Sephy’s Platzish

This week’s album in the spotlight is one of those albums where I had heard some of the music on it and knew that I had to have it. If you’ve been following along with my series of favorite albums, you’ll know that I’ve gleaned a bit of my musical knowledge from my time in my school’s Jazz Ensembles. Thus it will not come as any surprise that my origins with Duke Ellington’s Three Suites are listening sessions in the band room.

It was in one of these sessions that an interesting version of Tchaikovsky’s famous Nutcracker Suite was played, having been re-arranged by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, played by Duke’s orchestra. While there are, as the title suggests, three suites on the album, the one that, at least for me, always sticks in my mind is the Nutcracker. That isn’t to say that the other two suites - the Peer Gynt Suite and an original suite called “Suite Thursday” aren’t worth listening to, it is just that the familiarity most of us have with the Nutcracker Suite will lend itself to being stuck in your mind.

When you first put the album in and hit play, you’re treated to the Nutcracker’s Overture; it is a great way to introduce the concept of the album and slowly transition from the “traditional” style of Tchaikovsky into a jazz style, fully taking you into swing by time you’re halfway through the track. Next is the “Dance of the Reed-Pipes”, retitled “Toot Toot Tootie Toot”; again, it’s performed beautifully in the swing style.

The same can be said about the whole album, but for me, the next couple of tracks are definitely my favorites on the album. The first is “Peanut Brittle Brigade (March)” - this has everything from driving sounds, to ranges all over the map - from the lowest of lows with the baritone sax to the trumpets stretching their chops as far as possible. It is truly amazing, if you ask me.

However, the greatness doesn’t stop there. The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy then comes on, as Sugar Rum Cherry. Quite honestly, this is the track that made me fall in love with this album. It departs very slightly from the theme of the album while, and this is something true about these suites, maintaining the original sound that you are familiar with. This is another of those tracks that, for me, lets me go deep into my mind and relax for a few moments.

The next track, Entr’acte, can quickly lull you out of the relaxation and get you moving around as it is a fast-flowing piece of music that you will have a hard time if you don’t start to move to the beat even a little bit. At its heart is a bit of retrospective on what you’ve already heard, but with yet another different take. We then move to the Russian and Chinese Dances (Volga Volty and Chinoiserie respectively), again keeping the essence of the music, but adding the jazz spirit to it. Of special note is the section in Chinoiserie where the clarinet and sax trade staccato notes in the middle and at the end of the piece; it is a great piece of coordination which should be recognized.

Up next is the Waltz of the Flowers, represented as Danse of the Floreadores. What Ellington & Strayhorn did here was take the piece and turn it into something that, if it hadn’t been done originally by Tchaikovsky, might confuse you for being something that possibly Count Basie or some of his contemporaries would have thought up on their own. The last piece from the Nutcracker Suite is Arabesque Cookie (Arabic Dance). According to the liner notes, Paul Gonsalves took lessons on the bamboo flute so that he could play it for this track especially. He leads it off with what might be thought of as a quite exotic sound, yet one which is completely agreeable with the ears.

From here we move into the Peer Gynt Suite, No. 1 & 2. Even if you have not heard of this particular suite in the past, you will recognize at least a couple of the tracks from it. The first one is “Morning Mood”, which has the flowing sounds you might hear in the background of “rise and shine” on a random TV station (not to say that I’ve actually heard it, but that it would definitely fit). The other track that should be recognizable is In the Hall of the Mountain King - even if it isn’t completely recognized, it might wind up jogging your memory, or just get you moving again.

Really, for me, I’m not totally familiar with the rest of the album, as I tend to get caught in the Nutcracker Suite and lose myself, or I’ll listen to one of the Peer Gynt pieces - Anitra’s Death.

It just so happens that I had played the song for the jazz ensemble when it was part of the Essentially Ellington program a few years ago. Although it was a challenge to play (considering that it started with a 3-count followed immediately by a staccato note), I’ve always liked playing and listening to the track.

Why you should listen to it
If you’re a fan of classical music, you will greatly appreciate how Duke sticks to the soul of the music, making sure that the original statements are made, just in a different way. If you’re a jazz fan, then why haven’t you listened to this album already? It’s one that you should

If you’re a fan of “Oh, I like a little bit of everything, really” (and that’s definitely OK - to be honest, I’ve gotten to become that way over the last couple of years thanks to the deepening of the array of music I’ve been exposed to), then you definitely listen to at least the Nutcracker tracks and if you like those, try out the rest.

Over to you
I know I asked this question of y’all a couple of weeks ago, but what is an album that is on the must-listen list on your iPod, Winamp, or CD player? What is it about that particular album that makes you want to listen to it again and again and again?

This week, we look at another of my all-time favorite jazz albums: Arturo Sandoval’s Hot House. It’s an album that I always depend on to allow me to focus on whatever it is I’m doing. In fact, of all the tracks I’ve played that have been transmitted to last.fm, Arturo comes in 7th overall.

The album is one of the first albums that I had bought on my own (as in I got it based on it appealing to me without having had a taste of it in the past). I’ve had it ever since May of 1999 when the school jazz band I was in for the year took a trip down to Chicago. One of the things that the trip involved was a visit to the Jazz Record Mart which was still at 444 N Wabash St (and no, I didn’t need Google to remember that address ;)) at the time.

All this time later, I don’t remember exactly what hooked me on buying the album, it might have been the color on the cover, with the pastels, though I seem to remember there being a sticker on the shrink wrap that said something about being a Grammy-award nominee or winner.

Anyway, whatever the reason I bought it, the album is still worth paying full price for.

If you don’t know anything about Arturo, the important thing to know is that he is originally from Cuba, but has been a citizen since 1999. In fact, in 2000, HBO did a movie about him called For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story. To this day, I have not seen the movie*, but from what I’ve heard, it was done really well.

I’ve actually had the chance to meet him in person. It was November of 1999, and we were attending a jazz clinic at a college up in Appleton. The first event we went to was a clinic and Q-and-A session he held for all the participants of the event. However, the bit that I still remember to this day was the concert.

He had flown in from Denver on that day, but thanks to some foul-ups in luggage, he didn’t have his usual equipment with him. That didn’t stop him from putting on an amazing show, with the major feature in the show being his performance of “Sandunga” where he did solos on just about every instrument available to him - the piano, trumpet, flügelhorn, drums, timbales, and even making rhythms on his stomach.

To top it off, some of us stuck around after the show and he came out to chat a little bit, while enjoying a cigar, and I was fortunate enough to have my copy of Hot House signed by him. Looking back, about the only thing that wasn’t perfect was that I didn’t have a camera with me, but I have my mental camera and I can still see the stage that he was on, and that’s all I need.

But I do digress back to the topic at hand. Hot House is one of my favorite albums, partly because of the history I personally have with it, but also for the fact that the music is just great to listen to. Interestingly, in my Senior year in High School, we played two of the songs from the album, partly as a result of us petitioning the director to let us play them.

The album starts out with “Funky Cha-Cha” - I think that if every album started out like this one does, you’d have people enjoying music more, but you’d probably have a lot more deaf people because right out of the gate, you have a trumpet glissando up to an approximate high-C and a pop! sound. It’s hard to describe in words what the song sounds like because of its just overall “poppiness”. If you have a listen to the Amazon sample of the song, you will hear the first 30 seconds of it.

The second track, “Rhythm of Our World”, is one of those songs that, for me, sets me in a good place. It starts out with the trumpet again, this time there’s no popping, but rather a very smooth flow, with minimal backing from the piano. It is some of the cleanest playing you will ever hear, with just an amazing vibrato when a note is held. Luckily, this is one of the songs that you can listen to in its entirety on Arturo’s official site - it’s well worth the five minutes.

Both of these songs are the ones that we played in my Senior year. I didn’t play the feature part on Rhythm, but I can tell you that the person who did play it gave it justice.

Then we head back into the driving jazz with the title track, “Hot House”. It’s in the style of almost power rock, but done with the Latin beat. Next up is the first of the two vocal songs on the album, “Only You (No Se Tú)”. It’s a love song performed in both English and Spanish; I don’t remember exactly who the singer is, but she has a very rich voice that perfectly fits the role that is necessary for this song.

The fifth track is the aforementioned “Sandunga” - again, it’s another powerful song, with a lot of the popping you find in Funky Cha-Cha. It features the late Tito Puente on the timbale, and some excellent solos by the house band. This is the other song from this album that is available in its entirety on Arturo’s site, another five minutes well worth the time.

Next is the second voice track, simply titled “Tito”. It’s an homage to Tito Puente, sung in Spanish by Ray Ruiz, and again features Tito on the timbales. It’s another excellent work that features lyrics such as this -

Para tocar al timbál
Tito tiene la llave
Si tú quieres aprender
Tienes el vida de saber

Translated:
To play the Timbal
Tito has the way(?)
If you want to learn
You have the life to know

Later on, the song goes on to say that he is the king of the timbál - which is a very true statement.

Up next is “Closely Dancing” (even though for some reason Amazon have dropped the C of the front…). This is a ballad-style tune, which shows off really how sensual the trumpet can sound, along with the amazing range that Arturo and his band have. However, the range that has been shown up until now doesn’t match the range that is used in the next track - “Mam-Bop”. Being another tune with quite a bit of ‘popping’, it fits right in with the rest of the album and has some amazing sounds in it, not only from the winds, but from the percussion section as well.

We then go back to another ballad with “New Images” - it starts out with the fluegelhorn, transitions to the alto sax, then builds more layers starting with the trumpet, followed by a guitar interlude and then concludes with the whole group playing their hearts out, led by the trumpets again.

Next is “Cuban American Medley” which, as the name suggests, is a medley of American “standards” played in a Cuban style - the first two are instantly recognizable as “Back Home Again in Indiana” and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”. Another tune performed is the “Little Lulu” theme - I’ll admit that I had to look that one up on the Amazon reviews as I don’t know where the sleeve booklet went for the album.

The album ends on a lighter note with “Brassmen’s Holiday”, which could almost be mistaken for the I Love Lucy theme music with other tunes mixed in, but it is its own piece and a fitting end to the album, with a final display of amazing range from Arturo and winds up getting you moving to the beat in the end, wanting to hear it all again.

That is one thing about this album - it never seems that once is enough. I know that I’m prone to going back and listening to it over and over again, just because it is such an amazing piece of work and worth listening to.

Should you get this album? Absolutely - even if you’re not a jazz fan, it’s worth listening to at least once. Of course, my opinion might be slightly tainted by the fact that I’ve met the man and seen him play in person, and that I’ve actually played songs from the album. Though you never know, listening to this album might change your mind.

Lastly, a mention needs to be made of his version of A Night in Tunisia. For years I’d had heard only the first half of the song, but recently have heard the full version. While it isn’t the most famous version of the song ever done, it is one of the best; it goes for 15 minutes, but it doesn’t feel like that long when you’re listening to it. Below is a clip from the Montreal Jazz Festival where Arturo played a version of Night In Tunisia.

Be forewarned though, that it gets cut off right before the end, and that there is synth playing involved.

Next week, I’m not going to feature an album, but rather a radio show about music…

*Actually, I did see the movie, but it was scrambled so I could only hear it (anyone else remember the days when you could watch the scrambled feeds of the premium channels? ;))

This is the first in an occasional series of posts about some of my favorite albums, and chances are that you have not heard these albums before, as they are in a bit of a niche (mostly Jazz) that obviously isn’t the most popular these days; at least if you weren’t involved in the art when you were in school.

The first album that I’m going to highlight is one of the most famous live albums in all of jazz - Ellington At Newport, recorded in July of 1956 at the Newport Jazz Festival and released shortly after, it revitalized the fledgling career of Duke’s band, one of the last big bands that were still touring at the time.

The version of the album that I own (the 1999 re-release after discovering a “lost” tape of this concert) starts off with one of the best renditions of the national anthem out there. Coming in at a scant 1:14, it should serve as a lesson to anyone performing the song that you can do it without a lot of fanfare and make it sound amazing. The secret is that you just can’t have someone signing the words to the song since that is the cause of the time loss.

After some introductions and a few more songs, the band leaves the stage and Father Norman O’Connor discusses the goings-on at the festival, mentioning one Quincy Jones who would become famous a few years later as a composer.

What had happened was that half of the band were off on their own, so when they were all found once again, they retook the stage and performed what is Duke’s signature tune - Take the A-Train. With the concert finally back in full swing, they then get into the meat of their performance - the three part piece especially written for the festival. This is also where you start to see massive differences between the live album and the “studio” album.

Since I’ve heard this album too many times to count, I know the specific markers in some of the songs that will tell you if it is the live version or the recorded version. For example, in the first segment of the performance, Festival Junction, there is a point in the live version where (this is about 1:30 into the track) you hear grunting in the background. The studio version removed this grunting, which takes away a bit of the character.

The part that I really dislike about the studio version is that, since solos are what they are - meant to be different every time - the solo at the end of the production track just doesn’t have the same feeling as the solo that was done live (the production version’s solo is, for the lack of a better term, bland).

Taking center stage for this album, though, is the 14-minute rendition of Diminuendo in Blue and Crescendo in Blue, with a long solo in the middle by Paul Gonsalves, which leads to pandemonium in the crowd. It starts out pretty serenely, but as the track progresses, the momentum builds as you experience the solo going on and hear the background noise of the audience just build and build.

At this point, the crowd were totally out of control, so Duke goes straight for another song, I Got it Bad (And That Ain’t Good), featuring Johnny Hodges (of whom is said, “If you’ve heard of the saxophone, you’ve heard of Johnny Hodges”). If it wasn’t for discovering the “lost” tape of this concert, one of the best-sounding mistakes would likely have been lost forever.

In the opening of the tune, Hodges (pardon the technical term here) “fracked” a note as he started to play. He did it twice and then got it right on the third try, yet the studio version cleans all that up in the name of a good sounding album. In my opinion, if there was ever a time when you could get away with a mistake, this certainly was it.

After a couple of more tunes, the album then has a track simply titled “Riot Prevention.” How can anyone resist an album that has a track with that title? It starts with someone yelling “That’s it!”, but Duke persuades this person to let him just say good night.

As it so happens, saying good night means announcing that there’s a heavy request for drummer Sam Woodyard and Skin Deep - which lasts for almost 10 minutes. They finally do say good night to a crazy crowd who are disappointed to see them go, but I suspect that if they did go on, you’d have heard stories about arrests.

Like I mentioned, the album then has the rerecorded portions of the concert, mostly as they were released in 1956, including the noticeably fake crowd noises interspersed into the comments by Father O’Connor and Duke; you also hear the crowd inserted into the songs, mostly during solos. While there are a few people who say that the studio version is the better version for a variety of reasons - less mistakes, I’ve always preferred the live version of the songs, and will do so for as long as I listen to it.

If you’re interested in checking out the album, you can find it on Amazon, where they do have clips of each of the songs available for you to listen to. This is one of the albums that I think anyone who is studying jazz should definitely listen to over and over again. I have to admit that I’d not listened to it for a while, but have been listening to it during my walks lately and it is a truly remarkable work that everyone should listen to at least once.

Are there any albums that you can think of which would be considered essential listening for everyone?