The Sound of Jazz

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Billie Holiday listens to Lester Young solo during the performance of "Fine and Mellow" on "The Sound of Jazz " TV show.
Billie Holiday listens to Lester Young solo during the performance of "Fine and Mellow" on "The Sound of Jazz " TV show.

The Sound of Jazz was a landmark television program that was part of CBS's Seven Lively Arts series. The program aired December 8, 1957 (Ward and Burns say December 6) live from CBS Studio 54, a/k/a the Town Theater, located at 851 9th Avenue in New York City (now demolished). The show was hosted by N.Y. Herald Tribune media critic John Crosby and produced by Robert Herridge. Jazz writer Whitney Balliett was among the consultants.

"The Sound of Jazz" is perhaps the most famous jazz television show in history because it was the first show of its kind. It brought together giants from the swing era of the 1930s like Count Basie, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Billie Holiday, and Coleman Hawkins; the classic (or dixieland) players of the same era, like Henry "Red" Allen, Vic Dickenson, and Pee Wee Russell; and newer, younger musicians like Gerry Mulligan, Thelonious Monk, and Jimmy Giuffre. These players played separately with their compatriots (see the song list below), but also joined to combine various styles in one group, most notably in the group backing Billie Holiday on "Fine and Mellow".

The show is justly famous for the performance of "Fine and Mellow", which brought together Billie Holiday and her long–time friend, Lester Young, for the last time. In the 1930s they were very close but they hadn't spoken for years. Jazz critic and producer Nat Hentoff, who was involved in putting the show together, recalled that during rehearsals, they kept to opposite sides of the room. Young was very weak, and Hentoff told him to skip the big band section of the show and that he could sit while performing in the group with Holiday.

During the performance of "Fine and Mellow", Mulligan played the first solo, followed by Webster. "Then", Hentoff remembered,

Lester got up, and he played the purest blues I have ever heard, and [he and Holiday] were looking at each other, their eyes were sort of interlocked, and she was sort of nodding and half–smiling. It was as if they were both remembering what had been—whaterer that was. And in the control room we were all crying. When the show was over, they went their separate ways. [1]

Within a year, both Young and Holiday had died.

"The Sound of Jazz" was also released as a recording by CBS's then-subsidiary, Columbia Records, although the gramophone version is actually a rehearsal which preceded the telecast, and is not its soundtrack. The LP was released in 1958 as Columbia CL 1098, with liner notes by Eric Larrabee, and the cover photo by Tom Yee. It is the only LP of a Seven Lively Arts presentation. The recording does not include all of the performers on the TV show (Mulligan refused to participate because no additional pay was involved) and includes several who were not on the show.

A bootleg soundtrack recording has also been available.

The TV show is currently available on "The Greatest Jazz Films Ever", idem home video, IDVD 1059.

(The broadcast site of the show, CBS Studio 54, is not to be confused with the disco-theatre Studio 54 on 54th Street near Eighth Avenue. That building, also a onetime CBS studio, had the code name Studio 52 during its broadcasting years.)

Contents

[edit] Personnel

[edit] Trumpet

[edit] Trombone

[edit] Clarinet

[edit] Alto Saxophone

[edit] Tenor Saxophones

[edit] Baritone Saxophone

[edit] Guitar

[edit] Piano

[edit] Bass

[edit] Drums

[edit] Vocals

[edit] Songs

On VHS/DVD

  • Open All Night (aka Fast and Happy Blues) - Count Basie All Stars: Emmett Berry, Doc Cheatham, Joe Newman, Joe Wilder (tp); Roy Eldridge (tp, flhn); Vic Dickinson, Benny Morton, Dicky Wells (tb); Earl Warren (as); Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster (ts); Gerry Mulligan (bs); Count Basie (p); Freddie Green (g); Eddie Jones (b); Jo Jones (d)
  • The Count Blues - Basie, Green and E. Jones playing as John Crosby introduces the show.
  • Wild Man Blues - Composed By Louis Armstrong, Performed by: Henry "Red" Allen, Rex Stewart (tp); Pee Wee Russell (cl); Coleman Hawkins (ts); Vic Dickenson (tb); Milt Hinton (b); Danny Barker (g); Nat Pierce (p)
  • Rosetta - Composed by Earl "Fatha" Hines and William Henri Woode. Personnel same as Wild Man Blues.
  • Dickie's Dream - Same personnel as Open All Night
  • Eyes of a Stranger (does not appear on 2003 idem DVD release)
  • Blue Monk - Thelonious Monk (p); Ahmed Abdul Malik (b); Osie Johnson (d)
  • I Left My Baby - Jimmy Rushing (v), with Count Basie All Stars (personnel same as Open All Night)
  • Fine and Mellow - Billie Holiday (v), with Mal Waldron All Stars: Roy Eldridge, Doc Cheatham (tp); Vic Dickinson (tb); Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Lester Young (ts); Gerry Mulligan (bs); Mal Waldron (p); Milt Hinton (b); Osie Johnson (d)
  • The Train and the River - Jimmy Giuffre Trio: Jimmy Giuffre (cl, ts, bs); Jim Hall (g); Jim Atlas (b)
  • Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gave to Me (appears on idem DVD release, 2003), performed by Jimmy Giuffre, Pee Wee Russell (cl); Jo Jones (d); Danny Barker (g); Milt Hinton (b).

(personnel and tracks listed on [2])


DVD Extras (Not on idem DVD release, 2003)


On the 1958 LP

Side 1

  • Wild Man Blues
  • Rosetta
  • Fine and Mellow
  • Blues - Jimmy Giufffre (cl), Pee Wee Russell (cl), Jo Jones (d), Danny Barker (g)

Side 2

  • I Left my Baby
  • The Train and the River
  • Nervous - Mal Waldron (p) solo
  • Dickie's dream
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