Dave Brubeck!

Last night, we saw Dave Brubeck in concert as part of SF Jazz spring season.

First, he played with his current quartet, Bobby Militello on saxophone and flute, Michael Moore on bass, and Randy Jones on drums. They were amazing to watch. There was great interplay amongst all the musicians. There were some great moments between Dave on piano and Michael on bass. On a couple of songs, Dave would start out, and just play solo piano, and then they'd launch into a song with all of them playing. They opened with "On the Sunny Side of the Street." I wish I was better versed in jazz, because I didn't recognize any of the other songs, except one, and it's title escapes me. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.

After an intermission, the quartet was joined by a big band, mostly horns, but more various percussion. They played a tribute/medley of Count Basie tunes, as well as an extended piece from Brubeck's Elementals suite; this music is currently being used by the San Francisco Symphony as well. Near the end he broke out the songs that made him a star, "Blue Rondo a la Turk" and "Take Five" from his famous Time Out album. It was amazing to hear these live, and I loved the big band arrangements. And then he closed with "Take the "A" Train!"

Christmas Music Postlude - Part Two

Besides categorizing the Christmas songs into some kind of demented holiday ten best (as I did yesterday), I thought it might be interesting to go to the other end of the spectrum and make note of some of the original songs of the holiday season. Some of these have been covered by other artists, but not frequently. So here's my list of songs of that kind that the holiday season would be lesser without:

• A Holly Jolly Christmas - Burl Ives
• Boogie Woogie Santa Claus - Jimmy Dorsey
• Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - U2
• Christmas Everyday - The Temptations
• Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
• Dig That Crazy Santa Claus - Ralph Marterie
• Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band Aid
• Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer - Elmo & Patsy
• Green Christmas - Barenaked Ladies
• Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - John Lennon
• Home for the Holidays - Perry Como
• It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Johnny Mathis
• Last Christmas - Wham!
• Little Jack Frost Get Lost - Frankie Carle
• Mambo Santa Mambo - The Enchanters
• Merry Christmas, Baby - Kenny Burrell
• Merry Christmas Polka - The Andrews Sisters
• Oi to the World - No Doubt
• Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee
• Santa Bring My Baby Back - Elvis Presley
• Shake Hands with Santa Claus - Louis Prima
• Snowfall - Glenn Miller
• The Bell That Couldn't Jingle - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
• The Christmas Blues - Dean Martin
• The Man with the Bag - Kay Starr
• The Merriest - June Christy
• The Nutcracker Suite - Les Brown
• Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney

Frank Sinatra gets special mention with two songs: Mistletoe and Holly and The Christmas Waltz. And an extra special mention must be made of the great Louis Armstrong with Christmas in New Orleans, Christmas Night in Harlem, Cool Yule, and 'Zat You, Santa Claus?

April

April is Jazz Appreciation Month. I realize that the month is now basically over, but I had to put a plug in for the American art form. It's the music I mostly listen to nowadays. I love it for itself, but I am seriously out of touch with what passes for pop music these days. I can't watch MTV anymore. I've even out of step with VH1. I certainly don't listen to hip hop on the radio. And I just don't understand the popularity of American Idol. Some of my idols are Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Red Garland, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Cal Tjader, and Dave Brubeck.

April is also National Poetry Month. If you're interested, here is an article about X.J. Kennedy on the website of my local public radio station, KCSM, which plays jazz, by the way. You can even listen to them live on the web here.

Poncho Sanchez

Yesterday, the wife and I went to see Poncho Sanchez in concert. We got Grandma to watch the boys, we drove down to Saratoga and saw the Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band at the Carriage House at Villa Montalvo. One, it was a great venue, very intimate. Two, it was just a great show. I've only been listening to Poncho for the last two or three years. I was introduced to him by my father- and brother-in-law. Poncho regularly records both studio and live albums. Now that I've seen him live in concert, I totally understand why my brother-in-law prefers Poncho's live albums. The band was just tight, a great horn section and awesome percussion, in other words, a perfect latin jazz band.

With two small children, we don't get out as much as we used to. Now that we have to be a little pickier about what we do when we do get a chance to go out, we have been seeing a lot of live music. We used to go to the movies all the time, but I have to say I'm enjoying the music a lot more.

A Garland of Red

I was driving to work this morning and on KCSM the DJ mentioned that it was Red Garland's birthday. So, I decided today was a good day to start my blog. I've been considering it for the last few days, but wasn't sure if I was going to jump in or not. Well, I'm a big Red Garland fan, and I decided this was a sign. So, here I am.

"A Garland of Red" was Red Garland's first album as a leader of his own trio. He signed a five-year contract with Prestige Records after Miles Davis tapped him to be in his quintet and people began to take notice of his talent. Of course, this is Davis' first great quintet, with John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. Red recorded many trio albums with Paul Chambers (bass) and Arthur Taylor (drums).

This album has some jazz standards, opening with Gershwin's "A Foggy Day," followed by Rodgers and Hart's "My Romance." Both of which are fine covers that portray the tone of the lyrics, though all the songs on this album are instrumentals. Then Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love" really swings in the hands of this trio. They end side one with a slightly bluesy "Makin' Whoopee."

Side two opens with an uptempo "September in the Rain," which has great bowing by Paul Chambers. Then they slow down again with another Rodgers and Hart song, "Little Girl Blue." Before going out, they really kick into gear with Charlie Parker's "Constellation." They end with a Garland original, "Blue Red."

"The word garland immediately brings to mind a string or wreath of beautiful flowers. It also represents a collection of short literary pieces usually consisting of poems and ballads. Without considering it a semantic license, I believe I can assume that garland applies in the same sense to this collection of short musical pieces consisting of standards (ballad tempo and above), a blues and an original. In this collection, however, there are two garlands, the one being presented and the one who presents it." - Ira Gitler