for Carlo Lizzani (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Lizzani) ‘s Celluloide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celluloide) .^[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-premi-2) In 2005 he was honored with the title of Commendatore of the Italian Republic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendatore_of_the_Italian_Republic) .^[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-3) He died of a heart attack on 5 December 2014.^[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-4)

http://www.manueldesica.com/index_eng.html

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RIP Manuel de Sica: son of famed Italian director; arranged for Jones-Lewis Orch

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Manuel De Sica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica) (24 February 1949 – 5 December 2014) was an Italian composer. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica)

Born in Rome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome) , the son of Vittorio De Sica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_De_Sica) and María Mercader (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Mercader) , De Sica enrolled at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accademia_Nazionale_di_Santa_Cecilia) , in which he studied with Bruno Maderna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Maderna) .^[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-1) He debuted as a composer in 1968, in Vittorio De Sica (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittorio_De_Sica) ‘s A Place for Lovers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Place_for_Lovers) .

In 1993, De Sica won the Nastro d’Argento for Best Score (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nastro_d%27Argento_for_Best_Score) for Carlo Verdone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Verdone) ‘s Al lupo, al lupo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_lupo,_al_lupo) .^[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-premi-2) In 1996 he won the David di Donatello for Best Score (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_di_Donatello_for_Best_Score) for Carlo Lizzani (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Lizzani) ‘s Celluloide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celluloide) .^[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-premi-2) In 2005 he was honored with the title of Commendatore of the Italian Republic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendatore_of_the_Italian_Republic) .^[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-3) He died of a heart attack on 5 December 2014.^[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_De_Sica#cite_note-4)

http://www.manueldesica.com/index_eng.html

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Thad Jones & Mel Lewis – Suite for Pops 1 – Meetin’ Place

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Thad Jones & Mel Lewis – Suite for Pops 1 – Meetin’ Place

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Thad Jones & Mel Lewis – Suite for Pops 1 – Meetin’ Place

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Thad Jones & Mel Lewis – Suite for Pops 1 – Meetin’ Place

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Thad Jones & Mel Lewis – Suite for Pops 1 – Meetin’ Place

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Thad Jones & Mel Lewis – Suite for Pops 1 – Meetin’ Place

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Before the Civil Rights Act, Herman Roberts’s club defined black nightlife on the south side | Music Feature | Chicago Reader

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http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/herman-roberts-show-lounge-club-south-side-motel-500-room/Content?oid=15781283

** Before the Civil Rights Act, Herman Roberts’s club defined black nightlife on the south side
————————————————————

** As proprietor of Roberts Show Lounge and the 500 Room, Roberts booked the likes of Nat “King” Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton—and responded to segregation and its legacy with ingenuity and class.
————————————————————
By James Porter (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ArticleArchives?author=868202)
The walls of Herman Roberts’s south-side living room are covered with photographs from his decades in the entertainment business.

The walls of Herman Roberts’s south-side living room are covered with photographs from his decades in the entertainment business.

ALISON GREEN (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ImageArchives?oid=15781292)

Walk into Herman Roberts’s south-side home, built for his mother in 1965, and the first thing you see are the photographs lining the walls of his living room. He has dozens if not hundreds, including pictures of musicians James Brown, Sarah Vaughan, Jackie Wilson, Dinah Washington, Bill Doggett, and Billy Eckstine; athletes Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali; political and civil-rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr., Harold Washington (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/best-book-on-harold-washington/BestOf?oid=4102734) , and Jimmy Carter; comedians Dick Gregory, Slappy White, Nipsey Russell, and Stepin Fetchit; and author James Baldwin. They’re souvenirs of the years he spent running some of the best-known nightclubs on the south side of Chicago.

Many of the folks in those photos performed at Roberts Show Lounge, which he founded in 1954 and closed in ’61, or at the 500 Room, a hall in the sixth and largest of his Roberts Motels (in ads he called it “the Big One”), opened in 1969 and shuttered in ’92. Not much architectural evidence of his entertainment empire survives: Roberts Show Lounge stood at 6622 South Park Way (since renamed King Drive), on a lot now occupied by New Beginnings Church. The 500 Room and its associated motel were a few blocks away at 301 E. 63rd, where there isn’t much of anything today. But Roberts still has his story, and this is the first time he’s shared so much of it publicly.

Roberts, now 90 years old, is a survivor of an era when racial segregation operated with much more explicit official sanction than it does today, and penetrated even further into daily life. Even the most crossover-minded black superstar might be required to play in a venue where blacks weren’t allowed or, at best, were forced to sit in the rear of the club. (The last Jim Crow laws in the States weren’t overturned until 1965.) Roberts provided a nonsegregated venue for black entertainers, with a classy ambience—and beginning in 1960, when he opened the first of his six motels nearby, he also gave them a place to stay. First-class hotels often refused black guests, and previously Roberts often had to put up his performers in houses or apartments.

Roberts’s friend Marcella Saffo, who’s known him since 1947 and married his old army buddy Walter Pride (now deceased), still remembers how much fun she had at Roberts Show Lounge. “You knew everybody, everybody knew you—they had Della Reese and all types of different stars there. It was friendly, you could talk to them. It was clean, it was managed well, there was never any commotion. Everybody was always having a nice time.” And venerable blues songwriter Bob Jones recalls the glow of prestige that used to surround the place: “I lived in the suburbs, Chicago Heights. At that time, Roberts Show Lounge was the thing! I remember I was dating a young lady who decided she wanted to make a grand entrance, so she walked through the front door dragging her fur coat on the floor. Everybody thought that was funny.”

Born in Beggs, Oklahoma, in 1924, Herman Roberts migrated with his family to Chicago when he was 12. “Left my dog and my horses,” he says. He remembers going barefoot in yards speckled with chicken shit. “Getting ready to go to bed at night, you take your feet and rub it in the sand and dirt. We didn’t have any water to wash our feet off with.” In Chicago he had a better chance of finding paying jobs. “Selling papers, shining shoes, cleaning up kitchens, doing a little work putting coal in furnaces,” he says. “You probably don’t remember that. Now you’ve got gas and electric heat all the time. Ain’t no furnaces with stokers no more.”

In Chicago, he entered the workforce in the late 30s, working for a cab company washing cars. “The reason I got involved in the cab business is because I was a young kid hanging around the cab garage,” he says. “Back then, it cost 50 cents to wash your car. They’d give me a dime to wipe it off.” He began driving those cabs at 15, as soon as he was old enough, and by 1944 he owned his own operation, the Roberts Cab Company. He served in the army during World War II, and after his return, in 1947, he claims to have been the first to install two-way radios in his cabs (“You gotta stay with the times!”).

In 1952 Roberts established a small club called the Lucky Spot at 602 E. 71st. Two years later he moved to 6622 South Park Way, where he established Roberts Show Lounge. (The front of the building said “Roberts Lounge and Liquors,” and in the late 50s he added a big neon sign reading “Roberts Show Club,” but people who remember the place today tend to call it Roberts Show Lounge.) Jazz musician Duke Groner, another Oklahoma native who’d moved to Chicago, appeared on opening night. According to Saffo, “Roberts Show Lounge was a garage where Roberts Cabs used to be. We cleaned that out one time to have a big western birthday party for Herman. We cleaned that place up and had bales of hay around, all that sort of thing. This is how he got the idea of a club, because we had so much fun.”

Roberts suggests other reasons he got into the business. Pointing at a picture on the wall of his 35-year-old self surrounded by eight women, all of whom worked at his club, he says, “See the girls up there? That’s the reason I established a nightclub. I’d rather go to dinner and have a conversation with a girl than a man!” At the time, women were still a relative rarity in the workplace. By his own reckoning, Roberts helped break down barriers—and he’s pretty sure more men came to his club as a result. “Some people can walk over something and don’t know whether it’s good or not,” he says. “I was able to see off the end of my nose.”
Roberts’s namesake club in August 1957, shortly after its expansion – HERMANROBERTS.ORG
* Roberts’s namesake club in August 1957, shortly after its expansion
* HERMANROBERTS.ORG

At the time, the south side wasn’t hurting for entertainment; the Regal Theater was still going strong on South Park close to 47th Street, and the area around 63rd and Cottage Grove was a nightlife hotbed. But in Roberts’s view, the neighborhood scene was lacking in national acts. “They had a good cabaret show—band, chorus line—but no names.” So in 1957 Roberts expanded his venue and renamed it Roberts Show Club, reasoning that a bigger hall would attract bigger artists. The night it reopened, the revamped club presented jump-blues pioneer Louis Jordan, who’d foreshadowed rock ‘n’ roll with a string of hits for the Decca label between 1942 and ’51, including “Saturday Night Fish Fry” and “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie.” By the time he made it to Roberts, Jordan hadn’t had a big single in a while, but he was still an impressive draw.

Between 1957 and ’61, Roberts booked the likes of Nat “King” Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton, plus lots of R&B acts he felt had adult appeal: the Treniers (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/roctobers-new-book-flying-saucers-rock-n-roll/Content?oid=4843930) , Brook Benton, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/my-heart-is-crying-crying-the-jackie-wilson-story/Content?oid=901624) . Roberts has a special affection for Wilson: “Sheeit, he could put Sam Cooke to shame! Don’t bring Jackie Wilson on first and then bring out Sam Cooke behind him! It ain’t gonna work!”

Roberts tended to stay away from blues acts. “I wouldn’t even play B.B. King (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/bb-king-etta-james-buddy-guy/Content?oid=878439) . That’s west-side shit! Forty-third Street bucket-of-blood stuff!” he exclaims. “We wanted to stay away from that. We just left it, right? Now you wanna go back to it.” He was also hesitant to book younger jazz artists, leaving that to the London House downtown, though the accessible sounds of Ramsey Lewis played well. Roberts focused on black acts, but he’d make exceptions for big draws such as Tony Bennett and Gene Krupa. And the club’s biggest white crowds came out to see the Jewel Box Revue, a troupe of two dozen drag queens. They’d arrive at the club in their street clothes, then transform themselves before showtime, wearing an array of elaborate dresses. “They’re women, then,” says Roberts. “You’d treat ’em like women. And some of them looked better than women, when they got through makin’ up!”

Some of Roberts’s favorite stories involve famed jazz diva Dinah Washington (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/dinah-wasand-wasnt/Content?oid=901004) . “Nobody could beat Dinah Washington singing. She was always in the driver’s seat,” he says. “I paid her to do the show, right? I got all these people coming to see her. I’m not nuts. I wasn’t gonna lose money. If she don’t show up, I gotta give these people their money back. Why would I want to start a fight? I could kiss her ass long enough for her to finish. I can get along with anybody—except I ain’t going to bed with you. She didn’t beat me across the head—all she said were some words. There may not be anything wrong with what’s going on, but she might make something wrong. I could be walking across the floor and she’d say, Herman Roberts? Have my money ready when I come off the stage! Why would she be hollerin’? I’m gonna pay her anyway. She knows that!” Washington also started wearing wigs before it was fashionable.
As Roberts recalls, if a woman stared too hard at her hairpiece, Washington would snarl, “Bitch, you better try to get you one!”

Even though Roberts became nearly as famous locally as the people he booked, he didn’t delude himself that he was friends with his stars. “It’s only for a short time. Anybody important, you won’t get to be friends with them but so long,” he says. “They’re busy and I’m busy. We ain’t got no time to hang together, man. ‘Hey, how you doin’, Joe, I’m on my way to so-and-so—let’s go and have a bite to eat or something.’ You’ll be lucky to do that!”

Roberts doesn’t have much to say about why the club closed in 1961. “Everything goes through changes, man! How come the Chicago Defender and Ebony magazine aren’t as strong as they used to be?” The building became a bowling alley, which lasted roughly 30 years. The Roberts Motel chain likewise kept going into the early 90s, and the largest of those establishments, opened in 1969 at 301 E. 63rd, continued to book music occasionally—most notably in the 500 Room, named for its capacity. Ramsey Lewis played opening night, and other big names included Bobby Bland, Billy Eckstine, and jazz-blues chanteuse Esther Phillips. A photo of an Eckstine show from this period shows him performing outdoors on a terrace to a packed crowd, with many people watching from a hotel balcony.

Perhaps the biggest milestone for Roberts’s businesses was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbid discrimination based on race, color, sex, or religion. Though this law gave blacks the legal right (if not necessarily the actual freedom) to go wherever they pleased, Roberts admits, “It hurt me.”

When the Roberts Motel on East 63rd was the classiest on the south side, it was the biggest fish in a relatively small pond. Just about every famous African-American who came through Chicago stayed there, even if he or she was performing up north. After 1964, though, it faced stiff competition from hotels downtown. His older clientele sometimes came back around, but it wasn’t enough. “They could go downtown to the Hyatt or the Sherman House—they ain’t in no black hotel! [You could now] go to Las Vegas; you think I’m going to look for where the black faces stay? [Before, if you] go to Las Vegas, you had to go where the black faces stay. You couldn’t stay on the strip!” In Chicago, he says, blacks couldn’t go to the Tivoli Theatre. “See how a matchbox looks? We didn’t get out of that matchbox!” he says. “I had it all in my hand. You couldn’t stay nowhere but my places. When they opened up the doors downtown, I lost a lot of business—all the top-money people. Smokey Robinson and
all those people, they’re checking in downtown at the Hyatt.”
Herman Roberts at age 35, surrounded by women he employed at his nightclub – HERMANROBERTS.ORG
* Herman Roberts at age 35, surrounded by women he employed at his nightclub
* HERMANROBERTS.ORG

The south-side club scene thrived for a couple more decades, but Roberts doesn’t think it was ever the same—he describes famed 60s and 70s showplaces such as the Burning Spear and the High Chaparral as “low-key.” Clubgoers could still see big R&B names of the day such as Little Milton and Tyrone Davis, but Roberts came from a time when a concert wasn’t just a concert, it was a variety show—much like what his idol Ed Sullivan did on TV. Comedians and chorus girls shared the spotlight with honkers, pickers, and shouters. Even now, Roberts considers his old club the last of a breed.

“You can’t find one nightclub in Chicago. Not one! Name me one nightclub in Chicago!” he says.

The Green Mill?

“Green what?”

You know, the reputed Al Capone hangout that’s been open for literally 107 years in Uptown?

“It ain’t no big nightclub, man! Got a little band in there playing, somebody that’s making some noise. That ain’t no nightclub! That ain’t no chorus line, no great big show like Chez Paree.”

Roberts acknowledges that “they got a little something over there in Hyde Park that opened up” (meaning the Promontory (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/promontory-opening-footwork-mopery-november-doom-release/Content?oid=14437466) at 53rd and Lake Park), but he defines a “nightclub” as a place with an “emcee, chorus line, a full cabaret show.” And he’s right, that’s something that barely exists these days. “A lot of people haven’t even seen a cabaret show,” he says. “Right now, I’ll tell you, if I was younger, I’d go build me a club over on 47th Street—all the people I knew, [plus] some of those people that’s making millions of dollars now, like Taylor Swift (http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2014/10/14/taylor-swifts-out-of-the-woods-inverts-the-anatomy-of-the-power-ballad) and all those girls.”

If the younger Roberts were opening a club today, he’d likely need better cash flow. “Everybody’s pricing themselves out of the business now,” he says. “Right now, you can’t buy nobody unless you’re paying $10,000, $20,000, $50,000 a night. Back then, you could buy anybody you want for less than $5,000. I paid Count Basie, Joe Williams—the whole band for a whole week—less than $5,000. Like Dick Gregory and all them, I paid them $35, $40 a night! Nipsey Russell flew from New York City to Chicago and back—a round-trip ticket and everything—for $500.

“They wouldn’t cross the street for $500 now. Take, like, Prince. He can get a million dollars any night he wants to work. Millions! Right now, if Prince comes to town, somebody will be paying $200, $300 dollars to go see him. I might not want to pay it, but somebody’s gonna pay it.” That’s not to say he wouldn’t find the money to see Beyonce (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/beyonce/Event?oid=11847826) : “Shit, man, she’s got the finest body on her that anybody’s ever seen! I’d give $1,000 just to rub her butt! Ooh wee!”

The rise of disco didn’t affect Roberts’s business at the 500 Room the way it hurt other club owners. He eventually quit booking anything himself, and like the Regal and East of the Ryan today, his hall became a rental space, where anybody with enough money could bring in whatever he or she wanted. “When I got to be a certain age,” he says, “I started to get rid of everything I had.”

Roberts retired in 1992, when he was in his late 60s. Though he still lives on the south side, he also keeps a ranch in Oklahoma. He remains justifiably proud of his accomplishments, but he knows he didn’t walk alone. “One person can help change things, but they won’t change it overnight,” he says. “Even Martin Luther King. He could have had some help, but there’s no way he could change everything. Personally, being a leader, you’re supposed to try to get people to follow. But sometimes they get a bad name trying to get people to follow, because they’re stepping out of their boundaries.” Roberts didn’t step out of bounds so much as draw a new, better boundary line for Chicago’s African-American nightlife.

Unsubscribe (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]&c=c63a16a99e) | Update your profile (http://jazzpromoservices.us2.list-manage.com/profile?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=911f90f0b1&e=[UNIQID]) | Forward to a friend (http://us2.forward-to-friend.com/forward?u=3186fe64133adb244b1010be2&id=c63a16a99e&e=[UNIQID])

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Before the Civil Rights Act, Herman Roberts’s club defined black nightlife on the south side | Music Feature | Chicago Reader

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http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/herman-roberts-show-lounge-club-south-side-motel-500-room/Content?oid=15781283

** Before the Civil Rights Act, Herman Roberts’s club defined black nightlife on the south side
————————————————————

** As proprietor of Roberts Show Lounge and the 500 Room, Roberts booked the likes of Nat “King” Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton—and responded to segregation and its legacy with ingenuity and class.
————————————————————
By James Porter (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ArticleArchives?author=868202)
The walls of Herman Roberts’s south-side living room are covered with photographs from his decades in the entertainment business.

The walls of Herman Roberts’s south-side living room are covered with photographs from his decades in the entertainment business.

ALISON GREEN (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ImageArchives?oid=15781292)

Walk into Herman Roberts’s south-side home, built for his mother in 1965, and the first thing you see are the photographs lining the walls of his living room. He has dozens if not hundreds, including pictures of musicians James Brown, Sarah Vaughan, Jackie Wilson, Dinah Washington, Bill Doggett, and Billy Eckstine; athletes Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali; political and civil-rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr., Harold Washington (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/best-book-on-harold-washington/BestOf?oid=4102734) , and Jimmy Carter; comedians Dick Gregory, Slappy White, Nipsey Russell, and Stepin Fetchit; and author James Baldwin. They’re souvenirs of the years he spent running some of the best-known nightclubs on the south side of Chicago.

Many of the folks in those photos performed at Roberts Show Lounge, which he founded in 1954 and closed in ’61, or at the 500 Room, a hall in the sixth and largest of his Roberts Motels (in ads he called it “the Big One”), opened in 1969 and shuttered in ’92. Not much architectural evidence of his entertainment empire survives: Roberts Show Lounge stood at 6622 South Park Way (since renamed King Drive), on a lot now occupied by New Beginnings Church. The 500 Room and its associated motel were a few blocks away at 301 E. 63rd, where there isn’t much of anything today. But Roberts still has his story, and this is the first time he’s shared so much of it publicly.

Roberts, now 90 years old, is a survivor of an era when racial segregation operated with much more explicit official sanction than it does today, and penetrated even further into daily life. Even the most crossover-minded black superstar might be required to play in a venue where blacks weren’t allowed or, at best, were forced to sit in the rear of the club. (The last Jim Crow laws in the States weren’t overturned until 1965.) Roberts provided a nonsegregated venue for black entertainers, with a classy ambience—and beginning in 1960, when he opened the first of his six motels nearby, he also gave them a place to stay. First-class hotels often refused black guests, and previously Roberts often had to put up his performers in houses or apartments.

Roberts’s friend Marcella Saffo, who’s known him since 1947 and married his old army buddy Walter Pride (now deceased), still remembers how much fun she had at Roberts Show Lounge. “You knew everybody, everybody knew you—they had Della Reese and all types of different stars there. It was friendly, you could talk to them. It was clean, it was managed well, there was never any commotion. Everybody was always having a nice time.” And venerable blues songwriter Bob Jones recalls the glow of prestige that used to surround the place: “I lived in the suburbs, Chicago Heights. At that time, Roberts Show Lounge was the thing! I remember I was dating a young lady who decided she wanted to make a grand entrance, so she walked through the front door dragging her fur coat on the floor. Everybody thought that was funny.”

Born in Beggs, Oklahoma, in 1924, Herman Roberts migrated with his family to Chicago when he was 12. “Left my dog and my horses,” he says. He remembers going barefoot in yards speckled with chicken shit. “Getting ready to go to bed at night, you take your feet and rub it in the sand and dirt. We didn’t have any water to wash our feet off with.” In Chicago he had a better chance of finding paying jobs. “Selling papers, shining shoes, cleaning up kitchens, doing a little work putting coal in furnaces,” he says. “You probably don’t remember that. Now you’ve got gas and electric heat all the time. Ain’t no furnaces with stokers no more.”

In Chicago, he entered the workforce in the late 30s, working for a cab company washing cars. “The reason I got involved in the cab business is because I was a young kid hanging around the cab garage,” he says. “Back then, it cost 50 cents to wash your car. They’d give me a dime to wipe it off.” He began driving those cabs at 15, as soon as he was old enough, and by 1944 he owned his own operation, the Roberts Cab Company. He served in the army during World War II, and after his return, in 1947, he claims to have been the first to install two-way radios in his cabs (“You gotta stay with the times!”).

In 1952 Roberts established a small club called the Lucky Spot at 602 E. 71st. Two years later he moved to 6622 South Park Way, where he established Roberts Show Lounge. (The front of the building said “Roberts Lounge and Liquors,” and in the late 50s he added a big neon sign reading “Roberts Show Club,” but people who remember the place today tend to call it Roberts Show Lounge.) Jazz musician Duke Groner, another Oklahoma native who’d moved to Chicago, appeared on opening night. According to Saffo, “Roberts Show Lounge was a garage where Roberts Cabs used to be. We cleaned that out one time to have a big western birthday party for Herman. We cleaned that place up and had bales of hay around, all that sort of thing. This is how he got the idea of a club, because we had so much fun.”

Roberts suggests other reasons he got into the business. Pointing at a picture on the wall of his 35-year-old self surrounded by eight women, all of whom worked at his club, he says, “See the girls up there? That’s the reason I established a nightclub. I’d rather go to dinner and have a conversation with a girl than a man!” At the time, women were still a relative rarity in the workplace. By his own reckoning, Roberts helped break down barriers—and he’s pretty sure more men came to his club as a result. “Some people can walk over something and don’t know whether it’s good or not,” he says. “I was able to see off the end of my nose.”
Roberts’s namesake club in August 1957, shortly after its expansion – HERMANROBERTS.ORG
* Roberts’s namesake club in August 1957, shortly after its expansion
* HERMANROBERTS.ORG

At the time, the south side wasn’t hurting for entertainment; the Regal Theater was still going strong on South Park close to 47th Street, and the area around 63rd and Cottage Grove was a nightlife hotbed. But in Roberts’s view, the neighborhood scene was lacking in national acts. “They had a good cabaret show—band, chorus line—but no names.” So in 1957 Roberts expanded his venue and renamed it Roberts Show Club, reasoning that a bigger hall would attract bigger artists. The night it reopened, the revamped club presented jump-blues pioneer Louis Jordan, who’d foreshadowed rock ‘n’ roll with a string of hits for the Decca label between 1942 and ’51, including “Saturday Night Fish Fry” and “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie.” By the time he made it to Roberts, Jordan hadn’t had a big single in a while, but he was still an impressive draw.

Between 1957 and ’61, Roberts booked the likes of Nat “King” Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton, plus lots of R&B acts he felt had adult appeal: the Treniers (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/roctobers-new-book-flying-saucers-rock-n-roll/Content?oid=4843930) , Brook Benton, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/my-heart-is-crying-crying-the-jackie-wilson-story/Content?oid=901624) . Roberts has a special affection for Wilson: “Sheeit, he could put Sam Cooke to shame! Don’t bring Jackie Wilson on first and then bring out Sam Cooke behind him! It ain’t gonna work!”

Roberts tended to stay away from blues acts. “I wouldn’t even play B.B. King (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/bb-king-etta-james-buddy-guy/Content?oid=878439) . That’s west-side shit! Forty-third Street bucket-of-blood stuff!” he exclaims. “We wanted to stay away from that. We just left it, right? Now you wanna go back to it.” He was also hesitant to book younger jazz artists, leaving that to the London House downtown, though the accessible sounds of Ramsey Lewis played well. Roberts focused on black acts, but he’d make exceptions for big draws such as Tony Bennett and Gene Krupa. And the club’s biggest white crowds came out to see the Jewel Box Revue, a troupe of two dozen drag queens. They’d arrive at the club in their street clothes, then transform themselves before showtime, wearing an array of elaborate dresses. “They’re women, then,” says Roberts. “You’d treat ’em like women. And some of them looked better than women, when they got through makin’ up!”

Some of Roberts’s favorite stories involve famed jazz diva Dinah Washington (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/dinah-wasand-wasnt/Content?oid=901004) . “Nobody could beat Dinah Washington singing. She was always in the driver’s seat,” he says. “I paid her to do the show, right? I got all these people coming to see her. I’m not nuts. I wasn’t gonna lose money. If she don’t show up, I gotta give these people their money back. Why would I want to start a fight? I could kiss her ass long enough for her to finish. I can get along with anybody—except I ain’t going to bed with you. She didn’t beat me across the head—all she said were some words. There may not be anything wrong with what’s going on, but she might make something wrong. I could be walking across the floor and she’d say, Herman Roberts? Have my money ready when I come off the stage! Why would she be hollerin’? I’m gonna pay her anyway. She knows that!” Washington also started wearing wigs before it was fashionable.
As Roberts recalls, if a woman stared too hard at her hairpiece, Washington would snarl, “Bitch, you better try to get you one!”

Even though Roberts became nearly as famous locally as the people he booked, he didn’t delude himself that he was friends with his stars. “It’s only for a short time. Anybody important, you won’t get to be friends with them but so long,” he says. “They’re busy and I’m busy. We ain’t got no time to hang together, man. ‘Hey, how you doin’, Joe, I’m on my way to so-and-so—let’s go and have a bite to eat or something.’ You’ll be lucky to do that!”

Roberts doesn’t have much to say about why the club closed in 1961. “Everything goes through changes, man! How come the Chicago Defender and Ebony magazine aren’t as strong as they used to be?” The building became a bowling alley, which lasted roughly 30 years. The Roberts Motel chain likewise kept going into the early 90s, and the largest of those establishments, opened in 1969 at 301 E. 63rd, continued to book music occasionally—most notably in the 500 Room, named for its capacity. Ramsey Lewis played opening night, and other big names included Bobby Bland, Billy Eckstine, and jazz-blues chanteuse Esther Phillips. A photo of an Eckstine show from this period shows him performing outdoors on a terrace to a packed crowd, with many people watching from a hotel balcony.

Perhaps the biggest milestone for Roberts’s businesses was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbid discrimination based on race, color, sex, or religion. Though this law gave blacks the legal right (if not necessarily the actual freedom) to go wherever they pleased, Roberts admits, “It hurt me.”

When the Roberts Motel on East 63rd was the classiest on the south side, it was the biggest fish in a relatively small pond. Just about every famous African-American who came through Chicago stayed there, even if he or she was performing up north. After 1964, though, it faced stiff competition from hotels downtown. His older clientele sometimes came back around, but it wasn’t enough. “They could go downtown to the Hyatt or the Sherman House—they ain’t in no black hotel! [You could now] go to Las Vegas; you think I’m going to look for where the black faces stay? [Before, if you] go to Las Vegas, you had to go where the black faces stay. You couldn’t stay on the strip!” In Chicago, he says, blacks couldn’t go to the Tivoli Theatre. “See how a matchbox looks? We didn’t get out of that matchbox!” he says. “I had it all in my hand. You couldn’t stay nowhere but my places. When they opened up the doors downtown, I lost a lot of business—all the top-money people. Smokey Robinson and
all those people, they’re checking in downtown at the Hyatt.”
Herman Roberts at age 35, surrounded by women he employed at his nightclub – HERMANROBERTS.ORG
* Herman Roberts at age 35, surrounded by women he employed at his nightclub
* HERMANROBERTS.ORG

The south-side club scene thrived for a couple more decades, but Roberts doesn’t think it was ever the same—he describes famed 60s and 70s showplaces such as the Burning Spear and the High Chaparral as “low-key.” Clubgoers could still see big R&B names of the day such as Little Milton and Tyrone Davis, but Roberts came from a time when a concert wasn’t just a concert, it was a variety show—much like what his idol Ed Sullivan did on TV. Comedians and chorus girls shared the spotlight with honkers, pickers, and shouters. Even now, Roberts considers his old club the last of a breed.

“You can’t find one nightclub in Chicago. Not one! Name me one nightclub in Chicago!” he says.

The Green Mill?

“Green what?”

You know, the reputed Al Capone hangout that’s been open for literally 107 years in Uptown?

“It ain’t no big nightclub, man! Got a little band in there playing, somebody that’s making some noise. That ain’t no nightclub! That ain’t no chorus line, no great big show like Chez Paree.”

Roberts acknowledges that “they got a little something over there in Hyde Park that opened up” (meaning the Promontory (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/promontory-opening-footwork-mopery-november-doom-release/Content?oid=14437466) at 53rd and Lake Park), but he defines a “nightclub” as a place with an “emcee, chorus line, a full cabaret show.” And he’s right, that’s something that barely exists these days. “A lot of people haven’t even seen a cabaret show,” he says. “Right now, I’ll tell you, if I was younger, I’d go build me a club over on 47th Street—all the people I knew, [plus] some of those people that’s making millions of dollars now, like Taylor Swift (http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2014/10/14/taylor-swifts-out-of-the-woods-inverts-the-anatomy-of-the-power-ballad) and all those girls.”

If the younger Roberts were opening a club today, he’d likely need better cash flow. “Everybody’s pricing themselves out of the business now,” he says. “Right now, you can’t buy nobody unless you’re paying $10,000, $20,000, $50,000 a night. Back then, you could buy anybody you want for less than $5,000. I paid Count Basie, Joe Williams—the whole band for a whole week—less than $5,000. Like Dick Gregory and all them, I paid them $35, $40 a night! Nipsey Russell flew from New York City to Chicago and back—a round-trip ticket and everything—for $500.

“They wouldn’t cross the street for $500 now. Take, like, Prince. He can get a million dollars any night he wants to work. Millions! Right now, if Prince comes to town, somebody will be paying $200, $300 dollars to go see him. I might not want to pay it, but somebody’s gonna pay it.” That’s not to say he wouldn’t find the money to see Beyonce (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/beyonce/Event?oid=11847826) : “Shit, man, she’s got the finest body on her that anybody’s ever seen! I’d give $1,000 just to rub her butt! Ooh wee!”

The rise of disco didn’t affect Roberts’s business at the 500 Room the way it hurt other club owners. He eventually quit booking anything himself, and like the Regal and East of the Ryan today, his hall became a rental space, where anybody with enough money could bring in whatever he or she wanted. “When I got to be a certain age,” he says, “I started to get rid of everything I had.”

Roberts retired in 1992, when he was in his late 60s. Though he still lives on the south side, he also keeps a ranch in Oklahoma. He remains justifiably proud of his accomplishments, but he knows he didn’t walk alone. “One person can help change things, but they won’t change it overnight,” he says. “Even Martin Luther King. He could have had some help, but there’s no way he could change everything. Personally, being a leader, you’re supposed to try to get people to follow. But sometimes they get a bad name trying to get people to follow, because they’re stepping out of their boundaries.” Roberts didn’t step out of bounds so much as draw a new, better boundary line for Chicago’s African-American nightlife.

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Copyright (C) 2014 All rights reserved.

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Before the Civil Rights Act, Herman Roberts’s club defined black nightlife on the south side | Music Feature | Chicago Reader

http://www.jazzpromoservices.com/
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http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/herman-roberts-show-lounge-club-south-side-motel-500-room/Content?oid=15781283

** Before the Civil Rights Act, Herman Roberts’s club defined black nightlife on the south side
————————————————————

** As proprietor of Roberts Show Lounge and the 500 Room, Roberts booked the likes of Nat “King” Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton—and responded to segregation and its legacy with ingenuity and class.
————————————————————
By James Porter (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ArticleArchives?author=868202)
The walls of Herman Roberts’s south-side living room are covered with photographs from his decades in the entertainment business.

The walls of Herman Roberts’s south-side living room are covered with photographs from his decades in the entertainment business.

ALISON GREEN (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/ImageArchives?oid=15781292)

Walk into Herman Roberts’s south-side home, built for his mother in 1965, and the first thing you see are the photographs lining the walls of his living room. He has dozens if not hundreds, including pictures of musicians James Brown, Sarah Vaughan, Jackie Wilson, Dinah Washington, Bill Doggett, and Billy Eckstine; athletes Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali; political and civil-rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr., Harold Washington (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/best-book-on-harold-washington/BestOf?oid=4102734) , and Jimmy Carter; comedians Dick Gregory, Slappy White, Nipsey Russell, and Stepin Fetchit; and author James Baldwin. They’re souvenirs of the years he spent running some of the best-known nightclubs on the south side of Chicago.

Many of the folks in those photos performed at Roberts Show Lounge, which he founded in 1954 and closed in ’61, or at the 500 Room, a hall in the sixth and largest of his Roberts Motels (in ads he called it “the Big One”), opened in 1969 and shuttered in ’92. Not much architectural evidence of his entertainment empire survives: Roberts Show Lounge stood at 6622 South Park Way (since renamed King Drive), on a lot now occupied by New Beginnings Church. The 500 Room and its associated motel were a few blocks away at 301 E. 63rd, where there isn’t much of anything today. But Roberts still has his story, and this is the first time he’s shared so much of it publicly.

Roberts, now 90 years old, is a survivor of an era when racial segregation operated with much more explicit official sanction than it does today, and penetrated even further into daily life. Even the most crossover-minded black superstar might be required to play in a venue where blacks weren’t allowed or, at best, were forced to sit in the rear of the club. (The last Jim Crow laws in the States weren’t overturned until 1965.) Roberts provided a nonsegregated venue for black entertainers, with a classy ambience—and beginning in 1960, when he opened the first of his six motels nearby, he also gave them a place to stay. First-class hotels often refused black guests, and previously Roberts often had to put up his performers in houses or apartments.

Roberts’s friend Marcella Saffo, who’s known him since 1947 and married his old army buddy Walter Pride (now deceased), still remembers how much fun she had at Roberts Show Lounge. “You knew everybody, everybody knew you—they had Della Reese and all types of different stars there. It was friendly, you could talk to them. It was clean, it was managed well, there was never any commotion. Everybody was always having a nice time.” And venerable blues songwriter Bob Jones recalls the glow of prestige that used to surround the place: “I lived in the suburbs, Chicago Heights. At that time, Roberts Show Lounge was the thing! I remember I was dating a young lady who decided she wanted to make a grand entrance, so she walked through the front door dragging her fur coat on the floor. Everybody thought that was funny.”

Born in Beggs, Oklahoma, in 1924, Herman Roberts migrated with his family to Chicago when he was 12. “Left my dog and my horses,” he says. He remembers going barefoot in yards speckled with chicken shit. “Getting ready to go to bed at night, you take your feet and rub it in the sand and dirt. We didn’t have any water to wash our feet off with.” In Chicago he had a better chance of finding paying jobs. “Selling papers, shining shoes, cleaning up kitchens, doing a little work putting coal in furnaces,” he says. “You probably don’t remember that. Now you’ve got gas and electric heat all the time. Ain’t no furnaces with stokers no more.”

In Chicago, he entered the workforce in the late 30s, working for a cab company washing cars. “The reason I got involved in the cab business is because I was a young kid hanging around the cab garage,” he says. “Back then, it cost 50 cents to wash your car. They’d give me a dime to wipe it off.” He began driving those cabs at 15, as soon as he was old enough, and by 1944 he owned his own operation, the Roberts Cab Company. He served in the army during World War II, and after his return, in 1947, he claims to have been the first to install two-way radios in his cabs (“You gotta stay with the times!”).

In 1952 Roberts established a small club called the Lucky Spot at 602 E. 71st. Two years later he moved to 6622 South Park Way, where he established Roberts Show Lounge. (The front of the building said “Roberts Lounge and Liquors,” and in the late 50s he added a big neon sign reading “Roberts Show Club,” but people who remember the place today tend to call it Roberts Show Lounge.) Jazz musician Duke Groner, another Oklahoma native who’d moved to Chicago, appeared on opening night. According to Saffo, “Roberts Show Lounge was a garage where Roberts Cabs used to be. We cleaned that out one time to have a big western birthday party for Herman. We cleaned that place up and had bales of hay around, all that sort of thing. This is how he got the idea of a club, because we had so much fun.”

Roberts suggests other reasons he got into the business. Pointing at a picture on the wall of his 35-year-old self surrounded by eight women, all of whom worked at his club, he says, “See the girls up there? That’s the reason I established a nightclub. I’d rather go to dinner and have a conversation with a girl than a man!” At the time, women were still a relative rarity in the workplace. By his own reckoning, Roberts helped break down barriers—and he’s pretty sure more men came to his club as a result. “Some people can walk over something and don’t know whether it’s good or not,” he says. “I was able to see off the end of my nose.”
Roberts’s namesake club in August 1957, shortly after its expansion – HERMANROBERTS.ORG
* Roberts’s namesake club in August 1957, shortly after its expansion
* HERMANROBERTS.ORG

At the time, the south side wasn’t hurting for entertainment; the Regal Theater was still going strong on South Park close to 47th Street, and the area around 63rd and Cottage Grove was a nightlife hotbed. But in Roberts’s view, the neighborhood scene was lacking in national acts. “They had a good cabaret show—band, chorus line—but no names.” So in 1957 Roberts expanded his venue and renamed it Roberts Show Club, reasoning that a bigger hall would attract bigger artists. The night it reopened, the revamped club presented jump-blues pioneer Louis Jordan, who’d foreshadowed rock ‘n’ roll with a string of hits for the Decca label between 1942 and ’51, including “Saturday Night Fish Fry” and “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie.” By the time he made it to Roberts, Jordan hadn’t had a big single in a while, but he was still an impressive draw.

Between 1957 and ’61, Roberts booked the likes of Nat “King” Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Count Basie, and Lionel Hampton, plus lots of R&B acts he felt had adult appeal: the Treniers (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/roctobers-new-book-flying-saucers-rock-n-roll/Content?oid=4843930) , Brook Benton, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/my-heart-is-crying-crying-the-jackie-wilson-story/Content?oid=901624) . Roberts has a special affection for Wilson: “Sheeit, he could put Sam Cooke to shame! Don’t bring Jackie Wilson on first and then bring out Sam Cooke behind him! It ain’t gonna work!”

Roberts tended to stay away from blues acts. “I wouldn’t even play B.B. King (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/bb-king-etta-james-buddy-guy/Content?oid=878439) . That’s west-side shit! Forty-third Street bucket-of-blood stuff!” he exclaims. “We wanted to stay away from that. We just left it, right? Now you wanna go back to it.” He was also hesitant to book younger jazz artists, leaving that to the London House downtown, though the accessible sounds of Ramsey Lewis played well. Roberts focused on black acts, but he’d make exceptions for big draws such as Tony Bennett and Gene Krupa. And the club’s biggest white crowds came out to see the Jewel Box Revue, a troupe of two dozen drag queens. They’d arrive at the club in their street clothes, then transform themselves before showtime, wearing an array of elaborate dresses. “They’re women, then,” says Roberts. “You’d treat ’em like women. And some of them looked better than women, when they got through makin’ up!”

Some of Roberts’s favorite stories involve famed jazz diva Dinah Washington (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/dinah-wasand-wasnt/Content?oid=901004) . “Nobody could beat Dinah Washington singing. She was always in the driver’s seat,” he says. “I paid her to do the show, right? I got all these people coming to see her. I’m not nuts. I wasn’t gonna lose money. If she don’t show up, I gotta give these people their money back. Why would I want to start a fight? I could kiss her ass long enough for her to finish. I can get along with anybody—except I ain’t going to bed with you. She didn’t beat me across the head—all she said were some words. There may not be anything wrong with what’s going on, but she might make something wrong. I could be walking across the floor and she’d say, Herman Roberts? Have my money ready when I come off the stage! Why would she be hollerin’? I’m gonna pay her anyway. She knows that!” Washington also started wearing wigs before it was fashionable.
As Roberts recalls, if a woman stared too hard at her hairpiece, Washington would snarl, “Bitch, you better try to get you one!”

Even though Roberts became nearly as famous locally as the people he booked, he didn’t delude himself that he was friends with his stars. “It’s only for a short time. Anybody important, you won’t get to be friends with them but so long,” he says. “They’re busy and I’m busy. We ain’t got no time to hang together, man. ‘Hey, how you doin’, Joe, I’m on my way to so-and-so—let’s go and have a bite to eat or something.’ You’ll be lucky to do that!”

Roberts doesn’t have much to say about why the club closed in 1961. “Everything goes through changes, man! How come the Chicago Defender and Ebony magazine aren’t as strong as they used to be?” The building became a bowling alley, which lasted roughly 30 years. The Roberts Motel chain likewise kept going into the early 90s, and the largest of those establishments, opened in 1969 at 301 E. 63rd, continued to book music occasionally—most notably in the 500 Room, named for its capacity. Ramsey Lewis played opening night, and other big names included Bobby Bland, Billy Eckstine, and jazz-blues chanteuse Esther Phillips. A photo of an Eckstine show from this period shows him performing outdoors on a terrace to a packed crowd, with many people watching from a hotel balcony.

Perhaps the biggest milestone for Roberts’s businesses was the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbid discrimination based on race, color, sex, or religion. Though this law gave blacks the legal right (if not necessarily the actual freedom) to go wherever they pleased, Roberts admits, “It hurt me.”

When the Roberts Motel on East 63rd was the classiest on the south side, it was the biggest fish in a relatively small pond. Just about every famous African-American who came through Chicago stayed there, even if he or she was performing up north. After 1964, though, it faced stiff competition from hotels downtown. His older clientele sometimes came back around, but it wasn’t enough. “They could go downtown to the Hyatt or the Sherman House—they ain’t in no black hotel! [You could now] go to Las Vegas; you think I’m going to look for where the black faces stay? [Before, if you] go to Las Vegas, you had to go where the black faces stay. You couldn’t stay on the strip!” In Chicago, he says, blacks couldn’t go to the Tivoli Theatre. “See how a matchbox looks? We didn’t get out of that matchbox!” he says. “I had it all in my hand. You couldn’t stay nowhere but my places. When they opened up the doors downtown, I lost a lot of business—all the top-money people. Smokey Robinson and
all those people, they’re checking in downtown at the Hyatt.”
Herman Roberts at age 35, surrounded by women he employed at his nightclub – HERMANROBERTS.ORG
* Herman Roberts at age 35, surrounded by women he employed at his nightclub
* HERMANROBERTS.ORG

The south-side club scene thrived for a couple more decades, but Roberts doesn’t think it was ever the same—he describes famed 60s and 70s showplaces such as the Burning Spear and the High Chaparral as “low-key.” Clubgoers could still see big R&B names of the day such as Little Milton and Tyrone Davis, but Roberts came from a time when a concert wasn’t just a concert, it was a variety show—much like what his idol Ed Sullivan did on TV. Comedians and chorus girls shared the spotlight with honkers, pickers, and shouters. Even now, Roberts considers his old club the last of a breed.

“You can’t find one nightclub in Chicago. Not one! Name me one nightclub in Chicago!” he says.

The Green Mill?

“Green what?”

You know, the reputed Al Capone hangout that’s been open for literally 107 years in Uptown?

“It ain’t no big nightclub, man! Got a little band in there playing, somebody that’s making some noise. That ain’t no nightclub! That ain’t no chorus line, no great big show like Chez Paree.”

Roberts acknowledges that “they got a little something over there in Hyde Park that opened up” (meaning the Promontory (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/promontory-opening-footwork-mopery-november-doom-release/Content?oid=14437466) at 53rd and Lake Park), but he defines a “nightclub” as a place with an “emcee, chorus line, a full cabaret show.” And he’s right, that’s something that barely exists these days. “A lot of people haven’t even seen a cabaret show,” he says. “Right now, I’ll tell you, if I was younger, I’d go build me a club over on 47th Street—all the people I knew, [plus] some of those people that’s making millions of dollars now, like Taylor Swift (http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2014/10/14/taylor-swifts-out-of-the-woods-inverts-the-anatomy-of-the-power-ballad) and all those girls.”

If the younger Roberts were opening a club today, he’d likely need better cash flow. “Everybody’s pricing themselves out of the business now,” he says. “Right now, you can’t buy nobody unless you’re paying $10,000, $20,000, $50,000 a night. Back then, you could buy anybody you want for less than $5,000. I paid Count Basie, Joe Williams—the whole band for a whole week—less than $5,000. Like Dick Gregory and all them, I paid them $35, $40 a night! Nipsey Russell flew from New York City to Chicago and back—a round-trip ticket and everything—for $500.

“They wouldn’t cross the street for $500 now. Take, like, Prince. He can get a million dollars any night he wants to work. Millions! Right now, if Prince comes to town, somebody will be paying $200, $300 dollars to go see him. I might not want to pay it, but somebody’s gonna pay it.” That’s not to say he wouldn’t find the money to see Beyonce (http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/beyonce/Event?oid=11847826) : “Shit, man, she’s got the finest body on her that anybody’s ever seen! I’d give $1,000 just to rub her butt! Ooh wee!”

The rise of disco didn’t affect Roberts’s business at the 500 Room the way it hurt other club owners. He eventually quit booking anything himself, and like the Regal and East of the Ryan today, his hall became a rental space, where anybody with enough money could bring in whatever he or she wanted. “When I got to be a certain age,” he says, “I started to get rid of everything I had.”

Roberts retired in 1992, when he was in his late 60s. Though he still lives on the south side, he also keeps a ranch in Oklahoma. He remains justifiably proud of his accomplishments, but he knows he didn’t walk alone. “One person can help change things, but they won’t change it overnight,” he says. “Even Martin Luther King. He could have had some help, but there’s no way he could change everything. Personally, being a leader, you’re supposed to try to get people to follow. But sometimes they get a bad name trying to get people to follow, because they’re stepping out of their boundaries.” Roberts didn’t step out of bounds so much as draw a new, better boundary line for Chicago’s African-American nightlife.

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57th Annual GRAMMY Awards Nominees

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** 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards Nominees (http://www.grammy.com/nominees)
————————————————————

Best Improvised Jazz Solo

The Eye Of The Hurricane”: Kenny Barron from “Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trio”
“Fingerprints”: Chick Corea from “Trilogy”
“You & The Night & The Music”: Fred Hersch from “Floating”
“Recorda Me”: Joe Lovano from “The Latin Side Of Joe Henderson”
“Sleeping Giant”: Brad Mehldau from: “Mehliana: Taming The Dragon”

Best Jazz Vocal Album
“Map To The Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro”: Billy Childs and Various Artists
“I Wanna Be Evil”: René Marie
“Live In NYC”: Gretchen Parlato
“Beautiful Life”: Dianne Reeves
“Paris Sessions”: Tierney Sutton

Best Jazz Instrumental Album
“Landmarks”: Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band
“Trilogy”: Chick Corea Trio
“Floating”: Fred Hersch Trio
“Enjoy The View”: Bobby Hutcherson, David Sanborn, Joey DeFrancesco featuring Billy Hart
“All Rise – A Joyful Elegy For Fats Waller”: Jason Moran

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
“The L.A. Treasures Project”: Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra
“Life In The Bubble”: Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band
“Quiet Pride – The Elizabeth Catlett Project”: Rufus Reid
“Live – I Hear The Sound”: Archie Shepp Attica Blues Orchestra
“OverTime – Music Of Bob Brookmeyer”: Vanguard Jazz Orchestra

Best Latin Jazz Album
“The Latin Side Of Joe Henderson”: Conrad Herwig featuring Joe Lovano
“The Pedrito Martinez Group”: Pedrito Martinez Group
“The Offense Of The Drum”: Arturo O’Farrill and The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
“Second Half”; Emilio Solla Y La Inestable De Brooklyn
“New Throned King”: Yosvany Terry

Best Blues Album
“Common Ground – Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin Play And Sing The Songs Of Big Bill Broonzy”: Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin
“Promise Of A Brand New Day”: Ruthie Foster
“Juke Joint Chapel:”: Charlie Musselwhite
“Decisions”: Bobby Rush with Blinddog Smokin’
“Step Back”: Johnny Winter

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57th Annual GRAMMY Awards Nominees

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** 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards Nominees (http://www.grammy.com/nominees)
————————————————————

Best Improvised Jazz Solo

The Eye Of The Hurricane”: Kenny Barron from “Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trio”
“Fingerprints”: Chick Corea from “Trilogy”
“You & The Night & The Music”: Fred Hersch from “Floating”
“Recorda Me”: Joe Lovano from “The Latin Side Of Joe Henderson”
“Sleeping Giant”: Brad Mehldau from: “Mehliana: Taming The Dragon”

Best Jazz Vocal Album
“Map To The Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro”: Billy Childs and Various Artists
“I Wanna Be Evil”: René Marie
“Live In NYC”: Gretchen Parlato
“Beautiful Life”: Dianne Reeves
“Paris Sessions”: Tierney Sutton

Best Jazz Instrumental Album
“Landmarks”: Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band
“Trilogy”: Chick Corea Trio
“Floating”: Fred Hersch Trio
“Enjoy The View”: Bobby Hutcherson, David Sanborn, Joey DeFrancesco featuring Billy Hart
“All Rise – A Joyful Elegy For Fats Waller”: Jason Moran

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
“The L.A. Treasures Project”: Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra
“Life In The Bubble”: Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band
“Quiet Pride – The Elizabeth Catlett Project”: Rufus Reid
“Live – I Hear The Sound”: Archie Shepp Attica Blues Orchestra
“OverTime – Music Of Bob Brookmeyer”: Vanguard Jazz Orchestra

Best Latin Jazz Album
“The Latin Side Of Joe Henderson”: Conrad Herwig featuring Joe Lovano
“The Pedrito Martinez Group”: Pedrito Martinez Group
“The Offense Of The Drum”: Arturo O’Farrill and The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
“Second Half”; Emilio Solla Y La Inestable De Brooklyn
“New Throned King”: Yosvany Terry

Best Blues Album
“Common Ground – Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin Play And Sing The Songs Of Big Bill Broonzy”: Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin
“Promise Of A Brand New Day”: Ruthie Foster
“Juke Joint Chapel:”: Charlie Musselwhite
“Decisions”: Bobby Rush with Blinddog Smokin’
“Step Back”: Johnny Winter

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57th Annual GRAMMY Awards Nominees

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** 57th Annual GRAMMY Awards Nominees (http://www.grammy.com/nominees)
————————————————————

Best Improvised Jazz Solo

The Eye Of The Hurricane”: Kenny Barron from “Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trio”
“Fingerprints”: Chick Corea from “Trilogy”
“You & The Night & The Music”: Fred Hersch from “Floating”
“Recorda Me”: Joe Lovano from “The Latin Side Of Joe Henderson”
“Sleeping Giant”: Brad Mehldau from: “Mehliana: Taming The Dragon”

Best Jazz Vocal Album
“Map To The Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro”: Billy Childs and Various Artists
“I Wanna Be Evil”: René Marie
“Live In NYC”: Gretchen Parlato
“Beautiful Life”: Dianne Reeves
“Paris Sessions”: Tierney Sutton

Best Jazz Instrumental Album
“Landmarks”: Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band
“Trilogy”: Chick Corea Trio
“Floating”: Fred Hersch Trio
“Enjoy The View”: Bobby Hutcherson, David Sanborn, Joey DeFrancesco featuring Billy Hart
“All Rise – A Joyful Elegy For Fats Waller”: Jason Moran

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album
“The L.A. Treasures Project”: Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra
“Life In The Bubble”: Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band
“Quiet Pride – The Elizabeth Catlett Project”: Rufus Reid
“Live – I Hear The Sound”: Archie Shepp Attica Blues Orchestra
“OverTime – Music Of Bob Brookmeyer”: Vanguard Jazz Orchestra

Best Latin Jazz Album
“The Latin Side Of Joe Henderson”: Conrad Herwig featuring Joe Lovano
“The Pedrito Martinez Group”: Pedrito Martinez Group
“The Offense Of The Drum”: Arturo O’Farrill and The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
“Second Half”; Emilio Solla Y La Inestable De Brooklyn
“New Throned King”: Yosvany Terry

Best Blues Album
“Common Ground – Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin Play And Sing The Songs Of Big Bill Broonzy”: Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin
“Promise Of A Brand New Day”: Ruthie Foster
“Juke Joint Chapel:”: Charlie Musselwhite
“Decisions”: Bobby Rush with Blinddog Smokin’
“Step Back”: Johnny Winter

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