by Steven Cerra
Friday, December 1, 2017

Along with the trumpet, the clarinet was the preeminent instrument of the Swing Era when some of the era's most popular bands were led by the likes of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Woody Herman.

While the trumpet persisted as a featured instrument in the smaller combos that brought Bebop and Modern Jazz to the forefront in the years following the end of the Second World War, the clarinet seemed to recede into Jazz History.

The exceptional playing of Buddy DeFranco brought the devilishly-difficult-to-play clarinet into the world of Bebop and beyond with a degree of skill rarely rivaled by other modern, Jazz instrumentalists.

Each and every time I return to Buddy DeFranco's music, I shake my head in amazement at his superb technique and consistently innovative improvisation.


Although rarely recognized as such, Buddy's achievements rival those of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, the two principal originators of Bebop. His skill and ideas never fail to impress me, whatever the setting.

read more at: http://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com.br/2017/12/buddy-defranco-and-dave-mckenna-two-for.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+JazzProfiles+(Jazz+Profiles)

#BuddyDeFranco and #DaveMcKenna

Dave McKenna Tribute On Piano Jazz

See Dave McKenna on Podcast (the right sidebar)

by Alfred Turner
This week's show is a tribute to the late pianist Dave McKenna with guest host, pianist and singer Daryl Sherman, who was a friend of McKenna's and is a musical fixture at New York's famous Waldorf Astoria.

Dave McKenna, who started at age 15 in the late 1940s and early '50s with Charlie Ventura and Woody Herman, once said of himself, "I play saloon piano. ''I'm a player of tunes first and add my interpretations second." Daryl Sherman calls him "a world class piano stylist of the highest order."

McKenna's unique style is nowhere more evident than in his version of Cole Porter's "Dream Dancing," a request from Marian McPartland. McKenna is not afraid to play softly, beginning the tune with a whisper of notes and then gently increasing the volume over a perfect, sauntering left-hand. Sherman declares, "A song couldn't have a better friend than Dave McKenna."

And McKenna couldn't have a better partner than McPartland. After he solos on Alec Wilder's "I'll Be Around," she asks him to show her the opening chords, and then joins him in a spontaneous encore of the tune. They burn their way through "Avalon" in what Sherman calls "one of the hottest duos I've ever heard." The two trade 4s and 8s, jump in and out of stride rhythm, and even get into some Mozartean counterpoint before it's all over.

McKenna also dusts off a few of his own songs. Listening to him play "Cat's Cradle," one has to remember that it's not a duet — McKenna is playing rhythm and counterpoint with his left hand, while playing the tune and variations with his right. "Teddy Ballgame" is McKenna's tribute to Ted Williams and his beloved Red Sox. Afterward, guest host Sherman adds her own accolades by singing her original lyrics to the tune over McKenna's track. Sherman offers another tribute when she plays and sings "Rhode Island," which is about McKenna's and her home state.

To wrap up this celebration of Dave McKenna, he and McPartland take off on a sparkling romp through "Let's Get Away from it All." At the end, McPartland says, "It felt good. Let's get a gig!"
Originally recorded on three dates: March 19, 1979; May 19, 1994; and Jan. 8, 2009.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113400603

Dave McKenna - Nobody Else But Me - I'm Old Fashioned