All that Jazz

The Devil's Horn
Lengthy tribute to the saxophone, partly done marking the bicentenary of its creator, Adolphe Saxe, one of the rare famous Belgians, and the troubles he had with other instrument manufacturers. Some players seemed suggestive of a curse on the instrument. Two stories here, Jimmy Heath and particularly Giuseppi Logan, seemed to tie in with that premise. Logan, who had ended up homeless and forgotten, had at this time been rediscovered by someone, but he was a shadow of the legend he had been.

Cyrn Ar Y Mississippi
The Llareggub Brass Band travelled to New Orleans to take part in the French Quarter Festival, in April just gone. This octet from somewhere in Wales had a few touristy adventures along the way, a boat ride on the bayou, a guided tour of famous music spots in the city, a trip to a record shop, and a charitable school project. Their gig went well, and they sold all the CD stock they took with them too.

Glastonbury 2019: Jeff Goldblum / Mavis Staples
The actor recently did an album in the jazz mode, apparently the crux of a long-held ambition to do so. He played to the crowd, and was played off as his band did the theme from Jurassic Park, which was a nice touch. Mavis made more impact for the luggage crisis that her plane left her and her band in.

Glastonbury 2019: Vampire Weekend / Kamasi Washington
The former are of course a top pop-rock band who went down well. The latter was a more jazzy performer, but no less unpopular for all that.

BBC Proms 2019: Homage to Nina Simone
Jules Buckley conducted the Metropole Orkest, as Ledisi and Lisa Fischer shared the vocal duties as they ran through a long mix of Simone classics, from I Put a Spell on You to Mississippi Goddam to Feeling Good. A great tribute.

BBC Proms 2019: Ellington's Sacred Music
Peter Edwards conducted the Nu Civilisation Orchestra through one of Duke Ellington's later projects, a sequence of largely religious tunes. Carleen Anderson handled some of the singing, and the great Monty Alexander, who at least knew the Duke, played piano towards the end.

Blue Note Records - Beyond The Notes
The saga of Blue Note Records, how it was set up, how it had a boom time in the 50s & 60s, why corporate involvement put it into hiatus, how it was revived, and how it continues to thrive. Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter were able to talk about the early heydays, archive of Bruce Lundvall discussed the renaissance of the company, and Norah Jones spoke of how she got signed in 2002 and became a runaway success. Kendrick Lamar's recent success allowed them to tie in the premise that jazz fitted a role which hip-hop has supplanted.

A Tuba To Cuba
Ben Jaffe leads the Preservation Hall Jazz Band on a pilgrimage to Cuba to touch base and spread the musical love. Archive footage featured both Band founder and Ben's father Allan, and also supporter Louis Armstrong. The PHJB found many other musicians in whom they were in accord, and made ties to their New Orleans home. Quite moving as well as uplifting in places.

Rock N Roll Road Trip - Bam! Mardi Gras
Sammy was in New Orleans to meet an old friend, Emeril Lagasse, and then a chat with bandleader Trombone Shorty, who's just 34. But then he started very young, as the trombonist to his brother as trumpeter, and soon forming his own band at the age of 7. He was touring from 7 too, and now a Jazz Fest headliner. He toured with Lenny Kravitz, with the Neville Brothers, he played with Jeff Beck, and spoke highly of Bruno Mars. He also toured with Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Foo Fighters. Sammy closed his edition of his show by joining Shorty's band to cover "Rainy Day Women #12 & #35".

Miles Davis - Birth Of The Cool
A major new 2-hour effort on the life and times of the pioneer who paid his dues and delivered some inspirational and classic records, before suffering with medical mishaps and an addictive personality. His death seemed to take people by surprise. But many were here to sing his praises and recognise his frailties too.

Alto sax jazz legend Leon Konitz has died at the age of 92, another of the many victims of the current pandemic.

Konitz's association with the cool jazz movement of the 1940s and 1950s includes participation in Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool sessions and his work with pianist Lennie Tristano. He was one of relatively few alto saxophonists of this era to retain a distinctive style, when Charlie Parker exerted a massive influence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Konitz

RIP 

Ella - Just One of Those Things
New lengthy look over the life and career of the legendary Ms Fitzgerald. Smokey Robinson and Johnny Mathis commented briefly, Tony Bennett somewhat more, and Laura Mvula randomly. Cleo Laine and Andre Previn were included too, so this was probably a while in the making. She died back in 1996.

Later w/Jools Holland - Gregory Porter
He's over in Bakersfield, and talked of his youth, where watching Soul Train was a treat. He considers Luther Vandross a jazz great (Luther appeared on Jools' show in 1995). He also picked out Jill Scott, McCoy Tyner and Laura Mvula. He mentioned his sideline in earlier days as a chef, and his podcast. He's got a new album due out in a month or two as well.

Jazz
Monster 12-part series by Ken Burns, running from the really early days of jazz, up to about the 1970s & 80s (it was made in 2000). Many of the giants had their stories told, and those who feel racism might be a modern problem should recall how much worse things were 50 or 100 years back. Took me maybe a month to slog through all of it, because there's a lot to take in. But certainly worth it.

Fern Britton meets... Gregory Porter
He was born in Sacramento in 1971, moved to Bakersfield, one of 8 kids, his mother was a big influence because his father was living in LA. He was headed for a sports career, but a shoulder injury turned his thoughts towards music. He worked in theatre, wrote a musical about Nat 'King' Cole, met his wife at a gig in Russia, has won 2 Grammys, and his latest album was returning to his love for NKC.

Jamie Cullum - Avo Session
From Basel in 2011, plugging his 'The Pursuit' album, he got the crowd involved in places, and notably spices his act with some more modern tunes than might be expected. A pleasant watch.

Michael Buble Meets Madison Square Garden
On Dec 3, 2008, the boring bighead belted out a few standards, and whilst claiming to be proud of his rise from humble starts, he finished claiming he had reached his peak. I wasn't that taken with his interpretations, either.

Gregory Porter @ Glastonbury 2016
A short run from Sunday afternoon, plugging his recent album, and also notable for the song Real Good Hands, during which someone proposed to his fiancée and was accepted.

Nicky and Wynton - The Making of a Concerto
Violinist Nicola Benedetti and Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis are friends. Such that Wynton decided to write a special concerto for his friend, mixing her classical world, with his jazz sensibilities. There was much friction between what he saw as his looser, freeform touch, and her rigid rule-following. With both of them being busy anyway, and Wynton constantly rewriting the piece, rehearsals were both scarce and troubled. But wouldn't you know? It was all right on the night.


Buble at the BBC
Broadcast the day before he announced his son's illness and withdrew from the spotlight, this was an affable hour with minimal chat and some good performances.

Count Basie Through His Own Eyes
Apparently, the great bandleader wrote letters to his daughter reflecting on his career, which gave a plausible peg on which to hang a whole new look at his life and career. Quincy Jones came through his band, and spoke very warmly of him. As did many of the band interviewed, and they even got Bonnie Greer in to say something. Bit of a ferocious gambler, but loved his wife and daughter too.

The Big Interview w/Dan Rather - Michael Buble
The smooth crooner with the crossover success. He was spotted by producer David Foster when he was 25 and just about ready to pack it all in. He's proud of being Canadian. He does some songwriting. He has ways of staying grounded. He offers technique tips by showing his mimicry of guys like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Elvis Presley. He has found therapy to be helpful.

BBC Music Young Jazz Musician 2020
Yolanda Brown presented from the Cadogan Hall as the five finalists performed to three judges. Deschanel Gordon was judged the winner.

Imagine... Sweet Home New Orleans
Alan Yentob went in 2006 to see the impact of Hurricane Katrina, and what hopes there were for the city and its musicians. He met those who lived and worked there, and those who were in admiration of the place and its people. Understandably, things looked damn bleak then.

Ronnie's
An up-to-date re-telling of the saga of how a sax player started a club with friends, then moved to a better venue elsewhere in London, and the rest was history. Friends and family of Ronnie's, plus famous fans and even performers spoke warmly or in amazed tones, and there was a good tranche of performance footage too.

Michael Buble - Tour Stop 148
From London, a run-through of the Buble show, mixed in with much backstage chatter from a cast of dozens, all part and parcel of making such a big tour work as well as it does.

The legendary Chick Corea has died at 79, from a rare form of cancer:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-56035168

RIP 

Dennis Miller Plus One - Garrett Hedlund
He's a big role in forthcoming film "The United States vs Billie Holliday" about a certain jazz legend, and her harassment by the government. Dennis seemed strangely opaque on her career.

British band leader Chris Barber died at 90. He was hugely important in the 1950s and 1960s in Britain by enabling American acts to work here and influence the R&B boom. He helped Lonnie Donegan on his way too. RIP 

Later w/Jools Holland - Moses Boyd
He's a drummer, a producer and so on. He picked performances by Anita Baker, Skunk Anansie, Moses Sumney, Kelala and Buju Banton, as well as seeing some of his own footage from a different show. Plus Rag N Bone Man did his new single, and Peggy Seeger came in separately to plug her new album and sing a song.

Billie
A new-ish effort starting from Linda Lipnack Kuehl, a would-be biographer who took her life before she could finish her work. But she conducted audio interviews with many of the great and the good from Artie Shaw to Pigmeat Markham, to Charles Mingus and Benny Goodman, and many band colleagues of Billie Holliday's. She also forged a friendship with Count Basie himself. There was some suspicion about Linda's death. Billie's story was pretty tragic too, from her professional life to her love life, some of which may well have been self-inflicted.