Bean Proceeded Bird at Berg's

[medjuck]

Ted Gioia tweeted that "Old Time LA jazz people who were on the scene in 1945 told me this was the first genuine bebop band to play on the West Coast. It shook up the local players and paved the way for Bird and Dizzy to play Billy Berg's a few months later."

Sort of echoes Scott DeVeaux's emphasis on the importance of Hawkins to BeBop.  Interesting that they give billing to OP.  

(btw is it ok to quote things from twitter?)

Edited March 10, 2022 by medjuck

[Mark Stryker]

  On 3/10/2022 at 5:31 PM, medjuck said:

 

Expand  

A close reading of this gig appears in DeVeaux's "The Bird of Bebop."

 

[medjuck]

  On 3/10/2022 at 5:38 PM, Mark Stryker said:

A close reading of this gig appears in DeVeaux's "The Bird of Bebop."

 

Expand  

Who else was in the group?  (Not Monk, I presume.)

[Mark Stryker]

  On 3/10/2022 at 5:49 PM, medjuck said:

Who else was in the group?  (Not Monk, I presume.)

Expand  

Coleman Hawkins, Howard McGhee, Charles Thompson, Oscar Pettiford, Denzil Best

[Chuck Nessa]

  On 3/10/2022 at 6:01 PM, Mark Stryker said:

Coleman Hawkins, Howard McGhee, Charles Thompson, Oscar Pettiford, Denzil Best

Expand  

Hollywood Stampede band.

[Mark Stryker]

  On 3/10/2022 at 6:33 PM, Chuck Nessa said:

Hollywood Stampede band.

Expand  

From The Crimson Canary. 

 

 

 

 

[medjuck]

Even in the movie OP gets special billing.  Was he that famous (or appreciated)?

[Shrdlu]

Thanks, guys, for bringing this up.

That video is amazing. I never knew that it existed. Too bad that America has hadly ever filmed its great jazzmen.

Bean was an amazing musician, never stuck in one genre. Someone once remarked that he never peaked. He had amazing technique, but didn't play flashy just for effect. Awhile back, I came across a video of him warming up (in about 1960, I think), and his technique was amazing. I just obtained the fairly recent Mosaic set of his recordings, going back to the 20s. The first items are horrible, and he once said that he was not happy with them. They give little hint of what he later did.

Yes, one of the first boppers (I hate that term, but it has stuck).

[Larry Kart]

  On 3/10/2022 at 7:40 PM, medjuck said:

Even in the movie OP gets special billing.  Was he that famous (or appreciated)?

Expand  

Esquire Poll Winner he was, which might have been the reason. But was the billing the doing of Billy Berg's or the movie? The former I would guess.

 

[Quasimado]

Oscar seems to be smoking as he plays ... I have been in plenty of clubs, but can't  actually recall seeing a bass player smoking and playing at the same time ... that would seem to present real difficulties, particularly up-tempo ...

[Gheorghe]

  On 3/11/2022 at 8:36 AM, Quasimado said:

Oscar seems to be smoking as he plays ... I have been in plenty of clubs, but can't  actually recall seeing a bass player smoking and playing at the same time ... that would seem to present real difficulties, particularly up-tempo ...

Expand  

I saw Mingus playing the bass with a big cigar in his mouth. 

But smoking while playing I don´t think this is really confortable, but I have to enjoy a cigarette for relaxment. That means after a gig. I never could smoke while playing, or standing or walking and even don´t like to talk, if I smoke a cigarette since I enjoy it in certain situations of happy solitude. 

[mhatta]

  On 3/10/2022 at 9:17 PM, Larry Kart said:

Esquire Poll Winner he was, which might have been the reason. But was the billing the doing of Billy Berg's or the movie? The former I would guess.

 

Expand  

Wikipedia suggests that OP gained wider public attention after the 1943 recording of "The Man I Love" with Hawk.  Young OP (21 year old?) 's hard breathing solo is surely incredible .  Overall, it sounds very modern -- might strictly not be bebop, but almost proto-bop.

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by mhatta

[Peter Friedman]

  On 3/10/2022 at 7:21 PM, Mark Stryker said:

From The Crimson Canary. 

 

 

 

 

Expand  

Mark, thanks for sharing that clip from the movie. Loved it.

[Gheorghe]

Incredible, such a rare document of early bebop, and I never saw Howard McGhee in a video. They are fantastic. Pettiford´s solo......

But as I know, the first recorded be bop in LA was the Billy Eckstine Band with Fats Navarro in early 1945, which is recorded on the Spotlite label as "Together".

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

more Bean proceeding Bird!