Sonny Rollins, Don Cherry, Billy Higgins, Henry Grimes (Live, 1963)

Sonny Rollins and Don Cherry

This is live in Rome from 1963, a few months after Sonny’s Our Man In Jazz album was released — one of the first of many recordings Don Cherry and Sonny Rollins made together in the early 60’s. Sadly, most of those recordings are no longer available. Enjoy this footage while it lasts.

Last Night’s show now downloadable…

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZC17VCQE
Last night’s three tenors program: one of the best shows I have ever done.

Note: Bop and Beyond skips a week and will return on October 10th with a very special guest. Check back for the proper announcements.

Gerry Mulligan Ben Webster-Go Home-1962

Dailymotion blogged video
Gerry Mulligan Ben Webster-Go Home-1962
Video sent by redhotjazz

Dinah Shore introduces Gerry Mulligan and Ben Webster in 1962. This is a very memorable performance with both men trading multiple solos.

Three Tenors: Ben Webster, Joe Henderson, Harold Land.

The talk of tenor in jazz is almost always of Coltrane, Rollins, Hawkins, Young, and Getz. Their status and reputation as players is undisputably earned. However, their status and reputation — at a period when jazz was most fertile and the tenor saxophone was its most popular instrument — means that many other wonderful players have had their contributions and output remain enshadowed. Since the beginning, I have always endeavored to shine my spotlight on those great players whose names have not become synonymous with their instrument. Names like Charlie Rouse, Von Freeman, Stanley Turrentine, George Coleman, and Archie Shepp are among the names of those on whom I have devoted whole sessions of my radio broadcasts to throughout Bop and Beyond’s four-year plus history. The tradition continues:

 

Ben Webster is a well-known name in jazz. He has achieved a popularity that is beginning to rival that of his more well-known contemporaries like Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins. His reputation though is almost entirely tied to his stint with Duke Ellington. When Ben Webster met Oscar Peterson in 1959, he was in the beginning stages of rebuilding his reputation. That date, along with his 1957 Storyville session, signaled his reemergance as a contender for the top tenor crown.

Richard Cook and Brian Morton once wrote that “Joe Henderson is always in the middle of a great solo.” Joe Henderson had a durability to his playing that few can rival. He can slip into any encounter and play at an almost virtuoso level. Whether it is straight ahead hard bop, a knotty Andrew Hill session, or a relaxed Verve strings recording, Joe Henderson is always in top form. Versatile and accessible, yet also intense and unfathomable, Joe Henderson is in the top-tier of the great unsung.

In 1958, Harold Land was considering quitting jazz and looking for a day job. This was the same year that pianist Victor Feldman hailed Land as ”the best tenor on any coast” and just three years after his wonderfully productive stint in the first Max Roach/Clifford Brown quintet led him to be both critically and commerically lauded. Land’s life on the West Coast however (a place where cool blues ruled over the more East Coast hard bop of Land’s favoring) led him to fall into quick neglect. Had Land moved to New York and recorded for Prestige or Blue Note, his reputation today would be secure. It is a reputation worth salvaging. Land plays with an expansive vision, hurtling toward musical conclusions that only a minority of his peers ever dreamed to achieve. There is never a  wasted note, never an incomplete thought: everything issued from his horn is exactly as it should be. Harold Land is one jazz’s all-time great tenor players.

Bop and Beyond celebrates these three men at the height of their creative output.

Tune in this Wednesday, Sept 26th, at 6pm or else check back here for the download.

http://djgalbis.com/prad

Wednesday’s Blue Train/Zawinul tribute now available:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MDPYRVFD