Jazz Notes: Interviews across the Generations

222 Pages·2009·0.77 MB·English

by  Sanford Josephson

J N
AZZ OTES

J N
AZZ OTES
Interviews across the Generations
Sanford Josephson
P
RAEGER
An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC
Copyright©2009bySanfordJosephson
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina
retrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,
photocopying,recording,orotherwise,exceptfortheinclusionofbriefquotationsina
review,withoutpriorpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Jazznotes:interviewsacrossthegenerations/SanfordJosephson.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978–0–313–35700–8(hardcopy:alk.paper)—ISBN978-0-313-35701-5
(ebook:alk.paper)
1. Jazzmusicians—Interviews. I.Title.
ML394.J67 2009
781.65092’273—dc22
[B] 2009009898
Firstpublishedin2009
13 12 11 10 9 1 2 3 4 5
ThisbookisalsoavailableontheWorldWideWebasaneBook.
Visitwww.abc-clio.comfordetails.
ABC-CLIO,LLC
130CremonaDrive,P.O.Box1911
SantaBarbara,California93116-1911
Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper
ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
Includesmaterialoriginallypublishedinthefollowingpublications:IndianapolisStar,Los
AngelesHeraldExaminer,AmericanWay,LouisvilleCourier-Journal,ToledoBlade,ELECTRICity,
NewYorkDailyNews,CincinnatiEnquirer,St.LouisPost-Dispatch,andTheTrib.
Dedications
...
‘‘This is it. This is the big show The scene is steaming now, energy
...
flowing throughout this musicalatmosphere ’’
From‘‘TheCottonClubonFire’’byDanJosephson
Iwouldliketodedicatethisbooktomywife,Linda,andmytwosons,
Alex and Dan, all of whom gave me great encouragement as I
embarked upon this project. Linda was both my strongest supporter
and toughest critic, as she edited each chapter with her unwavering
eyefordetail.Alexretrievedhisaltosaxophone,whichhadlanguished
inouratticforcloseto15years,andtookitwithhimtohisapartment
in New York City to reprise the first jazz piece he had played on it,
Miles Davis’s ‘‘Freddy the Freeloader.’’ The lyrical lines reprinted
above are from an award-winning poem written by Dan when he was
ahighschoolfreshmanin2001.HehadbeeninspiredbyKenBurns’s
jazz serieson PBS.
This book is also dedicated to all those wonderful jazz musicians
who have never received anything near the celebrity they deserve for
an art formthat is sadlyunderappreciated in theUnited States.

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgement xi
1 SeeingStardust:‘‘Hoagy’’Carmichael 1
(Additional interviewswith Hoagy B. Carmichael,
BillCharlap andBob Wilber)
2 TheJointIs Jumpin’:Thomas‘‘Fats’’ Waller 15
(Additional interviewswith Mark Shane andAaron Diehl)
3 NoJoke: Giuseppe‘‘Joe’’ Venuti 23
(Additional interviewswith Stan Kurtis, Andy Stein,
Jonathan Russell, Aaron Weinsteinand Paul Anastasio)
4 OneO’ClockJump:William ‘‘Count’’Basie 37
(Additional interviewswith Butch Miles,T.S. Galloway,
HowardAlden andMarvin Stamm)
5 MelodyMan: JonahJones 51
(Additional interviewwith WarrenVache)
6 GodIs in theHouse: ArtTatum 57
(Additional interviewswith Barbara Carroll,
MarianMcPartland,Aaron Diehl andMark Shane)
7 RoadWarriors:Earle Warren, Howard McGhee, 65
andMilt Hinton
(Additional interviewswith Phil Schaap,Joe Temperley,
NoreenGreyLienhard,Warren Vacheand Derek Smith)
viii Contents
8 TheHappySinger: HelenHumes 89
(Additional interviewswith Norman Simmonsand
David Leonhardt)
9 TheReligionof Bebop: JohnBirks‘‘Dizzy’’ Gillespie 95
(Additional interviewswith Jeanie Bryson, JohnLee and
Cecil Bridgewater)
10 Classical Jazz: George Shearing 103
(Additional interviewswith DickHyman, RioClemente,
Bill Maysand MarvinStamm)
11 TakeFive: DaveBrubeck 111
12 Duke’sMan: NorrisTurney 117
(Additional interviewswith ArtBaron, Joe Temperley,
Virginia Mayhew andNorman Simmons)
13 Singingthe Chords: JonHendricks 131
(Additional interviewswith David Leonhardt,Janis Siegel)
14 TravelingwithKing Louis: Arvell Shaw 141
(Additional interviewswith David Ostwald,Ed Polcer,
Bria Skonbergand GregoryRivkin)
15 Beyondthe Big Bands: Gerry Mulligan 155
(Additional interviewswith Bill Charlap,Bill Maysand
Rich DeRosa)
16 MusicalChameleon: DickHyman 163
(Additional interviewswith Randy Sandke,Bill Charlapand
Dan Levinson)
17 FlyingHigh: MaynardFerguson 173
(Additional interviewswith Don Sebesky,Randy Sandke,
Denis DiBlasio, andSteve Schankman)
18 GrowingUp WithJazz: Stanley Cowell 181
19 Hornof Emotion: David Sanborn 187
20 Jazz Ambassador: BillyTaylor 193
Index 199
Preface
When I was a college student in the early 1960s at the University of
Missouri, I attended concerts featuring the Dave Brubeck Quartet
and Sarah Vaughan. Jazz was something I listened to occasionally,
but itdid not occupyany special placein my life.
Then,in September1965, Iaccepted a jobas a writer in thepublic
informationofficeoftheFarEasternAreaheadquartersoftheAmeri-
can Red Cross, located on an army base, Camp Zama, about 45
minutesfromTokyo.InJapan,IsawDukeEllington,OscarPeterson,
Ella Fitzgerald, Herbie Mann, and numerous other well-known jazz
artists in concert and in clubs. More importantly, however, I fre-
quentedmanyjazzcoffeehousesandbars,inbothTokyoandoutlying
towns. At each of these coffee houses/bars, there were hundreds of
record albums, and whatever record was currently playing was fea-
turedinaspecialspotofprominence.Thevenueshadvariousnames,
but I do remember that two of them, in the Shinjuku section of
Tokyo,were namedtheVillage Gateand the VillageVanguard, after
the famousjazz spotsin NewYork’s GreenwichVillage.
BythetimeIreturnedtotheUnitedStatesinDecember1967,Iwas
anenthusiasticjazzfanatatimewhenjazzhadhitrockbottominthis
country. In January 1968, I moved to New York City to accept a
reporting job with Fairchild Publications and was disappointed by
the scarcityof places to hear the music.
I often went to a midtown eastside spot called The Apartment,
where you could listen to the pianist Marian McPartland, or to the
Top of the Gate on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village,where you
could listen to the pianists Bill Evans and Junior Mance or the vibra-
phonist Gary Burton for the price of a drink. I also listened to