Big Doings in New York City. Down Beat #2

 There was a column in each issue of Down Beat called Strictly Ad Lib. Stringers from up to a dozen cities, in the U.S. and Europe, submitted news and bookings about jazz in their cities. I covered St. Louis, and there was always something going on to keep me busy. The issue I refer to here is September 12, 1963.

First, however, to give you a taste of some of the musicians and vocalists that personified jazz in the U.S. during the early 60’s, here’s who were mentioned in the New York item, both as playing in NY or were leaving or arriving from gigs in other parts of the world.

Cannonball Adderley returned from Japan. His sextet was unforgettable: Brother Nat, Lateef, Zawinul, Sam Jones, Hayes. Count Basie left for a tour of Scandinavia. Art Taylor departed for Paris. In NY, you could hear Randy Weston & his 12-piece band; Machito and his 16-piece band; Horace Silver with Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Gene Taylor, Roy Brooks, Sonny Red, Chick Corea. Wow!! At the Village Gate: Herbie Mann, Roland Kirk, Lambert-Hendricks-Bavan, the Coleman Hawkins quartet. Charlie Mingus. Nina Simone. Odetta. Around town, there were Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, the Gerry Mulligan quartet (w/Bob Brookmeyer, Bill Crow, Dave Bailey). Bill Evans with Gary Peacock at the Village Vanguard. (I spent a lot of nights at the Vanguard on my frequent business trips to NY. Especially on Monday nights for the big band. The place was always jammed).



Okay. Enough about New York.

But you’ve got to admit, it’s a who’s who of the jazz world and jazz history. Following NY in the column came DENMARK, then TORONTO. 

Then a rundown of jazz in ST. LOUIS. 

Nancy Wilson packed them in at a new downtown club, Jazz Villa. Jorge Martinez ran the place, booked the acts. Scheduled to follow were Junior Mance, Joe Williams, Gerry Mulligan. The big names in town quickly give way to local names, some incredibly good musicians that called St. Louis home. Dave Venn, piano. Lee Hyde, trumpet. Ralph DeRousse, bass. Harry Stone, drums. Also Tommy Strode, John Mixon, Gene Gammage, Herb Kaufman. Jim Bolen.  Singleton Palmer, keeper of the New Orleans flame.

A couple of news items deserve mention here. First, a West Coast bassist,

Curtis Counce, died at the age of 37, of a heart attack. Curtis was born in Kansas City and became one of the few Black musicians to play with Shorty Rogers Giants. The other news item announced the closing of two well-known jazz clubs: Nick’s, the Dixieland spot in New York’s Greenwich Village; and the Black Hawk in San Francisco.

I had been at both clubs over the years. Nick’s was a hangout for Eddie Condon’s fabulous Dixieland group. I was there one night when a guy sat down next to me at the bar. We started talking during the break and he told stories about growing up in the music world. It was Max Kaminsky, the Dixieland trumpet player. He had just written a book, happened to have copies at the club there, I bought one, he signed it…and I still have it.

Now about the Black Hawk. I moved to San Francisco in 1960, following two years in the Army. The Black Hawk was part of my routine and I heard some great jazz there. The ones I remember are Cal Tjader, Stan Getz, Shelly Manne, Horace Silver. And, I think, Dave Brubeck. Oh, to be able to go back to those days, to those clubs, to hear those giants.

One more tidbit from that issue: the Blindfold Test, featuring bassist Ray Brown. He struggled a bit, trying to name the groups.

But I love this comment about jazz in general: 

“…I would go and listen to Charlie Parker or Lester Young, and I would retain a certain amount of what they played - I would wake up the next morning and be able to play it on my bass - plus the fact that rarely did Bird play a whole lots of, like 25, choruses. Those guys said what they had to say, and that was it.”

I love that. Talk about attitude. I saw Ray two or three times with Oscar Peterson and the trio. In fact, I have Ray’s autograph in an autobiography of Oscar. Never got Oscar’s though.

That ends this set. Stay safe, be well. See you next time. Sadie and I will be expecting you.