20 JAZZTIMES SEPTEMBER 2019
BEFORE & AFTER
dith, Sharon O’Connor, Terry Adams, cello; Audrey Desilva, Clifton
Foster, Dan Smiley, Elizabeth Gibson, Emily Van Valkenburg, Greg
Mazmanian, John Tenney, Patrice Anderson, Stephen Gehl, violin.
Recorded in 1980.BEFORE: It sounds like an older guy. The vibrato gives it
away. Can’t tell who it is just yet. [Grunts approvingly] It’s
funny, it has this European sound. It’s this very specific
texture. The quality of the recording, the way it sounds, the
way the strings are recorded, kind of up front. And the way
the rhythm section sounds. It has this
soundtrack quality to it. Like one of those
movies set in Paris. It made me think of
Paris and people walking down the street
with a hat on a rainy day. I can’t tell what
it is. It’s definitely an older song. I don’t
recognize it. It’s like a Bird guy in his
older days. [Sonny] Stitt, maybe?AFTER: Art Pepper. I wouldn’t have
guessed that. I haven’t checked him out
as much. I’ve checked out a couple of his
records, but I’ve never really gravitated
towards his playing as much as oth-
er guys. I guess it’s a personal thing.
Maybe it has something to do with the
sound, or the way he was assimilating
that bebop language. I just found other
guys more interesting. He’s also one of
those guys who didn’t play with a lot of
people as a sideman, so it’s hard to get
to hear him outside of his own projects.
The one record that I checked out a bit was the one that he
made with Miles Davis’ rhythm section [Art Pepper Meets
the Rhythm Section, featuring Red Garland, Paul Chambers,
and Philly Joe Jones, Contemporary, 1957].- Guillermo Klein
“Piernas” (Una Nave, Sunnyside). Klein, piano, Fender Rhodes,
guitar, vocals; Daniel Piazzolla, drums; Alvaro Torres, Fender
Rhodes; Silvia Aramayo, Matias Conte, Javier Calequi, vocals.
Recorded in 2002.
BEFORE: This is Guillermo. This is probably one of my
favorite records of his, and out of this record, this is my fa-
vorite song. So you were never going to get me with this one.
I’ve known Guillermo for a very long time. He’s a genius
composer. He’s just one of those guys that’s able to materi-
alize ideas in a really clear way. He’s so detailed about what
he does. And a lot of that gets overlooked because he’s such
an amazing songwriter. And I think that puts him on his
own plane, sets him apart from other great composers in the
jazz or creative world. He can write an amazing song like
this, which is just a song with lyrics, but then you hear what
he does around it, with the harmony, and the way he puts
rhythm in counterpoint. It’s just, man, it’s really uniqueand brilliant. I remember asking him for the chart to this
tune. He does things that are unusual, but they don’t strike
you like, Oh, that’s atonal. It’s just like, Wow, that’s such a
beautiful color.What do you think of his voice?He’s also one of my favorite singers! [Laughs] I know he’s re-
ally over-conscious about his singing. He’s like, “I don’t feel
like singing today, blah blah blah,” but he’s just one of those
guys, man, when he sings, it’s just so pure
and real. He might not have the greatest
voice but he’s so amazing when he does it.- Sonny Stitt and Jack
McDuff
“Pam Ain’t Blue” (Stitt Meets Brother Jack,
Prestige). Stitt, tenor saxophone; McDuff,
organ; Eddie Diehl, guitar; Art Taylor, drums;
Ray Barretto, congas. Recorded in 1962.BEFORE: Organ and percussion. This is
Sunday music. [Taps feet] I’m trying to
pick the tenor player, who’s not giving
it away. At some point he played this
line, but now he’s just cruisin’. Well, I’m
gonna give up on him. Now I’m kind
of wondering who the percussionist is,
because it could be a few different guys.
It could be Ray Barretto.It is.Ahhh. He made some records with Gene Ammons and
Lockjaw, but it’s not one of those guys.AFTER: Sonny Stitt! I was gonna say Sonny Stitt when he
played that bebop line, but then I was like, I’m not gonna
say anything, because I said Sonny Stitt before. He liked to
play around with the harmony—a lot of substitutions and
diminished scales—but he wasn’t doing that, so I was like,
maybe I’ll wait a little bit to see if he does it.Tell me about Ray Barretto. You played with him.He was a jazz head like you couldn’t believe. And it’s funny
because, in Puerto Rico, most people who think about Ray
Barretto think about his salsa records because they were so
groundbreaking and so great. But when I played with him
and when you talked to him, all he listened to was jazz. He
was like, “I don’t want to play that salsa stuff anymore.” I
was playing in his jazz group, and all he did was talk about
all those guys and sing tunes and sing solos and talk about
how he got into it and how he played with Bird. He kind of
fell into this salsa world and he couldn’t get out of it. I re-“Ray Barretto was
like, ‘I don’t want
to play that salsa
stuff anymore.’ I
remember going to
play with his quintet,
and people would
show up just to see if
he played one
salsa tune.”