Today in Music (1959): Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come recorded

The Shape of Jazz to Come Ornette Coleman

Released: November 1959 Recorded: May 22, 1959 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: jazz > avant garde

Tracks: Lonely Woman Eventually Peace Focus on Sanity Congeniality Chronology Total Running Time: 37:59 The Players: Ornette Coleman (alto saxophone) Don Cherry (cornet) Charlie Haden (bass) Billy Higgins (drums)

Rating: 4.781 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings) Quotable: “A watershed event in the genesis of avant-garde jazz” – Steve Huey, All Music Guide Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Ornette Coleman’s Atlantic debut, The Shape of Jazz to Come, was a watershed event in the genesis of avant-garde jazz, profoundly steering its future course and throwing down a gauntlet that some still haven’t come to grips with. The record shattered traditional concepts of harmony in jazz, getting rid of not only the piano player but the whole idea of concretely outlined chord changes.” AMG “The pieces here follow almost no predetermined harmonic structure, which allows Coleman and partner Don Cherry an unprecedented freedom to take the melodies of their solo lines wherever they felt like going in the moment, regardless of what the piece’s tonal center had seemed to be.” AMG “Plus, this was the first time Coleman recorded with a rhythm section – bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins – that was loose and open-eared enough to follow his already controversial conception. Coleman’s ideals of freedom in jazz made him a feared radical in some quarters; there was much carping about his music flying off in all directions, with little direct relation to the original theme statements. If only those critics could have known how far out things would get in just a few short years; in hindsight, it’s hard to see just what the fuss was about, since this is an accessible, frequently swinging record.” AMG “It’s true that Coleman’s piercing, wailing alto squeals and vocalized effects weren’t much beholden to conventional technique, and that his themes often followed unpredictable courses, and that the group’s improvisations were very free-associative. But at this point, Coleman’s desire for freedom was directly related to his sense of melody – which was free-flowing, yes, but still very melodic. Of the individual pieces, the haunting Lonely Woman is a stone-cold classic, and Congeniality and Peace aren’t far behind. Any understanding of jazz’s avant-garde should begin here.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Ornette Coleman AMG All Music Guide review by Steve Huey WK Wikipedia First posted 5/3/2008; last updated 3/14/2024.

50 years ago: Gypsy opened on Broadway

Gypsy Jule Styne (music), Stephen Sondheim (lyrics)

The Musical

Opened on Broadway: May 21, 1959 Number of Performances: 702 Opened at London’s West End: May 29, 1973 Number of Performances: 300 Movie Release: November 1, 1962

Cast Album

Charted: July 20, 1959 Peak: 13 US Sales (in millions): -- Genre: show tunes

Soundtrack

Charted: December 15, 1962 Peak: 10 US Sales (in millions): -- Genre: show tunes

Songs on Cast Album: Song Title (Performers) Overture Let Me Entertain You (JACQUELINE MAYRO/ KAREN MOORE/ ETHEL MERMAN) Some People (ETHEL MERMAN/ STEPHEN SONDHEIM) Small World (ETHEL MERMAN/ JACK KLUGMAN) Baby June and Her Newsboys Mr. Goldstone, I Love You (ETHEL MERMAN) Little Lamb (SANDRA CHURCH) You’ll Never Get Away from Me (ETHEL MERMAN/ JACK KLUGMAN) Dainty June and Her Farmboys If Momma Was Married (SANDRA CHURCH/ LANE BRADBURY) All I Need Is the Girl (PAUL WALLACE/ SANDRA CHURCH) Everything’s Coming Up Roses (ETHEL MERMAN) Together (Wherever We Go) (ETHEL MERMAN/ JACK KLUGMAN/ SANDRA CHURCH) You Gotta Get a Gimmick (FAITH DANE/ CHOTZI FOLEY/ MARIA KARNILOVA) Let Me Entertain You (SANDRA CHURCH) Rose’s Turn (ETHEL MERMAN) Songs on Soundtrack: Overture Small World Some People Baby June And Her Newsboys (Let Me Entertain You) Mr. Goldstone, I Love You Little Lamb You'll Never Get Away From Me Dainty June And Her Farm Boys If Mama Was Married All I Need Is The Girl Everything's Coming Up Roses Together Wherever We Go You Gotta Have A Gimmick Let Me Entertain You Rose's Turn Finale

Rating: 4.502 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings for cast album and soundtrack combined) Quotable: “One of the crowning achievements of the mid-20th century’s conventional musical theatre art form” – Wikipedia Awards (Cast Album and Soundtrack): (Click on award to learn more).

About the Show: Critic Ben Brantley said Gypsy may be the greatest of all American musicals.” WK-C Frank Rich said it was “Broadway’s own brassy, unlikely answer to King Lear.” WK-C This 1959 tribute to burlesque was loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of famed striptease artist Gypsy Rose Lee. The story “casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life” WK-C by following Gypsy’s mother, Rose, and her efforts to raise her daughters as performers. Producer David Merrick had read a selection of the memoirs in Harper’s Magazine and sought the rights, knowing Ethel Merman was looking for a starring vehicle. Arthur Laurents was tapped to write the book and Stephen Sondheim, with whom Laurents had worked on West Side Story, was brought in to write the lyrics after Irving Berlin and Cole Porter declined. Merman wanted Jule Styne to write the music, but Sondheim initially refused since he wanted to write the music and lyrics – that is, until he was persuaded to take the job by Oscar Hammerstein. WK-C The talents of Styne, who represented broad show business entertainment, and Sondheim, who symbolized more “modern, dark, psychological drama,” MWR made for a perfect balance. It “was considered the definitive Merman performance and the crowning achievement of her long career.” MWR Theater critic Clive Barnes described Rose as “one of the few truly complex characters in the American musical.” WK-C The musical, which ran for 702 performances, introduced “the Merman standard Everything’s Coming Up Roses, and the song that is invariably used to introduce anything having to do with the strip tease, Let Me Entertain You.” MWR In 1962, it was made into a film directed by Mervyn LeRoy. In his book The Musical Film, Douglas McVay said, “Fine as West Side Story is…it is equaled and, arguably, surpassed – in a rather different idiom – by another filmed Broadway hit: Mervyn LeRoy’s Gypsy.” WK-S

Resources and Related Links: MWR Marjorie Elln Ruhlmann & William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide (cast album) WK-C Wikipedia (musical) WK-S All Music Guide (film) Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/22/2011; last updated 12/23/2021.

50 years ago: Wilbert Harrison “Kansas City” hit #1

Kansas City Wilbert Harrison

Writer(s): Mike Stoller (music), Jerry Leiber (words) (see lyrics here) First Charted: April 3, 1959 Peak: 12 US, 11 CB, 3 GR, 12 HR, 17 RB, 13 CN (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 4.98 video, 9.91 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller met as students at Los Angeles City College in 1950. They became “the greatest songwriting team of the 1950s,” DM writing classics for Elvis Presley (“Hound Dog,” “Jailhouse Rock”), Ben E. King (“Stand by Me”), the Drifters (“There Goes My Baby,” “On Broadway”), and the Coasters (“Young Blood,” “Searchin’,” “Yakety Yak”). However, it was “Kansas City” that “was their first defining song.” SS The pair wrote the “bluesy coming-of-age song” MM in 1952. Stoller said that Kansas City was “the home of swing, jazz, and the blues” MM and “was known as a pretty wild place.” MM Neither had ever been there, but asked R&B musicians for the names of big streets in Kansas City. MM Houston-born singer and pianist Little Willie Littlefield recorded it as “K.C. Lovin’.” It failed to chart but was revived in 1955 by Little Richard as “Kansas City.” Four years later, Wilbert Harrison “made the song a massive crossover smash.” SS Harrison, born in North Carolina in 1929. After finishing a stint in the Navy in 1950, he recorded for several small labels without a hit. He headed back home to Charlotte in 1956 and didn’t make another record for a couple of years. Bobby Robinson, a Harlem record store owner and blues label owner, then brought him to New York to record some gospel records. Harrison brought “Kansas City,” a song he’d performed since hearing Littlefield’s recording, to the session. The session was held late at night in Manhattan with Ike Turner on piano. In less than 30 minutes and at a cost of less than $40, they recorded the song “as a relaxed stroll with a shuffle beat.” MM It ranks as “one of the outstanding Number Ones of the rock and roll era” DM and became “a standard in the modern blues repertoire.” DJ “Without having ever set foot in the town they were writing about, Leiber and Stoller had touched something deep in American culture.” SS Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Wilbert Harrison DMDB encyclopedia entry for Jerry Leiber DMDB encyclopedia entry for Mike Stoller DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 112. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Pages 125-7. MM Marc Myers (2016). Anatomy of a Song. Grove Press: New York, NY. Pages 17-21. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 304-5. First posted 8/8/2023.

Today in Music (1959): Charles Mingus completed recording on Ah Um

Ah Um Charles Mingus

Released: October 1959 Recorded: May 5-12, 1959 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): 0.17 US, 0.06 UK, 0.23 world (includes US and UK) Genre: jazz > avant garde

Tracks: Better Get It in Your Soul Goodbye Pork Pie Hat Boogie Stop Shuffle Self-Portait in Three Colors Open Letter to Duke Bird Calls Fables of Faubus Pussy Cat Dues Jelly Roll Total Running Time: 45:53 The Players: Charles Mingus (bass, piano) John Handy (alto sax) Booker Ervin (tenor sax) Shafi Hadi (tenor and alto sax) Willie Dennis (trombone) Jimmy Knepper (trombone) Horace Parlan (piano) Dannie Richmond (drums)

Rating: 4.241 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Charles Mingus’ debut for Columbia, Mingus Ah Um is a stunning summation of the bassist’s talents and probably the best reference point for beginners. While there’s also a strong case for The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady as his best work overall, it lacks Ah Um’s immediate acccessibility and brilliantly sculpted individual tunes. Mingus’ compositions and arrangements were always extremely focused, assimilating individual spontaneity into a firm consistency of mood, and that approach reaches an ultra-tight zenith on Mingus Ah Um.” AMG “The band includes longtime Mingus stalwarts already well versed in his music, like saxophonists John Handy, Shafi Hadi, and Booker Ervin, trombonists Jimmy Knepper and Willie Dennis, pianist Horace Parlan, and drummer Dannie Richmond. Their razor-sharp performances tie together what may well be Mingus’ greatest, most emotionally varied set of compositions.” AMG At least three became instant classics, starting with the irrepressible spiritual exuberance of signature tune Better Get It in Your Soul, taken in a hard-charging 6/8 and punctuated by joyous gospel shouts. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat is a slow, graceful elegy for Lester Young, who died not long before the sessions. The sharply contrasting Fables of Faubus is a savage mockery of segregationist Arkansas governor Orval Faubus, portrayed musically as a bumbling vaudeville clown (the scathing lyrics, censored by skittish executives, can be heard on Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus).” AMG “The underrated Boogie Stop Shuffle is bursting with aggressive swing, and elsewhere there are tributes to Mingus' three most revered influences: Open Letter to Duke is a suite of three tunes; Bird Calls is inspired by Charlie Parker; and Jelly Roll is an idiosyncratic yet affectionate nod to jazz’s first great composer, Jelly Roll Morton. It simply isn’t possible to single out one Mingus album as definitive, but Mingus Ah Um comes the closest.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Charles Mingus AMG All Music Guide review by Steve Huey WK Wikipedia First posted 10/7/2008; last updated 3/14/2024.