Playlist and Notes: 21 February 2023

 

This week we continue our examination of foundational blues songs, as well as the linkages between jazz music and the continent of Africa.

Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra & Illinois Jacquet – Flying Home (3:12)

Zoot Sims – Summerset (4:16)

THe Gil Evans Orchestra – Where Flamingos Fly (5:12)

Valaida Snow – You’re Driving Me Crazy (2:21)

Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson – Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby (2:52)

Leadbelly – We’re in the Same Boat Brother (2:42)

Skip James – Hard Time Killin’ Floor Blues (2:51)

Junie Cobb – South African Blues (3:15)

Dollar Brand – Scullery Department (featuring Hugh Masekela) (7:01)

Randy Weston – Portrait of Cheikh Anta Diop (8:59)

Ethioda – Musiqawi silt (5:01)

Monty Alexander – Monk’s Dream (6:36)

 

Notes

Lionel Hampton (1908-2002) – Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Hampton was an influential vibraphonist, pianist, and percussionist, as well as a prominent band leader. At a very early age he moved to Birmingham, Alabama. Benny Goodman invited him to play in his trio and quartet, along with Teddy Wilson and Gene Krupa, making it one of the first racially integrated jazz groups to play to audiences. In 1940 he formed his own small orchestra. His recording of “Flying Home,” with Illinois Jacquet on saxophone became one of his biggest hits. In 1984, Hampton was inducted to the Jazz Hall of Fame.

Illinois Jacquet (1922-2004) – One of the most innovative saxophonists of his day, many consider Jacquet as prefiguring R&B and rock and roll music. Born in Broussard, Louisiana, he moved to Los Angles in 1938 where he began working with Nat King Cole. He is probably most famous to the jazz aficionados for his searing solo on “Flying Home,” with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra in 1942. He was an important advocate against Jim Crow laws in Texas and elsewhere in the United States.

Valaida Snow (1904-1956) – Born Chattanooga, Tennessee, Snow played several instruments, sang and danced. She was best known as a trumpeter, and Louis Armstrong once referred to her as the second-best trumpeter in the world (after himself). She toured Europe and the world, but unfortunately, few remember her today. She was touring Denmark when Germany invaded the country. She was arrested and was imprisoned. She was released in a prisoner exchanged in 1942.[1] In 2020, Snow was featured in the New York Times’s Overlooked No More, a series of overdue obituaries for remarkable people who did not receive an obituary at the time of their deaths.[2]

Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson (1917-1988) – Once described as “one of the cleanest – and nastiest – blues voices you’ll ever hear.”

Lead Belly (1888-1949) – Born Huddle William Ledbeter, Lead Belly wrote and performed many songs, from different genres. over the course of his career, including the blues and gospel. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Bob Dylan credits Lead Belly for his interest in folk music. George Harrison was a big fan, arguing the British rock owed its existence to him.

Skip James (1902-1969) – James began his recording career in the early 1930s, during the worst of the Great Depression. Consequently, his records did not sell, and he went back to Mississippi working as a sharecropper. He was rediscovered in the early 1960s and recorded music again in the years before his death.

Junie Cobb (1896-1970) – A significant bandleader from the early days of recorded jazz and blues, Cobb played in Paris and Chicago.

Randy Weston (1926-2018) – Pianist who was particularly interested in the linkages between jazz and its influences from African music. One of his biggest influences was Thelonious Monk, and his piano style reflected his idol’s sensibilities although with the incorporation of African rhythms.

 

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[1] See: Clarence Lusane, Hitler's Black Victims: The Historical Experiences of Afro-Germans, European Blacks, Africans, and African Americans in the Nazi Era (2003), page 168.

[2] Giovanni Russonello. “Overlooked No More: Valaida Snow, Charismatic ‘Queen of the Trumpet’,” New York Times, 22 February 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/22/obituaries/valaida-snow-overlooked-black-history-month.html.