Tag Archives: Jazz

The Best Songs: Just a Closer Walk With Thee

Just a Closer Walk with Thee is a traditional gospel song that has been covered by many artists. Performed as either an instrumental or vocal, “A Closer Walk” is perhaps the most frequently played number in the hymn and dirge section of traditional New Orleans jazz funerals.

Rebirth Brass Band – A Closer Walk With Thee:

The ‘jazz funeral’ starts off sombre. On its way to the cemetery, the brass band plays soulful, sad funeral hymns called ‘dirges’,  it should be something that reminds mourners of life’s ups and downs. The slow tune lasts until the procession reaches its final destination, at which point they ‘cut the body loose’ – send the hearse off into the cemetery.

I really love this song and have “dug up” a few examples of great artists doing their version of this old tune.

Continue reading The Best Songs: Just a Closer Walk With Thee

April 22: The late Charles Mingus was born in 1922

charles_mingus_std

 Just because I’m playing jazz I don’t forget about me. I play or write me the way I feel through jazz, or whatever. Music is, or was, a language of the emotions.
~Charles Mingus

Irascible, demanding, bullying, and probably a genius, Charles Mingus cut himself a uniquely iconoclastic path through jazz in the middle of the 20th century, creating a legacy that became universally lauded only after he was no longer around to bug people.
~Richard S. Ginell (allmusic.com)

Charles Mingus Triumph of the Underdog (1998 documentary film)

April 22: The late Charles Mingus was born in 1922

Continue reading April 22: The late Charles Mingus was born in 1922

April 15: Bessie Smith Birthday

bessie smith2

It’s a long old road, but I know I’m gonna find the end.
~Bessie Smith


Press: Who are your favorite singers?
Bob Dylan: Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Billie Holiday and Nancy Sinatra
~Bob Dylan (Paris Press Conference – 23 May 1966)

I’ve been poor and I’ve been rich, and rich is better.
~Bessie Smith

Downhearted Blues, 1923:

Trouble, trouble, I’ve had it all my days. It seems that trouble’s going to follow me to my grave.
~Bessie Smith (Downhearted Blues)

Wikipedia:

Born April 15, 1894
Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Died September 26, 1937 (aged 43)
Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States
Genres Blues, Jazz
Occupations Singer, actress
Instruments Vocals
Years active 1912–1937
Labels Columbia
Associated acts Ma Rainey, Alberta Hunter, Ethel Waters

Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer.

Nicknamed The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s. She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on subsequent jazz vocalists.

bessmith

She scored a big hit with her first release, a coupling of “Gulf Coast Blues” and “Downhearted Blues”, which its composer Alberta Hunter had already turned into a hit on the Paramount label. Smith became a headliner on the black T.O.B.A. circuit and rose to become its top attraction in the 1920s. Working a heavy theater schedule during the winter months and doing tent tours the rest of the year (eventually traveling in her own railroad car), Smith became the highest-paid black entertainer of her day. Columbia nicknamed her “Queen of the Blues,” but a PR-minded press soon upgraded her title to “Empress”.

Smith was gifted with a powerfully strong voice that recorded very well from her first record, made during the time when recordings were made acoustically. With the coming of electrical recording (circa 1925), the sheer power of her voice was even more evident.

She made 160 recordings for Columbia, often accompanied by the finest musicians of the day, most notably Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson, Joe Smith, and Charlie Green.

 

Selective awards and recognitions:

Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings of Bessie Smith were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. This special Grammy Award was established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least 25 years old and that have “qualitative or historical significance.”

Bessie Smith: Grammy Hall of Fame Award
Year Recorded Title Genre Label Year Inducted
1923 Downhearted Blues Blues (Single) Columbia 2006
1925 St. Louis Blues Jazz (Single) Columbia 1993
1928 “Empty Bed Blues” Blues (Single) Columbia 1983

National Recording Registry

In 2002 Smith’s recording of the single, “Downhearted Blues”, was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. The board selects songs on an annual basis that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

“Downhearted Blues” was included in the list of Songs of the Century by the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts in 2001. It is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock ‘n’ roll.

Inductions

Year Inducted Category Notes
2008 Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC
1989 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
1989 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame “Early influences”
1981 Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame
1980 Blues Hall of Fame

Baby Won’t You Please Come Home (1923):

Playlist of the day:


-Egil

April 12: Herbie Hancock was born in 1940 – Happy 75th Birthday

Herbie Hancock

I don’t look at music from the standpoint of being a musician; I look at it from the standpoint of being a human being.
~Herbie Hancock

It’s not exclusive, but inclusive, which is the whole spirit of jazz.
~Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock is a true icon of modern music. Throughout his explorations, he has transcended limitations and genres while still maintaining his unique, unmistakable voice.
~allaboutjazz.com

April 12: Herbie Hancock was born in 1940 – Happy 75th birthday!

Continue reading April 12: Herbie Hancock was born in 1940 – Happy 75th Birthday

April 07: The late Billie Holiday was born in 1915 – 100 years ago

billie_holiday  The first popular jazz singer to move audiences with the intense, personal feeling of classic blues, Billie Holiday changed the art of American pop vocals forever.
~John Bush (allmusic.com)
The Billie Holiday Story – BBC Documentary (56min)

April 07: The late Billie Holiday was born in 1915

Continue reading April 07: The late Billie Holiday was born in 1915 – 100 years ago