Jazz King Makers Part I

There were many Jazz king makers. These are the men that assembled the great orchestra of their times. We think of Benny Goodman, Count Bassie, Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Eddy Duchin, and many others. However there was another trans -formative figure of that period. His name was Billy  Eckstine .  He was a great a singer, musician, bandleader and in his day.  Furthermore, Eckstine was  also a box office idol, that rivaled Frank Sinatra.

He put some the greatest performer together in one band, that became household names themselve’s. It hard to think of a band with artist such as Mile Davis,Sarah Vaughan, Dexter Gordon, Fats Navarro, Sonny Stitt, John Malachi, Oscar Pettiford, Trummy Young , Cecil Payne, and top this off with Dizzy Gilespie.

His was the first big band Bop band, and almost all of the messenger of Bop. He and his band nurtured and helped it to explode into the phenomenon it became. Not only was Eckstine a great singer. he was an awesome trumpeter, trombonist, and he also played guitar.

His talent as a King maker was his exceptional ability to find and put together the most fascinating array talented musicians that ever graced a stage in Bop. He was a true Jazz Musician. Carl”Sweetwater”Johnson

Simply “Kurt Elling” “Kurt Elling” “Kurt Elling”

Musical Journey

I am no longer worried about whom will be the carriers of the Jazz Banner. I fell in love with the mastery of intonation, clarity, of musical vision, vocal acrobatics, song interpreting and just musicianship. Rarely do I get excited about new or newly found singer. I GET SO TIRED  Of the cookie cutter singer that sing a song but never interpret a song. I spent hour listening to Kurt Elling and found myself entranced by the voyage of skill that he exudes. The training is evident in his music, yet it shows a full maturity of sort that can only come from training or superior ear. I think it must be both his music is the adventure that you want to go on. He takes you there and make you feel that it is familiar to him, and yet you will find some hidden treasures while  in route. When you get there the trip was a great musical find.

Carl”Sweetwater” Johnson

Jazz Worldwide: Japanese jazz with Traditional Instruments

Traditional Japanese Musical instruments

Jazz has a home everywhere and it seem that Japan is a great place for Jazz. Some of my friends that have played there have comeback with glowing remarks about the enthusiasm, and the knowledge of the Japanese audiences. The music is revered and respected. Jazz has no borders or boundaries. Musicians are musicians and the music takes precedents to them. It is wonderful to know that jazz is embraced everywhere. Carl”Sweetwater”Johnson

Give the Drummer Some

This was once the audiences cry. The most primal of all instruments makes you want to move. The original telegraph and telephone. The drums seem to talk to everyones spirit and feet. The rhythm makers, the booty shakers, and music makers. Max Roach’s incorporation of  Afro Cuban Latin rhythms, Joe Morrello, played time signature that some drummers did not even know existed. Cozy Cole hands and foot speed baffled the mind. Gene Krupathe ultimate show drummer. Buddy Rich was one of those drummer that could drive a band to a frenzied pace.  Some other great jazz drummers are Louie Belson, Sonny Payne, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Bernard Purdy, Billy Cobham, I could go on and on. I grew up with one of the nations finest drummers Eric”Mouse”Johnson (My Younger Brother). Having an awesome drummer in your family, makes you pay a lot closer attention to other drummers. There are some that are just time keepers, and some that fill the holes in the music, and that make the music come alive. Jazz drummers are a different breed. They are generally intricately apart of the whole sound. From Latin Jazz to Straight Ahead drummers hold it down and together. Sometimes the drums can get it going and nothing else is needed.

Carl”Sweetwater”Johnson

Jazz and The Side Man

When you think of jazz, most of the time you think of the front-man, the so-called star or lead. The musicians think of

Ron Carter-Called the Super Side Man to Miles Davis

music that incorporates the side man. Joe Zawinul, Trummie Young, Kenny Burrell, Frank Wilson jr, Ray Nance,Yusef Lateef, Fathead Newan . . . in my world of music, it is these musicians that make the front-man excel.

I’ll never forget the funk Joe Zawinul put down in “Mercy,Mercy,Mercy” or the haunting wailing of Fathead Newman in “Hard Times.” These sidemen could transform a tune and set a mood just with their musical presence. Side Men are the force in music. You may not know their names but their influence has been felt and heard.

Top Jazz Club: The Blue Note (New York)

Since its inception in 1981, Blue Note has become one of the premier jazz clubs in the world and a cultural institution in Greenwich Village.Owner and founder Danny Bensusan had a vision to create a jazz club in Greenwich Village that

Chick Correa at the Blue Note

would treat deserving artists with respect, while allowing patrons to see the world’s finest jazz musicians in a close, comfortable setting. Artists who had stopped playing in jazz clubs decades before, such as Sarah Vaughn, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Turrentine, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, and Tito Puente, soon called Blue Note home.

After twenty-five years of success, Blue Note continues to carry the torch for jazz into the 21st century in the cultural heart of New York, Greenwich Village.

Located between 6th and McDougal St., Blue Note offers music every night at 8pm and 10:30pm. On Friday and Saturday nights, Blue Note has a Late Night Groove Series at 12:30am and offers a Sunday Brunch for $24.50 a person at 12:30pm and 2:30pm weekly.