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mentions:
Duke Ellington ~
Anatomy of a Murder
Showing posts with label Clark Terry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clark Terry. Show all posts
November 14, 2021
November 6, 2021
Adolphe Sax ~ The saxophone & other weird wonders
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Saxhorn - 1866
Bass saxhorn - 1863
Also detailed in the 1859 patent is the valve venting system seen on this trombone. Instead of having a vent hole in the bottom of each valve cap as is usual, the casing of each valve has an external tube for venting. This was designed to make the instrument more durable. It permits air to escape when the valve is depressed (like a typical perforated valve cap) but prevents dust from entering the casing.
Despite these innovations and the quality of their construction, Sax's six-valve instruments did not achieve lasting popularity. Players were reluctant to learn such a radically different fingering system and the instruments were much heavier to hold than conventional three-valve models.
In 2015, Google celebrated the 201st birthday of Adolphe Sax with a series of Google Doodles created by Lydia Nichols that feature Sax with his various musical instruments. 
Net links:
YouTube links:
Trombone a six pistons - 1866
photo: Rama
Today is the birthday of Belgian inventor and musician, Adolphe Sax,
who invented the saxophone, which bears his name. But he also invented
many other strange brass instruments, most lost in the thrash bin of
history only to be dredged up occasionally by special groups of musicians interested
in strange instruments.
I saw some of his bizarre designs when I was in Vermillion in South Dakota. The University of South Dakota is home to the National Music Museum
which has over 15,000 American, European, and non-Western instruments;
it is one of the world's largest collections of music instruments.
Hector Berlioz
discovered the instruments Sax was inventing at the time, fell in love with them and utilized them in his works. He
liked the sound of brass instruments and used them in many of his works.
In 1844, Sax invented the Saxtromba which was designed for the mounted bands of the French military, probably as a substitute for the French horn. The saxotrombas comprised a family of half-tube instruments of different pitches. The name of the instrument combines Sax's surname with the Italian word for "trumpet" (tromba). By about 1867 the saxotromba was no longer being used by the French military.
~ ~ ~
The Saxhorn is a family of valved brass instruments (although at one point ten different sizes seem to have existed). Designed for band use, they are pitched alternately in E♭ and B♭, like the saxophone group.
that have conical bores and deep cup-shaped mouthpieces.
Modern saxhorns are still manufactured and in use. The B♭ soprano saxhorn is called a flugelhorn. Joe Bishop, a member of the Woody Herman band in 1936, was one of the earliest jazz musicians to use the flugelhorn. Shorty Rogers and Kenny Baker began playing it in the early fifties, and Clark Terry used it in the Duke Ellington orchestra in the mid-1950s. Chet Baker recorded several albums on the instrument in the 1950s and 1960s. Miles Davis popularized the instrument in jazz on the albums Miles Ahead and Sketches of Spain, (both arranged by Gil Evans). Sketches is my favorite album by Davis. Other prominent flugelhorn players include Freddie Hubbard, Tom Browne, Lee Morgan, Bill Dixon, Wilbur Harden, Art Farmer, Roy Hargrove, Randy Brecker, Hugh Masekela, Tony Guerrero, Jimmy Owens, Terumasa Hino, Woody Shaw, Guido Basso, Kenny Wheeler, Tom Harrell, Bill Coleman, Thad Jones, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Loughnane of the rock band Chicago, Mike Metheny, Harry Beckett, Ack van Rooyen and Maynard Ferguson. My favorite album by Ferguson is Conquistador released in 1977, I used the title song for the opening of the Obiko Art to Wear show, Tribal Visions, at the Fort Mason center in San Francisco in 1989 (link below).
Most jazz flugelhorn players use the instrument as an auxiliary to the trumpet, but in the 1970s Chuck Mangione gave up playing the trumpet and concentrated on the flugelhorn alone, notably on his jazz-pop hit song Feels So Good. Mangione, in an interview on ABC during the 1980 Winter Olympics, for which he wrote the theme Give It All You Got, referred to the flugelhorn as "the right baseball glove".
~ ~ ~
The bass saxhorn was built by Adolphe Sax
in 1863. This instrument features several innovations by Sax, including
his six independant valve system and a pavillon tournant, or moveable
bell that can be adjusted by the player to direct the sound of the
instrument. Sax’s system of six independent valves was devised to
correct the intonation problems of typical three-valve instruments,
which can sound out of tune when valves are used in combination. Sax
made a wide range of instruments with this system, including saxhorns,
trombones, trumpets, cornets and horns. Saxhorns like this were featured
in the Banda, or stage band of the Paris Opéra that Sax formed and
directed from 1847 to 1892.
~ ~ ~
Sax’s
system of six independent valves was devised to correct the intonation
problems of typical three-valve instruments, which can sound out of tune
when valves are used in combination. Valve trombones were useful in
situations where using a slide was awkward, such as while marching or
playing in a cramped orchestra pit.
Tenor valve Trombone with six pistons - 1866
The
valve system used on this instrument is detailed in Sax’s 1859 patent
(France, No. 39371). It is an ascending system, since the valves do not
add extra tubing to the instrument’s length. Instead each of them
isolates different amounts of the instrument’s total tubing. Each valve
is to be used on its own and causes the instrument to sound a half-tone
lower than the previous valve. Sax applied his six-valve independent
system mostly to saxhorns and trombones.
Also detailed in the 1859 patent is the valve venting system seen on this trombone. Instead of having a vent hole in the bottom of each valve cap as is usual, the casing of each valve has an external tube for venting. This was designed to make the instrument more durable. It permits air to escape when the valve is depressed (like a typical perforated valve cap) but prevents dust from entering the casing.
Despite these innovations and the quality of their construction, Sax's six-valve instruments did not achieve lasting popularity. Players were reluctant to learn such a radically different fingering system and the instruments were much heavier to hold than conventional three-valve models.
~ ~ ~
Saxtuba is an obsolete valved brasswind instrument conceived by Sax around 1845. The design of the instrument was inspired by the ancient Roman cornu and Roman tuba.
Saxtuba -1867 Wood-engraving: Le Monde illustré
In the 1770s, the French artist Jacques-Louis David carried out extensive researches into the ancient Roman instruments that appeared on Trajan's Column in Rome. Two of these instruments – the straight Roman tuba and the curved cornu – were revived in Revolutionary France as the buccina and tuba curva. To devise the saxtubas Sax merely added valves to these natural instruments, thus providing them with chromatic compasses.
Furthermore, he designed them in such a way that the valves were hidden
from general view, thus giving the impression that the instruments were
primitive natural trumpets only capable of playing notes from a single harmonic series.
~ ~ ~
And last, but certainly not least, is my favorite instrument for pop music, the alto saxophone, also referred to as the alto sax or simply the alto, is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Invented by Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846, it is pitched in E♭ and smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano. It is the most common saxophone and is commonly used in popular music, concert bands, chamber music, solo repertoire, military bands, marching bands, and jazz (such as big bands, jazz combos, swing music). The fingerings of the different saxophones are all the same so a saxophone player can play any type of saxophone.
Altsaxofon
photo by Mikael Bodner The alto saxophone had a prominent role in the development of
jazz. Influential jazz musicians who made significant contributions
include Don Redman, Jimmy Dorsey, Johnny Hodges, Benny Carter, Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Lee Konitz, Jackie McLean, Phil Woods, Art Pepper, Paul Desmond, Cannonball Adderley and Stan Getz.
Of all the above mentioned jazz artists my very favorite is the Stan Getz 1977 recording of Another World. The title song is an extraordinary experimental sonic voyage (links below).
photo of album cover by Styrous®
In the pop realm, my all-time favorite is the 1979 album by Madness, One Step Beyond. The title song has an awsome (literally) sax played by Lee "Kix" Thompson to say nothing of their wacky and wonderful instrumental interpretation of Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky (links below).
cover photo by Lee "Kix" Thompson
photo of album cover by Styrous®
~ ~ ~
In 1863, a saxophone solo, composed by Jean Baptiste Singelee, was commissioned and published by Sax himself. There is a recording of it (link below)
played by Randy Emerick on an original Adolphe Sax baritone saxophone
made in 1861 at Sax's first saxophone factory. The piece, Septieme Solo de Concert, would have been first played on an identical baritone saxophone.
The musicians are:
Randy Emerick, 1861 Adolphe Sax baritone saxophone
Richard Brookens, soprano saxophone
Neal Bonsanti, alto saxophone
Scott Klarman, tenor saxophone
Randy Emerick, 1861 Adolphe Sax baritone saxophone
Richard Brookens, soprano saxophone
Neal Bonsanti, alto saxophone
Scott Klarman, tenor saxophone
In 1874, Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, composed a suite of ten pieces for piano entitled Pictures at an Exhibition. In 1922, Maurice Ravel arrenged it for full orchestra and utilized the beautiful sound of the saxophone at it's best (link below).
In 2015, Google celebrated the 201st birthday of Adolphe Sax with a series of Google Doodles created by Lydia Nichols that feature Sax with his various musical instruments.
Google Doodles - 2015
design by Lydia Nichols
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
Selmer Museum ~ The inventions of Adolphe Sax
Thrive ~ Adolphe Sax Google Doodles
The World ~ The 'dangerous Belgian' who invented the sax
YouTube links:
Stan Getz ~ Another World
Madness ~
Swan Lake (live in Paris)
Modest Mussorgsky/Ravell ~ Pictures at an Exhibition (Excerpt)
Jean Baptiste Singelee - Septieme Solo de Concert
Taimur Sullivan ~ The pure beauty of an original Adolphe Sax, circa 1852
Happy birthday, Adolphe & thanks for the cool tunes!
April 29, 2019
20,000 vinyl LPs 181: Duke Ellington ~ A Drum Is a Woman
~
During the May 8, 1957, televised performance, Thomas Mcavoy photographed it for the weekly publication, Life Magazine.
A stage performance was produced by Marc Stager on June 24, 1988, at Symphony Space in Manhattan with pianist and arranger Chris Cherney leading the orchestra and Duke's son Mercer Ellington.
BandChirps ~ Joya Sherrill
Black Past ~ Margaret Tynes
I Witness ~ Ozzie Bailey
Jazz Views ~ A Drum Is A Woman
Literary Hub ~ Duke Ellington Wanted to Be a Writer
NY Times ~ Ellington's Drum Is A Woman review
Oxford University ~ Ellington’s A Drum Is a Woman turns 60
Villesville ~ Drum Again...
A Drum Is A Woman (full album)
A Drum Is a Woman
Rhythm Pum Te Dum
What Else Can You Do With A Drum
New Orleans
Hey, Buddy Bolden
Finale
vinyl LP front cover detail
photographer unknown
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
Today, April 29, is the birthday of jazz great, Duke Ellington, He was born in 1899 in Washington, D.C. and was an American composer, pianist, and leader of a jazz orchestra, which he led from 1923 until his death on May 24, 1974, with a career spanning more than fifty years.
Duke Ellington - November 3, 1954
KFG Radio Studio
photographer unknown
My favorite work by Ellington is A Drum Is a Woman which is a musical allegory by him and his long-time musical collaborator Billy Strayhorn with Ellington narrating the adventure. It is the story of how jazz came from Africa to the Americas, from there out into the world to be transformed and then back again to the Americas with new influences.
It tells the story of Madam Zajj, brilliantly portrayed and sung by Joya Sherrill, the personification of African rhythm, and Carribee Joe, who has his roots firmly in the jungle with his drums. Joe comes to the Americas with his drum which is magically transformed into the beautiful and seductive Zajj who travels out into the world seeking fame and sophistication and melds with the influences of cultures she weaves through the story; it is a marvelous history of the rise and evolution of Jazz and Bebop.
vinyl LP front cover
photographer unknown
photo of album cover by Styrous®
It tells the story of Madam Zajj, brilliantly portrayed and sung by Joya Sherrill, the personification of African rhythm, and Carribee Joe, who has his roots firmly in the jungle with his drums. Joe comes to the Americas with his drum which is magically transformed into the beautiful and seductive Zajj who travels out into the world seeking fame and sophistication and melds with the influences of cultures she weaves through the story; it is a marvelous history of the rise and evolution of Jazz and Bebop.
vinyl LP back cover
photo by Styrous®
A Drum Is a Woman was originally recorded for the Columbia label in 1956 but, According to Jazz Views (link below), Ellington had originally discussed the project with Orson Welles in 1941. It was produced for television on the US Steel Hour on May 8, 1957. I saw this broadcast; it and every song (links below) of the production was forever burned into my memory on that evening.
The performers were Joya Sherrill (link below) as Madam Zajj, Margaret Tynes (link below) singing A Drum Is a Woman and Ozzie Bailey (link below) as the innocent Carribee Joe.
vinyl LP back cover details
detail photos by Styrous®
During the May 8, 1957, televised performance, Thomas Mcavoy photographed it for the weekly publication, Life Magazine.
Thomas Mcavoy A Drum Is a Woman Life images
There are some great songs from the production, my favorites is, What
else can you do with a drum? As Joe's drum has been magically turned
into the vibrant, sensual Madam Zajj, and a woman should not be beaten,
it begs the question.
vinyl LP back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
vinyl LP back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®
A stage performance was produced by Marc Stager on June 24, 1988, at Symphony Space in Manhattan with pianist and arranger Chris Cherney leading the orchestra and Duke's son Mercer Ellington.
vinyl LP, side 1
photo by Styrous®
vinyl LP label, side 1
photo by Styrous®
vinyl LP, side 2
photo by Styrous®
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Part 1
A1 - A Drum Is A Woman
A2 - Rhythm Pum Te Dum
A3 - What Else Can You Do With A Drum
Part 2
A4 - New Orleans
A5 - Hey, Buddy Bolden
A6 - Carribee Joe
A7 - Congo Square
Side 2:
Part 3
B1 - A Drum Is A Woman (Part 2)
B2 - You Better Know It
B3 - Madam Zajj
B4 - Ballet Of The Flying Saucers
Part 4
B5 - Zajj's Dream
B6 - Rhumbop
B7 - Carribee Joe (Part 2)
B8 - Finale
Credits:
Alto Saxophone – Johnny Hodges, Rick Henderson, Russell Procope
Baritone Saxophone – Harry Carney
Bass – Jimmy Woode
Bongos – Candido Camero*
Cello – Ray Nance
Clarinet – Harry Carney, Jimmy Hamilton, Russell Procope
Drums – Sam Woodyard, Terry Snyder
Harp – Betty Glamann
Liner Notes – Irving Townsend
Music By, Lyrics By, Arranged By – Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington
Orchestra – Duke Ellington And His Orchestra
Piano, Leader – Duke Ellington
Tenor Saxophone – Jimmy Hamilton, Paul Gonsalves
Trombone – Britt Woodman, John Sanders, Quentin Jackson
Trumpet – Cat Anderson, Clark Terry, Ray Nance, Willie Cook
Violin – Ray Nance
Vocals – Joya Sherrill, Margaret Tynes, Ozzie Bailey
Notes:
Original release on 6-eye Columbia label.
The album was re-released on CD in 2014 with the song Pomegranate as a bonus track at the end of the CD.
All tracks recorded in New York on September 17, 24, 25 & 28, and October 22 & 23, 1956 except for tracks B2 and B8 (December 6, 1956) and CD bonus track 16 (March 7, 1957).
Side 1:
Part 1
A1 - A Drum Is A Woman
A2 - Rhythm Pum Te Dum
A3 - What Else Can You Do With A Drum
Part 2
A4 - New Orleans
A5 - Hey, Buddy Bolden
A6 - Carribee Joe
A7 - Congo Square
Side 2:
Part 3
B1 - A Drum Is A Woman (Part 2)
B2 - You Better Know It
B3 - Madam Zajj
B4 - Ballet Of The Flying Saucers
Part 4
B5 - Zajj's Dream
B6 - Rhumbop
B7 - Carribee Joe (Part 2)
B8 - Finale
Credits:
Alto Saxophone – Johnny Hodges, Rick Henderson, Russell Procope
Baritone Saxophone – Harry Carney
Bass – Jimmy Woode
Bongos – Candido Camero*
Cello – Ray Nance
Clarinet – Harry Carney, Jimmy Hamilton, Russell Procope
Drums – Sam Woodyard, Terry Snyder
Harp – Betty Glamann
Liner Notes – Irving Townsend
Music By, Lyrics By, Arranged By – Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington
Orchestra – Duke Ellington And His Orchestra
Piano, Leader – Duke Ellington
Tenor Saxophone – Jimmy Hamilton, Paul Gonsalves
Trombone – Britt Woodman, John Sanders, Quentin Jackson
Trumpet – Cat Anderson, Clark Terry, Ray Nance, Willie Cook
Violin – Ray Nance
Vocals – Joya Sherrill, Margaret Tynes, Ozzie Bailey
Notes:
Original release on 6-eye Columbia label.
The album was re-released on CD in 2014 with the song Pomegranate as a bonus track at the end of the CD.
All tracks recorded in New York on September 17, 24, 25 & 28, and October 22 & 23, 1956 except for tracks B2 and B8 (December 6, 1956) and CD bonus track 16 (March 7, 1957).
Duke Ellington And His Orchestra – A Drum Is A Woman
Label: Columbia – CL 951
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Country: US
Released: 1957
Genre: Jazz
Style: Big Band
Label: Columbia – CL 951
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono
Country: US
Released: 1957
Genre: Jazz
Style: Big Band
Viewfinder links:
Net links:
BandChirps ~ Joya Sherrill
Black Past ~ Margaret Tynes
I Witness ~ Ozzie Bailey
Jazz Views ~ A Drum Is A Woman
Literary Hub ~ Duke Ellington Wanted to Be a Writer
NY Times ~ Ellington's Drum Is A Woman review
Oxford University ~ Ellington’s A Drum Is a Woman turns 60
Villesville ~ Drum Again...
YouTube links:
A Drum Is A Woman (full album)
A Drum Is a Woman
Rhythm Pum Te Dum
What Else Can You Do With A Drum
New Orleans
Hey, Buddy Bolden
Finale
vinyl LP front cover detail
photographer unknown
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
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