Joe Venuti & Earl Hines > C Jam Blues
Composed by Duke Ellington
It was pretty clear to me in the last post that Hank had a hard time picking a favorite Joe Venuti track, so I figured I’d play the second one too. A classic in many ways.
Violin Week #4
Legends of the Violin #3
Legends of the Piano #11
Legends of Swing #5 & #6
Joe Venuti & Dave McKenna > At the Jazz Band Ball
Composed by Larry Shields & Nick LaRocca
Back in the day I spend some time around Chiaroscuro Records but was too self involved to realize the grandeur of the music going on around me. I’m making up for lost time which includes some bon bons by the great Joe Venuti. Being severely undereducated I asked Chiaroscuro owner/producer Hank O’Neal to suggest some tracks. This one caught my ear. From Hank:
“I’d take ‘C Jam [Blues]’ on the one with Earl [Hines] and ‘At the Jazz Band Ball’ on the McKenna. Both were remarkable dates for a lot of reasons. I just wish I’d had the opportunity to do more work with all of them, particularly Joe. I guess I was lucky to have gotten what I did.”
Violin Week #3
Legends of the Violin #3
Legends of the Piano #10
Legends of Swing #5
Keith Jarrett > When I Fall In Love
Composed by Victor Young & Edward Heyman
It’s no surprise to Keith fans that he’s a sentimentalist (no surprise to my closest listeners that I am either), so I was going to feature something from his tribute to Miles’ life. I chose one of his trio’s spontaneous interpretations of one of my favorite Miles tracks instead.
Fitting to end the week on a standard, given the decades he’s dedicated to them. This one is traditionally jazz than my the album from the beginning of the week, but, just as satisfying.
Keith Jarrett Week #5
Legends of the Piano #2
Ballad #41
Standards #9
Keith Jarrett > Life Between the Exit Signs
Composed by Keith Jarrett
I’d never even heard of Keith Jarrett when my buddy David Reitman suggested we cop the name for my first midnight college radio show.
Keith Jarrett > Starbright
Composed by Keith Jarrett
The movement toward solo and duo jazz albums had already been gaining steam when Jarrett released his first (fully improvised) on ECM and began to join his influencers in the canon. It made him so famous that folks like me starting dismissing his unique approach to piano.
I saw Jarrett play solo in Carnegie Hall last January, the first time since The Mercer Arts Center, New York, in 1971, when he was supporting this LP. His command and confidence was no different in the almost 40 year gap.
Jan Garbarek, Keith Jarrett, Palle Danielsson, Jon Christensen > The Windup
Composed by Keith Jarrett
Since the first time I saw Jarrett was when he was electronically doodling with Miles Davis, maybe it makes sense that some of my most memorable tracks aren’t strictly traditional.
Keith Jarrett > My Wild Irish Rose
Composed by Chauncey Olcott
Never in a hundred years (OK, maybe 40) would it have occurred to me that I’d build our first artist week around Keith Jarrett. Hank Jones, Cecil Taylor, maybe Herbie Hancock? Them, I might have predicted. But year after year I keep pulling Keith albums out.
Particularly this one. (In fact, I featured it a year ago.) Not jazz in any traditional sense (no soloing), but I can’t imagine anyone but a jazzman interpreting melodies this way.
To me, this song was just an international cliche until I couldn’t dislodge Keith’s version from my head. He nails the melody so deeply…
Keith Jarrett Week #1
Legends of the Piano #2
Ballad #40
Standards #8
Ray Charles > Oh What A Beautiful Morning
Composed by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II
Can’t help myself, two Ray Charles beauties in one week! I’ve got an irrational RC cover love, this one in particular, in spite of the corny late-Basie charts.
Beautiful Week #5
Legends of Soul #26
Legends of the Piano #9
Legends of Pop #7
Cover #49
Ray Charles > America the Beautiful
Composed by Katharine Lee Bates & Samuel A. Ward
Despite its ubiquity when I was young, I’m not sure I ever really heard this song until Ray imprinted it in my soul when I was in my 20s. Most young people don’t seem to know it now, so maybe he can still make a difference.
Beautiful Week #2
Ballad #35
Legends of Soul #26
Legends of the Piano #9
Legends of Pop #7
Ray Charles > Hallelujah I Love Her So
Composed by Ray Charles
Ray figured out even more supple ways to use his instrument later, but never with the happy explosion of the new we got here.
Greatest Singers Week #2
Legends of Soul #26
Legends of the Piano #9
Legends of Pop #7
