BFT # 44 - CD one Answers

[Durium]

KEEP SWINGING

It seems as if most participants have posted their commends and I don't think new information will be posted. I gues it's time to rise the curtain !!

CD one

1. 2KB01 ( Braam)( 5:22)

Bentje Braam: Frank Gratowski as, Iain Ballamy ts, Michiel Braam p, Wilbert de Joode b, Martin France dm ) Recorded at the Villa VPRO Hilversum (The Netherlands) 21 December 1997

Michiel Braam is a piano player and composer who is still on my want list to see in a live performing. His music is always a surprise, full of brilliant ideas, technical firecrackers and quite a few funny-in-jokes. In a review I read: Unafraid of taking chances, Braam led a superbly-at-ease quintet, featuring a truly delightful saxophone pairing, through riveting musical twists and turns. I love his interpretations of Monk compositions in his album Monk Materials, played by his group: Trio BraamDeJoodeVatcher. His latest project is titled Nopera, a kind of free-style opera.

Michei Braam web site | Michiel Braam

2. Gramercy Park (Michiel Borstlap) ( 5:38)

Michiel Borstlap Trio: Michiel Borstlap p, Essiet Essiet b, Jeff “Tain” Watts dm. Recorded in NYC ca. 2000

This track seemed to be very difficult to locate. Michiel Borstlap is one of the leading jazz piano players and composers of the Netherlands and far beyond. He got the Thelonious Monk/BMI Composers Award 1996 for his composition Memory of Enchantment ( recorded by Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter) and made an opera for the Emir and Emira of Qatar. This composition, Gramercy Park, was released on a great 3CD album, in three parts ( Piano Solo – Piano Trio – Meets Soulvation ). I heard him at a concert Jan. 2000 at the Porgy & Bess Jazz Club in Terneuzen ( The Netherlands). A great inventive piano player !!

Michiel Borstlap web site

3. E.T.A. ( nn ) ( 4:54 )

Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers: Art Blakey dm, Valery Ponomarev tp, Robert Watson as, David Schnitter ts, James Williams p, Dennis Irwin b. Recorded NYC, 4 Dec. 1978 ( Timeless CD SJP 319 )

This track was one of thefirst that got a name and a face. Art Blakey was one of the first great names in jazz I saw live at a concert. The concert was held in The Doelen in Rotterdam. When I tried to recall the date of that concert (it had to be somewhere late 1970s ) I learned that great concert venues like The Doelen in Rotterdam didn’t had an archive or database where they saved that kind of information. Thanks to the fact that I took some images I recognized the trumpet player as Valery Ponomarev, who was part of the Jazz Messengers for a rather short time in 1977 and between 1978 and 1980. In the summer of 1980 Wynton Marsalis took his place. Thanks to a local magazine I found a small article about the concert and the date of the concert: 20th of April 1980. This tune was made in December 1978 and released on a Timeless Record. This tune remembers me to this concert. This track is without Curtis Fuller and Ray Mantilla, who were present during the other tunes of this session.

Lost concert

4. Time After Time ( Sammy Cahn / Jule Styne ) ( 3:06 )

Philip Catherine Quartet: Philip Catherine g, Philippe Aerts b, Joost van Schaik dm, Bert Joris tp flh ) Recorded 29 May 2002 ( Philip Catherine – Summer Night ( FDM 36637 )

The Belgian guitar player Philip Catherine belongs to my favourites. He is a dedicated interpreter from the Django Reinhardt musical heritage without being stucked in tradition. He played with all the great musicians of modern jazz and I have an LP album with guitar duos with Larry Coryell titled Twin-House that belongs to my favourite albums of Philip Catherine. I have chosen this tune because Bert Joris, one of the best trumpet players of Western Europe, plays on this tune. This Belgian trumpet player has a soft smooth tone that remembers to Chet Baker. I remember him in a concert with Paulien van Schaik, and Hein Van De Geyn in which he accompanied the soft and smooth sounds of Paulien´s voice and Hein´s sensible sounds on the double bass. Great !! Both Philippe Aerts and Joost Van Schaik are skilled musicians in the rhythm section.

5. Never Again ( Pierre Christophe ) ( 5:38)

Benjamin Herman Quartet : Benjamin Herman as, Pierre Christophe p, Jos Machtel b, Joost van Schaik dm Recorded Amsterdam 19 December 2001 ( Benjamin Herman plays Jaki Byard (A-Records AL 73235))

Like track 2 Benjamin Herman seems to be rather unknown outside the low countries. That's a pity, because he's a great inventive and skilled alto sax player. He is one of the raising stars in the Dutch jazz scene at the moment. Last year he got the VPRO/Boy Edgar award for his recordings. He is one of the most active jazz musicians of the Netherlands. His New Cool Collective is a very popular band that plays very danceable music, popular to the young people. His last CD productions, Heterogeneity and The London Sessions seem to be great.

In Never Again you can hear Benjamin Herman play his alto saxophone in a Pierre Christophe composition. The album is dedicated to the music of Jaki Byard and Pierre Christophe, currently based in Paris, plays the piano on this album. He studied with Jaki Byard for four years and made a tour with the Benjamin Herman Trio through Holland and Belgium. This album was made December 2001 in an amazing six hour run ( as the liner notes learn) and contains compositions of Jaki Byard, except, this one, Never Again, that was written by Pierre Christophe. The title of the tune refers of a major hangover at the time Pierre Christophe wrote this tune ………….

Benjamin Herman home page | Benjamin Herman in concert Jan. 2007

6. Miss Thing (Cyrus Chestnut) (5:05)

Cyrus Chestnut Quartet: James Carter as, Cyrus Chestnut p, Ron Carter b, Billy Higgins dm. Recorded ca. 1997. ( Cyrus Chestnut ( Atlantic 7567-83140 ))

I came into contact with Cyrus Chestnut’s music at a concert in Porgy en Bess Jazz Club in Terneuzen (The Netherlands) ( April 1999 ) where he accompanied Benny Golson with his trio. Later I saw the film Kansas City ( and the documentary Jazz ’34 ) where he played the piano with Geri Allen in the stride tradition.

He is an extremely talented jazz pianist that played with all major artists and can play in a various styles from straight-ahead jazz, stride piano, funk, rhythm and blues to gospel. His quartet contains great musicians, like James Carter, that need no introduction. I heard James Carter with his Organ Trio at a disappointing concert at the Chassé Theater in Breda ( The Netherlands) in May 2006, but he compensated this at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam some months later with the Dutch Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw. What a great tenor player !!

Cyrus Chestnut home page

7. Conquerd Territory (Dr. Zilch) ( 2:40)

Dr. Zilch: Paul Funke bg, Michiel Sonnevijlle ( as IJsbrand van ‘t Zand) ts, Jeroen Kant g, Yori Olijslagers dm Recorded in Oisterwijk (The Netherlands) Oct 2005 ( DrZilch )

As I mentioned in my responds I hadn't expect that this track should be recognized, simply because its my nephew Michiel who recorded some EP's with his band Dr. Zilch. It was a group of young students of the Tilburg School of Music. The group Dr. Zilch has been active for a couple of years and has been abandoned last year. They made three Ep's – The Next Level is their final one. It feels great to learn that these young guys want to be active (jazz) musicians for a living and, although the music hasn't got the standards we love to hear I loved to give it some space in my Keep swinging CD.

8. Just a Kickshaw (Ruud Jacobs) ( 3:08 )

Trio Pim Jacobs: Pim Jacobs p, Ruud Jacobs b, Wessel Ilcken dm Recorded Hilversum ( The Netherlands) 29 Oct. 1956 ( Jazz Behind The Dikes part 2 ( Philips 848 811))

Back in time: The three Dutch Jazz Behind The Dikes LPs are collectors items. On the 29th of October 1956 four tunes were recorded ( Just A Kickshaw, Lady Bird, The Goofer and Jeepers Creepers ). The young talented Pim Jacobs made his very first recordings with his trio, featuring his brother Ruud on the bass and the drummer Wessel Ilcken. Wessel Ilcken was a skilled musician already around that date. He had played in the 1940s in the Piet Van Dijk's orchestra, felt in love with the singer of the band, Rita Reys and started his own group with her. They married. They were international famous with tours through Sweden and performances with American bebop musicians that visited Europe. Rita Reys is nowadays still active as a jazz vocalist - some years ago she celebrated her 80th birthday and nowadays she's still .... going strong.

A lot of students on secondary schools will remember Pim Jacobs for its school concerts during the 1960s. So do I. Most students dislike those school concerts as they were organized and compelled, but I can’t remember I belonged to that group. I still remember to have heard the Pim Jacobs Trio and Dutch Swing College Band at these school concerts and I don't remember any of those classical trios and quartets – so it seems as if Pim Jacobs stimulated my slumbering interest in jazz. I guess he would have liked it !!

School concerts

9. Rhythm-A-Ning (Thelonious Monk) (3 :03)

Jean-Michel Pilc Trio: Jean-Michel Pilc p, Francois Moutin b, Ari Hoenig dm Recorded Paris, 28-30 September 2001 ( Jean-Michel Pilc Trio – Welcome Home ( FDM 36630))

I heard Jean-Michel Pilc and his trio for the first time at a concert at the Porgy en Bess Jazz Club February 2002. I was astonished about the way they improvised; Jean-Michel at the piano – I had never heard it that way. Sometimes it was lyrical, sometimes like free jazz, but always close to the theme. The drummer, Ari Hoenig, is a percussionist that surprises with his expressive way of playing. I have hesitated to insert a tune of this trio as I think you should see and hear the trio live, in a small venue , sitting on the first row. Jean-Michel and Francois are born in France and Ari is from New York. They live in New York now. When Francois moved to Paris a few years ago and returned after some months Jean-Michel Pilc wrote the composition Welcome Home, the title of the CD. Well, this Thelonious Monk compositions Rhythm-a-ning in up tempo shows how this trio sounds.

Jean-Michel Pilc homepage

This is the first part of CD one.

I'll be back soon !!

Survey | Keep swinging

Durium

Edited February 23, 2007 by Durium

[king ubu]

Oh, so I should have played that Pilc disc earlier (still haven't heard it...)!

I am a tiny bit familiar with Borstlap (from radio shows only) and I even thought of dropping his name, but then didn't... He seems to be considered one of the leading (or the leading?) dutch jazz pianist of recent years.

[Durium]

KEEP SWINGING

CD one

to be continued ...

10. Cheryl ( Charlie Parker ) 6:52

Herb Geller / Rein de Graaff: Herb Geller as, Rein De Graaff p. Recorded in Leersum (The Netherlands) 6 February 2002 ( Herb Geller / Rein de Graaff – Delightful Duets volume 2) ( Blue Jack BJJR 022))

This is the third Dutch jazz musician that seem to be unknown to most of you. There ought to be a track in this selection played by Rein De Graaff, the bebop piano player pur sang . Rein grew up in the far north of the Netherlands and learned to play the piano. He played the tunes he heard on the radio and at school he was a member of the school orchestra. The first records he bought were the Dutch Swing College Band and Lionel Hampton, but soon he got interested in the Bebop and West Coast styles. When he had finished the High School he got an engagement at the Mister Adams Jazzopators, a German jazz orchestra., that originally played Dixieland music, but also in the more mainstream styles. While in Germany he met real American musicians he played with at jam sessions. In September 1967 Rein organized a trip for himself to New York, where he met musicians like Kenny Dorham, Joe Chambers, Chick Corea en Hank Mobley and played with them. To make a long story short ( it’s all written down (in Dutch)in his biography Belevenissen in Bebop ), back in Holland he got a job, got married, got a family, but still played in his spare hours. He organised, since 1987, so-called Bebop courses, concerts, in which he invited American jazz musicians for a short tour through Holland. The list of musicians, he brought to Holland, should be long and incomplete, so I won’t start to list it, but I can give you the names of the artists I saw in concert with the Rein de Graaff Trio ( himself on the piano of course, Koos Serierse on the bass ( now: Marius Beets b) and Eric Ineke on drums): Houston Person – David Fathead Newman ( 1998), Johnny Griffin’ ( 2002), Herb Geller – John Ruocco (2002), Sonny Fortune ( 2005), James Spaulding ( 2006) and Gary Smulyan (2006). This track is called Cheryl, a Charlie Parker composition, and played with Herb Geller. Geller don’t need any introduction I guess – Herb Geller, born in LA was in the 1950s a well known alto saxophonist and performed with Maynard Ferguson, Shorty Rogers and had his own quartet, together with his wife Lorraine Walsh. When she died he left for Europe and became a skilled musician in several German big bands. To be honest – I like duo performances. It’s like pure jazz. The musicians have to interact to each other, that’s why I have selected this duo performance with Rein and not a tune with the trio, although that is great stuff too.

Rein De Graaff |

More Rein De Graaff - Herb Geller

11. Antea ( Levy) 5:53

Don Ellis Big Band. Recorded Live at Bill Graham’s Fillmore West in San Francisco 18-21 June 1970. ( Don Ellis at Fillmore )

This track wasn't difficult to trace by most of you. I came into contact with the music of the Don Ellis Big Band in a very special way.

If you’re anxious please read the story.. Enjoy it !!

12. What Is This Thing Called Love ( Porter ) 9:18

Roberta Gambarini All Star Quintet: ( Roberta Gambarini vo – not on this track), Roy Hargrove tp, Ronnie Mathews, Jimmy Woode b, Willie Jones III. Recorded at the International Jazz festival Bern (Switzerland), 24 April 2003 ( radio program)

I thougty it would be very difficult to find out the members of this band, as this group, the Roberta Gambarini All Star quintet didn’t record together, but played at the International Jazz Festival in Bern April 2003, but I had overlooked our Swiss jazz expert. This tune was played as the first title in the second set and Roberta was still back stage. The musicians of her All Star Quintet belong all to my favourites: Roy Hargrove is my favourite trumpet player who visits the Porgy en Bess Jazz Club in Terneuzen (south west part of the Netherlands) at a regular base (I guess I heard him more then ten times during the last ten years ) and he often brings Willie Jones III as his regular drummer man. He will be part of the festivities in April at the 50th birthday of the Porgy en Bess Jazz club . Roberta Gambarini performed in the Porgy en Bess Jazz Club November 2003 featuring David Gazarov and Jimmy Woode on piano and bass and Steve Wiliams on drums. I was impressed to hear and see Jimmy Woode, being an accompanists who seems to have performed with all jazz greats in the world, from Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald ( to name some vocalists), Sidney Bechet, Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, Clark Terry, Eric Dolphy, Don Byas, Albert Nicholas, Johnny Griffin to Mal Waldron, ….. Jimmy Woode died in 2005, 80 years old.

Roberta Gambarini is not on this track – sorry for that, although I was fascinated by her great voice, of course and impressed by her personality. Although she is a skilled jazz vocalist, she made but few recordings and two years ago when I got this live recording from a nice Swiss collector she hadn't made an album. Now, two years later. Roberta seemed to have released some.

Roberta Gambarini website

13. Cherokee ( Ray Noble) 11:00

Lee Konitz – Brad Mehldau – Charlie Haden: Lee Konitz as, Brad Mehldau p, Charlie Haden b - Recorded Los Angeles 21 December 1996 ( Lee Konitz-Brad Mehldau-Charlie Haden – Alone Together ( Blue Note 857150))

This track wasn't difficult to label, as Lee konitz is an alto sax player with his own style. This is really an all-star trio. Three very skilled musicians – all favourites of mine. All three musicians are still very active. They show their craftsmanship in this well known standard in lengthy solos. Great music !!

14. I Want To Be Happy ( Vincent Youmans ) 1:23

Willem Breuker Kollektief ( featuring Toby Rix – toeterix ) Recorded live in Krasnapolsky, Amsterdam Dec. 1988 ( Metropolis – Willem Breuker Kollektief (BV Haast CD 8903 ) )

One of the visitors of my web log wrote once, that he was happy to learn that Dutch jazz is more then Willem Breuker – I guess this is a compliment for Willem Breuker and his Kollektief. One thing is for sure – going to a concert of Willem Breuker is always fun. This time he is accompanied by Toby Rix.

Toby Rix was a vaudeville artist who played in the 1950 in the Spike Jones style,using all kinds of instruments making silly noises and effects. Well known was his Toeteriks, an instrument with auto horns , bells, and percussion instruments. This rather funny tune is a great track to conclude the first CD.

Willem Breuker - Toby Rix

So far CD one.

I hope you like it - I liked to read all your commends !!

I'll post the ttrack list for the second CD soon.

Survey | Keep swinging

Durium

[sidewinder]

Totally agree with you about Roberta Gambarini, Durium. She is a class act indeed - fine performance at Northsea last year with Hank Jones.

I wouldn't have got the rest of the answers in a thousand years but I'll listen anew to these tracks as an education !

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

So, Roy HArgrove on "What's this thing called, love?" I've heard a few nice things he's done. Must investigate a bit. Thanks Durium.

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Hm, I've got quite a few albums with Rein deGraaf on piano. David Newman, Marchel Ivery, Teddy Edwards etc. Always OK, but never gets to me himself. Why I didn't recognise him, I guess.

MG