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Sometimes it's a blast just to watch some jazz players "in the groove," having fun in front of a live audience--no studio gimmicks, just the real deal. Here's one of those with lovely Roberta Gambarini--one of the latter day jazz lionesses--having fun with Benny Carter's tune, "When Lights Are Low."
I usually don't do a one-off, but this song has been coming to mind of late for some reason. (It was on a Northern Exposure ep I liked, but I haven't watched my NE DVDs for awhile)
There were more than a few of the veterans of the Big Band era who transcended all of the way from there, through bebop, to rock 'n' roll, and a whole lot in between. One of those was the terrific trumpeter and band leader Maynard Ferguson. He cut his chops in the Stan Kenton band, then went on lead a succession of bands of his own over the years, right up until his death in 2006. One of his great legacies was the many fine young musicians who had the opportunity to hone their skills playing in his bands over the years. I saw him about 20 years ago at a small concert venue. He was by then old enough to be the father or grandfather of most of the players in his band, but they were a first-class band who played with same skill and enthusiasm at that small venue as if they had been at Carnegie Hall. Maynard himself was the consummate player--wowing the audience time and again. All the while, he was very congenial and he was a pleasure to meet and talk with during the intermission. A class act all the way.
Ferguson was best know for his stratospheric trumpet playing and his hard-driving adaptations of many contemporary rock tunes of the day, but I always felt that his playing on ballads--particularly the old jazz standards--was his best work. In that vein, here are a couple. First, his vocal and trumpet performance on the tune from the movie "Casablanca," "As Time Goes By." He wasn't a bad singer, either.
Here he is in his earlier years at a jam session, blowing his heart out playing Gershwin's "Summertime" with an all-star group that included Max Roach on drums and Keter Betts on bass.
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