Y'all check out this great performance by Pam Confer (local jazz singer) at the monthly jazz session at Fusion Coffeehouse, hosted by legendary local bassist Raphael Semmes. I sat in with her on one tune, "Stormy Monday / Route 66" (medley)... it starts at just a little past the 1:19:00 point. The harp is a little hard to hear on the first solo... a little better on the second one. All the other performances are aces.
Nelson Riddle? I'm pretty sure Stormy Monday was written by Aaron "T-Bone" Walker and Route 66 was definitely written by Bobby Troupe (a jazz pianist and TV actor who was married to Julie London).
Last Edited by on Aug 02, 2012 2:35 PM
Wishful thinking on my part, as this "Route 66" remains a favorite work of mine (however, I believe that Julie and NR did date briefly... ;-) ...)
Last Edited by on Aug 03, 2012 11:06 AM
"Nelson Riddle was commissioned to write the instrumental theme when CBS decided to have a new song, rather than pay royalties for the Bobby Troup song '(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66. Riddle's theme, however, offers an unmistakable homage to the latter's piano solo (as originally recorded by Nat King Cole) throughout the number. Riddle's 'Route 66 Theme' instrumental was one of the first television themes to make Billboard Magazine's Top 30...The song earned two Grammy nominations in 1962" [Wiki].
CBS' corporate tapdance helped bring about the Riddle piece...
pardon my misunderstanding scojo...thanks for the correction, time...
Dean, I saw on another thread where you posted something about a pre-SPAH seminar by my friend PT. Are you going to SPAH? If so, hope to meet you (this will be my first).
This is a marvelous example of Gazell, a true artist, going beyond the traditional confines of the instrument and planting his flag--musically speaking.
That is, Gazell's inspiration here is tenor-sax great Ben Webster, an alumnus of the Coleman Hawkins school of sonorous passion, exemplified by the hard edge and prodigious use of the vibrato. At the other pole, though, is Lester Young, the epitome of understated elegance and the 'Cool' idiom found in West coast playing. Music critic Nat Hentoff, referring to Young's solo, wrote, "Lester got up, and he played the purest blues I have ever heard..."
Here they are, then, in what may be the Rosetta Stone of the blues idiom:
ps: order of personnel are Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins (ts), Lester Young (ts), Vic Dickenson (tb), Gerry Mulligan (bars), Ben Webster (ts) and Roy Eldridge (t).
"Love is just like a faucet, it turns off and on... love is like a faucet, it turns off and on... sometimes when you think it's on, baby, it has turned off and gone..."
from the CBS special, The Sound of Jazz, December 8, 1957.
That's some great music, Scott. Most people hear "Mississippi" and think "blues." But there has always been a Mississippi jazz scene. You've clearly made yourself a notable part of it.
Pam Confer is a Mississippi state law enforcement officer, it turns out:
Thanks so much Adam. You know, I didn't even know that about Pam (and I have played with her several times). Are you going to SPAH this year? I think I remember you said that it was going to conflict with a book deadline. We are overdue for that harp conversation. I am going this year for the first time and am pretty excited.
Raphael Semmes does indeed have a great name... he is also one of the stalwarts of the music scene here, and absolutely top-notch on the bass.
Last Edited by on Aug 05, 2012 4:39 PM
