I know a lot of us don't care much for Toots' thing, sometimes it sounds a little corny maybe, but this is a pretty good album if you're undecided. Crackerjack band, with the great Pepper adams on bari. Maybe somone someday will come along playing like Toots but with a fat and crunchy amplified George Smith sound.
---------- For every moment of triumph, every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled. HST
Last Edited by Blowhead9 on Jan 13, 2016 11:59 AM
He wasn't a down-home blues player, for sure, but I can't say that Toots ever sounds corny. Top level jazz musicians accepted him as one of their own - I've witnessed that first hand.
Here he is from that same 1957 LP stretching out on an uptempo number, Fundamental Frequency:
And in a more relaxed grove, on Struttin' with Some Barbecue:
And in another vein, Toots was a great accompanist to singers (It feels weird to refer to him in the past tense, but he's retired now, even though he once told me, "There's no gold watch").
Here he is with Brazilian singer Elis Regina:
And letting his enthusiasm lead him into taking some chances with Peggy Lee, though she rises to the occasion delightfully:
Below is one he did with the George Shearing Quintet that just blew my mind the first time I ever heard it on a juke box at the long defunct Speakeasy in Cambridge, MA:
---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
That Body & Soul take with Shearing went at breakneck speed. I was riding in a car with Toots around 1990 and the driver had that playing on a cassette. Toots looked startled when he heard it, and whipped out a chromatic to check the pitch. He explained that it sounded like the cassette was speeded up (which would have put it at higher pitch). But it was right on the money and yes, Toots, you really did play it that fast back in 1952 or '53! =========== Winslow
Here's Toots playing Body & Soul with a different pianist, Bill Evans this time, in 1979. By then Toots' lyricism was in full blossom and he delivers a very different reading:
Oh yeah, I don't think he's corny, but I can understand why some strictly blues players would think so. It would be good to hear someone play that well with an amp sound. Probably never happen.
That Man Bites Harmonica album is my favorite of his, probably because i'm a big Pepper Adams (and Wilbur Ware) fan.
Also a big Bill Evans fan and wasn't aware of that recording with him, so thanks for that. Beautiful. ---------- For every moment of triumph, every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled. HST
Last Edited by Blowhead9 on Jan 13, 2016 5:24 PM
John Dankworth (husband of Cleo Laine and sax/arranger extraodinaire) told me that in the early days, he and Toots would ride around London in a double decker bus, sit upstairs and play "Body and Soul" in all 12 keys for fun. ---------- The Iceman
Last Edited by The Iceman on Jan 14, 2016 5:17 AM
I have that cd and I think it's one of his best examples of be bop style harmonica. Corny how is Toots corny? He is Mr Cool as far as I'm concerned. ----------
For some diatonic harp players, the idea of what Toots or even many of the old school chromatic players did they're not crazy about because there's no dirty sound to it or it's not bluesy and for certain things, playing bluesy in any way, shape or form, can actually be quite detrimental in certain settings and those diatonic players who feel that way IMO are just plain hard headed.
I've got both versions of Body & Soul, but my hands down favorite is the one he did with the George Shearing Quintet, and most of the time while he was with him, he played guitar (and he's a GREAT jazz guitar player sort of a blend between Django Reihardt and Al Casey).
I saw him in 1978 at Hopper's Cafe in NYC where his back up band were former members of Chuck Mangione's bands and I wish I had a tape recorder with me when he went into John Coltrane's Giant Steps, which is a very difficult tune to play for ANY instrument and he first did 5 choruses on chromatic guitar, the next 5 on guitar, and then the final 5 whistling while playing his guitar in unison and his whistling chops could make a horn player jealous.
Here's his signature tune Bluesette, and this is his original where he plays guitar and whistles in unison:
Here's Toots doing John Coltrane's Giant Steps:
---------- Sincerely, Barbeque Bob Maglinte Boston, MA http://www.barbequebob.com CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
I saw this group live several times during that period, and was a bit disappointed in the video when it came out; the performances seemed to lack the fire and magic of what I'd seen and heard. But in retrospect, some pretty nice playing. =========== Winslow
Winslow, if they were usually better than that, they were mighty good. ---------- For every moment of triumph, every instance of beauty, many souls must be trampled. HST
