Friday, October 24, 2014

There's Playlist in My Eyes


Coffeetime, October 24, 2014, Angelynn Grant

bed
Bucky Pizzarelli / Flashes - Solo 7-String Guitar, Volume 3 / Arbors Jazz / 2004

set 1
Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers / Ritual / Touché / Pacific Jazz / 2.11.57
Frank Foster / My Heart Stood Still / Vogue / Paris 4.4.54
Noël Chiboust et son Orchestre / Le Sheik / Swing / Paris 10.22.40
McKinney’s Cotton Pickers / It’s a Precious Little Thing Called Love / Victor / 4.8.29 
Billy Cotton & his Orchestra / Sing a New Song / Columbia / London 8.24.32 / vocal = Alan Breeze
Roy Milton & his Solid Senders / Everything I Do Is Wrong / Specialty / LA 7.13.48
Morgana King / Winter of My Discontent / Who Can I Turn To / Ascot / 1964

set 2
Horace Silver / Blowin’ the Blues Away / Melancholy Mood / Blue Note / 8.29.59
Eddie Davis / Modern Jazz by Eddie Davis / Tenderly / King / Cincinnati 1958
Lee Konitz / Roost 5th Anniversary Album [Originalee] / Ballad for Ruth / Roost / Paris 9.18.53 
The Lewis Bronzeville Five / Low Down Gal Blues / Bluebird / Chicago 4.11.40
The Orioles / Baby, Please Don’t Go / Jubilee / 9.6.51
Robert Morse / I Believe in You / original Broadway cast score to How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying / RCA Victor / 1961

set 3
Buddy Collette / Buddy Collette in Italy / Inverness / Vergara / 1961
Curtis Amy & Paul Bryant / Meetin’ Here / Meetin’ Here / Pacific Jazz / Hollywood 1961
Kai Winding / Roost 5th Anniversary Album [Kai Winding All Stars] / Sleepy Bop / Roost / 1950 
Anita O’Day / José Gonzalez / V-Disc 543B / August 1945 / with Gene Krupa & his Orchestra
The Robins / There’s Rain in My Eyes / National / LA 12.1.49 / with Johnny Otis Band
Bobby Troup / Stars of Jazz / Back in Your Own Back Yard / RCA Victor / Hollywood 1958

set 4
Lennie Niehaus / Volume 5 The Sextet / I Wished on the Moon / Contemporary / LA 1.9, 11, 12.56
Sonny Criss / Jazz USA / Easy Living / Imperial / LA early 1956
Paul Smith / Fine, Sweet and Tasty / September Song (take 2) / Tampa [unissued] / Hollywood 11.13.53 
Kay Starr / My Future Just Passed / Standard transcription / 5.45 / with Les Paul & his Trio with Joe Venuti
Little Esther & Mel Walker / Deceivin’ Blues / Savoy / 6.20.50 / with Johnny Otis Orchestra
BB King / Jump with Your Baby / RPM / LA 1955
Paramount Singers / You’ve Got to Bow Down Before God / Coral / San Francisco 1952

last soul song
The Class Mates aka The Coronadas / You Can Do Me Some Good / Bright Star / Chicago early 1967

Friday, October 17, 2014

A Peach of a Playlist

I played Kapps today, just not *this* Kapp!


Coffeetime, October 17, 2014, Angelynn Grant

bed
Bucky Pizzarelli / Flashes - Solo 7-String Guitar, Volume 3 / Arbors Jazz / 2004

set 1
Oliver Nelson / Meet Oliver Nelson / Don’t Stand Up / New Jazz / 10.30.59
Sonny Clark / Leapin’ and Lopin’ / Midnight Mambo / Blue Note / 11.13.61
Pete Brown’s All-Star Quintet / That’s My Weakness Now / Keynote / 7.19.44 
Cliff Edwards aka Ukulele Ike / That’s My Weakness Now / Columbia / 7.3.28
Shorty Bates & his Texas Saddle Pals / You’re There / Mel-o-tone / Dallas late 1940s
Jimmy Forrest / Dig Those Feet / United [unissued] / 2.3.53 
Carmen McRae / Book of Ballads / How Long Has This Been Going On / Kapp / 1958

set 2
Oliver Nelson / Meet Oliver Nelson / Passion Flower / New Jazz / 10.30.59
Kenny Dorham / ’Round About Midnight at the Cafe Bohemia / Autumn in New York / Blue Note / 5.31.56
Les Paul Trio / This Can’t Be Love / V-Disc / mid-1940s
Gus Arnheim & his Orchestra / A Peach of a Pair / Victor / Hollywood 6.18.31 / vocal = Russ Columbo 
Julia Lee & her Boyfriends / Do You Want It? / Capitol / Kansas City 1949 
The Five Keys / I Took Your Love for a Toy / King / Cincinnati 8.18.59
Hidle Brown “H.B.” Barnum  / The Big Voice of / How Many More Times / RCA Victor / Hollywood 1960 / 

set 3
Sonny Rollins / I’m an Old Cowhand [alt take] / Contemporary / LA 3.7.57
Pete Johnson / Buss Robinson Blues [alt take] / Solo Art / 4.16.39
The Charioteers / Stardust / transcription / 1942
Jo Stafford & her V-Disc Play Boys / Gee, It’s Good to Hold You / V-Disc 584A / Hollywood 7.30.45 / with Paul Weston & his Orchestra
Fred Astaire / Now / medley: The Girl on the Magazine Cover; I Love to Quarrel with You; Along Came Ruth / Kapp / Hollywood 1959

set 4
Curtis Counce / You Get More Bounce with Curtis Counce / Mean to Me / Contemporary / LA 9.3.57
Kenny Burrell & Frank Wess / Jazz for Playboys / Pin Up / Savoy / 12.26.56
Lester Young / The Master’s Touch / Blues ’n Bells [take 2] / Savoy / 6.28.49 
Fats Waller / Baby Brown / radio transcription / 3.11.35
Stella Johnson / Please Tell Me So / KRC [Kent Records Corp] / 1.20.58
Bobby Darin / medley: This Could Be the Start of Something Big; Just in Time / live, Ed Sullivan Show 1962
Jubalaires / I Declare the World Is in a Bad Condition / Standard transcription / late 1940s

last soulful song
Jerry Butler / Aware of Love / Vee Jay / 1961

Friday, October 10, 2014

There’s a Cabin in the Playlist


Coffeetime, October 10, 2014, Angelynn Grant

bed
Bucky Pizzarelli / Flashes - Solo 7-String Guitar, Volume 3 / Arbors Jazz / 2004

set 1
Freddie Hubbard / Goin’ Up Up Up / A Peck a Sec / Blue Note / 11.6.60
Art Pepper / Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section / Tin Tin Deo / Contemporary / LA 1.19.57
Don Byas / Melody in Swing / Super Disc / 9.12.45 
Ray Noble & his Orchestra / There’s a Cabin in the Pines / HMV / London 7.13.33 / vocal = Al Bowlly
Linda Hopkins / Come Back Baby / Federal / Kansas City 2.9.56
Peggy Lee / Pete Kelly’s Blues / Bye, Bye Blackbird / Decca / Hollywood 5.10.55 

set 2
Jimmy Smith / House Party / Lover Man / Blue Note / 2.25.58 
Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse All Stars / Celedia / Liberty / LA 2.14.57
Larry Adler / They Can’t Take That Away from Me / Columbia / London 6.3.37 / with Carroll Gibbons & his Orchestra
Louis Prima & his New Orleans Gang / Worry Blues / Brunswick / 12.26.34 / duet with George Brunies
Big Three Trio / Evening / Columbia / Chicago 12.30.47
Big Mama Thornton / The Fish / Peacock / Houston early 1955
Jackie DeShannon / A Tribute to Burt Bacharach / To Wait for Love / Scepter / 1972

set 3
Duke Pearson / Wahoo! / Bedouin / Blue Note / 11.24.64
Phineas Newborn Jr / A World of Piano! / Oleo / Contemporary / 10.16.61
Charlie Parker / Charlie’s Wig / Dial / 12.17.47 
Gene Krupa & his Orchestra / Skylark / Okeh / 11.25.41 / vocal = Anita O’Day
The Ravens / Send for Me If You Need Me / National / 5.48
Mel Tormé / At The Red Hill / Early Autumn / Atlantic / live, Red Hill Inn, Pennsauken, NJ 3.24 & 25.62

set 4
Mel Lewis / Got’Cha / In a Mellowtone / Jazz Records / San Francisco 11.19.56
Shorty Rogers & his Giants / Cool and Crazy / Tale of an African Lobster / RCA Victor / LA 3.26.53 
Big Maybelle / So Long / Savoy / 4.13.57
Frank Sinatra / (Love Is) The Tender Trap / Capitol / Hollywood 9.13.55
Golden Gate Quartet / Bye and Bye Little Children / Bluebird / 11.15.38

last soulful song
Ruby & The Romantics / Your Baby Doesn’t Love You Anymore / Kapp / 4.65 

Friday, October 03, 2014

I Woke Up with a Playlist

Coffeetime, October 3, 2014, Angelynn Grant

bed
Bucky Pizzarelli / Flashes - Solo 7-String Guitar, Volume 3 / Arbors Jazz / 2004

set 1
Hank Mobley / Poppin’ / Gettin’ into Something / Blue Note / 10.20.57
Clifford Brown / Salute to the Bandbox / Vogue / Paris 10.8.53
Earl Hines & his Orchestra / Ridin’ and Jivin’ / Bluebird / 7.12.39
Annette Hanshaw / I Cover the Waterfront / Banner / 6.3.33 
Fred Astaire / soundtrack to Shall We Dance / They Can’t Take That Away from Me / Brunswick / Hollywood 3.37
Sarah Vaughan / After Hours at the London House / Thanks for the Memory / Mercury / live, London House, Chicago 3.7.58

set 2
Yusef Lateef / The Three Faces of Yusef Lateef / From Within / Riverside / 5.9.60
Jimmy Cleveland / Introducing Jimmy Cleveland / You Don’t Know What Love Is / EmArcy / 8.12.55
Dexter Gordon / Dexter Blows Hot and Cool / Don’t Worry About Me / Dootone / LA 11.11-12.55
Joe Venuti / Autumn Leaves / radio transcription, Bing Crosby GE show / LA 1952-53 season (when Venuti was a regular)
Billy Eckstine / I Want to Talk About You / AFRS radio transcription / 3.4.45 / arranged by Tadd Dameron
Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five / Your Socks Don’t Match / Decca [unreleased take] / Hollywood 7.26.44 / with Bing Crosby
The Treniers / This Is It / Okeh / LA 1.9.52
Sammy Davis, Jr. / I Gotta Be Me / I’m a Brass Band / Reprise / LA 2.1.68 

set 3
Shelly Manne & his Men / Play “Checkmate” / The King Swings / Contemporary / LA 10.17, 24.61
Kenny Clarke / Jazz Men Detroit / Apothegm / Savoy / 5.9.56
Howard McGhee / High Wind in Hollywood / Dial / Hollywood 10.18.46
Ella Logan & Spirits of Rhythm / I Woke Up with a Teardrop / Columbia / Hollywood 9.4.41
Johnny Hartman / John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman / Dedicated to You / Impulse! / 3.7.63 

set 4
Shelly Manne / Shelly Manne & his Friends, vol 1 / I Cover the Waterfront / Contemporary / LA 2.11.56
Lester Young / I Cover the Waterfront (take 2) / Clef / Hollywood spring 1946
Mildred Bailey / There’s a Cabin in the Pines / Brunswick / 6.6.33 / with the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra
Lulu / New Routes / Where’s Eddie / Atco / Muscle Shoals 1970
The Soul Stirrers / Loved Ones are Waiting (take 2) / Specialty / Hollywood 3.4.58 / solo by Paul Foster

last soulful song
Gil Scott-Heron / Real Eyes / Your Daddy Loves You / Arista / 1980

Remembering my Dad, Edgar Weston Grant

Edgar Weston Grant, 1932–2014

– Angelynn Grant

My friend and my father passed away on Saturday, September 20, 2014. It’s a tough, dual loss. We were friends always, like friends, sometimes disagreeing and taking pauses, but we never lost touch. I always looked forward to updating him on school, or friends, beautiful sunsets, or the mundane pet peeves of life.

His entry into this world made the newspapers. Back in 1932, the Cranston/Provience city line passed through the room at my grandparents’ house on Edgewood Boulevard where my dad was born. This caused quite a stir as the two deputy superintendents of health took two days to decide in which town his birth should be registered. There was a fairly large write up in the Journal and it became a public interest story all over the country. Just a few weeks ago, during some idle Googling, I found a Plattsburgh paper that used the article to fill a few column inches and, no doubt, give a good, old fashioned chuckle to its readers.

My dad loved his parents. I never heard him say one bad word about either one or about any punishment they may have had to deal out to him as a boy. My grandparents, maybe by design, spaced their three children roughly eight years apart: first Shirley, then my dad Eddie, and then Judy. This way, as my mom pointed out the other day, each child was doted on. My grandmother’s brother, my dad’s beloved uncle Eddie, and his wife Mamie took turns taking the older two on vacations with them and my dad recalled those trips with as much thrill and pride last year as he must have had back then. And, after his uncle Eddie passed away, Mamie became my dad’s movie matinee partner.

My dad became friends with the neighbor Armbrust boys and went to their church, St. Paul’s Lutheran. That started lifelong friendships with “the gang,” some of whom are here tonight. Not many people keep lifelong friends; it says a lot about all of them and their days in the Walther League – tales of which my siblings and I heard many times as kids.

My parents met at the Walther League. They were young when they married (19 and 20) and had an instant family with my adopted older sister Vickie and their new child one year later, Stephanie. And I wasn’t far behind.

My parents gave us a storybook childhood. Camping vacations, picnics, drive ins, birthday parties, and always a fun time in the backyard of what had been my Swedish great-grandparents’ house in Edgewood. They sacrificed a lot, yet still kept up with their friends from church, friends from square dancing, and all of our aunts, uncles, and cousins. Big family dinners and cookouts were common.

My dad went into the jewelry industry, no doubt influenced by many at St. Paul’s. He was celebrated at the end of his apprenticeship as a top apprentice. In addition, to support his young family, my dad enlisted in the Navy Reserves and had many moonlighting jobs. In the Reserves, he was a photographer and his buddy went on to a career at the National Geographic. My father got to meet a young Senator Jack Kennedy and his new wife Jackie at the base once. (Sadly, he wasn’t able to take a photo he could keep.)

One of his moonlighting jobs was as a photographer at The Celebrity Club, a hot jazz/pop club in Providence. Technically, “camera girls” took the photos, going around table to table, and my father would develop them in back. The darkroom was next to the entertainers’ dressing room and he met so many stars. The ones that always made an impression on me were Sarah Vaughn and the Treniers. He told me just a few months ago, how Sammy Davis Jr picked his brain about camera lenses and techniques, because Sammy was a photo buff himself. There, my parents got to see Patti Page, a big deal for a couple so young and working hard for every penny. They stayed huge fans of hers.

My dad was not just a skilled draftsman, making technical drawings for some machine part with precision pencils, he also was a gifted cartoonist. He could draw Donald Duck perfectly! He loved art everywhere, both musical and visual. We had all kinds of music playing in our house – the jazz/popular music like that from The Celebrity Club, country/hillbilly music from square dancing, and whatever rock and roll was coming along: Elvis, the Beatles, the Who – and my father never once said any type of music was bad. In 1985, he and I saw Bo Diddley and Carl Perkins in the same night. It was a nonjudgmental environment. Instead, he always tried to find out what *you* liked about something.

He loved visual art and he and I went to many gallery openings, like the small exhibit of the early 20th century photographer Alfred Stieglitz at Wheaton College in 1980 and many trips to the RISD museum.

He would point out the lovely purple flowers growing along the sides of the highway or the pretty “mackerel back” cloud formation in the sky – a sign of coming rain. When we were in Watch Hill, we always stayed to watch the sun dip below the horizon.

He was a great conversationalist and, although as a teen it may have made me blush, he would strike up conversation with any and every grocery store bagger. He loved to sing and had a great voice. He knew how to read music and we had always had a piano. So I read music almost as early as I learned to read words. He knew a good amount of German, again because of St. Paul’s with its large German congregation, and loved to sing out “O Tannenbaum.” He knew a smattering of Swedish from my grandmother, mostly confined to pepperkakker and other words for yummy foods.

We both loved basketball. I guess I did, because he did. We watched the Providence College Friars on TV when Jimmy Walker played and, starting when I was 11 years old, we went to games together, first at P.C. and then as season ticket holders in the Civic Center for the big championship seasons of the early ’70s. We had the best seats: it was a two-seat aisle all by itself, center court, not far up, across from the benches. Of course, we had the best. That was my dad.

He was good at playing sports, too. In his fifties, he became a golfing fiend – and got very good at it. He and I canoed a lot. He was so deft at maneuvering the canoe to the side of the river so I could nibble on wild blueberries or get us in the right position so I could scoop up golf balls off the coast of the Weekapaug golf course. Fishing for golf balls was a passion for us and we set a trend, drew competition, eventually from the course itself.

I’m grateful that, in his last few years, my sister Stephanie and I were able to help him live in his own home, in the way he wanted.

I’ll miss calling him and reading him this long speech. I’ll miss telling him about my projects and my clients, my neighbors and my pals, my car mechanic and my saint of a dentist. I was lucky. He was a one of a kind dad.