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Tag: Jazz

Exploring the Jazz of Hank Mobley on his Birthday!

Peci-kin' Time - Hank Mobley

Hank Mobley – Tenor Saxophone – Composer (July 7, 1930 – May 30, 1986) I first discovered the saxophone of Hank Mobley one night in 2014 while exploring jazz. That night I listened to the music of Blue Mitchell, Wynton Kelly, and Hank Mobley. Of the three, Mobley’s album Soul Station was my favorite! You can read more about it in A Jazzy Night with Music from Blue, Wynton, and Hank and Friends. Discovering the Music of Hank Mobley and His Bandmates Here’s some background from Wikipedia: Henry “Hank” Mobley (July 7, 1930 – May 30, 1986) was an American…

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That PI Day in Music 3.14.34 – “The Queen of the Organ” – Shirley Scott was born!!

So the other morning, after I woke up from the crash that was a result of having had virtually no sleep the night before, as we waited for the birth of grandson,Oliver, I was looking at the jazz birthdays. Now if you remember, the night before I had posted about saxophonist Jeff Hackworth, and how his sax sounds like Stanley Turrentine and how like Stanley, Jeff often plays in an organ trio setting and how I thought that was neat because Stanley had played so often with Jimmy Smith. Well what the un-jazz educated Edward didn’t know was that in…

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This Day in Music – January 30, 1930 – Wes’ baby brother – Buddy Montgomery was born!

On this day in 1930, Charles “Buddy” Montgomery, the youngest of the Montgomery Brothers was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. Buddy was nine years younger than Monk, the oldest of the three musical brothers and seven years younger than Wes, the most famous of th brothers. Buddy played both piano and vibes, but is primarily known for playing vibes. His career started in 1948 and in 1949 he played with Big Joe Turner followed by a stint with Slide Hampton. In 1957, after serving several  years in the Army, he joined older brother Monk, Richie Crabtree (piano) and Benny Barth (drums)…

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This Day in Music January 23, 1943 – Happy Birthday – Gary Burton!!

On this date in 1943, the great vibraphonist and one of my favorites Gary Burton was born in Anderson, Indiana. Whenever I have “One of those days” it’s usually the vibes of Burton that bring me back to a happier and more relaxed place. Some background and information on Burton from Wikipedia: Beginning music at six years old, Burton for the most part taught himself to play marimba and vibraphone.[2] He also began studying piano at age sixteen as he finished high school in Princeton, Indiana (56–60). Burton has cited jazz pianist Bill Evans as a main inspiration for his…

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A Morning with Hammond Heroes leads the Safari to “Bag of Jewels” from Lou Donaldson!

So this morning started with a cold walk to my office. I left the car at the office yesterday and walked home during the snowstorm!  While that may have been a good idea yesterday, it didn’t seem that good this morning, when I faced a ten minute walk to work with single digit wind chill temperatures. But like I always say when I struggle through a run  “At least the music was good!” The music came from an album released back in November titled Hammond Heroes. The album somehow got accidentally downloaded on to the iPhone a while ago and…

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The Safari Goes “into the morning” with Jim Alfredson’s Dirty Fingers: A Tribute to Big John Patton

So yesterday when I was reviewing this weeks JazzWeek Chart the band at number 23 caught my eye. The band was Jim Alfredson’s Dirty Fingers and their album is A Tribute to Big John Patton. Jim Alfredson, name is familiar, I know  now – Organissimo!! Love their music!! I listened to their latest album Dedicated back in April of this year. Great stuff!! Anyway, I gave A Tribute to Big John Patton a listen this afternoon and loved it, a really good album with as always some fine organ from Jim Alfredson.  And like always listening to the album has led me to…

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Today in Music – Dec 16, 1933 – Johnny “Hammond Smith was born!

When I started writing these birthday pieces my jazz world was limited. Since then I have added a lot more artists to my music library, today’s artist will be another. Born on this date in 1933 was Johnny “Hammond” Smith. From Wikipedia: John Robert Smith (December 16, 1933 – June 4, 1997), also known as Johnny “Hammond” Smith, was an American soul jazz and hard bop organist. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he was a renowned player of the Hammond B-3 organ so earning “Hammond” as a nickname,[1] which also avoided his being confused with jazz guitarist Johnny Smith. Full Biography…

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The Safari finds NYC Jazz from Brian Lynch Unsung Heroes Vol. 1 and Vol. 2!

The other day I was reviewing the Weekly Jazz Chart   and there at No 19 just below Dr Lonnie Smith was an Brian Lynch and his latest album Unsung Heroes Vol. 2. The tagline on the album is “a tribute to underappreciated trumpet masters” sounds like my kind of album! I went to Spotify found the album sat back and listened to some damn good trumpet playing. So now I needed to find out some more about Brian Lynch a trumpeter that I have not come across yet! From Wikipedia… Brian Lynch (September 12, 1956, Urbana, Illinois) is a Grammy Award-winning New…

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This Day in Music – December 11, 1938 – McCoy Tyner’s Birthday!!

Today McCoy Tyner celebrates his 75th birthday, Happy Birthday, McCoy. From his biography at Facebook, It is not an overstatement to say that modern jazz has been shaped by the music of McCoy Tyner. His blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. His harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary of a majority of jazz pianists.  Alfred McCoy Tyner  was born on December 11, 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, He wad the oldest of three children and  encouraged to study piano by…

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On this Date in Music – December 8, 1928 – Organist Jimmy Smith was born!!

    On this date in 1928 the master of the Hammond B3, Jimmy Smith was born. I have been listening to Jimmy Smith’s music since he late 60s when I discovered Wes Montgomery and then Jimmy & Wes an album by the two masters that they released in 1966. I love to put on a Jimmy Smith album at work and well just let it flow!! So let’s have some morning music to start our Sunday and to honor Jimmy on his birthday. But first some background….. from AllMusic Jimmy Smith wasn’t the first organ player in jazz, but no…

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