Legends of Jazz

[Spontooneous]

Christiern is right about the Nancy Wilson performance. The mannerisms -- yelping and gasping -- were painful to hear.

I can't be charitable right now about the teenager finessing her way through "Taking A Chance on Love" and demonstrating no real grasp of the melody. Maybe she'll get better.

I liked Paquito's number very much.

In the house rhythm section, Billy Childs crammed some very good stuff into his short solos.

The interview segments were fairly useless.

[Jim R]

I finally came across this the other night on one of our cable-only PBS channels. I agree with most of the comments already made...

First of all, I always cringe a bit when I see Ramsey Lewis hosting something like this, after seeing him for years on various BET-produced programs. He's a pleasant enough guy, elegant and dignified, with a nice calm and cool manner as a host... but he rarely demonstrates any great intelligence or insight about the music and its history. I don't know how much control he has over the production of a show like this, but as Mike said, the "where is jazz going" kind of thing is pretty pathetic... especially when the question has to be put to five different people. I forget Moody's response, but Hendricks just said "To the next gig!", and left it at that- which I thought was a great response. Some of Lewis' questions were intended to draw out obvious answers for viewers with little jazz knowledge, which brings me to the subject of one of the previous comments here about how the show should have been set up. Obviously, not all viewers are going to understand all that's being said if the discussion had been aimed more toward jazz buffs, but I think it would have been better to go that route- especially with people like Moody, Hendricks and Wein on the panel. It could have been worse in this respect, though, IMO (there could have been more dumb questions designed to educate the casual viewer with no established interest in jazz). Also, I disagree slightly with the complaints about the absence of references to some of the greatest legends in jazz (the title of the program notwithstanding). Trying to squeeze in too much history into this particular program would have been unnecessary, I think. The focus was on these five, and that's how it should have been, IMO. In fact, I was under the impression that this was just one installment of what's to be a series of shows like this (I could be wrong), so there should be more opportunity for more references later. I do think that some video clips relating to the history of these five would have been a good thing, though (maybe instead of including the high school girl's segment).

It's kind of ironic I should be agreeing with the comments above regarding Nancy Wilson, because I've been on a mini "kick" lately, picking up a few of her Capitol albums. I wouldn't say I'm a huge fan of hers anyway, and part of my motivation has been to hear vocal treatments of certain tunes that I like, but I have enjoyed some of her work from the '60's. But THIS... wow, awful is an understatement. Painful, yes. Sad. I think if she just relaxed and sang without trying so hard to include all her little tricks, she could still present a moving performance. It just wasn't natural at all, and for a veteran singer to approach a performance that way... well, sad is the best word I can come up with.

I thought Moody was great. His musical performance was controlled and beautiful- in direct opposition to what Nancy Wilson had done. Not only that, but I laughed out loud a couple of times during his interview. He displayed a sharp mind, I thought, and I was just plain entertained by him.

Hendricks' performance was also entertaining, but I agree that the decline of his voice took away from what might have been, to a degree. Still dug it, though, and I could sit and listen to the man talk for hours. He seemed a tad tired and less than thrilled by the setting at times (understandably, when being asked things like "where is jazz going?"), but he's nothing if not a class act.

Paquito was wonderful, I thought. I'm less familiar with him than the others, but I knew he was a virtuoso player, and he didn't change my opinion by his performance. Wow, talk about fluency. Liked his quote of rhythm-a-ning, too, which J.H. had just performed. He was classy, funny, and showed both knowledge and humility. I need to check him out further.

I thought Wein came off very well also. He showed plenty of enthusiasm, humor and warmth. I too would have liked to have heard him play something.

I thought miss Olmstead was okay. No, nothing remarkable musically, but I have to give her props for her courage, and who knows- she might develop into something special someday. I agree- another song might have suited her better. She was very poised, I thought, when she went to sit down with the panel.

All in all, I was glad I caught this.

[Soul Stream]

OK, so did anyone get to watch this thing?

Mike

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Yes, I actually just stumbled onto it last night. Really enjoyed it. Especially James Moody doing Woody'n You and Hendricks doing Monk. Everyone really shined. The only downer was some young girl unknown to me who was suppose to be the "future of jazz", she was pretty lame. George Wein....the more he tells his stories over the years..the more he seems to be responsible for everyone's success and direction.

P.S...now that I've gone back and read everyone's comments.... You know what Nancy Wilson is just plain CORNBALL! I respect her for her talents, but can't stand listening to her, never could. That's a personal choice, no reflection on her gifts, but to my ear she's very MANNERED and egotistical. I just don't dig it. An although I like Ramsey, he didn't seem to be helping Nancy too much, he was just playing and playing and playing...and not listening. Give it some space Palease.... Nancy claimed to have not heard Billie Holiday till she was well into her career, and it shows. (sorry for my "know it all" attitude, I'm just saying what's coming to my head and not doing any self-editing).

Moody is King.

Hendricks swings, his "break" was awesome.

One more thought...... Why do we have to "Sell" this as a program? Why not just friggin' DOCUMENT some of the greats that are still around!!!!!!! God Damnit when are we going to wake up about this shit. In ten years we'll look back at this show and wonder why we had that little girl when we could have had another older cat or another number by Moody/Hendricks (perhaps together...Moody's Mood for Love!????!!?) What a missed opportunity as usual. Can't even PBS NOT sell out?!

Edited July 31, 2005 by Soul Stream

[JSngry]

Lesse, you're trying to get "young people" "interested" in jazz with a program of octogenarians (or near-octogenarians), a clarinet player, a lounge singer past her prime, and a teenager who sings a song that her great-grandmother might have known in her time (and that her grandmother probably did know)?

Hey, The Big Bands Are Coming Back!

[StormP]

WHAT! The big hands are coming back.

I say:

HANDS OFF HANS ISLAND!

[Jim R]

Nancy Wilson is just plain CORNBALL!  I respect her for her talents, but can't stand listening to her, never could.  That's a personal choice, no reflection on her gifts, but to my ear she's very MANNERED and egotistical.

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Not long ago I caught Marian McPartland's interview with her on Piano Jazz (already a couple of years old at that point, as I recall), and although her singing on that program wasn't as bad as this Jazz Legends show, it still didn't sound anywhere near as good as her '60's recordings. But what really struck me was her ego. Not the most humble artist to come down the pike. I think she has a right to be proud of her accomplishments, but she can go a little overboard. I think she's more appealing on something like Jazz Profiles, where she's talking about somebody else instead of herself.

I think this should have been (and actually was, to a degree) just a show about celebrating five jazz artists/personalities. I didn't get a strong sensation that this was all about "selling" jazz or trying to overtly attract young people (or non-fans in general) to the music. Maybe I didn't focus enough on Lewis' opening statements (he's difficult for me to take too seriously), but most of the show seemed to me to be sincere as a straightforward homage to the guests. I taped it, so I'll have to watch it again. The Olmstead portion, as I said, was another matter, and probably should have been left out for the sake of adding more time to the primary topic at hand.

I'm trying to recall the last time I saw Moody on television, and I think it was the "Club Date" series of the late 1980's. It's been awhile, so this was a treat- especially since he played well. Hendricks turns up on the tube a bit more frequently (just saw him again on that Bob Newhart tribute from a couple years back), but I'll take all I can get.

[Soul Stream]

Now, if they could just get Nancy on the VH1 Divas Show.... I'm not a big fan of female jazz singers anyway (Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan are about it for me), and now I'm even less of a fan.

[Jim Alfredson]

Looks like this is coming back for another season. They have some really good shows lined up, imo. Joey DeFrancesco and Lonnie Smith, Pat Metheny and Jim Hall, Robert Cray and Keb Mo', Dave Sanborn and Phil Woods...

http://www.legendsofjazz.net/television/

I'll be checking it out!

[Jazz Kat]

When is this show on?