Fork And Knife

Oscar Alemán 1978 in Pelo magazine

In the late 1950s and during the 1960s Oscar Alemán experienced a decrease in the public success he he had benefited from during almost two decades in Argentina. New music styles like rock'n'roll displaced the public interest from jazz and swing, a young generation of musicians was taking over the scene in show business leaving older musicians little chance to have a steady work as performers or recording artists.The impact of these factors was in Alemán's case that he gradually chose to retire from the public scene when his contract with Odeon ended in 1958. He spent the 1960s in semi-retirement and had fewer public appearances than previously, although he from time to time was a featured guest performer in radio and TV shows. - But how was Alemán's attitude to the changing musical taste of the public? In a 1978 interview published in an Argentine music magazine for young people, he expressed his candid opinion about rock music and  rock musicians. Below we have the pleasure and honor of publishing Luis "Tito" Liber's record of the contents of that interview, which he kindly forwarded to share with our readers. The original article interview was in the Spanish language, of course, but Luis's version is in English.

Frontpage Pelo magazine #99, July 1978

Oscar Alemán in a 1970s "Rock" Magazine

by Luis "Tito" Liber

In many radio, newspapers and magazines interviews along Aleman`s career, the topic was Oscar incredible Ellington-Reinhardt-Baker anecdotes, but not music. This article from argentine Pelo ("Hair") magazine (#99, July 1978) is most about music... and it`s in a yougster`s rock magazine, not a jazz one!!! Notice that the same number includes an article about Gato Barbieri, and previously had included an interview with jazz pianist Mono Villegas.

In Argentina, in the late 1950s-early 1960s, with the arrival of television, came the "new wave": kids that sang rock and roll tunes in spanish. Along with the military regime prohibition of night-meetings (it was the end of the massive danceballs called "milongas"), the old stars of tango and jazz lost their jobs. But the 1970s were the days of fusion, and Oscar didn`t seem to like that union of styles. We know that jazzmen and rockers have never fit very well. And Oscar hasn`t been the exception. The old jazzman felt that the new young musicians were stealing his place in showbusiness (that is to say, they are leaving him without his job). Though he didn`t understand the incipient rock movement (the kids were essentially troubadors, not musicians), he thought that rockers weren`t skilled musicians at all.

"Rock is a rhythm that doesn`t satisfy me, as boogie doesn`t satisfy me too. Boogie is four phrases invented by Mr. Fats Waller for the left hand, and you have to improvise on that. And what improvisation is? It´s jazz. If you want to improvise on rock, what are you going to improvise? You are not going to improvise tango or rancheras, but jazz." Now a great sentence:

 "Rock musicians eat the food with their hands. The dish is ready but they have to be educated, to learn to use forks and knives. Jazz is good education. To evolve, rock has to go to jazz. It`s the basis."

Oscar critizises Bill Hailey`s performance during his show in Buenos Aires ("the man of the curly"), saying that the only good player in his band was a black guitarist; the others only did the clown.

"Rock musicians are too much noisy, they play very loud. They use to lose the sense of accompaniment for the solos; they all want to highlight increasing the volume; then, you can`t distinguish anything."

Alemán says that once he had a rock musician as a pupil: Claudio Gabis, a blues guitarist, member of the group Manal. "He said that he was leaving to USA because the public from here didn`t understand him" (Claudio went to study at Berkley, and he returned to Argentina in 1980s democracy times to give seminars of improvisation at the Centro Cultural San Martín; a very recommendable player!).

Oscar didn`t play rock'n'roll very well. If you listen to his version of "Bailando el Rock" (Rock Around the Clock -Freeman/De Knight-), you can appreciate he didn`t know the classical yeites and runs (Chet Atkins, Scotty Moore and Chuck Berry for instance). He does a correct performance, but using "boogie" phrases. That`s because, he wasn`t influenced by R&B or country and western music.

"In one occasion I made a rock. I used to say it was a rock, but it wasn`t. I improvised on some boogie chords played faster. Rock chords are the same of blues and boogie." He`s talking about his own theme "Improvisaciones sobre Boogie Woogie", where he plays a much better performance, with a great scat. During the rock-era, he played this theme live, announcing to the public that it was a rock...but it wasn't.

Oscar even was a skilled blues player. Of course that he had black roots (Afro-American-Brazilian rhythms), but all in a jazz venue, not bluesy at all (listen to "Saint Louis Blues", "Oscar Blues Nº 1" and "Nº 3" i.e.).

This interesting interview also includes an almost poetical description of his triumphant come back to the bench of the park in Guarujá in 1946 (where he had slept in his childhood): "At that time I returned to sit on that bench with a whisky and a brilliant in my hand. To sit and cry. I was no longer below it, but sat ON that bench."

Oscar flatters bandoneonist/composer Astor Piazzolla and pianist/composer Horacio Salgan for playing tango arrangements with a jazz tendency, in a time when almost nobody had that opinion in Argentina (the conservative narrow-minded "tangueros").

Oscar Alemán 1978 in Pelo magazine

By the time of this interview, in January 1978, Oscar was proud of receiving a letter from France notifying him that his biography was to be included in an upcoming guitarplayers encyclopedia (I think it was 'Histoire de la guitare dans le Jazz' by Norman Mongan; published in 1986 by EPI Editions Filipacchi, France).

Alemán, knowing that he was a genius, was a very proud man, almost selfish (sorry Oscar). He was the leader and nobody could be over him (this led him to separate from Hernán Oliva). This attitude wasn`t excessive, because during two decades (1940s-1950s) he was the best South-American jazz player, and no-one had his international background (later would appear Lalo Schiffrin and Barbieri). Opposite to his public sense of humour, in his last years he became an angry and sad man, rensentful and frustrated for considering that his genius deserved more acknowledgement.

T.L.

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Posted by Jo

keepswinging@live.nl

In the late 1950s and during the 1960s Oscar Alemán experienced a decrease in the public success he he had benefited from during almost two decades in Argentina. New music styles like rock'n'roll displaced the public interest from jazz and swing, a young generation of musicians was taking over the scene. But how was Alemán's attitude to the changing musical taste of the public? In a 1978 interview published in an Argentine music magazine for young people, he expressed his candid opinion about rock music and  rock musicians. Luis Tito" Liber gives his account of the contents of that interview, which he kindly forwarded to share with our readers

Retrospect Keep Swinging (old) Oscar Aleman Choro Music Flexible Records Hit of the Week-Durium Friends of the Keep Swinging blog Keep Swinging Contributions

Pixinguinha and Choro Day

Pixinguinha (1897-1973)

Alfredo da Rocha Vianna Filho (1897-1973), better known as Pixinguinha, was a choro composer, arranger, flutist and saxophonist born in Rio de Janeiro. Through the legacy of the
pioneering choro composers of the 19th century and of the Afro-Brazilian tradition, Pixinguinha produced some of the most important choro works of all time. His work as a composer, bandleader, flutist/reedplayer and originator
of the choro genre is of invaluable importance, historically and from a musical point of view. The work of Pixinguinha may be considered important at the same level as the work of initial American jazz composers like Duke Ellington - both helped shaping a musical form that had success nationally and internationally.

The name and legacy of Pixinguinha is kept well alive in Brazil, in September 2000 President Fernando Henrique Cardoso signed an official document to announce April 23th the National Day of Choro in Brazil in honor of Pixinguinha. Every year since then choro has been celebrated officially on the 23th of April through countless events in Brazil and around the world where Brasilian culture is a part of the local community. Let's follow this tradition and celebrate the day by playing some choro music by Pixinguinha.

Os Oito Batutas (c.1922-23)

Pixinguinha demonstrated ability on both flute and cavaquinho as a kid and started composing at an early age. By the age of 14, he had composed his first choro, 'Lata de leite', and was already an accomplished flute player. In 1913, he made his first choro recordings, and by the time he was 15, he was playing professionally - at 18 he was one of the most popular musicians and choro composers in Rio de Janeiro. In 1919, Pixinguinha formed the legendary Os Oito Batutas (- meaning 'The Eight Remarkable Players' in English). The group consisted of flute (- and later saxophone), guitars, cavaquinho, bandolim, bandola, pandeiro and assorted percussion. - Led by Pixinguinha, Oito Batutas was formed to entertain the audience of Rio's prestigious Cinema Palais in its foyer. Opening on April 7, 1919, the group was a success from its debut. The Carioca élite were taken by surprise by the repertory of maxixes, sertanejo songs, batuques, cateretês, and choros. In 1920, the group performed for the King of Belgium and in the next year they toured Brazil. Returning to Rio, they went to play at the luxurious Assírio Club, accompanying the dancing duo Duque & Gaby. In January 1922, the group departed for Paris, France, financed by millionaire Arnaldo Guinle. Introduced as Les Batutas at the Scherazade club, they performed there for six months with great success. - Also in 1922, they left for Argentina, performing at the Empire Theater (Buenos Aires) and recorded 20 sides for the Argentinean Victor label. Upon their return to Brazil in 1923, they diminished their performances until they soon dissolved the group. - Among the recorded material by Oito Batutas there was a composotion by initial guitar choro originator, João Pernambuco, who was a member of the group for some time - here his choro 'Graúna' is performed by Pixinguinha on flute accompanied by the Batutas 

In the late 1920s, Pixinguinha was hired by RCA Victor to lead the Orquestra Victor Brasileira, and during his tenure there he refined his skills as an arranger. It was common for choro musicians at the time to improvise their parts based on a simple piano score, but the growing demand for radio music from large ensembles required fully realized written scores for every instrument, and Pixinguinha was one of the few composers with this skill. It was in this role that he created some of his most famous compositions, i.e. 'Lamentos' and 'Carinhoso' - Here is inserted the original recording of 'Lamentos' from 1928 

Benedito Lacerda (flute), Pixinguinha (saxophone), c. 1940

In 1939, Pixinguinha left Victor to join flautist Benedito Lacerda's band, where he took up the tenor saxophone as his primary instrument and continued to compose music for the group. Lacerda's band was a conjunto regional, the name given to in-house bands hired by radio stations to perform music and accompany singers, often live in front of a studio audience. It was with Lacerda that Pixinguinha began another fertile period of composing and recording. Due to economic troubles as the regionais fell out of favor in the late 40s, Pixinguinha had to sell the rights to his compositions to Benedito Lacerda, who for this appears a co-composer of many of Pixinguinha's tunes, even those composed while Lacerda was still a boy. In the recordings with Lacerda, Pixinguinha plays secondary parts on the saxophone while Lacerda plays the flute part on tunes that Pixinguinha originally wrote on that instrument. - Here's an example of the co-work between Pixinguinha and Lacerda, the recording of Pixinguinha's choro 'Vou vivendo' (1946)

By the mid 1950s, changing tastes and the emerging popularity of samba and American jazz in Brazil led to the decline of the choro regional as other genres became dominant on the radio. Pixinguinha spent his time in retirement, appearing in public only on rare occasions. - Here's a rare film from this period showing Pixinguiha and his conjunto playing his famous choro 'Um a zero' - enjoy!

Pixinguinha's music continues to inspire and challenge musicians of all kind to play their version of his famous compositions, here's a new uploaded video showing the harmonicaplayer Vitor Lopes performing 'Lamentos' as a solo piece to end this small celebration of Pixinguinha and Choro Day

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Jo

keepswinging@live.nl

Alfredo da Rocha Vianna Filho (1897-1973), better known as Pixinguinha, was a choro composer, arranger, flutist and saxophonist. Pixinguinha produced some of the most important choro works of all time. His work as a composer, bandleader, flutist/reedplayer and originator of the choro genre is of invaluable importance, historically and from a musical point of view. The name and legacy of Pixinguinha is kept well alive in Brazil, in September 2000 Pixinguinha's birthdate on the 23th of April was officially announced the National Day of Choro in Brazil, which has been celebrated every year through various events both in Brazil and other countries since then.

Retrospect Keep Swinging (old) Oscar Aleman Choro Music Flexible Records Hit of the Week-Durium Friends of the Keep Swinging blog Keep Swinging Contributions

Rio, Choro, Jazz - A Contemporary Tribute To Ernesto Nazareth

2013 was the 150th Anniversary of the famous Brazilian composer and pianist Ernesto Nazareth, who is considered one of the fundamental sources of Choro - a genuine Brazilian musical artform. The 150th Jubilee of Ernesto Nazareth was celebrated all over Brazil through various events, festivals and new recordings. A renewed interest in the works of Ernesto Nazareth has also resulted in an amazing resource website (- in Portuguese language only), directed and produced by the tireless researcher and pianist Alexandre Dias in co-operation with Instituto Moreira Salles in Rio de Janeiro, to be reached clicking here

Ernesto Júlio Nazareth (1863 - 1934) was born in Rio de Janeiro and learned to play the piano as a child with his mother. After her passing away in 1873, Ernesto continued his piano studies and began composing. His first piece, the polka "Você Bem Sabe" was written and published when he was just 14 years of age. He had and open ear for the popular music beeing played in the streets and favoured by choro musicians, his own works for piano were influenced by maxixe, lundu, habañera and choro. Nonetheless, as a classical musician he would not allow such popular denominations into his own music, instead he would classify his pieces as i.e. 'Brazilian tangos'. - Nazareth worked as a pianist at the prestigious movie theater Odeon of Rio de Jainero, where he wrote one of his most famous compositions, "Odeon". Many musicians would go to the Odeon theater just to see and hear Nazareth play. Later he got a job at a music shop to support his living and growing family, there he was hired to play the sheets asked for by customers. Among the music sheets were his own compositions and according to some sources he was very demanding towards people, who themselves would try to play his pieces, frequently telling the possible buyer to interrupt the performance! - By the late 1920'ies Nazareth began facing hearing problems that worsened towards the end of his life. A depression following the passing away of his daughter and wife intesified the decay of his mental health - he was hospitalizied in 1933 and died the following year. - Ernesto Nazareth left a legacy of compositions favoured by both classical and popular musicians. His first composition labeled 'choro' is "Apanhei-te Cavaquinho", other well-known pieces are "Brejeiro", "Ameno Resedá", "Bambino", "Dengoso", "Travesso", "Fon Fon" and "Tenebroso". Nazareth's popular works remain a core repertoire of Brazilian choro, performed by numerous artists in various settings to this day. His extensive work is composed of more than 200 pieces.

CD cover: Rio, Choro, Jazz ... AAM Music, 2014

A new CD by the Brazilian pianist, composer, arranger and producer Antonio Adolfo is a tribute to the music of Ernesto Nazareth recorded last year and released a couple of weeks ago at Adolfo's own label, AAM Music. The CD has ten tracks, nine of them are compositions by Nazareth and the title track is a new composition by Antonio Adolfo, a contemporary interpretation of the different musical influences that are the inspiration of this project: choro and jazz. The musicians taking part in the recorded ten tracks are: Antonio Adolfo (piano, arranger), Claudio Spiewak (guitars), Jorge Helder (bass), Marcelo Martins (flute, soprano saxophone), Rafael Barata (drums, percussion) and Marcos Suzano (percussion). - The nine featured compositions by Nazareth are "Feitiço" (1897), "Brejeiro" (1893), "Fon-fon" (1913), "Tenebroso" (1913), "Não caio noutra" (1881), "Coração que sente" (1903), "Cuéra" (1912), "Nenê" (1895) and "Odeon" (1909) - the audio of the last mentioned in Antonio Adolfo's new arrangement has been uploaded at YouTube

What caracterizes Adolfo's interpretations of Nazareth's music is the freedom of improvisation, an element exposed in both choro and jazz, here in a contemporary form that may be considered a hybrid between the two genres. The result is neither traditional jazz nor choro, but a mixture that blows fresh air into Nazareth's musical themes through be bop inspired improvisation - in the liner notes Adolfo mentions Bill Evans as an inspiration working with the arrangements featured on the disc.

Antonio Adolfo

Antonio Adolfo (b 1947) grew up in a musical family in Rio de Janeiro and began his studies at the age of seven. At seventeen he was already a professional musician. His teachers include Eumir Deodato and Nadia Boulanger. During the 60's he led his own trio and toured with singers Elis Regina and Milton Nascimento. Adolfo wrote tunes that gained great success and have been recorded by such artists as Sérgio Mendes, Stevie Wonder, Herb Alpert, Earl Klugh, Dionne Warwick, and others. He won International Song Contests on two occasions. As a musician and arranger he has worked with some of the most representative Brazilian names, besides having released several albums. In 1985 he created his own school of music in Rio de Janeiro. Currently he is conducting a music school in Hollywood and teaches Brazilian music and jazz. More info on Antonio Adolfo's career at his official website, here 

Antonio Adolfo, photo by Paul Constantinides

The new arrangements of Nazareth's music by Antonio Adolfo continue and extend a longtime fascination with the founders of Brazilian Choro music, Adolfo released another CD featuring music by Nazareth and Chiquinha Gonzaga in 1991 and he has participated in other choro and jazz projects in Brazil as well. To end this small review of the new CD, here's another audio take from the CD uploaded at YouTube, Nazareth's "Fon-Fon"

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Jo

keepswinging@live.nl

The new CD by Antonio Adolfo, renowned Brazilian pianist, composoer, arranger, producer and educator, sets focus on 

the music of initial Brazilian Choro composer Ernesto Nazareth. The ten tracks feature nine pieces composed by Nazareth in new arrangements by Antonio Adolfo leaving space for improvisation that draws inspiration from both choro and modern jazz, the tittle track reflects the mixture of both choro and jazz in a contemporary concept of the hallmarks of both musical genres. The CD is produced by Antonio Adolfo and released at his own label, AAM Music and is available for purchase at Amazon and other online retailers, recommended.

Retrospect Keep Swinging (old) Oscar Aleman Choro Music Flexible Records Hit of the Week-Durium Friends of the Keep Swinging blog Keep Swinging Contributions

Way Down Yonder in New Orleans

1922 sheet music cover with a photo of singer Blossom Seeley

Way Down Yonder in New Orleans is a popular song with music by John Turner Layton, Jr. and lyrics by Henry Creamer. First published in 1922, it was advertised by Creamer and Layton as "A Southern Song, without A Mammy, A Mule, Or A Moon", a dig at some of the Tin Pan Alley clichés of the era.- It was performed at The Winter Garden Theater in New York in Act 2 of the Broadway musical production Spice of 1922.The original 1922 sheet music featured a drawing of a girl on a spice bottle on the front cover, referring to the musical in which the song eventually made its public debut. [excerpt of Wikipedia article]

The Peerless Quartet, c.1923
L-R: John H. Meyer, Henry Burr, Frank Croxton, Albert Campbell

The song has been recorded numerous times from the early 1920s up till now. One of the first recordings of the song was made by Henry Burr and the Peerless Quartet in 1922

Layton & Johnstone — 1927

The composer Turner Layton recorded the song as part of the duo Layton & Johnstone in 1927

Frankie Trumbauer & His Orch, OKeh, 40843

Way Down Yonder in New Orleans was soon recorded by various jazz groups, one of the most famous recordings from the 1920s was made by Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke (co), in 1927

As said, Way Down Yonder in New Orleans has been recorded by numerous artists and the song may be considered a part of the jazz standard repertoire, but it has also been treated by r&b, rock'n'roll and pop artists. I found a wonderful example of the fact that the song still inspires a new generation of jazz musicians to show off their best. - From a live performance at the Kids in Jazz, Norway 2013 Polina Tarasenko (Ukraine) is featured on trombone accompanied by Risa Takahashi (Japan), bass guitar, Trym Karlsen (Norway), drums, Odd Andre Elveland (Norway), piano - enjoy!

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Jo 

keepswinging@live.nl

The popular song Way Down Yonder In New Orleans was composed in 1922 by John Turner Layton, Jr. with lyrics by Henry Creamer. The song had its debut in the Broadway musical production Spice of 1922 and was soon recorded by numerous artists. Both popular and jazz artist have made the song a part of the standard American repertoire. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans keeps inspiring - even young people - to show off their talents

Retrospect Keep Swinging (old) Oscar Aleman Choro Music Flexible Records Hit of the Week-Durium Friends of the Keep Swinging blog Keep Swinging Contributions