Overview: A Packed Summer Jazz Playlists & History Lesson
Columnist Robin James explores the deep roots of summer jazz standards, celebrates the legacies of influential artists celebrating birthdays, and highlights fresh, forward-thinking albums dropping this season.
The classic song “Summertime” paints an easy, idyllic picture of a summer evening: fish jumping, cotton high, a mother’s tender lullaby to her child. Those are the images from the song sung by the late great vocalist Ella Fitzgerald. Her 1960 Berlin performance of the song is absolutely stunning.
The consensus has been that Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong have the best renditions.
The bluesy lullaby is from George Gershwin’s 1935 opera “Porgy and Bess.” There was some racial controversy associated with it, and even some Black artists who boycotted the opera due to racist stereotypes thought to be attached.
American soprano Abbie Mitchell originally sang “Summertime” with Gershwin on the piano.
Whenever summer rolls around, I always think of this classic song, but I also have come to love vocalist Jill Scott’s version with vocalist/guitarist George Benson. The sheer originality of their vocal scatting collaboration with its many twists and turns is truly one-of-a-kind.
It should come as no surprise that “Summertime” has been recorded over 25,000 times! Sometimes it’s just interesting to know the history of a song that you love.
It may be summertime, but I’ve been listening to the late pianist Geri Allen, who had a birthday on June 12, and ran across her song “Red Velvet in Winter.” The song is from her 2010 album, “Flying Toward the Sound (A Solo Piano Excursion Inspired by Cecil Taylor, McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock),” recorded in 2008 and released on the Motema label in 2010. Allen passed away on June 27, 2017. She was 60 years old.
Flying toward the sound is exactly what she does, while she dares to pay proper homage to both the pianists and the piano itself. The song, like the album, is poetic in nature and really shows off her virtuosity.
Allen was not only a supreme pianist, but also a composer and educator. Allen taught at the University of Michigan and the University of Pittsburgh.
Jazz tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, who passed away May 30, 1986, celebrated a birthday on July 7. He was born in 1930 and was once described by Leonard Feather as the “middleweight champion of the tenor saxophone.” He was self-taught and also played piano.
Although Mobley, one of the most underrated musicians from the bop era, could hang with the best of them, his sound was different from John Coltrane or Sonny Rollins. His tone was more subtle and relaxed. Just listen to Mobley’s version of “If I Should Lose You,” and you’ll know.
He was born in Eastman, Georgia. Mobley’s soulful approach to hard bop makes him a standout, especially during his era of 1949-1986. Check out his discography on Blue Note, Prestige and Savoy records.
At 82, Henry Threadgill, composer, saxophonist, flutist and 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner, has a new trio album on the way out from Nonesuch on August 21. It features drummer Dafnis Prieto and pianist Vijay Iyer. It’s titled “Fifteen.” I recently read a fascinating interview about Threadgill in Jazzwise magazine from November 2022. Writer Kevin Le Gendre spoke to him.
During the interview, Threadgill speaks of his work from the mid-1970s, as well as his longtime interest in photography. The founding member of Chicago’s AACM has been all about progressive music for six decades. He’s nothing less than consistent and says he sees no reason to go backward.
Moving forward with a nod backward describes a new album from the group Butcher Brown. “A Supreme Blue,” out July 24 from Concord Records, features New Orleans multi-instrumentalist Nicholas Payton. The album includes the songs “So What,” “Freddie Freeloader,” “Acknowledgement,” “Resolution,” “All Blues” and, my favorite, “Blue in Green,” among others.
The reimagined songs from legendary albums by Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue” and John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” are as bold as they are dynamic, celebrations honoring the centennial year of both Davis and Coltrane. The reinterpreted songs, taken together, represent some of jazz’s best years, 1959 and 1965. The band’s Richmond, Virginia, sound, coupled with Payton’s fluid technique on keys and trumpet and his producing and arranging skills, makes this collaborative album potentially award-winning.
Robin James welcomes reader responses at jamesonjazz@spokesman-recorder.com.