Showing posts with label Shorty Rogers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shorty Rogers. Show all posts
November 19, 2021
November 6, 2021
Adolphe Sax ~ The saxophone & other weird wonders
~
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!
September 12, 2021
January 18, 2021
December 12, 2020
20,000 vinyl LPs 259: The Man With The Golden Arm ~ Elmer Bernstein & Frank Sinatra
~
vinyl LP front cover detail
cover design by Saul Bass
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
Today, December 12, is the birthday of singer, crooner, Frank Sinatra, who was born in 1915, in an upstairs tenement at 415 Monroe Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. I have dozens of albums by him but to me this is the perfect tribute to him as he experienced, as a youth, the world of Francis Majcinek, known as "Frankie Machine", a card dealer and amateur drummer, the character he portrayed in the 1955 film, The Man With The Golden Arm. Also, it demonstrated that he was much more than a great singer, he was a great actor. He
doesn't sing a single note in the film
and he was stunning!
vinyl LP front cover
cover design by Saul Bass
photo of album cover by Styrous®
The Man With The Golden Arm is based on the 1949 novel by Nelson Algren. The novel was controversial at the time, and it did receive some bad reviews. In a 1956 article for The New Yorker entitled The Man with the Golden Beef, Norman Podhoretz was critical of what he saw as the glorification of the underclass at the expense of "respectable society".
When the book was made into a film, Algren was initially brought to Hollywood to work on the screenplay, but was replaced by Walter Newman.
Algren felt negatively about his experiences in Hollywood, the lack of
compensation he received, and the liberties taken by the filmmakers
(which included an entirely different ending from the novel). When
photographer and friend Art Shay asked Algren to pose below the film's marquee, he is reported to have said "What does that movie have to do with me?"
The book won the National Book Award in 1950. Algren wrote A Walk on the Wild Side in 1956 which was also made into a film in 1965.
vinyl LP front cover detail
cover design by Saul Bass
detail photo of album cover by Styrous®
The Man With The Golden Arm, shot in the tradition of thirties & forties film noir, deals with the nightmare of drug addition; the first time Hollywood acknowledged its existence. The black and white adds to the gritty feeling of the milieu
in which the characters are immersed. Also contributing to this gritty feeling is a fitting and flawless score by Elmer Bernstein performed by a stellar jazz personnel (links below). The film was directed by Otto Preminger.
vinyl LP back cover detail
cover design by Saul Bass
detail photo of album back cover by Styrous®
The casting for the film was brilliant. Eleanor Parker,
as Sophie (nicknamed "Zosh"), Frankie Machine's wife, who is crippled after a car crash caused by Frankie driving while drunk; but she is secretly fully
recovered and pretends to be crippled to make
Frankie feel guilty so he will stay with her.
A wonderful job of acting was done by Kim Novak, at the height of her beauty, as "Molly-O" Novotny
who works in a local strip joint as a hostess and lives in the
apartment below them; unlike Zosh, Molly encourages his dream of
becoming a drummer.
Arnold Stang, usually a comic, was perfect as weaselly "Sparrow" Saltskin, who runs a con selling homeless dogs.
Darren McGavin superbly portrayed "Nifty Louie" Fomorowski, the slimy pusher who sells heroin to Machine (links to cast and plot below).
Frank Sinatra (Frankie Machine) & Darren McGavin
Elmer Bernstein - The Man With The Golden Arm
vinyl LP back cover detail
cover design by Saul Bass
detail photo of album back cover by Styrous®
vinyl LP back cover detail
cover design by Saul Bass
detail photo of album back cover by Styrous®
The score by Elmer Bernstein is jazzy, jittery, frenetic, dissonant, at times suspenseful and pensive, even when it's orchestral, befitting the mood of the film. The one exception is Moly. It is slow, romantic and beautiful with full orchestra and a soft piano played by Ray Turner. However, it does have its stress points towards the end of the piece.
There have been many covers of the Main Theme from The Man With The Golden Arm; not all of them have been jazz versions (link below).
One of my favorite hard rock groups, Sweet, a British glam rock band that rose to worldwide fame in the 1970s, did a fantastic cover of the Main Theme from the film on their album, Desolation Boulevard, added the line, "Watch that man with the golden arm!", tympani and chimes. They performed it for a concert in Germany in 1974; there is a video of the rehearsal for the concert on YouTube (link below). Mick Tucker performs amazing drum solos on both.
Elmer Bernstein - The Man With The Golden Arm
vinyl LP back cover detail
cover design by Saul Bass
detail photo of album back cover by Styrous®
Although the addictive drug is never identified in the film, according to the American Film Institute "most contemporary and modern sources assume that it is heroin", in contrast to Algren's book which named the drug as morphine. The film's initial release was controversial for its treatment of the then-taboo subject of drug addiction.
The
"quitting, cold turkey" scene in the film is graphic and frightening;
it is only matched by the similar theme in the 1945 film, Lost Weekend, which starred Ray Milland as an alcoholic (links below).
The Man With The Golden Arm was nominated for three Academy Awards: Sinatra for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Joseph C. Wright and Darrell Silvera for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White and Elmer Bernstein for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture. Sinatra was also nominated for best actor awards by the BAFTAs and The New York Film Critics. The film is in the public domain.
Born to Italian immigrants in Hoboken, New Jersey, Sinatra was greatly influenced by the intimate easy listening vocal style of Bing Crosby and began his musical career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey.
Sinatra found success as a solo artist after he signed with Columbia Records in 1943; his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, was released in 1946. By the early 1950s his professional career had stalled and he turned to Las Vegas. In 1965, he recorded the retrospective album, September of My Years, to me the best album he ever made (link below).
Other dramatic films he starred in are From Here to Eternity in 1953, Suddenly in 1954, Not as a Stranger in 1955, The Pride and the Passion in 1957, Some Came Running and Kings Go Forth both in 1958, The Manchurian Candidate in 1962, and many others.
Tracklist:
Side 1:
Clark Street
A1a The Top
A1b Homecoming, Trumpet – Pete Candoli
A1c Antek's
-
A2 Zosh
A3 Frankie Machine, Flugelhorn – Shorty Rogers
A4 The Fix
A5 Molly
Side 2:
Clark Street
A1a The Top
A1b Homecoming, Trumpet – Pete Candoli
A1c Antek's
-
A2 Zosh
A3 Frankie Machine, Flugelhorn – Shorty Rogers
A4 The Fix
A5 Molly
Side 2:
Breakup
B1a Flight
B1b Louie's
B1c Buriesque
-
B2 Sunday Morning
B3 Desperation
B4 Audition, Drums – Shelly Manne, Flugelhorn – Shorty RogersTrombone – Milt Bernhart
The Cure
B5a Withdraw
B5b Cold
B5c Morning
-
B6 Finale
Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Decca Records, Inc.
Credits:
Arranged By [Jazz Arrangements] – Shorty Rogers
Bass – Abe Luboff, Ralph Pena*
Cello – Armand Kaproff
Clarinet – Mitchell Lurie
Composed By, Conductor – Elmer Bernstein
Design – Saul Bass
Drums, Arranged By [Drumming Sequences] – Shelly Manne
Edited By – Leon Birbaum
Flute – Martin Ruderman*
French Horn – Joseph Eger
Musical Assistance [Assistant To Mr. Bernstein] – Robert Helfer
Oboe – Arnold Koblentz
Orchestrated By – Fred Steiner
Piano – Ray Turner
Saxophone [Alto] – Bud Shank
Saxophone [Tenor] – Bob Cooper
Trombone – Milt Bernhart
Trumpet – Bob Fleming
Violin – Anatol Kaminsky
Notes:
Jazz sequences arranged and played by SHORTY ROGERS and His Giants with SHELLY MANNE
Black Decca label with "Long Play 33 1/3 RPM" along the bottom
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (A-Side - Label): MG 4524
Matrix / Runout (A-Side - Stamped): MG4524T6 3 //\
Matrix / Runout (B-Side - Label): MG 4525
Matrix / Runout (B-Side - Stamped): MG4525T6 3 ///
B1a Flight
B1b Louie's
B1c Buriesque
-
B2 Sunday Morning
B3 Desperation
B4 Audition, Drums – Shelly Manne, Flugelhorn – Shorty RogersTrombone – Milt Bernhart
The Cure
B5a Withdraw
B5b Cold
B5c Morning
-
B6 Finale
Companies, etc.
Manufactured By – Decca Records, Inc.
Credits:
Arranged By [Jazz Arrangements] – Shorty Rogers
Bass – Abe Luboff, Ralph Pena*
Cello – Armand Kaproff
Clarinet – Mitchell Lurie
Composed By, Conductor – Elmer Bernstein
Design – Saul Bass
Drums, Arranged By [Drumming Sequences] – Shelly Manne
Edited By – Leon Birbaum
Flute – Martin Ruderman*
French Horn – Joseph Eger
Musical Assistance [Assistant To Mr. Bernstein] – Robert Helfer
Oboe – Arnold Koblentz
Orchestrated By – Fred Steiner
Piano – Ray Turner
Saxophone [Alto] – Bud Shank
Saxophone [Tenor] – Bob Cooper
Trombone – Milt Bernhart
Trumpet – Bob Fleming
Violin – Anatol Kaminsky
Notes:
Jazz sequences arranged and played by SHORTY ROGERS and His Giants with SHELLY MANNE
Black Decca label with "Long Play 33 1/3 RPM" along the bottom
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (A-Side - Label): MG 4524
Matrix / Runout (A-Side - Stamped): MG4524T6 3 //\
Matrix / Runout (B-Side - Label): MG 4525
Matrix / Runout (B-Side - Stamped): MG4525T6 3 ///
Viewfinder links:
Frank Sinatra ~ September of My Years
Net links:
The Man With The Golden Arm
Reviews:
Empire Online ~ The Man With The Golden Arm
NY Times ~ Narcotics Addict; Man With the Golden Arm
The New Republic ~ The Man With the Golden Arm
Variety ~ The Man With The Golden Arm
Vulture Culture ~ The Man with the Golden Arm
YouTube links:
Music:
Leonard Cohen - The Stranger Song
The Man with the Golden Arm (Soundtrack Suite) (1955) (15 mins.)
Sweet ~ The Man with the Golden Arm (8 mins., 48 sec.,)
Videos:
The Man with the Golden Arm (complete) (1955) (1 hr., 59 mins.)
The Man With The Golden Arm ~
“There's people in hell who want ice water.”
~ Nelson Algren
Styrous® ~ Saturday, December 12, 2020
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