Basically, I believe in peace, and bashing two bricks together.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - “Waltz Limp”
from Countdown: Time in Outer Space
I really wanted to hear this today. I don’t know why. I just did. Music is funny like that sometimes.
I’ve posted other parts of this concert before (see also: “Take Five,” “Three to Get Ready,” “St. Louis Blues,” “In Your Own Sweet Way”); apparently I’ve been saving the best for last.
“Koto Song” is one of those examples of Brubeck’s embrace and use of global influences in the decidedly Western jazz art form; other examples I’ve posted previously are “Forty Days” and of course “Blue Rondo à la Turk,” as well as “Maori Blues” and “Watusi Drums” (as much a stunning example of Joe Morello’s talent as of Brubeck’s), among others. The tune features a standard jazz instrumentation — this being the Classic Quartet, of course, it’s alto sax, piano, bass, and drums — but here the piano is playing the role of the koto, the traditional Japanese instrument. Western music and audiences being what they are, it’s still not too far out of the ordinary, but it evokes the place that Brubeck intends, without appropriating anything from anyone. Such was — is — his gift.
This is a post I’ve been expecting to make for some time and it hurts more than I ever could have thought. I am so grateful I had the chance to see him in Newport in 2010. Far beyond the reach and influence of “Take Five” (which was Desmond’s tune anyway), Brubeck was a fearless, cutting-edge composer who drew inspiration from all corners of the world and gave those sources the respect they were due. He was by all accounts a wonderful human being as well. The world is genuinely that much worse off without him.
Thank you, Dave.
(Source: blackcatbones)
Ella Fitzgerald - “Fascinating Rhythm”
from Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George & Ira Gershwin Songbook
Got a little rhythm, a rhythm, a rhythm
That pitter-pats through my brain
So darn persistent, the day isn’t distant
When it’ll drive me insane
Comes in the morning without any warning
And hangs around me all day
I’ll have to sneak up to it someday and speak up to it
I hope it listens when I say
Fascinating rhythm, you’ve got me on the go
Fascinating rhythm, I’m all a-quiver
What a mess you’re making, the neighbors want to know
Why I’m always shaking just like a flivver
Each morning, I get up with the sun
Start a-hopping, never stopping
To find at night, no work has been done
I know that once it didn’t matter, but now you’re doing wrong
When you start to patter, I’m so unhappy
Won’t you take a day off, decide to run along
Somewhere far away off, and make it snappy
Oh, how I long to be the gal I used to be!
Fascinating rhythm, oh, won’t you stop picking on me?I know that once it didn’t matter, but now you’re doing wrong
When you start to patter, I’m so unhappy
Won’t you take a day off, decide to run along
Somewhere far away off, and make it snappyOh, how I long to be the gal I used to be!
Fascinating rhythm, fascinating rhythm
Won’t you stop picking on me?
Stéphane Grappelli/Joe Pass/Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen - “It’s Only a Paper Moon”
from Tivoli Gardens
Ella Fitzgerald - “That Old Black Magic”
from Ella in Rome: The Birthday Concert
I say again: I LOVE her.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - “Take Five (Live)”
from Time Out: 50th Anniversary Legacy Edition
We’re going to wrap up International Jazz Day with jazz in its best form: in front of a crowd. Everything from a small club date (the tinkling of glasses, the murmur of voices) to a large festival crowd (yelling, whistling, whooping) can add something to even the most perfect of performances. And it gives the musicians something else to feed off.
I love this edition of Time Out so much and it’s more because of the second disc. Oh, of course, the main album is very nice; it would have to be to be worth a 50th anniversary Legacy Edition, wouldn’t it? And I love “Strange Meadow Lark,” and the original “Take Five” is one of jazz’s most enduring recordings.
The second disc, though! All eight tracks are taken from various Newport Jazz Festivals (I think all in the early sixties). A marvelous mix of standards and DBQ compositions, to wit:
Everyone is on it here, and if you are going to own Time Out, this is the version you should choose. I highly recommend it.
I hope you got some jazz in those ears today, whether you were at a performance or you had to hum it to yourself quietly in the elevator at work. And I hope you liked the selections I put up today and throughout April. (You can go look through it here if you missed it.) As far as I’m concerned, every day is International Jazz Day. Keep on swingin’.
One of the things I love about the Classic Quartet is how equal they all were. Yeah, Brubeck got top billing — he was the composer and they rode around in his car and everything — but Paul Desmond and Joe Morello are revered to this day on their respective instruments, and while Gene Wright didn’t get enough credit because he was, after all, a bassist, the vibe he and Morello had was what held the group together. He gets a nice, funky solo at around the 5:00 mark here.
And they just seemed to be having so much fun. Desmond was no fan of Morello at first, and the feeling was mutual, but once Wright showed up, Morello found his match, which created two equal creative halves to the group, put together into something wonderful and lasting. That’s why this is the Classic Quartet.
Unlike most schoolchildren, when I took general music as a wee thing, our teacher had us learn about melody and notation using xylophones rather than recorders. We were never allowed to use two mallets, though. To this day, whenever I watch Lionel Hampton, I think of that, and I grow extremely envious. Mallets are the greatest. Aside from the clarinet, of course.
