Jutta Hipp

[Durium]

JUTTA HIPP

A rather unknown German-American Jazz piano player, whose great Blue Note album Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims was reissued in the RVG Edition.

Jutta Hipp: Early Years

Keep swinging

Durium

[Larry Kart]

Interesting piece here (translation follows the German original):

http://www.katekaiser.com/articles/Jutta_H...ly_2006_new.pdf

Note in particular Leonard Feather's attempt to hit on her, after which (Hipp turned him down) he switched from being her fervent backer to putting her down in print. Methinks that this is a pattern that one could run across throughout Mr. Feather's life -- not that he slept with George Shearing, but I'm trying to think of other female artists that Leonard praised and promoted. I vaguely recall an all-female combo that he assembled for a recording but don't remember who was in it.

[sidewinder]

I vaguely recall an all-female combo that he assembled for a recording but don't remember who was in it.

Would that be the 'Cat Meets Chick' session for MGM recorded in 1954 that is included on Clark Terry's Emarcy session Verve Elite CD? In this case the 'chicks', according to the cover art, are Terry Pollard (vibes), Norma Carson (tpt), Corey Hecht (harp), Mary Osborne (gtr), Elaine Leighton (dms) and Bonnie Wetzel (bass).

[Durium]

JUTTA HIPP

Enjoy this album reissued by Blue Note in the Rudy Van Gelder series.

Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims

Keep swinging

Durium

[BillF]

I remember Jutta Hipp as a jazz name in the sixties. Jazz writer and Liverpudlian wit, Steve Voce, asked in Jazz Journal, "Is Jutta really hip?"

[Durium]

I remember Jutta Hipp as a jazz name in the sixties. Jazz writer and Liverpudlian wit, Steve Voce, asked in Jazz Journal, "Is Jutta really hip?"

Might be, but in the 1960s she wasn't longer musically active. You can read it at Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims

Keep swinging

Durium

[BillF]

I remember Jutta Hipp as a jazz name in the sixties. Jazz writer and Liverpudlian wit, Steve Voce, asked in Jazz Journal, "Is Jutta really hip?"

Might be, but in the 1960s she wasn't longer musically active. You can read it at Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims

Keep swinging

Durium

Perhaps this is why Steve Voce was asking the question

[Larry Kart]

I vaguely recall an all-female combo that he assembled for a recording but don't remember who was in it.

Would that be the 'Cat Meets Chick' session for MGM recorded in 1954 that is included on Clark Terry's Emarcy session Verve Elite CD? In this case the 'chicks', according to the cover art, are Terry Pollard (vibes), Norma Carson (tpt), Corey Hecht (harp), Mary Osborne (gtr), Elaine Leighton (dms) and Bonnie Wetzel (bass).

Yes.

[captainwrong]

I need to hear this at least since I bought the shirt with the cover art last week. LOL

[Larry Kart]

I like the album. Zoot is in very fresh, lively form, and while I could see where some people might find Hipp a bit stolid rhythmically, I'd prefer to call her sober. Also, there's a Tristano-ish melodic connectedness to her thinking that I find appealing and individual.

[jostber]

I like this record a lot, a great one. Seems like Katja von Schuttenbach is writing a book on Jutta too:

http://www.katekaiser.com

[sidewinder]

I like this record a lot, a great one. Seems like Katja von Schuttenbach is writing a book on Jutta too:

http://www.katekaiser.com

Damn cool !

[Big Beat Steve]

There is no need really to limit Hutta Hipp's recorded legacy to her cooperation with Zoot Sims.

Her two Blue note albums recorded live at the Hickory House are fine too (you don't necessarily need hard bop jam session horn blowers or skin beaters to enjoy BN LP's you know ... :D).

And there is no need to overlook her recordings made in Germany before her departure to the U.S. either. Some of them are collected here, for instance:

http://www.amazon.de/Frankfurt-Special-Jut...4501&sr=1-5

http://www.bocksmusicshop.at/detail.asp?art=3741

And as rightly pointed out in the Wikipedia entry on her, she has had a cult status among fans of German jazz throughout all those decades (though she probably was unaware of this herself).

Edited April 14, 2008 by Big Beat Steve

[jostber]

Here are 3 paintings by her:

http://go.nrk.no/go/e/main/http://www.nrk....gallery-content

Edited April 14, 2008 by jostber

[Parkertown]

#1 is beautiful! Great colors.

[take5]

Picked this up recently on a lark, having never heard of her before. Just thought the idea of a chick playing piano and Zoot Simms would be cool, and it is, though Zoot really owns the session.

[Ted O'Reilly]

"Sims", not "Simms", dammit! It's right there in front of you. (Why is it so hard to spell names correctly? It's disrespectful, I say! )

[Swinging Swede]

Some misspellings are more common than others. I don't know how many times I've seen McClean and Adderly.

And who can forget Blue Note gems like Handcock and Booby?

[Hot Ptah]

There have been threads on Jutta Hipp before. I don't remember whether they were here or on other online forums. There was a received conventional wisdom about her that she received a significant royalty check in the late 1990s for her 1950s recordings, which saved her from a life of dire poverty, as she had been working as a sweatshop tailor.

However, on one of the online forums (again, I can't remember which one), a woman responded, said that she worked with Jutta into the 1990s, and that they both worked in unionized positions in the garment industry, making pretty good money. She said that Jutta was in no means in poverty. She also said that Jutta refused to discuss her prior musical career.

[AllenLowe]

sometime in the 1990s Marian McPartland told me that Hipp was working as a painter and living in a loft, I think in Queens (maybe Long Island City); she gave me her phone number, as I wanted to talk to her for my 1950s jazz book. I spoke to Hipp once and she was very nice and completely willing to talk, though I'm sorry to say she died before we got together - but I got no sense that she was unwilling to deal with her past -

[JSngry]

"Sims", not "Simms", dammit! It's right there in front of you. (Why is it so hard to spell names correctly? It's disrespectful, I say! )

Or so you'd think...

[Stereojack]

Some misspellings are more common than others. I don't know how many times I've seen McClean and Adderly.

And who can forget Blue Note gems like Handcock and Booby?

How about my personal fave - Art Blakely?

[Ted O'Reilly]

"Sims", not "Simms", dammit! It's right there in front of you. (Why is it so hard to spell names correctly? It's disrespectful, I say! )

Or so you'd think...

Some misspellings are more common than others. I don't know how many times I've seen McClean and Adderly.

And who can forget Blue Note gems like Handcock and Booby?

How about my personal fave - Art Blakely?

It's all just sloppy. In the words of Willy Loman "Attention must be paid!" (in 'Death Of A Salesman', by Tennesse Williams).

I know there are bad spellers, and maybe good spelling is just a knack, but I believe you should pay special attention to names.

Back when I did general reporting I had an editor who drummed it into me "Get the name right!!!". I felt foolish one time asking John Smith to spell his name for me, but he said, "Thank you for asking, no one ever does. It's J-O-N S-M-Y-T-H."

Or, maybe it's because of the dozens of misspellings of my own name I've had to endure...

[captainwrong]

Some misspellings are more common than others. I don't know how many times I've seen McClean and Adderly.

And who can forget Blue Note gems like Handcock and Booby?

How about my personal fave - Art Blakely?

Hmm...don't know him, but I have an album featuring Art Blackey. Maybe they're related?

Of course, I also had a Charlie Parker album once with someone who looked a lot like Lockjaw Davis on the cover.

[Hot Ptah]

sometime in the 1990s Marian McPartland told me that Hipp was working as a painter and living in a loft, I think in Queens (maybe Long Island City); she gave me her phone number, as I wanted to talk to her for my 1950s jazz book. I spoke to Hipp once and she was very nice and completely willing to talk, though I'm sorry to say she died before we got together - but I got no sense that she was unwilling to deal with her past -

I have found the post from a past jazz online forum discussion. It comes from AAJ, a thread entitled "Who Is Jutta Hipp?" from 2006. On September 24, 2006, JazzFan393, in his or her first post on AAJ, contributed the following:

"Have read many a stories online about Jutta that simply are not true.

I worked alongside Jutta, in a clothing alteration section of a major clothing store. ( now defunct )

This was a Union operation ( no sweat shop ) After retirement Jutta collected a small Union pension along with S.S benefits .

Until her death, she lived in a rent controlled Apartment near by.

We never knew about Juttas earlier fame, and now in retrospect I realize she wanted it that way, for whatever reason.

I understand some of her recordings were remastered in Japan.

But I was never able to obtain a copy."

So I remembered it wrong, in some respects.