Following up on Mr. Lodge's excellent analysis of Paul Desmond's solo on a live performance of "Someday My Prince Will Come" dating from the 1970's, here's another post with another look at another live performance of "Someday My Prince Will Come". This performance stems from an early 1960's appearance by the Dave Brubeck Quartet at [...]
Saturday Night/ Sunday Night At The Blackhawk, San Francisco // Cal Tjader (Verve V6-8459)
Whenever I travel, I like to find the local record store and see what's what. You never know what you'll find. On a recent trip to San Francisco, not only did I want to check out a local record store- I wanted to find records by San Francisco's native jazz sons. I succeeded, in more [...]
Concert On The Campus // Cal Tjader (Fantasy OJC 279)
Taking a (momentary) break from Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond, here's another college concert album, this time recorded on the Best Coast in California. Following the example of his one-time leader Dave Brubeck (told you it was momentary), Cal Tjader took his good vibes directly to the students via college appearances. Luckily, Fantasy had a [...]
Our Man In Paris // Dexter Gordon (Blue Note BLP 4146)
The appearance of an original Blue Note record has caused a stir in the Raggy Waltz office. The excitement coupled with the all-around greatness of the album made a write-up necessary. To the music we go! The Music The Tune: Scrapple From The Apple Recorded: 23 May, 1963 in Paris, France Personnel: Dexter Gordon- Tenor [...]
Introducing ‘Desmond’s Notes’: Transcriptions & Analysis of A Genius
Starting and maintaining a blog can be a rewarding, enriching, frustrating, and fulfilling experience. Running this blog, I have experienced all of the above and then some. One of the absolute best results of starting this blog has been meeting and corresponding with readers from all over the world, some as close as the American [...]
Jazz At Oberlin // Dave Brubeck (Fantasy 3-11)
No, this is not deja vu. Well, it is but it isn't. This may technically be the same album as the one I just wrote about, but there's a two-inch difference that is rather significant. Does size matter? To the music! The Music The Tune: "The Way You Look Tonight" Recorded: 2 March, 1953 at [...]
Jazz At Oberlin // Dave Brubeck (Fantasy 3245)
Due to recent events, I decided to switch gears a bit and delve into another form of live jazz: Jazz with a learned twist. And if you want to talk about jazz at college, there's no better place to start than the granddaddy of all college jazz albums.The Music The Tune: "Perdido" Recorded: 2 March, [...]
The Paul Desmond Turnaround
After a series of posts about jazz records, it's high-time I get back to writing about the Dave Brubeck Quartet's music and its star saxophonist Paul Desmond. As a 'welcome back', an ordinary 'Desmond's Quotes' wouldn't do. So, without further ado, let's dive into a unique Desmondism that I'm still unsure about: The Desmond Turnaround. [...]
Happy Brubeck & Desmond Day!
It's May 4th, which means it's Brubeck & Desmond Day! What does the 4th of May have to do with Dave Brubeck or Paul Desmond? 5/4, of course. Brubeck and Desmond popularized and mainstreamed this unusual time signature into jazz and popular music in 1959 with Desmond's mega hit "Take Five", opening the door for [...]
A Night At The Blackhawk // Cal Tjader (Fantasy F-8026)
Continuing the exploration of jazz clubs via records in my collection, and after checking clubs out on the eastern side of the United States, this post marks our foray into the West Coast scene. Naturally, we start in California, and if we're in California, naturally we begin in San Francisco. And if we're in San [...]
It's A Raggy Waltz 