August 22, 2016

Another warm summer evening, another good crowd. On hand were Sam (bass and trumpet), Tom (drums), Ray (bass), Phil (piano), Steve M (alto), Jack D (trumpet), Steve H. (soprano and alto), Wes (tenor), Carl (trombone), Annie (vocal) and Dick (vocal).

Sam got us started with Once I Loved (I-311). We next took up Phil’s pick, My Shining Hour. Steve M pulled out another good tune that doesn’t get enough air time, The Touch of Your Lips (III-413). Ray had joined us by this time on bass. Jack D. discovered the nickname of Milt Jackson with Bags’ Groove (II-30). Your truly went back in history a bit for Three Little Words (III-406). Wes pulled us back to the bop era by calling Donna Lee (I-123).

With the arrival of Annie, Carl and Dick, our group was complete, and we got rolling on vocals. Annie requested It Never Entered My Mind (III-205). Dick chose Latin with Corcovado (I-335). Annie changed the mood by calling Put On A Happy Face (III-328). Dick strode along on a swingy version of Don’t Blame Me (I-121). We took an instrumental break with Tom’s pick, a peppy Blue Monk (I-52).

We accomodated Annie again with The Night Has A Thousand Eyes (I-301). Dick chose old reliable In A MellowTone (I-206). Back to Annie, who did a rendition of Let There Be Love (III-236). Dick got one last stab, calling Out Of Nowhere (I-318). We finished up with Annie’s suggestion of It’s DeLovely (III-213), and everyone took a chorus.

Participant Picks

Phil

Bill Evans Trio, The Two Lonely People

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6plvINudi8&feature=youtu.be

Dick

Antonio Carlos Jobim and Shirley Horn, Once I Loved

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmLnC-G-460

Steve M

Chet Baker, The Touch Of Your Lips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz--YquirSA

Annie

Carmen McRae, The Night Has A Thousand Eyes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx1GYIRq1Xc

Ray

Dizzy Gillespie, No More Blues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GuujVb_ex0

Carl

Serge Chaloff, Body and Soul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8YDVdIqWKc

Jack

Miles Davis, So What

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylXk1LBvIqU

Wes

Freddie Hubbard, Birdlike

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZjcLUK5px4

Steve H
Toots Thielemans (in memoriam), Bluesette

1962 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi4G6UmYK9U

2009 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKnG_9q4crA

Enjoy.

--SJH

August 15, 2016

We ended up out in the lobby of McRae because the floors were being waxed, and a decent summer crowd attended: Sam (bass), Tom (drums), Phil (piano), Wes (tenor), Steve H (alto and soprano), Steve M (alto), Jack D (trumpet), Annie (vocals). Dick came by briefly, but his throat was out of sorts. And Carl stopped by from a gig that didn’t work out to play euphonium.

Sam kicked things off with a tune Gene (RIP) used to like to call, Nostalgia in Times Square (I-306). Over to Phil, who has a penchant for jazz waltzes, and we went with Waltz For Debby (I-432). Wes surprised everyone with his pick, Wave (I-431).  Yours truly called the next one, I’ve Got The World On A String (III-189).

Since we were a bit tardy getting started, Annie has already arrived at this point, and we got the vocals going with It Never Entered My Mind (III-205), then contradicted herself with Georgia On My Mind (II-145). Dick sounded good on The Nearness Of You (II-285), but then had to bail out after Fly Me To The Moon (II-135). Since Jack had to leave soon, Steve passed to him, and we played Every Time We Say Goodbye (III-113).

Back to vocals, Annie took two more with the deceptively tricky A Sleepin’ Bee (III-357) and Dearly Beloved (I-103). Tom passed the pick to Sam, who called Django Reinhardt’s Nuages (I-307). More vocals, this time The Birth of the Blues (II-49) and You Made Me Love You (III-459). Carl got a chance, and took us Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West (II-408). We finished off with Annie’s last call, Time After Time (III-408).

Participant Picks

Sam

Giants of Jazz

An hour of live music with Theolonius Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, Kai Winding, Al McKibbon and Art Blakey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUVuX3lLrdg

Phil

Bill Evans Trio

Waltz for Debby

About forty minutes for the whole album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNwCEppQ7H8

Steve H

Phil Woods

A Sleepin’ Bee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbcm1To4POc

Enjoy.

--SJH

August 8, 2016

Sorry about the last two weeks. One week, I forgot to take notes, and the other, I lost the notes from the session before I got around to setting them to binary code.

This week, though, we had Sam (bass), Phil (piano), Steve M (alto), Jack D (trumpet), Wes (tenor) and yours truly (soprano and alto) to get started. Carl (trombone), Annie (vocals) and Dick (vocals) came in after an hour.

We got rolling with Sam’s starter for the week, a medium Latin version of Tangerine (II-386). Phil sent us in a different direction with Miles’ Tune Up (I-418). Taking a left turn off that, Steve M chose Stella By Starlight (I-382). Jack D called one of his favorites (and who doesn’t like it?), Cry Me A River (III-89). Your scribe pulled up one that doesn’t get out too often, Ellington’s I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But The Blues (III-152).

We didn’t get all the way around to Wes when it was time for vocals. Annie got first crack with the ballad The Nearness Of You (II-285). Dick was ready to go with Nature Boy, which turned out to be on the facing page (II-284). We took an instrumental moment, and Wes decided to continue our work on Donna Lee (I-123).  Several more vocals followed: Annie called for It Never Entered My Mind (III-205); Dick pulled out an old favorite, I Could Write A Book (I-186). Then Annie suggested a duet, and Dick decided it was Just Friends, a version Dick had among his musical effects. For the instrumental break, Carl asked for Charlie Parker’s My Little Suede Shoes (II-282). We finished out the evening with two more vocals for Annie: Blame It On My Youth (II-51) and I’m Old Fashioned (III-187).

Particpant’s Picks

People playing at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club

Winton Marsalis Quartet, Delfeayo’s Dilemma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRjttTJEksY

Ronnie Scott Orchestra, Ting-A-Ling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20piyRNrrpY

Oscar Peterson Trio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcgzzUa4eZw

Anita O-Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPjIA_YnpR4

Lots of people

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9Eb57jzyWU

Enjoy.

--SJH

July 18, 2016

A muggy summer evening drew a good crowd. Phil (piano), Steve M (alto), Jack D (trumpet), Tom (drums), Sam (bass), Wes (tenor), and yours truly (alto and soprano) got things going, with Annie (vocals), Carl (trombone) and Dick (vocals) joining in later.

We got rolling with a suggestion from Phil, I'm Old Fashioned (III-186). Next was a surprise call from Steve M, a bit of bop called Barbados (II-35). Jack D took it a bit easier with Yesterdays (I-454). Your scribe slowed it down even more with Hoagy Carmichael's Baltimore Oriole (II-34). Back to bop, only down-tempo, Wes got us to tackle Donna Lee (I-123). 

Annie got the next call, Dearly Beloved (I-103). Dick sang There Will Never Be Another You (I-407).  Back to Annie, we worked on Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You (I-153). Dick called In A Mellow Tone (I-206). For an instrumental break, Tom chose Alright, OK, You Win (I-24), which turned into quite an extended version. Back to the vocalists, we went with Annie's choice of Never Let Me Go (III-299), followed by Dick's pick, Doxy (II-110). Finally getting around to Sam, we tackled his choice, I'm Sitting On Top Of The World (III-187). More vocal fun followed with Annie singing When I Fall In Love (I-439). Dick chose something out of his usual repertoire, I Should Care (I-194). We finished the evening with a call by Phil, My Romance (I-289).  

Participant Picks

Carl

Charles Mingus

Pussy Cat Dues

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naeMRd3qmTA

Dick

How High The Moon

Mary Ford and Les Paul

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkGf1GHAxhE

June Christy (vocal), Nat King Cole (piano), Mel Torme (drums)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvfNsZaDk-A

Wes

Charlie Parker

Barbados

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0FJ1SdS-ts

Jack

Chet Baker

Alone Together

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdDhinO58ss

Phil

Bill Evans

Spartacus Love Theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYcsSZl8-_s

Tom

Herbie Hancock

Watermelon Man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbHJHPTikQA

Steve H

Hoagy Carmichael

Baltimore Oriole

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7bbcjPvhjE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4In4fbaG3Dg

Carmen McRae

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igtxK-MyO3w

Judy Roderick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTsqel8Fvy0

Enjoy!

--SJH

July 11, 2016

After a week off (it was the 4th of July, after all), we convened a fairly sizeable group for our usual Monday shenanigans. Present were Phil on piano, Ray on bass, Tom on drums, Sam and Jack D on trumpet, Bob on trombone, Steve M on alto, Steve H on alto and soprano, and Wes on tenor.

Phil got the first pick, and we kicked off the proceedings with Dream A Little Dream Of Me (I-124). Sam punished us for not letting him go first by calling Dear Old Stockholm (I-102), which held up pretty well until the last couple of choruses. Steve M made the more traditional call of a mid-tempo Autumn Leaves (I-39). We all got a turn to let our bluesy sides out with a relaxed but not too slow Angel Eyes (I-28), Jack's choice. Bob returned to that 60's mood with Call Me Irresponsible (I-67). Your scribe was not quite prepared for his turn, but after a few minutes opted for the always solid Don't Get Around Much Any More (I-122).

Tom took it from there with Blue Monk (I-52). Ray finally got us off Book I by calling Poinciana (III-322). This didn't stop Wes from returning to Book I, but with the challenging Donna Lee (I-123), which we took well down-tempo. Back to Phil, who likes to pull out the unfamiliar tunes, we tried I'm All Smiles (I-198), a complex jazz waltz, but abandoned it in favor of the more accessible Somebody Loves Me (I-369). Sam pulled out another one we had more trouble with than we thought we should, All The Things You Are (I-22), with a Latin beat. We closed out with Steve M's choice, Wave (I-431).

Participant's Picks

Tom: Poinciana

Glenn Miller

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D62AYaQ1xbs

Xavier Cugat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FXbkUa_aJE

Jack D: So What?

Miles Davis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylXk1LBvIqU

Wes: Donna Lee

Charlie Parker

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02apSoxB7B4

Steve H: Blues for Madeleine

Johnny Hodges and Wild Bill Davis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_G-rLAlUDw

Enjoy!

--SJH