Blue Notes

“If people don’t like it now, they will” — Albert Ayler, born #onthisday in 1936.

Happy International Jazz Day and farewell Jazz Appreciation Month! Here’s my new blog post over at The Melodic Word about bringing Jazz Appreciation Month to the local public library that I work at! 

Bassist Percy Heath looks on as Miles notates a melody during a Miles Davis Sextet recording session for Blue Note in New York City on April 20, 1953. Francis Wolff

John Coltrane during a recording session at Columbia Records in 1958.

John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Philly Joe Jones recording Milestones at Columbia records in 1958. Photos by Dennis Stock.

“I enjoy playing with a big band occasionally, but it’s too restricting; you really don’t have a chance to stretch out and do what you want to do. Getting that thing of relating to a large band is great experience; I relate much better, though, if it’s a small band.” - Art Pepper, pictured in 1947 or 1948

Johnny Hodges by Ted Williams

The man behind many jazz greats has passed away. Jazz engineer Rudy Van Gelder has died at age 91. He recorded with legendary artists like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and more and an impressive majority of the Blue Note Records catalogue. He was viewed by some as the most important jazz engineer of all time. He also worked with Prestige Records and Savoy Records.

In June 1939, Marilyn “Marly” Moore, an aspiring teenage singer living in California, wrote to the jazz singer Billie Holiday for advice; 70 years on, a group of 30 letters that Holiday wrote to Moore from Harlem formed part of a June 24 sale. “This life is a little tricky,” wrote Holiday in one letter, “but you being a white and if you got something to offer you might not have it so bad,” though she warned More against coming to New York unless she had money and was able to take care of herself. “New York…is a tough spot if you ain’t got the jack. Ha Ha.”

Bill Evans Trio (Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian) at the Village Vanguard, 1961, by Steve Schapiro.

Double bassist and cellist Ray Brown backstage at the Civic Opera House in Chicago. Brown played with everyone from Charlie Parker to Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, Frank Sinatra, Diana Krall and even Steely Dan. He also accompanied Ella Fitzgerald, to whom he was married for five years

Miles Davis playing in his dressing room before a performance, pic by Ted Williams

The moment she first heard Thelonious Monk play the piano, Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter walked out on her own life, and devoted herself to the American jazz genius.

Such Sweet Thunder, 1957

Josef Breitenbach Billie Holiday, 1950 |gelatin silver print|