Duke Ellington - "Arabesque Cookie" (Arabian Dance)

It's that time of year again.

From Duke's 1960 "Nutcracker" adaptation. I don't think it's a stretch to say that this album is the most successful adaptation of classical music for the jazz world. Other contenders would be The Modern Jazz Quartet's "Blues On Bach", and various pieces recorded by Woody Herman, such as this excellent rendition of Faure's Pavane for a Dead Princess.

Contemporary jazz artists like Daniel Bennett have also successfully ventured into this realm. Here's Daniel's "Opera and American Folk" work.

Chet Baker - "She Was Too Good To Me"

Here's Chet with both the vocal and a poignant trumpet solo. From a 1974 CTI album of the same name. As with so many CTI releases there's a fair amount of electronics, and a big, Easy Listening-ish chart-here by the usually-better-than-this Don Sebesky. Creed Taylor's CTI did much to revive jazz after its 60's doldrums, and his roster of artists was impressive: George Benson, Ron Carter, Hubert laws, Freddie Hubbard, and many more.


Not only did Creed Taylor do much to bring jazz back into public consciousness in the US-recall that many US-based artists-Maynard Ferguson, Phil Woods, for instance-had moved to Europe in the 60's, but this album brought Chet back as well. He'd been off the scene for several years-reportedly after being beaten up by "agents" of a drug dealer-and so this album must've been a pleasant surprise to many.


This song-originally "He was..."-dates back to 1930.  It's a bit of a departure for Rodgers and Hart, who usually went for sophisticated urbanity, not Irving Berlin-like directness and simplicity. Yet this is arguably their best work.


Back to Baker-Chet was an interesting case. There really aren't many like him in jazz-trumpet players whose style is muted, rather than brash. There are fifty Dizzy Gillespie types, with their bravura approach to the instrument, for every Chet Baker or Art Farmer or Bix Beiderbecke. Jazz trumpet playing was essentially invented by Louis Armstrong, and he gave us virtuosity, volume, high notes. Not Chet.

Maynard Ferguson-"Red Creek"

Maynard, as jazz fans know, recorded some dicey music in the second half of the 70's. In this, he was hardly alone among jazz artists-and, having five kids, he perhaps had more justification than most! His albums in this period tended to be about half good stuff recorded with his band, and half over-produced extravaganzas with a ton of studio musicians.

In any case, there also other tunes, like this one, which are harder to categorize. It's a long way from classic MF, but the groove is irresistible. and Maynard crushes his solo.

Claire Martin/Ella Fitzgerald-"Too Darn Hot"

Martin is a British jazz singer.

I was looking for her fun version of Thomas Dolby's "The Key to Your Ferrari" . (That song is one guy's answer to women who wonder why men often like their cars better than their wives or girlfriends-but it can be sung to good effect by a woman as well). Anyway, it's nowhere to be found, but instead I came across Martin's treatment of this Cole Porter classic, written in the 40's for "Kiss Me Kate".


As I often point out here, so many songs that are performed by the hippest of jazz artists come from what is now seen as the unhippest of sources-the Broadway musical. Yes, there was a time when America's best songwriters wrote for the stage. I should also note that Porter, along with Irving Berlin, and later Stephen Sondheim, was one of the few in this genre who wrote both the words and music for their songs.

Enjoy!


UPDATE: It must be conceded, with all due respect to the many excellent artists who've recorded this song, that Ella Fitzgerald's version is the best.

Frank Sinatra-"Ebb Tide" (2018 Stereo Mix)

I see that "Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely", in its 60th Anniversary Edition, in now No. 3 on the Amazon Jazz Best Sellers list (number one is the unfortunate Tony Bennett-Diana Krall pairing "Love is Here To Stay"-Bennett's voice is now almost unrecognizable, sad to say).

Duke Ellington called Frank "the ultimate in theater", and this track, from what was very possibly FS's finest album, is a most excellent illustration. It's said that Sinatra was the first male vocalist to show vulnerability, and this track surely displays that quality. That vulnerability is consistent throughout the cut-there is no macho swagger here, even as FS's vocal ebbs and flows. Who else would dare this sort of honesty? Frank is naked here.