Big Band Bash er en udsendelse på den amerikanske radiostation KSDS med jazzhistorikeren Loren Schoenberg som vært. Programmet sendes hver lørdag kl 13:00 lokal tid (22:00 dansk sommertid). I skrivende stund er der 23 udsendelser som kan afspilles ganske gratis på stationens hjemmeside.
Det er musikken fra swingtiden (1935-1945) som er Schoenbergs speciale, og det er derfor også den periode som dominerer; men programmet byder også på musik fra 60erne og helt frem til i dag. Er du interesseret i bigband-musikkens guldalder kan jeg varmt anbefale at lytte til Big Band Bash.
Musikken er nøje udvalgt og sammensat med interessante kommentarer undervejs. Mange af udsendelserne har et tema. Udsendelsen fra d. 7. februar indeholder f.eks. udelukkende optagelser med Duke Ellington og hans orkester, og dækker hele karriere fra 20erne frem til 70erne.
Udsendelsen d. 3. januar havde fokus på Fletcher Henderson – både hans eget orkester og samarbejdet med Benny Goodman. Henderson ledede et af de allerførste bigbands, og var desuden en fremragende arrangør.
Udsendelsen fra d. 24. januar havde fokus på Bob Crosbys orkester, med musik fra et nyt CD-bokssæt. Et af de mindre kendte orkestre fra swingtiden som jeg kun selv kendte af omtale.
One of the most creative jazz composers I know of, Mike Westbrook, died recently 90 years old. Westbrook played the piano – and the tuba and euphonium too; but it was as a composer and bandleader that he made the biggest impression on me.
Mike Westbrook’s music is a mixture of jazz, rock and cabaret. His biggest inspiration was Duke Ellington, and there are many parralels between the two – his love for strong dissonances and his interest in theater for example. Like Duke, Westbrook also wrote music with specific players in mind. One of them was Mike’s wife Kate, who was also his closest musical colaborator. From the mid 70s one she was involved nearly all of his project as a singer, lyricist and/or playing the Eb tenor horn, piccolo or bamboo flute. Here is Mike Westbrook describing his own approach to music:
Mike Westbrook was a master of large scale forms, and most of his albums has a story or a theme to them. His music is the slowest evolving i know of, and as a result his albums are often double and tripple LPs or CDs. A good example of his unique sence of form is the album ‘The Serpent Hit’ from 2013, in which the first five songs (or movements) are build around the same structure. In connection with the release of ‘The Serpent Hit’ in 2013, Kate and Mike were interviewed by BBC3 for the programme ‘Jazz on 3’. Here are a few excerpts:
Kate Westbrook: “I wanted it to be about the end of the world, and the way in which mankind/humankind is screwing up the world. But in order for it not to be doomy and self referential, I turned it into a kind of game. It’s also a cabaret idea, so that it has irony, persiflage, and it takes it into another area, so that the seriousness is offset with some rather spiky moments.”
Mike Westbrook: “The thing that’s obviously fascinating for me, is the direction in which the lyrics push the music. Rarely do they fit into the sort of conventional forms of usual songwriting. And also I think what we should, in all the emphasis on Kate as a lyricist, we shound’t forget – as a vocalist; how Kate has risen to this challenge of being able to interpret this music to the extend now, that she can really cope with incredible difficult music.”
When we get to ‘Strike’, the sixth and last movement of ‘The Serpent Hit, the Westbrooks departs from the structure the listener has become familiar with. The end of ‘Trigger’, the 5th movement, is also the end of the world. The bomb has been triggered, and there is noting left but an unstable diminished chord. But little by little the 15 minute movements returns to familiar ground, and the piece ends where it all started. Here is the first movement:
I was fortunate enough to hear Mike and Kate Westbrook live once. It was on April 26 2019 in the Georgenkirche in Halle, Germany. On the repertoire was the entire ‘Granite’ album, their most recent release at the time i believe. The Westbrooks were joined by Roz Harding on saxophone, Jesse Molins and Matthew North on guitars, Billie Bottle on electric bass and Coach York on drums. A unique thing about that performance, was that the spoken parts had been translated into german for the occation. The first part of the concert wasn’t very good, and I remember beeing quite dissapointed doing the intermission. The performance was unfocused, and they even had to stop in the middle of a song. But after the intermission it all came together, and they gave a great performance. I was even lucky enough to have a short conversation with Mike after the concert.
Recommended albums
Mike Westbrook: Citadel/Room 315
Mike Westbrook Orchestra: The Cortège
Kate & Mike Westbrook: London Bridge is Broken Down
Mike Westbrook: The Westbrook Blake (Bright as Fire)
One of my favorite albums at the moment is UK trumpeter and composer Laura Jurd’s new album Rites & Revelations. It was released in October last year. All of her albums is something new, and sounds unmistakably like Jurd at the same time – always exploring, one never knows what comes next, and this new album is no exception.
Jurd is generally described as a jazz musician, but she is much more than that. Drawing inspiration not only from jazz (new and old), but also, rock, folk and classical music. The folk and rock inspiration is dominating on the new album, but there are plenty of jazz improvisation as well.
Unusual instrumentations is a common theme between most of her albums. This time the band consists of Laura Jurd on trumpet, Martin Green on accordion, Ultan O’Brien on violin and viola, Ruth Goller on electric bass, and Corrie Dick on Drums. Although the press release says that the album was recorded “mostly live with minimal overdubs”, the production is an important part of the album too.
There are far between great composers in jazz – not surprisingly, since the genrers main focus is improvisation and instrumental virtuosity. Laura Jurd is one of the few who can really write. The music ranges from catchy folk tunes like You Again to noisy improvisations like Life, to the Ellingtonian Praying Mantis. Like Duke Ellingtons many suites that he composed from the 50s on, the album is held together by an overall mood; and like Ellington too, she manages to combine improvisation and composition into a coherent pieces of music. Highly recommended album!
Last week, I had the great pleasure hearing the WDR Big Band live for the first time. The concert took place at the beautiful WDR Funkhaus in Cologne on September 20th, under the title ‘Cologne Composers Combine’. The two combined composers were Heiner Schmitz and Stefan Pfeifer-Galilea who conducted one half of the concert each.
The precision and clarity the band plays with is extraordinary, as were the number of great soloists. I was particularly delighted to hear trumpeter Ruud Breuls and tenor saxophonist Paul Heller, who were both part of the late Bob Brookmeyer’s New Art Orchestra back in the 2000s. Other soloists include trumpeter Andy Hardener, trombonists Ludwig Nuss and Andy Hunter (who also played valve trombone on one tune), and pianist Billy Test.
The two composers made a good contrast – Stefan Pfeifer-Galilea music is firmly rooted in the classic big band tradition, whereas Heuner Schmitz has a more modern approach. Both of them had written some great music for the band that showcased all the fine soloists.
The history of the WDR Big Band goes all the way back to 1947. At that time it was known as the Kölner Rundfunk-Tanzorchester. In 1957 Kurt Edelhagen was commissioned to set up a jazz band at WDR, and the two co existed until 1972 when the Edelhagen orchestra was dismantled. In 1980 the dance band was transformed into a jazz band modeled after Edelhagen’s band, and the name was changed to WDR Big Band. If you want to know more about Kurt Edelhagen, WDR has made a fine documentary that can be watched here.
For nylig udsendte det franske pladeselskab Frémeaux & Associés en boks med 4 CD’er med titlen Duke At His Very Best, med optagelser fra perioden 1940-42. Disse optagelser er blandt de mest kendte med Ellington overhovedet, så det er ikke interessant i sig selv. Musikken har været udsendt mange gange i forskellige indpakninger, fx på 3CD sættet The Blanton-Webster Band (Bluebird) fra 1986. Det som gør boksen interessant, er den usædvanligt gode lydkvalitet.
Lydtekniker Tony Baldwin skriver selv i booklet’en om hans tilgang til lyd-restaureringen: “For the present set I have used, where possible, multiple copies of the 78 rpm discs. I have applied a minimum of filtering and digital processing to the transfers, at the modest expense of a little surface noise and slight occasional distortion. The priority has been to convey the dynamic range and musicality of the Ellington orchestra.”
Resultatet er særdeles vellykket! Lyden er meget detaljeret og dynamisk, og de høje frekvenser bibeholdt. Den tilbageværende støj, som Baldwin omtaler, er minimal og forstyrrer ikke oplevelsen på nogen måde.
Samtlige numre fra det gamle Blanton-Webster sæt er medtaget (hvilket vil sige alle optagelser med det store orkesteret udgivet på RCA-Victor), men organiseret en smule anderledes. Sættet går kronologisk frem, men er delt op i to, således at CD 1-2 indeholder de såkaldte key works, mens CD 3 indeholder de mere kommercielle indspilninger.
Udover de 66 optagelser med det store orkesteret, er der også 28 optagelser med mindre grupper, heriblandt de 4 duetter med Ellington og bassisten Jimmy Blanton. CD 4 indeholder optagelser udgivet i Johnny Hodges, Barney Bigard og Rex Stewart’s navn, typisk med 4 blæsere og rytmegruppe.
Recently, the Danish record label Storyville released a new Duke Ellington CD: Copenhagen 1958, Bonus: After Hours 1950. The amount of Ellington releases they have produced over the last 25 years or so, is quite impressive. This new CD features music recorded at K.B.-Hallen in Copenhagen in 1958, as well as 5 bonus tracks recorded in Copenhagen and Aarhus in 1950. Only 4 tracks have been released before.
The 1950 bonus recordings are definitely the most interesting. First, three tunes recorded at a jam session at restaurant St. Thomas in Copenhagen, featuring Ellington along with Don Byas (ts) and Jimmy Hamilton (cl). Ellington starts out with a beautiful solo piano rendition of the old standard I Can’t Get Started – one of the best tracks on the CD; then Byas and Hamilton join’s him in a 10 minute version of Body and Soul. Interesting it is to note, how Ellington uses unexpected breaks in the music to get people to listen. It starts out as a ballad, and then goes into double tempo. The last jam session tune is the bebob’ish Ellington composition A Little Blues. This is the only recording of that composition as far as i know. The sound quality is surprisingly good.
Following are two great solo piano recordings made at Hammerschmidts Optagelses-Studio in Aarhus. The original record was pressed in only 10 copies, which were used as prizes in a lottery. First Sophisticated Lady and then Mood Indigo, which reminds me of the extended version he recorded with the band in December 1950 (issued on the album Masterpiece by Ellington). Two more pieces were recorded at the same session: I’m Afraid with Ellington on vocal, and I Met a Little Miss with Ellington’s Danish manager Ingvar Blicher-Hansen on vocal, but these aren’t included here.
The first 13 tracks on the album, comes from a concert at K.B.-Hallen in Copenhagen in 1958. Although i find the bonus material the most interesting, there are much to enjoy here as well. The uptempo Newport Up with Paul Gonsalves (t.sx), Jimmy Hamilton (cl) and Clark Terry (tpt). A beautiful rendition of My Funny Valentine arranged by Billy Strayhorn, and featuring Hamilton (cl) and Quentin Jackson (trb), as well as Britt Woodman (trb) and Ray Nance (cor). Johnny Hodges (a.sx) plays Prelude To a Kiss, again arranged by Strayhorn i believe. El Gato features all four trumpets. Interesting it is to observe their hugely different playing style. The last track is Diminuendo and Crescendoin Blue with a very inspired solo på Paul Gonsalves.
My only complaint about this new release, is the sound quality on the 1958 material. Two tracks have been released previously on the CD: KB Hallen – Hall Of Fame (Stunt Records) with far superior fidelity, and it is unfortunately that Storyville haven’t had access to the same source material. This is no big issue. The main thing is the music of cause, and there is nearly 80 minutes of Ellington at his best. Highly recommended album!
