Weekend Wax Bits

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Last week, I received an email from one of my favorite arrangers, Marty Sheller (above). Marty is a trumpeter who played with Mongo Santamaria in the 1960s and early '70s and arranged for the band. Marty hasn't stopped writing and scoring since. "I'm going to be in New York rehearsing new arrangements with a band down at Euphoria Rehearsal Studios on West 27th," he wrote. "Come down and hear." He didn't have to ask twice. Despite my workload, I wriggled free in the afternoon and took the subway down [all photos by Marc Myers].

First a little background: Here's my multipart interview with Marty from 2009—and here's Marty playing trumpet on Black Stockings with Mongo Santamaria in 1964...

The rehearsal band I saw last week featured Chris Rogers and Alex Norris (tp), Sam Burtis (tb), Steve Slagle (as), Bob Franceschini (ts), Bill O'Connell (p), Ruben Rodriguez (b) and Vince Cherico (d), with Marty conducting. Killer compositions and arrangements and what a sizzling band! Attention New York clubs—these guys may soon be looking for gigs. Book them now—or shoot me an email! Here are a few photos from the rehearsal session...

JazzWax tracks: Here are two superb albums that feature Marty's arranging prowess: Why Deny: The Marty Sheller Ensemble (2008), featuring a monster band, and trumpeter Joe Magnarelli's My Old Flame (2010), with Marty's brass and string writing.

Vintage Los Angeles, 1965. Here's an 8 1/2-minute film I found on the Hollywood Dream, with black-and-white footage of L.A. just as the youth culture was taking hold...

Coleman Hawkins radio. WKCR-New York will present its annual "Coleman Hawkins Birthday Broadcast" next Friday, Nov. 21, playing Hawk's music for 24 hours. The action begins Thursday night at midnight and runs all the next day. You can access the show from anywhere in the world on your computer by going here. 

Vinyl alert. Last week, Concord Records released Bill Evans: The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961 on 180-gram vinyl. The four-LP set comes with a 12-page booklet, new liner notes by reissue producer Bill Belmont, as well as the original liner notes by original producer Orrin Keepnews. Reproductions of session notes and photographer Steve Schapiro's proof sheets from the performances are included. Go here.

The soulful '70s are back. A new label, Funky Town Grooves, is re-issuing American soul albums from the 1970s with bonus tracks that owner labels aren't bothering to make available on CD. The catalog includes Ramsey Lewis's Sun Goddess (1974), Blue Magic's Message From the Magic(1978), the Manhattans There's No Good in Goodbye(1978), flutist-singer Bobbi Humphrey's The Good Life(1979) and Tailor Made (1977), Melba Moore's What a Woman Needs (1981) and many more. Go here.

Used with permission by Marc Myers