WBGO bids farewell to Johnny Griffin, a master jazz musician. Many jazz people referred to Griffin as “The Little Giant,” no doubt because of his dimunitive stature (he was a shade below 5 and a half feet tall). The consensus, however, was that Griffin’s true stature loomed large in the music. Johnny Griffin could easily fall under the category of “hard bop saxophonist,” but to do so would be an injustice. When you listen to the raw muscular sound of early Johnny Griffin records, you can hear a combination of saxophone legend Coleman Hawkins, the rough-and-tumble rhythm and blues of Griffin’s Chicago hometown, and some definitive gospel wails. It was a big, combustible sound. One that will be missed.

Read the New York Times obit.

If you’re looking for good music from Griffin, you have plenty of options.
Some suggestions after the jump.
Read more »

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If there were a roof on the Brooklyn Museum’s Sculpture Garden, saxophonist John Ellis would have surely “blew it off!” His performance at the Brooklyn Museum with his band Double Wide was explosive! As part of Heart of Brooklyn and WBGO’s Jazz: Brooklyn’s Beat, Ellis brought his North Carolina and NOLA roots to New York’s greatest borough (OK, that’s one Brooklynites opinion, but whatever). Folks waited in the heat this past Saturday, posting up their prime-positioned seating to check out Ellis perform music from his latest CD Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow (Hyena Records). He definitely had some genuine fans in the house, as when host Gary Walker introduced Michael Rojas as “on the tuba” a sizable amount of folks yelled out “SOUSAPHONE!” Walker was correct…it was the tuba on this day, but these audience members clearly had the CD because Ellis does indeed enlist the talented Matt Perrine on the lesser-known, low brass instrument on Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow.

The band, which was made up of Ellis, Michael Rojas on tuba, Brian Charette on the organ, and Jason Marsalis on drums, opened with the church-happy “All Up in the Aisles.” As John would say, it’s a “sanctified” tune.  It’s definitely a get-up-and-move celebratory piece.  You can definitely feel those southern influences.
The sets were infused with mosh, waltz, and soulful groove all in between.  Ellis’ beautiful tone and gorgeous hefty floating lines made this performance really stand out for me.  Going to check out a lot of music, as I do, it’s sometimes easy to let it become routine, but I love when an artist snaps me out of my trance.  Ellis is definitely one of those artists, and this is definitely one of those records.

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Today is the 87th birthday of a jazz legend - Dr. Billy Taylor. Last night, on the eve of this very special day, Dr. T was one of several featured pianists at the 92nd Street Y in the Jazz in July series. He likes the name of that series because he came up with it himself when he helped to found a summer program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Just this month, Taylor quietly stepped down from his Jazz in July, and U Mass expressed gratitude for many summers on its website. Click to read the story.

Also this summer, Taylor is involved in a development right here in our town. Now we have a Brick City branch of Jazzmobile, the teaching organization he helped found in Harlem.  Newark Jazzmobile is named for the late bassist Earl May, who first proposed it but did not live to see it happen. Click here for the Jazzmobile schedule. Houston Person plays tonight at Mildred Helms Park in the South Ward! Click and hear Billy Taylor play “A Night in Tunisia” on WBGO’s (then) new Steinway, live on the air in the 1980s. Another Great Live Moment from WBGO.

Becca

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Pianist JoAnne Brackeen is having a birthday, and every Monday this month, she’s celebrating at Jazz Standard in New York. She’s calling tonight’s show “The Big Three” — music from Art Blakey, Stan Getz and Joe Henderson, all of whom hired her.

JazzSet is recording! We hope to present the show in Fall 08.

On Great Live Moments, Brackeen plays “Manha de Carnaval.” We don’t know where this took place - a club named Harvie’s, but we don’t know where that was or is. I’ll bet Jae Sinnett, the drummer, would know if he’s reading along!

Becca

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“The Hammer” comes from 1988, the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, live on “New Year’s Eve Coast to Coast.” That night on WBGO and NPR, Carmen McRae sang with the Mel Lewis Orchestra at the Vista Hotel (destroyed 9/11/01) with intermission music by the late Patti Bown, and Moore by Four opened for Harry Connick Jr. at the Dakota in St. Paul, MN. Andy was on a double bill with Queen Ida’s band from Louisiana. Pans & zydeco!

Andy Narell always wants to tell you the history of his instrument, the steelpan. In the late 1930s, Trinidadian drummers of African descent began to fabricate tuneful instruments from the heads of 55-gallon oil barrels. In 1946, Elliott “Ellie” Manette (or Mannette) made a concave drumhead, the first steelpan. Andy Narell told WBGO’s JazzSet that in 1947, Manette made history hammering the Brahms Lullaby on it, on Port au Spain radio. Pans on radio!

For a short Andy Narell solo on a pan made by Ellie Manette, as played live on WBGO in 1980, click here.

In 2000, when Manette received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the West Indies, he said that no one person invented the pan. It took a group and was an evolutionary process. Today, Manette continues to improve his pan making and, as Artist-in-Residence at West Virginia University, coordinates Pan Studies. Has anyone reading along ever seen him play?

Narell - born in New York City in 1954 - became passionate about steelpan music as a young man. The day he came to WBGO for an on-air interview with host Al Pryor, he was promoting his first LP, Hidden Treasure (now on CD). As mentioned, Andy brought a pan made by Manette and played a solo. In the free-flowing interview, Andy talked about working in a summer camp in redwood forest in California, teaching kids to play the pans. Hear a clip here.

Especially when it’ s hot, the hammering of even one note on a steelpan opens your heart and lets the colors in. Pans are the sound of sunshine!

Becca

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