miles davis and the modern jazz giants

Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants were workin' and relaxin' as they laid out some cookin' and steamin' vibes on this controversial collaboration.

Most of 'Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants' was recorded at Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersy on December 24, 1954 with Miles Davis on trumpet, Milt Jackson on vibraphone, Thelonious Monk on piano, Percy Heath on bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums.
It was the only time that Monk and Davis would record together in the studio. The fact that Davis asked Monk to 'lay out' during his solo has been built up to be some kind of fisticuff. Davis would express in his autobiography: "Monk was a serious musician. When I first met him, he used to stay fucked up a lot, high off Dexedrines. At least, that's what I heard. But when I was learning music from him - and I learned a lot from him - he wasn't getting high so much. He was a big, strong motherfucker, about six feet two, and over two hundred pounds. He didn't take no shit off nobody. When I heard stories later saying that me and him was almost about to fight after I had him lay out while I was playing on "Bags' Groove," I was shocked, because Monk and I were, first, very close, and second, he was too big and strong for me to even be thinking about fighting. Shit, man, he could have just squashed me if he wanted to. All I did was tell him to lay out when I was playing. My asking him to lay out had something to do with music, not friendship. He used to tell cats to lay out himself. But as great a musician as he was, I just didn't like what he played behind me, that is, the way he used to play chords in the rhythm. See, you had to play like Coltrane to play with Monk - all that space and disjointed shit he used to play. But that shit was bad, now. It was some top of the shit music. But it was just different."


"'Round Midnight" is an early version of the song from the new quintet of Miles Davis on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. It comes from a marathon two day session to crank out four albums ('Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet', 'Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet', 'Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet', and 'Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet') to fulfill Davis' contract with Prestige so he could move on to Colombia Records and release the classic 'Round Midnight' album.











https://www.milesdavis.com/











'Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants'
full album:

Side one

1. "The Man I Love" (Take 2) George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin 7:59

2. "Swing Spring"   Miles Davis 10:46

Side two

1. "'Round Midnight"   Bernie Hanighen, Cootie Williams & Thelonious Monk 5:25

2. "Bemsha Swing"   Thelonious Monk & Denzil Best 9:33

3. "The Man I Love" (Take 1) George Gershwin & Ira Gershwin 8:29

chet baker sings

Chet Baker expanded from rising jazz star to pop star with the smoldering emotional performances on his first set to feature vocals.  Baker had played with saxophonists Vido Musso,  Stan Getz, and Charlie Parker before finding success with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet.  When Mulligan went to jail a year later, Baker started his own quartet and released 'Chet Baker Quartet Featuring Russ Freeman'.  The next year executives at Pacific Jazz thought with his chiseled good looks he could become a teen idol and convinced Baker to do an album with vocals.   'Chet Baker Sings' was recorded with Chet Baker on vocals and trumpet; Kenny Drew on piano; Sam Jones, George Morrow, Carson Smith, and Jimmy Bond on bass; Philly Joe Jones, Dannie Richmond, Peter Littman, Larance Marable, Bob Neal on drums; and Russ Freeman on piano and celeste.  The original 1954  release was only a ten inch; and two years later it was re-released as a full album with an additional six songs recorded during the interim.  All of the sessions were produced by Richard Bock. While Baker's voice has its limitations, the simplicity of his delivery evokes an intimate romantic quality.  




http://www.chetbaker.net/

 'Chet Baker Sings' 
full album:


"That Old Feeling" (Sammy Fain, Lew Brown) – 3:03
"It's Always You" (Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke) – 3:35
"Like Someone in Love" (Van Heusen, Burke) – 2:26
"My Ideal" (Leo Robin, Richard A. Whiting, Newell Chase) – 4:22
"I've Never Been in Love Before" (Frank Loesser) – 4:29
"My Buddy" (Gus Kahn, Walter Donaldson) – 3:19
"But Not for Me" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 3:04
"Time After Time" (Jule Styne, Sammy Cahn) – 2:46
"I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)" (Hoagy Carmichael) – 2:59
"My Funny Valentine" (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) – 2:21
"There Will Never Be Another You" (Mack Gordon, Harry Warren) – 3:00
"The Thrill is Gone" (Lew Brown, Ray Henderson) – 2:51
"I Fall in Love Too Easily" (Styne, Cahn) – 3:21
"Look for the Silver Lining" (Jerome Kern, Buddy De Sylva) – 2:39

mack the knife

This classic murder ballad was a last minute addition to 'The Threepenny Opera' and was banned in some places because it was feared it would encourage violence.   "The Ballad of Mack the Knife" ("Die Moritat von Mackie Messer") was composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their musical 'The Threepenny Opera' ('Die Dreigroschenoper') after Harald Paulsen who was playing Macheath insisted on a new song to introduce his character.  During the premiere in Berlin in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, the barrel organ wouldn't work and the orchestra jazz band had to come up with the music.  Marc Blitzstein came up with English lyrics for the song in 1954.  


                                     Brecht and Weill

 Bobby Darin had a number one smash that sliced up the charts on both sides of the pond with his fingerpopping version in 1959.  He won a Grammy for Record of the Year.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEllHMWkXEU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qrjtr_uFac



Oh, the shark, babe, has such teeth, dear
And it shows them pearly white
Just a jackknife has old MacHeath, babe
And he keeps it, out of sight
Ya know when that shark bites with his teeth, babe
Scarlet billows start to spread
Fancy gloves, though, wears old MacHeath, babe
So there's never, never a trace of red

Now on the sidewalk, huh, huh, whoo sunny mornin', uh huh
Lies a body just oozin' life, eek
And someone's sneakin'round the corner
Could that someone be Mack the Knife?

There's a tugboat, huh, huh, huh down by the river don'tcha know
With a cement bag just droopin' on down
Oh, that cement is just, it's there for the weight, dear
Five'll get ya ten old Macky's back in town
Now d'ja hear 'bout Louie Miller? He disappeared, babe
After drawin' out all his hard-earned cash
And now MacHeath spends just like a sailor
Could it be our boy's done somethin' rash? 

Now Jenny Diver, ho, ho, oh, Sukey Tawdry 
Ooh, Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown
Oh, the line forms on the right, babe
Now that Macky's back in town

I said Jenny Diver, wow, Sukey Tawdry 
look out Miss Lotte Lenya and old Lucy Brown
Yes, that line forms on the right, babe
Now that Macky's back in town...
Look out old Macky's back




Louis Armstrong took the song to number twenty in 1956




Ella Fitzgerald won a Grammy for her version in 1960.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vXAtVbZbkI





"Moritat" by Sonny Rollins in 1956
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMgUEbnUELA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq9zAO_neZU





Nick Cave 1995
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3_2zbZwDlM




Sting in 1985
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y7lbEMI0r4




The Doors in 1968
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1drO1i6_2Y




Frank Sinatra in 1984
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otkUt39ZF98




Bing Crosby with Bob Scobey in 1957
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAEyzQzBKjc&list=ALBTKoXRg38BBT62ffUwXIPyib68gUpSB-&index=7




Eartha Kitt in 1959
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlcqfSr9s5Y




 "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" sung by Bertolt Brecht in 1929
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QXJ3OXWaOY




"Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" by Lotte Lenya (Brecht's wife) in 1955
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPG9GcykPIY




"Mackie Messer" by the Young Gods in 1991
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcP2zycN3P0




 French singer Damia  recorded her version of "Mackie Messer / La complainte de Mackie"  in 1931.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIHT28yiYBU





Ernst Busch from 'The Threepenny Opera' film in 1931
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMWc4h77e2o






http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/threepenny_opera

http://www.hulu.com/watch/223243



'The Threepenny Opera'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-lXRHZ2fTY


I. Overture
II. Mack the knife [01:49]
III. Morning Anthem [06:08]
IV. Instead of song [08:03]
V. Wedding song [10:18]
VI. Army song [11:55]
VII. Love song [14:28]
VIII. Barbara song [16:48]
IX. The first Threepenny finale (The World is mean) [22:45]
X. Polly's song [25:28]
XI. Pirate Jenny [27:34]
XII. Tango ballad [32:14]
XIII. Ballad of the easy life [37:26]
XIV. Jealousy duet [40:34]
XV. Second Threepenny Finale (How to survive) [43:20]
XVI. Useless song [47:38]
XVII. Solomon song [49:48]
XVIII. Call from the grave [53:34]
XIX. Death Message [54:11]
XX. Third Threepenny finale (The Mounted Messenger) [58:30]

love me tender

The theme song to the first of thirty-one movies in which he would star, this ballad was based on a folk song from the Civil War and continued the King's sixteen week reign at the top of the charts. Elvis Presley received a songwriting credit as part of his publishing agreement, in exchange for his recording the song. Ken Darby said that he put his wife Vera Matson as the other name, "Because she didn't write it either." Darby had adapted the tune from 'Aura Lee', which was originally published in 1861 with music by George R. Poulton and words by W.W. Fosdick. Presley did his own arrangement and directed the production of the song at RCA studios. He had performed the song live on The Ed Sullivan Show, leading to one million advance orders and making 'Love Me Tender' a gold record before it was released. The movie was originally called 'The Reno Brothers' but 20th Century Fox changed it to 'Love Me Tender' to make the most of the demand. 'Love Me Tender' unseated his own 'Hound Dog / Don't Be Cruel' single as the new number one song; he was the first artist to do so. It spent five weeks at number one, added to the eleven weeks that 'Hound Dog' and 'Don't Be Cruel' spent there, making a record of sixteen weeks that stood until it was tied by Boyz II Men in 1994 and broken by Usher in 2004.

http://elvis.com/

Love me tender, love me sweet

Never let me go

You have made my life complete

And I love you so

Love me tender, love me true

All my dreams fulfill

For, my darling I love you

And I always will.

Love me tender, love me dear

Tell me you are mine

I'll be yours through all the years

'Till the end of time

Love me tender, love me true

All my dreams fulfill

For, my darling I love you

And I always will

Love me tender, love me true

All my dreams fulfill

For, my darling I love you

And I always will

blueberry hill

Fats Domino found his thrill with the biggest hit of his career. 'Blueberry Hill' was written by Vincent Rose, Al Lewis, and Larry Stock for the 1940 western 'The Singing Hill', where Gene Autry performed it. Lyricist Stock remembers that "One important publisher turned down 'Blueberry Hill', because, he claimed, blueberries don't grow on hills. I assured him I had picked them on hills as a boy, but nothing doing. So Chappell And Company bought the song and another hit was born." Domino recorded his version in Los Angeles when he ran out of material. Producer Dave Bartholomew fought him on the song; but Fats insisted. He forgot the words and the engineer put the final version together using several different takes. 'Blueberry Hill' sold more than five million copies worldwide and spent eleven weeks on the top of the R&B chart. It also hit number two on US pop chart and number six on the UK pop chart.






www.biography.com/fats-domino

I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill

On Blueberry Hill where I found you

The moon stood still on Blueberry Hill

And lingered till my dreams came true

The wind in the willow played

Love's sweet melody

But all of those vows we made

Were never to be

Tho' we're apart you're part of me still

For you were my thrill on Blueberry Hill

The wind in the willow played

Love's sweet melody

But all of those vows we made

Were never to be

Tho' we're apart you're part of me still

For you were my thrill on Blueberry Hill

don't be cruel / hound dog

Elvis had the biggest hit of his career with both sides of this classic single. He recorded both songs during a marathon session on July 2, 1956 at RCA studios in New York City. 'Don't Be Cruel' was the first song that his publishers brought for him to record. Otis Blackwell gave up half of the royalties and a co-writing credit to induce the hot new singer to record it. The song featured Scotty Moore on lead guitar, Bill Black on bass, D.J. Fontana on drums, and backing vocals from the Jordanaires. Steve Sholes may have been the producer; but Presley took charge of the session by reworking the arrangement on piano and insisting on twenty eight takes. He also recorded thirty one takes of 'Hound Dog'.

http://www.elvis.com/

Presley had decided to cover Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's 'Hound Dog' after hearing Freddie Bell and the Bellboys perform it in Las Vegas. When he performed it live on the 'Milton Berle Show', Milton advised him to leave his guitar backstage so the audience could see him better. His dancing during the song caused a stir with fans and critics alike. He was dubbed 'Elvis the pelvis' and branded an "influence on juvenile delinquency". The single was released on July 13, 1956 and at first the b-side 'Hound Dog' was the bigger hit, going to number two on the pop chart amid the controversy. It was passed by 'Don't Be Cruel' which took the number one spot on the pop, country, and R&B charts. The sales of both songs made the single the biggest of the year with more than four million copies sold in 1956. It held the number one spot on the pop chart for eleven weeks, a record that stood for thirty six years.

i want you, i need you, i love you

Elvis' second single for RCA was almost the end of him. After the huge success of 'Heartbreak Hotel', his label wanted a strong followup and arranged to fly him out for a recording session in the midst of his exhausting tour schedule. During the flight from Amarillo to Nashville, the small airplane had engine trouble and went into freefall several times. That morning the band was reeling from their near death experience and unable to focus on the session. Producer Steve Sholes was very disappointed and ended up splicing together two of the seventeen takes to create the single for 'I Want You, I Need You, I Love You', which was written by Maurice Mysels and Ira Kosloff. With 'My Baby Left Me' as the flipside, the song went to number one on the Billboard Country chart and on the Best Sellers in Stores chart; but only peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.







http://www.elvis.com/

Hold me close, hold me tight

Make me thrill with delight

Let me know where I stand from the start

I want you, I need you, I love you

With all my heart

Ev'ry time that you're near

All my cares disappear

Darling, you're all that I'm living for

I want you, I need you, I love you

More and more

I thought I could live without romance

Until you came to me

But now I know that

I will go on loving you eternally

Won't you please be my own?

Never leave me alone

'Cause I die ev'ry time we're apart

I want you, I need you, I love you

With all my heart

clifford brown

Clifford Brown
 (October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956)




"Brownie" died in a car accident on a rainy, early summer morning on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The trumpeter was a rising star in the jazz world who was already being compared to Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. His trumpet playing emulated the hard bop stylings of Theodore "Fats" Navarro and had a warm round "fat" tone that was expressive and articulate within the context of intricate high speed bebop as well as in the slower ballads. During a remarkable three year run, he released more than a dozen albums that reveal a maturity and musicianship beyond his years. He played in groups with Chris Powell, Tadd Dameron, Lionel Hampton, and Art Blakey before forming his own group with Max Roach. The Clifford Brown & Max Roach Quintet helped define the urban hard bop sound. He also made his mark on jazz through his clean-living. He stayed away from drugs, did not like alcohol, and had a mild manner that disarmed his fellow musicians. He was on his way to Chicago with pianist Richie Powell to play a gig with the quintet. Powell's wife, Nancy was driving when the car missed a curve, smashed through a guardrail and hurtled down a 75-foot embankment, killing all three passengers.






http://cliffordbrown.net/

'Oh, Lady Be Good / Memories Of You'

This is the only known footage of Brown, from the Soupy Sales TV Show.

'I Come From Jamaica' is one of Brown's first recordings with Chris Powell & his Blue Flames

'Once In A While' with the Art Blakey Quintet

'Cherokee' by Clifford Brown & Max Roach Quintet

'Powell's Prances' by Clifford Brown & Max Roach Quintet

'Donna Lee' allegedly was recorded at a jam session just a few hours before he died.

Brown & Roach Incorporated


00:00 - Sweet Clifford
06:43 - I don't stand a ghost of a chance with you
14:06 - Stompin' at the savoy
20:34 - I'll string along with you
24:47 - Mildama
29:22 - Darn that dream
33:28 - I get a kick out of you

The Beginning And The End

heartbreak hotel

The king had a tale to tell and his first million selling pop number one with his first single on RCA. Tommy Durden and Mae Boren Axton wrote the song based on a news story about a man who destroyed all of his identification and jumped from a hotel window leaving a note saying: "I walk a lonely street." Axton played the song for Elvis in Nashville at a country music convention and he was so blown away that he brought it to the studio without approving it with management. Presley suggested recording the vocal in the hallway to get the echo effect. Some executives thought it was too morbid; but it went on to become the best selling single of 1956. This week it was number one on four Billboard charts: Best Sellers in Stores, Most Played by Jockeys, Most Played in Jukeboxes, and the Top 100.

http://www.elvis.com/

Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel - 1956 by CASVI_Factory

Well, since my baby left me

I found a new place to dwell

It's down at the end of lonely street

At heartbreak hotel

You make me so lonely, baby

I get so lonely, I get so lonely, I could die

And although it's always crowded

You still can find some room

Where broken hearted lovers

Do cry away their gloom

You make me so lonely, baby

I get so lonely, I get so lonely, I could die

Well, the bell hop's tears keep flowin'

And the desk clerk's dressed in black

Well, they been so long on lonely street

They ain't ever gonna look back

You make me so lonely, baby

I get so lonely, I get so lonely, I could die

Hey now, if your baby leaves you

And you got a tale to tell

Just take a walk down lonely street

To heartbreak hotel