Music Review: Benny Goodman - Big Bands Live: Benny Goodman Orchestra, Feat. Anita O'Day

This article was first published at Blogcritics

In 1947 Südwestrundfunk (Southwest Broadcasting) began a series of radio and TV Jazz broadcasts featuring both major American musicians like Art Blakey, Duke Ellington and Lester Young as well as rising European stars.  Almost 1600 audio and 350 video recordings of the live performances of these artists, most of which are previously unreleased, are housed in the company's archives.  Jazzhaus  is a new label launched by Naxos of America and Arthaus Musik to release remastered versions of some of the best performances in quarterly installments.  The first installment to be released at the end of March includes CDs by the Benny Goodman Orchestra featuring Anita O'Day, the Cannonball Adderly Quintet and the Gerry Mulligan Sextet.

If the Benny Goodman CD, a fifteen track concert running just over 76 minutes, is an accurate indication of what is still to come, jazz fans have a bonanza of good listening to look forward to.  Recorded live at Stadthalle-Freiburg in October of 1959, Goodman and a ten piece band play a selection of some of his best known tunes as well as one or two less well known, and while this is not the Goodman band of his heyday, it is a swinging ensemble that gives a fine account of itself.  Joining Goodman are Russ Freeman on piano,  Red Norvo on vibes, Jack Sheldon on trumpet, Flip Philllips on tenor sax, Bill Harris on trombone, Jerry Dodgion on flute.  Jimmy Wyble plays guitar, Red Wootton, bass and drummer John Markham rounds out the band.  The vocals of Anita O'Day highlight the album.

The concert opens with the familiar Goodman theme song "Let's Dance" and follows with the up-tempo "Air Mail Special" showcasing first the maestro and then Norvo, Phillips and the rest of the band.  "Raise the Riff" is a tight ensemble piece that has some nice work from Wyble and Freeman.  "Whispering" has the clarinetist in a playful mood and "Memories of You" and "Body and Soul" are vintage Goodman.  "Don't Get Around Much Any More" gives Wootton a chance to show his stuff and Norvo shines.  Bill Harris lights up the stage with "Ten Bone," and Phillips' sax is hot.

Anita O'Day steps up to the front of the band with a dynamic take on the Fats Waller favorite, "Honeysuckle Rose" before changing the mood with a sweet version of "Come Rain or Come Shine."  "Let Me Off Uptown," the classic duet she recorded with the Gene Krupa Orchestra and Roy Eldridge is something of a disappointment.  Her introduction of Sheldon as Roy is a cute variation on her introduction of Roy as Joe, unfortunately when Sheldon (who may be better known for his comedic TV appearances)  starts to blow he doesn't manage to equal Eldridge's terrific trumpet solo.  Although the album listing doesn't mention it, the track starts with "Boogie Blues."  The duet on "Gotta Be This or That" is a keeper.

The set includes two fine medleys.  The first features O'Day scatting on the Woody Herman hit "Four Brothers" after opening with "Not For Me" and coming back for a sultry blues.  The band ends with an eleven minute stew of "Don't Be That Way," "Stomping at the Savoy," Sunny Side of the Street," "In a Mellow Tone," "Moonglow" and Bei mir bist du scheen." Again, the track listing doesn't mention it, but the medley ends with the Goodman show stopper, "Sing, Sing, Sing."

If this is any kind of indication of what Jazzhaus has on tap, jazz lovers are in for a treat.

Music Review: Jazz Roots: The Music of the Americas

Article first published as Music Review: Jazz Roots: The Music of the Americas on Blogcritics.

Jazz Roots: The Music of the Americas is a two disc collection of 41 classic tracks illustrating the history of jazz from its African origins and its early blues and Dixieland development through to its contemporary manifestations. It covers a wide variety of styles and movements and features the work of many legendary performers and their recordings. Jazz lovers will find more than a few of their old favorites; neophytes will discover for themselves some of the iconic performances that have enchanted listeners for almost a century. This is a collection that defines what is recognized as the first truly American genre.

Beginning with Nigerian born Babtunde Olatunji's "Akiwowo" from his 1959 Drums of Passion album and ending with pianist Eldar Djangirov's 2004 recording of "Sweet Georgia Brown," Jazz Roots is nothing short of series of highlights. It has something for everyone. If you like the early piano, there's Scott Joplin playing "Maple Leaf Rag" from back in 1916; if you like something more modern, there's Dave Brubeck and the quartet featuring Paul Desmond on the saxophone doing "Take Five." Bessie Smith sings lowdown blues; Ella Fitzgerald improvises with an angelic purity of tone. There are the big bands of the thirties and forties: Benny Goodman, Glen Miller, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington. You can't help but get ready to swing when you hear the opening drum solo of "Sing, Sing, Sing," the piano intro of "Take the A Train," or the riffs of "One O'Clock Jump."

Bebop is represented by Charley Parker's "Ornithology" and Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca." Latin influences are illustrated by the Afro-Cuban bands of the late forties and fifties, Tito Puente and Machito, as well as a more modern take on the style from Tiempo Libre's 2008 "To Conga Bach (Conga)" inspired by Bach's C Minor Fugue from The Well Tempered Clavier, Book 1. Brazilian jazz and the bossa nova craze of the sixties and seventies are represented by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Eliane Elias. Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and Miles Davis exemplify what the liner notes call "hard bop." A variety of modern jazz movements –fusion, funk, contemporary and others—are also included with tracks from musicians like George Benson, Kenny G, Wynton Marsalis and Herbie Hancock.

While some jazz aficionados may have some personal favorite song or artist they would have preferred to the selection included in the album, it is hard to argue with what producers did choose. Clearly the album is meant for the novice. The intention is to whet the appetite, encourage further investigation. It aims to be neither exhaustive, nor comprehensive. After all to limit the representation of Dixieland, for example to three recordings, even if one of them is Louis Armstrong, can hardly be considered anything more than a taste. When you've got an album that includes Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday, Grover Washington, Jr., Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, and Chris Botti as well as all the other masters already mentioned, it is somewhat mean to complain.

The two disc set includes an informative 25 page pamphlet discussing each of the different jazz styles, listing some of the many musicians associated with that style, and explaining the history and educational mission of the Jazz Roots project which began in 2008 when producer Larry Rosen was asked to create a jazz series for the city of Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts. Rosen in collaboration with Carl Griffin created a series of themed concerts as well as an educational program for students to learn about the music. With the help of Sony Masterworks and Quincy Jones the program was expanded to other cities and to this album which tries to show "through these historic recordings the linkage of the Drums from Africa and the music of Western Europe, to show how that marriage gave birth to The Music of Americas." If future projects are anything like this album, jazz loves and jazz lovers-to-be have a lot to look forward to.