Another exercise in critical listening: contrasts and comparisons

In a recent post on 05 October 2012 titled Why Bix Mattered I was reinforcing a still earlier post titled Understanding music through critical listening. In this post I am going to provide an album recommendation that will build skills in both contrasting music styles, as well as comparing ensembles. In both cases the same songs will be used on the contrast and compare exercises.

The album is a compilation titled Hot vs Cool - Cats vs Chicks

Leonard Feather - critic, composer and pianist - was behind the two albums that comprise this compilation. The first half was originally issued in 1952 as MGM E194, Hot Vs. Cool. The other half was issued in 1954 as MGM E255, Leonard Feather Presents Cats Vs Chicks: A Jazz Battle of the Sexes

Tracks 1 through 8, Hot Vs. Cool, pit traditional jazz against bebop. Put into context, jazz itself was on the verge of imploding during the period in which these tracks were recorded. Actually, it came to a head in the late 1940s, but the battle was still hot in the early 1950s when a group of musicians and their fans doggedly held on to the older style. They were termed 'moldy figs' by the bebop musicians who did not enjoy the same wide fan base because their music was more for musicians than average listeners. Feather was more biased toward that group.

This album, then, was meant to contrast the two styles more than compare them. The traditional musicians were led by cornetist Jimmy McPartland, and included Vic Dickenson on trombone, Edmond Hall on clarinet, Dick Cary on both piano and trumpet, Jack Lesberg on bass and George Wettling on drums.

The bebop musicians were led by Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet, multi-instrumentalist Don Elliott on mellophone and trumpet, Buddy DeFranco on clarinet, Ray Abrams on tenor saxophone, Ronnie Ball on piano, Al McKibbon on bass and Max Roach on drums.

Regretfully I do not have clips for these tracks, so I will give you my highly subjective take on this part of the album: the contrast, as expected, between the two styles on the same songs is significant. None of the tracks on either side of the musical divide are remarkable by today's standards, although as a drummer I enjoyed contrasting Max Roach's approach to George Wettling's playing. In Max you can clearly hear strong influences of Kenny Clarke and a lot of Papa Jo Jones. Wettling's playing is practically a clone of Baby Dodds. I could not help thinking that Buddy DeFranco would have been better suited to McPartland's ensemble or dropped altogether from Dizzy's bebop group. Buddy was one of the great clarinetists, but his style was more traditional than bebop.

While the first eight tracks contrasted two approaches to the came songs, tracks 9-14 compared the musical skills of male and female ensembles playing the same songs. These tracks are from Leonard Feather Presents Cats Vs Chicks: A Jazz Battle of the Sexes. The male group was comprised of some of the biggest names both then and now: Clark Terry on trumpet, Urbie Green on trombone, Lucky Thompson on tenor sax, Horace Silver on piano, Tal Farlow on guitar, Oscar Pettiford and Percy Heath swapping off on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums.

The women were members of the Terry Pollard Septet, comprised of Norma Carson on trumpet, Beryl Booker on piano, Terry Pollard on vibraphone, Corky Hale (born Merrilyn Hecht) on harp, Mary Osborne on guitar, Bonnie Wetzel on bass and Elaine Leighton on drums.

At first glance one would think this was a lopsided comparison that pitted world class male musicians against a group of unknown women. That would be a mistake because Mary Osborne was a renowned, world class guitarist. Terry Pollard was easily the equal of any male pianist or vibraphonist (she was a master of both instruments), who bested the great Terry Gibbs in many vibraphone duels when she was with his band as a pianist. See this post for Terry in action. Norma Carson was no slouch on trumpet either, giving Terry Clark a run for his money on every track.

Hot vs. Cool tracks were interesting. Cats vs. Chicks tracks, though, were white hot and full of energy and amazing musicianship on both sides of the divide. The final track - Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better - is the highlight of this entire album and my personal favorite track. Here is a clip of that track to show why I say this:

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It pits Norma Carson against Clark Terry, Mary Osborne against Tal Farlow, and Terry Pollard against Horace Silver. Personally, I think the women smoked the guys here and I am not saying this to be politically correct. I honestly believe that assertion.

Granted, this is a niche compilation that is comprised of albums that were probably intended to be novelties when first released. However, it is also an excellent contrast of two musical styles in the first eight tracks, and a comparison of world class musicians of both genders on the remaining tracks.

Milt Jackson

On 31 May 2012 I posted a piece titled Some fun that opened with a blurb about Al "Jazzbo" Collins, but was really about vibraphonists. In fact, had vibraphonists been the subject of Mount Rushmore the four I discussed in that post would have been the faces carved in granite. One of those four is Milt Jackson.

The main theme of this post is the fact that a comprehensive, ten-disc set of Milt's music has been released: Kind of Jackson:

If you are strictly a drum kit player instead of a percussionist you are probably wondering what possible benefit studying this album will accrue.

For one thing, like the importance of studying piano-centric music (or any music for that matter), you will find rhythmic ideas that you may not discover if you focus only on drums. And, since the vibraphone is a percussion instrument, many drum kit players do have some proficiency with it, and most vibraphonists are accomplished drummers. An example is Lionel Hampton who was considered to be as great on a drum kit as he was on vibraphones.

Milt Jackson is mostly associated with the Modern Jazz Quartet, which started out with the great Kenny Clarke on drums (see this post for recent information), and culminated with the great Connie Kay taking the drum chair in 1955 and holding it full time until 1974. That alone guarantees that this box set will have examples of some great drumming along with Milt's virtuoso vibes. Not that all of this set is the Modern Jazz Quartet recordings because it isn't. He played with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane to name but a few.

The following clips give a taste of what this box set contains:

One parting shot: while Milt clearly demonstrates how a percussion instrument like a vibraphone can provide both melody and rhythm, you as a drummer can as well. See More quick tips: fills, dynamics and melody in my other blog, Snare Drum Addict, for examples.

Review: The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire

In my 05 October 2012 post titled B3s and other keys, Kenny Clarke and books too I mentioned Ted Gioia's excellent book titled The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire. This book has become quickly indispensable and, to be honest, entertaining.

Up front, the scope of this book is purposely narrow. Mr. Gioia states that he picked songs that fans are likely to hear in performances (and musicians are likely requested to play). In that respect, if you compare the list of songs to, say, the contents of The Real Book: Sixth Edition, there are major differences. On the other hand, the format Gioia uses would turn an already thick, 554-page book into a multi-volume set rivaling encyclopedias had he attempted to be more inclusive.

What I love is the succinct format: discussion of the songs and list of recommended versions. The discussion almost always provides some technical detail, the history of the song, and - in some cases - interesting trivia. The recommended versions cite who, where and when. For example, for Turner's and Layton's 1918 masterpiece, After You've Gone, that is endearingly popular the first recommended version is listed as Marion Harris, Camden, New Jersey, July 22, 1918 (in this example the list contains ten recommendations, the latest of which is a 1995 recording.)

I'll explain why this book is indispensable to me. I am an amateur jazz historian who writes this blog as a hobby. A quick look at most of my posts shows that I focus on music and musicians in a much wider scope than just drummers. I also post a lot of music reviews on Amazon (among other products).

In the past researching was time consuming and discovering facts about not only songs, but recordings and discographies, could take hours. The Recommended Versions part of the format in this book has proven to be an incredible time saver. And the descriptions and anecdotal information this book provides give me insights that I can weave into my own writing.

For jazz aficionados this book is practically a concordance with some fascinating information tacked on. The index of this book is particularly helpful because it allows you to cross-reference songs, composers and musicians, and recordings.

If you write about jazz as a hobby or professionally this book is essential and I do not use that word lightly. The same goes for the few remaining jazz DJs. Historians and educators will also find this book invaluable. If you are a dyed-in-the-wool aficionado you'll probably get hours of pleasure from randomly picking songs or focusing on some of your favorites, or what is currently playing in the background.

The bottom line is if you are serious about jazz, this book should be on your bookshelf.