Stanley Crouch's Breath

Several years ago, the journalist and social critic Stanley Crouch interviewed my upstairs neighbor, the late legendary jazz drummer (and a former president of my building's co-op board), Charli Persip, at Minton's Playhouse, considered the birthplace of bebop. It's located on West 118th Street in Harlem. (Both Crouch and Persip died a few weeks apart in 2020.)

I got to meet Crouch only one time around 1982 or 1983 when I was a proofreader at The Village Voice. He came over to where I was sitting, presumably to discuss the article of his that I had proofread. I don't recall what was said but what was most memorable as he stood over me was getting a whiff of his bad breath.

In subsequent years, I read his New York Daily News column and saw him being interviewed more than once on Charlie Rose's public TV show (I hope he used mouthwash before going on-camera). I also remember seeing him appear as one of the authoritative talking heads in Ken Burns's documentary series on jazz.

From then on, whenever I saw his name in print or saw him on TV, my mind would go back to the first time I encountered him and got assaulted by his breath.

Keeping An Open Mind

"To be a great musician, you've got to be open to what's new, what's happening at the moment. You have to be able to absorb it if you're going to continue to grow and communicate."--Miles Davis (1926-1991), jazz trumpeter.

Quoted in Black Pearls: Daily Meditations, Affirmations, and Inspirations for African-Americans by Eric V. Copage (Quill/William Morrow and Company, 1993).

The above photo is of the storied New York jazz venue, the Village Vanguard. Miles Davis was one of many iconic jazz musicians who performed there.

A Jazz Portrait: Nina Simone

Nina Simone (1933-2003), born Eunice Kathleen Waymon. She was called by her admirers the High Priestess of Soul. Her many talents included singer, pianist, and songwriter ("Mississippi Goddam"). Simone was also a noted civil rights activist. This portrait of Simone is by Armando Alleyne (born in November 1959), an artist who lives in Brooklyn, New York.

The Dave Brubeck Quartet's Classic "Time Out" LP

Time Out, recorded in 1959 by the Dave Brubeck Quartet, is one of my favorite jazz albums. ("Take Five," the hit jazz tune, is on the album.) I have both the long-play vinyl record and the CD. 

Brubeck in the CD's liner notes said that "[c]reating a 'hit' out of the odd-meter experiments of Time Out was the farthest from any of our minds...when [we] went into the studio to record."

I love the above photo. It appears in the reissued CD's booklet. Paul Desmond, the alto saxophone player as well as the composer of "Take Five," did his own thing by wearing a suit and tie and didn't try to copy what his bandmates wore. He was cool and confident.

Let's Hope For An Al Jarreau Biography

I recently joined a Facebook group devoted to the jazz singer Al Jarreau, who died in 2017. It's called the Al Jarreau Family Group and has more than 32,000 members who post comments, photos, album cover art, videos, and anything else that's Al Jarreau-related.

I began listening to Jarreau in the mid-seventies when I bought his album Glow, which, according to Wikipedia, was his second album. It was released in 1976. I believe I bought the album at a Discomat chain store in the Times Square area. From that point on, I became an Al Jarreau fan.

Because there are so many people who cherish his singing talent, I posted on the site a question: "Does anyone know if there is a biography of Al Jarreau in the works? Or maybe a scrapbook publication or a special magazine issue about him?"

A day later, Shannon West, who publishes a website called jazzseries.com/wordpress, responded: "The posts he did over the years when he was doing the diary/journal/blog narrative on his website gave such wonderful insight into what he was doing at the time--traveling, recording, touring, etc.--and he writes narrative as expressively as he writes songs. I wish they could dig up the archives and compile them....Nobody could write Al better than Al so my vote is to edit and release the 15 years or so of archival posts."

I think that would be a wonderful idea including photos, song lyrics, diary entries, correspondence, etc. That could all be part of a special collectors issue magazine. On the cover could be photographer Richard Avedon's black-and-white photo of Jarreau from the front cover of his 1980 album This Time. I bet the issue would sell out immediately and require several reprintings.

A Publication For Jazz Lovers

One jazz publication I make it a point to get each month at the Mist Harlem entertainment venue on 116th Street is the New York City Jazz Record. It's a free tabloid-size magazine published on newsprint and contains CD reviews, musician interviews,a calendar of events, a birthday column commemorating day by day musicians (living and dead) born in that particular month, as well as a jazz-related crossword puzzle. The latter is so esoteric and daunting it requires a near encyclopedic knowledge of jazz and its history. For example, the June 2019 issue had the following clues: "'50s Canadian RCA Victor catalogue prefixes";"'70s jazz critic for CODA magazine"; "What Lester did in Britain"; "Gerry Mulligan nickname." If nothing else, it'll encourage me to bone up on jazz history. (Disc jockey Phil Schaap of Columbia University's radio station WKCR could probably complete the puzzle within thirty minutes or less.)

As a longtime jazz lover and CD and record collector, the New York City Jazz Record is an important part of my jazz education and I recommend it to anyone interested in jazz and its practitioners.

I look forward to reading it each month and hope it'll be around for a long time.

Black Banjo Players, A Rare Sight

The banjo is a beautiful sounding musical instrument. To my ears, anyway. (Writer Joe Queenan, no fan of the banjo, would strongly disagree.)

Despite being of African origin, it's very rarely seen being played by a black person from anywhere on the globe.

Three African-American banjo players, who come to mind, are Fred Guy and Elmer Snowden, members of Duke Ellington's band in the 1920s and Narvin Kimball. (Snowden also played the saxophone.)

Folk Music In New York

After seeing the "Folk City" exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York this past Wednesday, and subsequently browsing through a display copy of its print companion, Folk Music: New York and the American Folk Music Revival by Stephen Petrus and Ronald Cohen (Oxford University Press, 2015), I want very much to read the book and learn even more about this exciting and influential period in music history when, to quote an exhibition poster, "folk music enjoyed unprecedented popularity in the United States." This popularity continued until 1964 when the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, the Dave Clark Five, and other British groups arrived during what was then called the British Invasion, which dominated the pop charts.

"Folk City," beautifully arranged in an attractive black and red color scheme, traces the roots of folk music all the way to the 1920s and is grouped around such themes as "Becoming Folk City, 1948-1958" and "The Politics of Folk." As an overview of the folk music scene in New York, it spotlights the entrepreneurs, musicians, venues, and songs that brought it into existence. This is done through the display of such items as photos, videos, record album covers, and artifacts like Leadbelly's 12-string guitar from 1937 and the sign from the Greenwich Village performance venue called Gerdes Folk City. Walking around the exhibition room, a museum visitor will feel as if he or she has taken a giant leap into the past.

One interesting feature of "Folk City" is the ability to hear songs that were recorded by Odetta; Peter, Paul, and Mary; Pete Seeger; Richie Havens; Harry Belafonte, and others. There are about four listening stations at different locations in the exhibition room. At these spots, one can put on a pair of recording-studio-quality headphones, and by pushing one of about eight buttons, hear songs like "Day-O" by Harry Belafonte and "If I Had a Hammer" by Peter, Paul, and Mary played in their entirety.

Also on display is a large wall map of Manhattan titled "Mapping Folk City, 1935-1965" that pinpoints the location of various record companies, organizations, radio stations, residences of musicians, and performance venues during those years.

On the evening I visited the museum, I attended one of the two mini walking lectures given that day by author and exhibition curator Stephen Petrus. As a handful of museum visitors followed him around the room, he highlighted important information about the period, giving some historical context, and explained New York's role in helping to popularize folk music throughout America and the world.

The "Folk City" exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York closes in January 2016.

Note:This blog post has been revised.

Queen Latifah As Bessie Smith In A Made-For-TV Biopic

The multi-talented Queen Latifah stars as blues singer Bessie Smith in the biopic Bessie. It premieres tonight  on HBO. (Mo'Nique co-stars as Smith's fellow blues singer Ma Rainey.) I learned of the film several weeks ago when I saw an ad for it on the side of a city bus.

Bessie Smith, who was called "The Empress of the Blues," died in a car accident in 1937 at the age of  43.

Unfortunately I won't be able to watch the film because I don't subscribe to cable TV. But I look forward to seeing it when it comes out on DVD.

Rap Vs. Jazz

May 18, 2006

To the Editor:

You never hear that young jazz musicians like Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, or Roy Hargrove have had a run in with the law, been involved in a shootout, or started a verbal feud with a colleague. It makes me wonder what it is about rap music that brings out the worst in its practitioners and followers.

Sincerely yours,

Charles Michael Smith

Note: This is from a handwritten draft. I'm not sure which publication I had intended to send it to. Perhaps I had the New York Daily News in mind. I remember posting something similar on my Facebook page.