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Welcome to another 2 hours of jazz on Radio Mecha. As usual, I'll be posting some links, comments and credits as the set plays, which I hope are of interest to those listening, as well as to those who come to this thread later.

In this program, we have plenty of tunes by interesting, if forgotten songwriters, as well as some novelty vocals by some notable early greats of jazz. I try to make a point of crediting songwriters in these programs, simply because the credits they're usually given on recordings is obligatory by statue, and in these days of recorded music, the people that write the music, it seems to me, are too often forgotten, because they go unmentioned too often. So I hope that some of the links to songwriters I include, at least occasionally stimulate your interests, or set the tune for you, in the times and experience from which it came.

The tune that I open these sets with, "The Greeting" is from a later McCoy Tyner album, called Things Ain't What They Used To Be, and it is a Tyner composition.

#2 Mighty Like A Rose

Art Tatum playing a tune by Ethelbert Woodbridge Nevin from the Pablo CD re-issue of the Verve series "Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces Vol. 7". From the liner notes for this series:

"In 1954, Art Tatum (1910-1956) began recording a series of performances for Norman Granz's Verve label which were to occupy the rest of his life. This series included 121 piano solos, all of which were committed to tape without rehearsal or preamble or reference to stopwatch. Tatum simply sat at the keyboard, the machines were switched on and the marathon began."

#3 Mandy Lee Blues

Joe "King" Oliver and Louis Armstrong on cornets, with Honore Dutrey (trombone), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Lil Hardin Armstrong (piano), Bill Johnson (banjo), Baby Dodds (drums) recorded acoustically in Richmond, Indiana on April 5, 1923 doing a tune by Marty Bloom and music publisher (and sometime swindler) Walter Melrose.

#4 Sidney's Blues

Sidney Bechet (clarinet, soprano sax, and vocal), Sonny White (piano), Charlie Howard (guitar), Wilson Myers (bass), Kenny Clarke (drums) recorded February 5, 1940 in NYC.

#5 Your Feets Too Big

Fats Waller and His Rhythm recorded November 3, 1939 for RCA. Waller (piano and vocal), John Hamilton (trumpet), Gene Sedric (clarinet and tenor sax), John Smith (guitar), Cedric Wallace (bass) and Slick Jones (drums). From the liner notes for the Bluebird CD re-issue, by George Winston:

"This hit of Fats has his trademark humor with verbal interjections like "It sounds like baby patter - baby elephant patter!" but is somewhat more subtle than the version in the film clip he made. The end quip, "One never knows, do one?" was one he used often on record and which he also used very effectively in a sene in the 1943 movie, Stormy Weather."

#6 Yesterdays

Billie Holiday with Frankie Newton's Orchestra recorded July 2, 1935 by Brunswick, NYC, doing a tune by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach.

Evenin' paulsc :)

#7 Blues For Tommy

Meade "Lux" Lewis and the Port of Harlem Seven [Lewis (piano), Frankie Newton (trumpet), J.C. Higginbotham (trombone), Sidney Bechet (soprano sax and clarinet), Teddy Bunn (guitar), Johnny Williams (bass) and Big Sid Catlett (drums)] recorded June, 1939 in NYC for Blue Note.

You may notice that side men and leaders alternated a lot in NYC groups in '30's. A buck was a buck in hard times.

Good evenin', phoenixc! How are you doin', tonight?

Doin' good. Debating whether or not to go to the gym at the moment. :) You?

#8 East Of The Sun

Charlie "Bird" Parker with his Quintet [Walter Bishop (piano), Mundell Lowe (guitar), Teddy Kotick (bass) and Max Roach (drums)] and strings, recorded live at the Rockland Palace, NYC, September 6, 1952, doing the signature standard by Brooks Bowman. From the excellent Yardbird Suite compilation CD box set.

"... You?"

I'm fine. Trimmed hedges for a couple hours this afternoon, so I've had my workout.

#9 Circle

From the October, 1966 "Miles Smiles" album, here's a tune by Davis that seems to have been rarely played in concert settings, or ever re-recorded.

#10 My Man's Gone Now

Here's the "classic" Bill Evans Trio, with Scott LeFaro on bass, and Paul Motian on drums, from the 1961 "Sunday at the Village Vanguard" LP, doing the classic Gershwin tune from Porgy and Bess. LeFaro's musicality and melodic invention is clearly featured in this recording, but he'd be dead in a car accident, soon after this recording date.

#11 Syrinx

Jazz flautist Hubert Laws, with an arrangement multi-tracking himself, of a theme by Claude DeBussy, from the 1971 album "The Rite of Spring."

This one's quite awesome! His tones are so warm.

#12 Wave

The Chairman of the Board (straining a bit to go low) with a tricky little tune by Jobim, recorded February 11, 1969 in Hollywood. Arrangement by Eumir Deodato, from the 1997 Reprise CD compilation, The Very Best of Frank Sinatra.

#13 When Your Lover Has Gone

George Shearing with a tune by Einar A. Swan [PDF file link to a fascinating 80 page monograph entitled "Who Was Einar Swan? A Study in Jazz Age Fame and Oblivion" - highly recommended, if you have some time]. From the 1993 Capitol/Curb compilation CD "The Best of George Shearing."

#14 Love Theme From Spartacus

The Ramsey Lewis Trio [Lewis (piano), Eldee Young (bass & cello), and "Redd" Holt (drums)], with the popular romance theme from the 1960 Oscar winning Stanley Kubrick movie, featuring Kirk Douglas.

#15 Aspen

John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola, and Paco DeLucia with a McLaughlin tune from the 1982 album "Passion, Grace, and Fire."

#16 Go Home

From the 1959 album "Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster," a Gerry Mulligan tune.

#17 Old Folks

Pat Metheny (guitar) with Dave Holland (bass) and Roy Haynes (drums) from the 1989 CD "Question and Answer" with a tune that's been recorded dozens of times since it was written in the 1930's by Willard Robison and Dedette Lee Hill.

#18 Her

An improvisation by Stan Getz recorded for the 1961 studio album "Focus", otherwise brilliantly written and arranged by Eddie Sauter. From Stan Getz's comments for the album:

"While the string parts were fixed, there was nothing written for Getz. As the saxophonist explained the situation, 'The score had no gaps for me to fill - I had to create my own space and recreate the whole piece as I was playing.'"

This is an especially heartfelt ballad performance for Getz, and was dedicated to his mother, who died, while the "Focus" sessions were taking place.

#19 Black Codes

Recorded January 11 and 14, 1985 in New York, for the CD "Black Codes (From the Underground)", here is a Wynton Marsalis (trumpet) tune, with brother Branford Marsalis (soprano and tenor saxes), Kenny Kirkland (piano), Charnett Moffett (bass), and Jeff "Tain" Watts (drums).

Paul, this makes working late so much better.

Working late sucks, theora55! Glad you could join us, and I hope the tunes make it go a little faster for you...

#20 New Arrival

Tito Puente's Golden Latin Jazz All-Stars from the 1992 album "Live at the Village Gate" with a tune by Hilton Ruiz.

#21 My One and Only Love

McCoy Tyner from the 1989 CD "Things Ain't What They Used To Be" with a lovely tune from 1952 by Guy Wood and Robert Mellin.

#22 You Call It Madness

Diana Krall from her 1996 CD "All For You" with a 1931 tune with 4 authors: Russ Columbo, Con Conrad, Gladys Dubois & Paul Gregory.

#23 I Will Say Goodbye

Once again, The Bill Evans Trio, with Eddie Gomez on bass and Eliot Zigmund on drums, takes us out with the title track from the 1977 album of the same name. To recap, in this set, we heard:

1. McCoy Tyner - The Greeting (2:27)
2. Art-Tatum - Mighty Like A Rose (6:09)
3. King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band - Mandy Lee Blues (2:10)
4. Sidney Bechet - Sidney's Blues / Sidney Bechet & His New Orleans Feetwarmers (3:03)
5. Fats Waller - Your Feets Too Big (Fats Waller and his Rhythm) (3:05)
6. Billie Holiday - Yesterdays (3:27)
7. Meade 'Lux' Lewis - Blues For Tommy (4:27)
8. Charlie Parker - East Of The Sun (3:34)
9. Miles Davis - Circle (5:54)
10. Bill Evans Trio - My Man's Gone Now (6:24)
11. Hubert Laws - Syrinx (3:31)
12. Frank Sinatra - Wave (1969) (3:19)
13. George Shearing - When Your Lover Has Gone (2:56)
14. Ramsey Lewis Trio - Love Theme From Spartacus (7:09)
15. John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola, Paco DeLucia - Aspen (4:09)
16. Gerry Mulligan - Go Home (10:04)
17. Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Roy Haynes - Old Folks (6:40)
18. Stan Getz - Her (6:12)
19. Wynton Marsalis - Black Codes (9:33)
20. Tito Puente - New Arrival (9:28)
21. McCoy Tyner - My One and Only Love (7:59)
22. Diana Krall - You Call It Madness (4:36)
23. Bill Evans Trio - I Will Say Goodbye (3:30)

Until next time, kids, "One never knows, does one?"