Lester Young’s tenor sax

Don Byas’s famous snake octave key

Ben Webster’s horn

All photographs courtesy of the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers.

I had no idea this was a national holiday but it is… Adolphe Sax, a Belgian instrument maker, invented the saxophone in 1841. He may have invented it but Coleman Hawkins birthed it as a modern instrument. Here is a look at a few my all-time favorite sax players to celebrate this idiosyncratic holiday.

Coleman Hawkins

Don Byas

Charlie Rouse

John Coltrane

“Wee Dot” from A Night At Birdland

Clifford Brown (trumpet), Lou Donaldson (alto sax), Horace Silver (piano), Curly Russell (bass), Art Blakey (drums) / recorded 1954 for Blue Note Records

Clifford Brown born Oct 30th; Lou Donaldson born Nov 1st.

There’s a new episode of Bop and Beyond available for download featuring the music of Dave Bailey, Jaki Byard, Tiny Grimes, Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Stitt, Paul Gonsalves, Von Freeman, and Thelonious Monk.

Download is available here:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HRLEMH4S

Hank Mobley’s Soul Station is a definitive jazz masterpiece.

Read the review here.

“Jazz is a thing that feeds love and is healing to the soul.” — Mary Lou Williams

Thinking about Thelonious Monk got me thinking about Mary Lou Williams.  To understand Monk, you need to listen to Mary Lou. Here’s a brief audio interview with Mary Lou Williams conducted at The Stadler Hotel in Buffalo, NY, 1976. Her warmth and humor are evident. Such a wonderful personality and talent.

Mary Lou was one of jazz’s finest interpreters of the blues too:

And, finally, Mary Lou William’s famous “Jazz Tree” history:

Tomorrow would’ve marked Thelonious Monk’s 92nd birthday. Without Monk so much would be different for me. I came to jazz through Miles Davis. Nothing unusual there. But my affinity for jazz beyond a casual interest came from the unusual. For no matter how mainstream and accepted Monk’s music has become, it is unusual and will forever remain so. What Monk did is still little understood. He was tight-lipped, difficult, and seemingly belligerent. An outward austerity beneath which lurked a prickly, sensitive, slightly unstable man capable for great artistic leaps and personal generosity. For Monk was generous. He gave his sidemen, those who could hang with his challenging music, near unlimited amounts of room with which to showcase and improve themselves. And those who were truly with it took advantage of it. We can thank Monk for the vast improvements in the abilities of such legends as John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. But these were men destined to reap their many bountiful gifts.  Monk just softly pushed them along. But when I listen to the Five Spot recordings from August 7th, 1958 and I listen to Johnny Griffin just devour Monk’s music, that’s when I’m feeling the shepherding influence of Monk the most. Nearly every tenor who has come through Monk’s school of music has left their own idiosyncratic stamp on the music. The shuffling, snuffling tone of Charlie Rouse, instantly identifiable, became perhaps the most sympathetic to Monk’s cause. Rouse is continually overlooked most likely because he lingered with Monk too long. But in doing so, he became Monk’s greatest champion. Only Coleman Hawkins could be said to interpret a Monk ballad better. Listening to Harold Land tear through Monk tunes at The Blackhawk in San Francisco on a literal moment’s notice is a joy. That is baptism by fire. I knew Land was a great tenor but those recordings proved it. So many other players would’ve caved under the pressure of learning Monk’s tunes on the spot (while having to battle Rouse at the same moment). Billy Higgins sparkles on that record. I wish he’d recorded with Monk more. He could’ve been his definitive drummer (no disrespect to Art Blakey, Roy Haynes, and Shadow Wilson). I love all of Monk’s recordings, particularly those for Riverside and Columbia. When people ask me for Monk recommendations — man, that’s tough. I usually stick with my three perennial favorites: Monk’s Music (the meeting of Trane and Hawkins could only have occurred within the context of Monk’s music); Monk (the Columbia one that is so super playful with great Rouse solos); and those Five Spot Recordings with Griffin because they are exuberant.  Of course, immediately afterward, I want to thrust the Town Hall, Carnegie Hall, and early recordings into their hands, and well… it just continues forever.

Without Thelonious Monk, I would never have started down the path that brought me to jazz radio and a jazz blog. I really owe it all to him.

Horace Parlan – Piano
Booker Ervin – Tenor Sax
Grant Green – Guitar
George Tucker – Bass
Al Harewood – Drums

The Us3 Trio of Parlan, Tucker, Harewood were the house band at Minton’s for jam sessions at the time of this release and were often accompanied by Ervin and Green for extended workouts of theme. I believe Up’n'Down is their only quintet recording together however and this track is mainly a feature for Grant Green.

Trane would’ve been 83 today had he lived. It’s been over 40 years already since he died. Jazz has never been the same since.

Here is some of the earliest Coltrane available: “Nixon, Dixon, and Yates Blues” from Paul Chambers’ High Steps album — recorded and released by Transition Records in 1955/56. These early sessions are available on the Mosaic Records Paul Chambers Select box set.

John Coltrane, tenor sax; Pepper Adams, baritone sax; Curtis Fuller, trombone; Paul Chambers, bass; Philly Joe Jones, drums.

Chico Hamilton performs at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC this Sunday, 09/20/09, in celebration of his 88th birthday. $15 in advance, $20 at the door.

Hamilton’s classic albums for Pacific Jazz remain among my all-time favorites. Should be a great show.

And in celebration of his birthday, here are two great trio numbers from his album Meet Chico Hamilton: You’re The Cream In My Coffee and Reservation Blues.