"The Arrival of Victor Feldman" on Night Lights

[ghost of miles]

 

This week on Night Lights it’s “The Arrival of Victor Feldman.” Multi-instrumentalist Victor Feldman was a musical prodigy who sat in on drums with Glenn Miller’s Army Air Force Band at the age of 10 and was hailed by the English press as “Kid Krupa.” After continuing his rise to fame in the 1950s British jazz world, Feldman moved to America and eventually made his way to the West Coast jazz scene. We’ll hear the records he made both as a sideman and a leader, playing piano and vibes with Cannonball Adderley, Shelly Manne, Miles Davis, and Scott La Faro. You can read a 1971 interview with Feldman here. “The Arrival of Victor Feldman” airs Saturday, December 9 at 11:05 p.m. EST on WFIU and at 9 p.m. Central Time on WNIN-Evansville. It also airs Sunday at 10 p.m. EST on Michigan's Blue Lake Public Radio. The program will be posted Monday afternoon in the Night Lights archives.

 

Next week: "A Jazzy Quartet." Jazz soloists and ensembles accompanied by string quartets.

Edited April 7, 2020 by ghost of miles

[Big Al]

You could play that whole album and it would still be a fantastic show. I know I'll be listening!

Edited December 9, 2006 by Big Al

[sidewinder]

I'll look forward to this show and dig out my Tempo Feldman reissues. Definitely one of the greatest players ever produced over here !

[medjuck]

My father-in-law likes to tell how he used to go see Victor Feldman in London when he was still a child prodigy playing drums

[ghost of miles]

Glad to see the interest in Feldman! Listeners in Manchester, England and Texas suggested this as a show some time ago. Up for broadcast in a couple of minutes on WNIN and in about an hour on WFIU.

[ghost of miles]

"The Arrival of Victor Feldman" is now archived.

Edited April 7, 2020 by ghost of miles

[BruceH]

Great subject for a show! I love Victor Feldman.

[ghost of miles]

We're re-airing The Arrival Of Victor Feldman this week. I've updated the archived program page to include two clips of Feldman performing (from 1960 on vibes and piano, and from 1965 on piano) and a link to Steve A. Cerra's in-depth profile of Feldman.

 

Next week: "The David Baker Songbook"

Edited April 7, 2020 by ghost of miles

[ghost of miles]

Bumping for Feldman’s birth anniversary today (born April 7, 1934):

The Arrival Of Victor Feldman

[mjazzg]

Enjoyed listening to this very much. Thanks for reposting and making the show in the first place

[ghost of miles]

6 hours ago, mjazzg said:

Enjoyed listening to this very much. Thanks for reposting and making the show in the first place

So glad you enjoyed it... thanks for letting me know!  Trying to complete a batch of new programs, but current working conditions are making it difficult.

[Dave James]

If you have any questions about Victor Feldman, you can answer them by setting aside time to listen to the CD collection documenting Shelly Manne's live performances at The Blackhawk from 1959.  They made me a true believer.  Feldman's percussive approach to the piano combined with Manne's in-the-pocket drumming was a match made in heaven.  

[jazzbo]

I agree completely Dave.

[Big Beat Steve]

8 hours ago, Dave James said:

Feldman's percussive approach to the piano combined with Manne's in-the-pocket drumming was a match made in heaven.  

Just out of curiosiity: If you like Feldman's percussive approach to the piano, how would you rate/compare it to the percussive approach of Eddie Costa? I may not have listened closely enough yet to whatever Feldman recordings I have but I tend to associate "percussive" and "piano" with Eddie Costa first of all.

 

[BillF]

6 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Just out of curiosiity: If you like Feldman's percussive approach to the piano, how would you rate/compare it to the percussive approach of Eddie Costa? I may not have listened closely enough yet to whatever Feldman recordings I have but I tend to associate "percussive" and "piano" with Eddie Costa first of all.

 

Both vibes players.

[Dave James]

13 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Just out of curiosiity: If you like Feldman's percussive approach to the piano, how would you rate/compare it to the percussive approach of Eddie Costa? I may not have listened closely enough yet to whatever Feldman recordings I have but I tend to associate "percussive" and "piano" with Eddie Costa first of all.

 

Hate to admit this, but I'm familiar with with Mr. Costa in name only.  I'll be remedying that shortly

7 hours ago, BillF said:

Both vibes players.

Feldman got his start in sho biz as a kid drummer:  

 

[BillF]

Yes indeed! Despite my long career in jazz listening, I wasn't around for Victor's kid drummer phase, but I did see him on a triumphant Christmas return from the States to Ronnie Scott's in 1959 when I had just turned 20. On that occasion he played vibes only. Incidentally, he played both drums and vibes with Woody Herman. My favourite, though, is his piano playing, as heard to perfection on the Adderley Lighthouse album and on his own Merry Olde Soul.

[mjazzg]

As a big vibes fan but at the same time sadly ignorant of Feldman's discography are there any albums where he solely plays vibes or does he always double?

[ejp626]

43 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

As a big vibes fan but at the same time sadly ignorant of Feldman's discography are there any albums where he solely plays vibes or does he always double?

I'm not going to swear to it, but according to the liner notes, Feldman plays vibes only on Victor Feldman Modern Jazz Quartet (on an Avid 2-fer). On the same CD set, he mostly plays vibes on Victor Feldman in London Vol. 2 Big Band, though he actually plays drums on 2 tracks!

[mjazzg]

1 hour ago, ejp626 said:

I'm not going to swear to it, but according to the liner notes, Feldman plays vibes only on Victor Feldman Modern Jazz Quartet (on an Avid 2-fer). On the same CD set, he mostly plays vibes on Victor Feldman in London Vol. 2 Big Band, though he actually plays drums on 2 tracks!

Thank you. I shall investigate

Just realised that 'On vibes' as a title is a pretty good clue. It's reissue title 'Mallets aforethought' makes it even more worthy of attention !

[Dave James]

Don't forget this one.  Feldman's decision not to join Miles' band opened the door for Herbie Hancock.

 

[Dave James]

Speaking of Eddie Costa, during my get-to-know-you tour, I came across this quartet date he did with Bill Evans.

 

[sgcim]

On 4/8/2020 at 5:26 AM, Big Beat Steve said:

Just out of curiosiity: If you like Feldman's percussive approach to the piano, how would you rate/compare it to the percussive approach of Eddie Costa? I may not have listened closely enough yet to whatever Feldman recordings I have but I tend to associate "percussive" and "piano" with Eddie Costa first of all.

 

Feldman's approach to the piano was percussive at times, especially when building up his solos from single lines with chord comp punctuations to more percussive simultaneous chords and lines, where he was especially percussive, but not at Costa's dynamic levels. Feldman used octave lines, but not as percussively as Costa did

Their other similarity is VF's use of blues scale licks in the right hand, while simultaneously chording in the left hand. Feldman was a much more subtle player in his use of dynamics, while Costa was nicknamed "The Bear" by Vinnie Burke for the way he would 'roar' in his percussive approach to piano. Costa played with a lot more energy and drive than Feldman. If you're looking for your Costa 'fix' from Feldman, you'd be better off with Phineas Newborn (a similar touch).

IMHO, Feldman was a much superior vibist than Costa, probably because he had a better set of vibes, and used much more interesting harmony that Costa (maybe because he used four mallets?)

[BillF]

31 minutes ago, sgcim said:

Feldman's approach to the piano was percussive at times, especially when building up his solos from single lines with chord comp punctuations to more percussive simultaneous chords and lines, where he was especially percussive, but not at Costa's dynamic levels. Feldman used octave lines, but not as percussively as Costa did

Their other similarity is VF's use of blues scale licks in the right hand, while simultaneously chording in the left hand. Feldman was a much more subtle player in his use of dynamics, while Costa was nicknamed "The Bear" by Vinnie Burke for the way he would 'roar' in his percussive approach to piano. Costa played with a lot more energy and drive than Feldman. If you're looking for your Costa 'fix' from Feldman, you'd be better off with Phineas Newborn (a similar touch).

IMHO, Feldman was a much superior vibist than Costa, probably because he had a better set of vibes, and used much more interesting harmony that Costa (maybe because he used four mallets?)

Feldman wasn't using four mallets when I saw him play in 1959, nor was he in the only YouTube clip I could find, which looks to be from the 70s.

[sgcim]

30 minutes ago, BillF said:

Feldman wasn't using four mallets when I saw him play in 1959, nor was he in the only YouTube clip I could find, which looks to be from the 70s.

Then he used the pedals in a much more sophisticated manner than Costa did, IMHO.