Michael Fitzgerald

Either Texas or...... Delaware. http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/10/28/mistaken.suicide.ap/ Mike

Plus ça change.....

Garrett played pretty well with Miles, but the never ending mimicking trades with their foreheads touching wasn't interesting even the first time. When I saw them I was wishing for Bob Berg again. Mike

Many thanks for the personnel! The Ebony Concerto was in the repertoire of Orchestra U.S.A. - they performed it at least twice (1963 & 1964, the second time with Bill Smith on clarinet). I haven't discovered tapes yet, but it would be great to hear those interpretations as the band was a blend of jazz and classical players. Mike

Sometimes he would introduce groups as "the best dammned jazz messengers since 1963", so that one was pretty high up there. Although it redefined their sound and approach, the band with Golson didn't spend all that much time together. Mike

I don't remember ever hearing of this before. Anyone? Did the instrumental version ever get made? Mike ======================================== http://www.loc.gov/rr/mopic/findaid/jazz/g-j.html JAZZ TO END HUNGER. Copyright Collection Jazz to End Hunger, Inc., 1986. 4 mins., color, 1/2" videocassette. VAA 7570 A press clip of the efforts of a collection of jazz personalities to help raise money for the hungry in the U.S., including moments from their performance of "Keep the Dream Alive" featuring a jazz ensemble, orchestra, and chorus. Includes short interviews with Larry Carlton, Billy Eckstine and Carmen McRae. ======================================== Benefit With a Jazz Twist Records, video to aid the hungry THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE February 17, 1986 Author: JESSE HAMLIN, CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT Los Angeles After Band Aid, We Are the World, Live Aid and Farm Aid, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the jazz musicians have gotten together to make a benefit recording to feed hungry people. But unlike the big benefits for African relief, Jazz to End Hunger aims to raise money for starving Americans (skip the jokes about starving jazzmen). Some big names in jazz gathered here last week to make a record and video called "Keep the Dream Alive," a pop anthem jazzified by singers Carmen McRae, Billy Eckstine, Della Reese, Kenny Rankin, Mark Murphy, Sue Raney and others. They were backed by a studio choir of 35 and such venerable jazzmen as Ray Brown, Tom Scott, Ernie Watts, Stanley Clarke, Bill Watrous, Victor Feldman and Alan Broadbent. A pure jazz instrumental version of the tune will be recorded next month in New York with Gerry Mulligan, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Louis Bellson, Clark Terry, Michael Brecker and others. Both versions should be on the airwaves by late spring. From the sale of 45 single recordings, short and long videos and the proceeds from benefit concerts later this year, the Jazz to End Hunger Foundation hopes to raise $10 million for the homeless and hungry in the land of plenty. "It's great to feed hungry people around the world," said singer Eloise Laws (flutist Hubert's sister), "but what about people starving right here in our own backyard?" Said Kenny Rankin, "I did a concert in Seattle, and on my way to buy some salmon, I saw a man reaching into the gutter and eating some discarded grapes. I'll never forget that. Some of us are privileged, but there's poverty all around us." Jazz to End Hunger proceeds will be funneled through Hands Across America, the Los Angeles-based Community Food Resources and other food banks around the country. Michael McIntosh, a 35-year-old record and concert producer, is the man behind Jazz Aid. He got everybody from the musicians to the unions, the sound engineers and the studios to waive their fees. He said he loaned the foundation $20,000 of his own money, and will donate his producer's fee to the cause. "The jazz community was overlooked by Live Aid and `We Are the World,' " said McIntosh, a Sacramento boy who played harmonica in San Francisco rock bands before leaving for lotus land. "There are legendary musicians who wanted to help but were never asked. Now they have the opportunity to say, `We're still alive and we have something to contribute.' `We Are the World' had stars, but we have legends. Cyndi Lauper is cute, but she'll never be a Carmen McRae." McRae grumbled a bit about having to hang around the Evergreen Studios in beautiful downtown Burbank all afternoon while the choir rehearsed, but she sang her heart out anyway. "It's an important cause and I want to help," she said. "And I think it's a real catchy tune, better than `We Are they World.' I played the tape for some square friends and they dug it." On the record, McRae swaps solo lines with Kenny Rankin, Lorenz Alexandra, Dianne Schuur and Billy Eckstine, who kept the singers laughing with Ben Webster and Count Basie stories, and his Fats Domino imitation. Mr. B. finally signed his release form after complaining that the bulky document was "a lot of junk to read for a benefit. It's all those `herebys' and "whereases' that worry me. OK, I'll sign it . . . Arthur Prysock." It is the singers' individual timbres and phrasing that gives the vocal version of "Keep the Dream Alive" its jazz flavor. No two takes sounded the same. "No, uh-uh, I don't like that one at all," said McRae after hearing the playback of her solo. "I like mine," chimed in Rankin, "can we keep it in?" Carmen did another take and seemed satisfied with it. Dianne Schuur, the young blind singer with the powerhouse voice, sang her lines from a Braille script. "I wanted to meet you," McRae told Schuur. "I like what you do." Said Schuur later, "I can't believe I'm here with all of these amazing people." "Keep the Dream Alive" was co-written by composers Andrew Belling and Don Grady, better known as Robbie on "My Three Sons." "We rewrote this song several times," said Grady. "At first they wanted it jazzier, then more poppish. It had to be hip, but not so jazzy it couldn't reach the non-jazz fans. Now it's kinda pop with a jazz feeling. "We won't make any money from it, but hearing these incredible singers doing our song is payment enough." PHOTO CUTLINE: (1) Kenny Rankin, Billy Eckstine and Carmen McRae at the recording session for `Keep the Dream Alive, (2) Singers held hands for the video of the benefit jazz record organized by Michael McIntosh (with goatee, second row back, far right) / PHOTOS BY EMILY LIEU

True - late 1961 into early 1962 (as a singer, not as an organist). Mike

Last Double Six was in 1964. They kind of evolved into the Swingle Singers. Here's some updates: Mimi Perrin (did not do the Swingle thingle) has been translator for the works of novelist John LeCarre. The most recent Christiane Legrand album I know of is 1989's "Nul Ne Sait" which includes Egberto Gismonti on a track. She was a member of the Swingle Singers and also had a group called Quire. Also in both the Swingles and the Double Six was Ward Swingle who afterwards lived in London, then the US for years, but apparently is back in France now. There still is a group called the Swingle Singers but he is behind the scenes. http://www.wardswingle.com/ Other good history info here: http://www.swinglesingers.com/history/beginnings_r.html Jean-Claude Briodin appeared on a 1992 album by Michel Legrand (brother of Christiane). There was a Double Six singer named Jacques Denjean - is the same JD who was later a pianist and conductor? Or perhaps just a common name. Mike

I think this reunion will go down in history, not because of the music, but because of the plethora of hackneyed newspaper article titles. Must have been thinking Traffic, not Cream - (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired. Mike BTW - I wonder if Clapton's comment might have referred to the previous tune: Pressed Rat And Warthog - which, until this reunion, really had never been done onstage, right?

Yes, I've got that one - and the bastards at RCA neglected to include the personnel details (OK, they do list Joel Weiskopf on the back cover and Tiberi and Riekenberg are mentioned on the insert). Could you supply? Mike

Ummm - he must have been smoking something. What exactly is track 4 on side one of Live Cream, Volume II? Mike

Errr-ahhh..... the city of New York has ahh.... been officially declared to be ahhh... fragrant. Vote Quimby.

Tune goes all the way back to 1966 Charles Lloyd days as Wilpan's on "The Flowering Of The Original Charles Lloyd Quartet" but that was issued in 1971, I guess before the Music Inc. record (rec. May 1, 1970, issued as Strata East 1972 - in 1972). Also recorded a week earlier on April 26, 1970 at Left Bank Jazz Society, Baltimore, MD and issued as Roy Brooks: The Free Slave on Muse, where it was misspelled "Will Pan's Walk". Mike

Yeah, it'll be record of the year until McDonough hears the new Coltrane at the Half Note set..... Mike

Man, Miles fired that MF and now he's calling the shots? Mike