Jazz for aficionados

Thanks for the Phil Woods clip, Acman3.  Interesting rhythm section; very good, and with a unique feel.  Some may disagree, but just as Latin players playing straight ahead jazz sound a little different than American jazz musicians, I suppose it would be the same for Japanese or any other nationality.  This is not a racist thing at all, but a simple observation and as it should be, given the differences in the various cultures.  Subtle, but it's there.  I liked the intro and how it borrowed from Miles' "Milestones".

O-10, "Harlem Nocturne" is one of my favorite tunes and is to every alto player what a tune like "Body and Soul" is to every tenor player.  Very evocative melody.  I need to try and find out who the alto player is on the Duke version; doesn't sound like Johnny Hodges.

Alex, thanks for those Shelley Manne clips.  Great stuff.  Richie Kamuca was a very nice player who is not a heard very often.

Frogman, I didn't look it up because that would be cheating, but after listening, I think it was Johnny Hodges. Could you look it up and fine who the alto soloist was. I'll be back to find out.

While I couldn't find out who played the alto sax solo with Duke Ellington on "Harlem Nocturne", I did find St. Louis Blues played by Johnny Hodges. All of us can compare the two, and vote whether or not Johnny Hodges did the solo with the Duke.




                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NJcTWZYS20





Enjoy the music.

O-10, I love these YouTube mysteries. The alto player just doesn’t sound like Hodges to me.  In fact, the band doesn’t sound like Duke’s band to me; especially the baritone saxophone which doesn’t have that wonderful huge sound that Harry Carney had. So, like you, I set out to get to the bottom of it.

First of all, "Harlem Nocturne" was written by Earle Hagen for the Ray Noble orchestra as a tribute to Johnny Hodges and the Ellington sound; which explains why another orchestra might try to sound like Duke’s band. Still, close but no cigar. Eventhough it is often erroneously assumed that it is actually an Ellington tune, there is practically nothing written about a Duke recording of HN, although there are a couple of references to Duke having recorded it; but, no details. Strange. While I will, for now, stick to what my ears tell me, I could be wrong. But, I found this; check this out:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0nrk2YLGKXg

And this:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j3sFkxSh62k

Exact same recording, both times, as the one credited to Duke in your post; this time by the Ted Heath orchestra.

Fee-fi-fo-fum!

One last comment re the alto player on the recording. The very last note of the tune: no way! That is not a Johnny Hodges vibrato. I don’t think the recording in your post is by Duke at all.

Thanks for the opportunity to do a little sleuthing. The tune was detective Mike Hammer’s theme, after all😉

Frogman, if there was a grand prize, you would win it. Although I knew it wasn't written by Duke Ellington, I thought the band was his because that's what it said. It's for sure I'm no big band expert, as my collection attests to that fact.

Are the musical 'you tubes' getting as fake as the one's with an anaconda wrapped around an elephant or a lion. Since anacondas live in South America, and lions and elephants in Africa, we would have to have a jet setting anaconda.

Thanks for the detective work, maybe Mike Hammer could use some help?




Enjoy the music.