Dizzy Gillespie meets Phil Woods Quintet

Timeless re-issues historical recordings.
World class! 
Hans Koert

In its series Timeless Jazz Legacy Remastered Timeless re-issued several interesting  lp releases from the past on cd.  In a previous blog I wrote about the  Nat Adderley disc in its series – today I have the Dizzy Gillespie meets Phil Woods Quintet cd ( TJL 74513) in my hands.

Dizzy Gillespie Meets Phil Woods Quintet ( Timeless Jazz Legacy TJL 74513)

The album contains six tracks all recorded at a recording session at Studio 44 in Monster ( The Netherlands) by the well known Dutch recording engineer Max Bolleman. 

Timeless SJP 250 (orig. cover in color)

A series of concerts by Dizzy Gillespie and the Phil Woods Quintet  had been crowned by this recording session. Wim Wigt, producer and owner of Timeless Records says on the original lp-cover ….. This record is a result of one week performing and rehearsing together.  The album shows exactly the atmosphere in which the concerts were done, an intense meeting of the real giant in jazz.  It’s unknown to me, I haven’t found ads to proof it, if this band also performed in Holland, but the French Jazz Magazine  published a raving review of this bands concert during the previous week in Toulouse (France).During these series of concerts, Dizzy Gillespie was the special guest in Phil Woods Quintet, featuring  Phil Woods on alto saxophone, trumpet player Tom Harrell and in the rhythm section Nat Galper at the piano, Steve Gilmore on bass and Bill Goodwin on drums.

Phil Woods (1978) ( source: Wikepedia.org)

During this period Dizzy was a  celebrated icon in modern jazz ……….. He performed and recorded extensively  in various small groups and all-star bands and travelled all around the world ……  He has often performed with Phil Woods, who nicknamed Dizzy as The Sky King, because he spent so much of his times in air planes. 
 
 Phil first met Dizzy in 1956 when he joined his band for a Mid-East tour to Syria (Aleppo and Damascus) and Bayreuth, organized by the US State Departement, who saw, Dizzy as a kind of diplomat … Phil suggests in an article by Gene Lees “Waiting for Dizzy (1991): All the trouble spots, al the places that are now on fire, the State Department sent Dizzy. I think if they’d sent him one more time, he could have cooled it all out. (Quote Phil Woods: Gene Lees “Waiting for Dizzy) (1991). Phil remembers Dizzy during this first trip with him: When we were in the Mideast, he was out there playing with snake charmers.  .. he has an uncanny ability to memorize it or feel exactly what they’re doing, and then fitting it into the jazz mode, without prostituting either one of them.  He’s a rhythmic genius ( Gene Lees “Waiting for Dizzy") (1991)

Phil Woods "at the Porgy en Bess jazz café concert" (bron: PZC mei 1986)

Phil Woods, born in  Springfield (MA) November 1931, founded his Pals late 1940s which was recorded in 1947 and released on a Phililogy cd Bird’s Eyes – Last Unissued volume 7.  He was part of Dizzy’s Big Band and was a founder member of the Quincy Jones Big Band. He moved to Europe where he founded his European Rhythm Machine and returned to the States in the 1970s. 

He was a sought after instrumentalist and could be heard at numerous (European) festivals, like, in 1986, the Heineken Jazzfestival (Rotterdam)( September ) ….. and, of all places, the Scheldejazz Festival in Terneuzen (south western part of The Netherlands), May 1986. Although due to the US bombs on military-targets like the tents of Khadafy (his home) and the city of Tripoli (15th of April 1986) and the major accident occurred at a nuclear generating plant at Chernobyl (Ukraine) US citizens cancelled their trips to Europe, Phil Woods and his Quintet, the same line-up as on the Timeless ablum, joined the festival and its concert was reviewed in a local newspaper as a Concert van wereldklasse (= a world class concert)
 

Tom Harrell (photo copurtesy: Arnold Parre) (source: PZC 1984 )

De altsax- en klarinetsolo’s van Woods en het opzwepende trompetspel van trompettist Tom Harrell zorgden daarbij keer op keer voor een climax ( = The alto and clarinet solos by Woods and the great trumpet of Tom Harrell came time and again to a climax). The local news paper praised the audience of Porgy en Bess and the concentration of the musicians. Bassist Steven Gilmore stond af en toe zo in trance aan zijn bas te plukken, dat het leek of hij erbij in slaap viel en dat zijn instrument vanzelf gewoon verder speelde.(= Bassplayer Steven Gilmore fell into a tranch with his eyes closed ….. which almost suggested that his instrument continued, while Steven had a little nap). En ook het gedrag van trompettist Harrel was opmerkelijk. Het ene moment speelde hij met een ongelooflijke dynamiek de sterren van de hemel en het andere moment stond hij verlegen met gesloten ogen achteraan op het podium (= And Tom Harrell attracted the attention, being active and lively when he played his trumpet and the other moment shy and introverted, inward-looking at the back of the stage.). It is clear that the journalist of the PZC, the local news paper was  ignorant of Harrel’s mental problems ….

Tom Harrell in Porgy en Bess ( April 2011) (photo courtesy: Hans Koert)

For me, when I listen to this great album, I remember Phil Woods, as I heard him playing in concert as a guest at Bud Shank's Quartet at the 2004 North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague and I try to imagine how the 1986 Porgy en Bess concert must have sounded – What’s the reason I missed it?
Mind that this Dizzy Gillespie meets Phil Woods Quintet ( TJL-74513) is a re-issue of a previous lp-album with the same name released in 1987 by Timeless (SJP 250)

This album can be ordered at the Timeless or Challenge wensites.  

MY JAZZ LINKS: Dizzy Gillespie - Phil Woods - Tom Harrell

Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl
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Last year Timeless reissued the classical Dizzy Gillespie meets Phil Woods Quintet recordings on its Timeless Jazz Legacy series  Dizzy Gillespie was, December 1986, the crowd puller for the Phil Woods Quintet concerts, fauturing Dizzy as special guest ... a group with skilled jazz musicians like trumpetist Tom Harrell, pianist Hal Galper, bass player Steve Gilmore and drummer Bill Goodwin. With the same line-up Phil Woods performed at the 1986 Heinekens festival and Scheldejazz in Porgy en Bess Jazz club(Terneuzen)(The Netherlands), a concert which was labeled as "Wereldklasse".

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Charles Evans-Dave Liebman: Subliminal Leaps

An unusual combination of soprano- and baritone saxophones as lead melodic instruments.
Charles Evans - David Liebman - Tony Marino - Ron Stabinsky.
Hans Koert
 
Charles Evans latest album, entitled Subliminal Leaps,  which will be released one of these days, won't be laid down in the easy listening section of your record store. The word Subliminal suggest that the music expresses the feelings that are normally hidden in our human consciousness ………. so it called the fact if this disc was interesting for me, into question. So I gave it the benefit of the doubt and played it ........   and played it again and the harmonics and rhythms of the music touched me ……

(MIM132)

The album Subliminal Leaps contains half a dozen tracks, all composed by baritone saxophonist Charles Evans, who saw his dream came true: Making an album with the man “who has changed my life and music in very profound ways”.

Tony Marino and Dave Liebman (photo courtesy: David Elliott)

David Liebman, I recently reviewed his albums "David Liebman Trio Plays The Blues á La Trane" and  “Lieb Plays The Beatles” (in Dutch), is a sought after reed player and was Charles Evans teacher …. who instilled an artistic mindset in the young baritonist and inspired him to pursue music to his fullest potential.  Evans received his master’s degree in jazz  and completed the Music Education program at Queens College for state certification.

Charles Evans ( photo courtesy: Susan Jaffer)

Charles Evans debuted on baritone saxophone with his quintet at the 2005 Hot Cup release "Ballads". A few years later he surprised with a solo album entitled The King Of All Instruments, which was labeled with a 5-stars Downbeat label.
Both the baritone saxophone of Charles Evans and the soprano saxophone of David Liebman are the major instruments in this album. The two reed players are accompanied by two skilled jazz musicians in the rhythm section: pianist Ron Stabinsky and bass player Tony Marino, a veteran on bass, active since the 1980s in bands led by reed player George Young and since the 1990s a regular accompanist of David Liebman.

David Liebman - Ron Stabinsky- Tony Marino - Charles Evans (photo courtesy: Carl Shinko)

The compositions by Charles Evans are all directly related to the theme: Subliminal Leaps. The unusual combination of soprano and baritone saxophones as lead melodic instruments served as immediate inspiration as I began writing this piece, Charles says in the liner notes, but it is impossible to notate or predict … the level of artistic creation derived by the three musicians. 



The album was live recorded at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church at Wilkes Barre ( PA), the 23rd of September, 2012.
Enjoy it.

MY JAZZ LINKS: David Liebman

Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl
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For many years I have wanted to record with David Liebman, Charles Evans says in the liner notes of his latest album: Subliminal Leaps. Years ago Charles Evans studied at Queens College and David Liebman was one of his teachers ... He has changed my life and music in very profound ways.  A dream came true with this relcording by Charles Evans, an unusual combination of soprano and baritone saxophones as lead melodic instruments.

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Dizzy Gillespie ontmoet het Phil Woods Quintet (1986)

Timeless brengt historische opnamen opnieuw uit.
Wereldklasse! 
Hans Koert

Challenge records bracht vorig jaar voor Timeless in haar serie Timeless Jazz Legacy heruitgaven uit van interessante lp’s, die eerder op het Timeless label verschenen.  In een eerdere blog besteedde ik aandacht aan een heruigave van een Nat Adderley schijf – vandaag aandacht voor de cd Dizzy Gillespie meets Phil Woods Quintet ( TJL 74513).

Dizzy Gillespie meets Phil Woods Quintet ( Timeless Jazz Legacy TJL 74513)

Het album bevat een zestal nummers, waarvan de helft door Dizzy werd geschreven, één van Tom Harrell en twee standards: Round Midnight en Love For Sale. De opname vonden plaats in Studio 44 in Monster door de bekende geluidstechnicus Max Bolleman.  

Timeless SJP 250 (oorspr. hoes in kleur)

De opnamen werden in 1987 uitgebracht op een gelijknamige lp (weliswaar zonder het nummer Terrestris van Tom Harrell). Deze opnamen vormden het sluitstuk van een intensieve week vol optredens, schrijft Wim Wigt, producer en eigenaar van Timeless Records op de hoes van de oorspronkelijke lp. Het is me niet bekend of het Phil Woods Quintet met als gast Dizzy Gillespie ook nog in de week voorafgaand aan de opnamen in Nederland speelde – wel publiceerde het Franse Jazz Magazine een jubelende recensie over een concert in Toulouse.
Dizzy Gillespie was tijdens de week te gast bij het Phil Woods Quintet, waarin behalve leider en altsaxofonist Phil Woods, ook trompettist Tom Harrell te horen is met in de ritmesectie Nat Galper op piano, Steve Gilmore bas en Bill Goodwin slagwerk.

Phil Woods (1978) ( bron: Wikepedia.org)

Dizzy Gillespie was door zijn trompetspel, maar vooral ook door zijn humor, een gevierd artiest ………. Hij speelde in de jaren tachtig mee op talloze opnamen met kleine groepen en all-star bands en reisde de hele wereld af.  Hij speelde regelmatig met Phil Woods, die hem gekscherend wel de bijnaam  The Sky King gaf, vanwege de vele uren dat hij doorbracht in vliegtuigen. 
 
 Hij ontmoete Dizzy voor het eerst in 1956 toen hij uitgenodigd werd om met Dizzy naar het Midden-Oosten te gaan voor optredens Syrië (Aleppo en Damascus) en Beiroet, op uitnodiging van het US State Departement, die in Dizzy een soort Goodwill Ambassador zag, suggereert Phil in een artikel van  Gene Lees “Waiting for Dizzy" (1991): All the trouble spots, all the places that are now on fire, the State Department sent Dizzy. I think if they’d sent him one more time, he could have cooled it all out. (Uitspraak Phil Woods: Gene Lees “Waiting for Dizzy) (1991). Phil herinnerde tijdens die eerste trips vooral de muzikale creativiteit van Birks, zoals zijn bijnaam luidde: When we were in the Mid East, he was out there playing with snake charmers.  ..   He has an uncanny ability to memorize it or feel exactly what they’re doing, and then fitting it into the jazz mode, without prostituting either one of them.  He’s a rhythmic genius. ( Gene Lees “Waiting for Dizzy") (1991)

Phil Woods  (bron: PZC mei 1986)

Phil Woods, geboren in Springfield (MA) in november 1931, richtte eind jaren veertig zijn Pals op, waarvan opnamen uit 1947 later op een cd uitgebracht zijn ( Bird’s Eyes – Last Unissued volume 7.) Hij speelde in Dizzy’s Big Band en was één van de oprichters van de Quincy Jones Big Band. Hij verhuisde naar Europa en richtte hier zijn European Rhythm Machine op en in de jaren zeventig verhuisde hij weer naar de VS. 

Hij was een veel gevraagd artiest en speelde vaak in Europa op festivals en concerten, steeds met zijn onafscheidelijke pet. In 1986. bijvoorbeeld, was hij in ons land o.a. te horen op het Heineken Jazzfestival van Rotterdam ( september 1986) ….. en, of all places, het Scheldejazzfestival in Terneuzen (mei 1986). Hoewel door de bombardementen op Tripoli (15 april 1986) en de ramp met de kerncentrale van Chernobyl (Oekraine) veel Amerikanen niet meer naar Europa durfden te reizen, meldde Phil Woods and his Quintet, met dezelfde bezetting als op de heruitgebrachte cd, keurig bij Porgy en Bess, waar hij het Scheldejazzfestival opende met een optreden dat in de kritieken als een Concert van Wereldklasse bestempeld werd. 

Tom Harrell (foto: Arnold Parre) (bron: PZC 1984 )

De altsax- en klarinetsolo’s van Woods en het opzwepende trompetspel van trompettist Tom Harrell zorgden daarbij keer op keer voor een climax, schrijft de PZC, die vooral ook het Porgy en Bess publiek roemt.  Over de andere spelers schrijft de krant: Bassist Steven Gilmore stond af en toe zo in trance aan zijn bas te plukken, dat het leek of hij erbij in slaap viel en dat zijn instrument vanzelf gewoon verder speelde. Uit de opmerking, die de krant bij Tom Harrell plaatste, begrijp ik dat de journalist onwetend was over de psychische problemen van Tom Harrell. Hij schrijft: En ook het gedrag van trompettist Harrell was opmerkelijk. Het ene moment speelde hij met een ongelooflijke dynamiek de sterren van de hemel en het andere moment stond hij verlegen met gesloten ogen achteraan op het podium. 

Tom Harrell in Porgy en Bess ( april 2011) (foto: Hans Koert)

Voor mij is dit een belangrijk album, omdat het me inzicht geeft hoe Phil Woods in Porgy en Bess geklonken moet hebben. Helaas was ik er in Terneuzen niet bij en moest ik tot 2004 wachten voordat ik hem op het  Northsea Jazzfestival in Den Haag hoorde als gast bij het Bud Shank Quartet
Wie al de Timeless lp’s in zijn verzameling heeft ( TJL-74513) uitgebracht in 1987 zal ontdekken dat de cd één nummer meer heeft, namelijk de Tom Harrell’ compositie Terrestris.

De cd is te koop bij de betere platenzaken en via de website van Timeless of Challenge  

MY JAZZ LINKS: Dizzy Gillespie - Phil Woods - Tom Harrell

Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl
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Opnamen Dizzy Gillespie meets Phil Woods Quintet heruitgebracht in de Timeless Jazz Legacy serie.  Uiteraard was Dizzy Gillespie in december 1986 de publiekstrekker tijdens de concerten van het Phil Woods Quintet met Dizzy als gast, maar de man met de pet, altsaxofonist Phil Woods leidde een voortreffelijke band met musici als trompettist Tom Harrell, pianist Hal Galper, bassist Steve Gilmore en slagwerker Bill Goodwin. Met dit kwintet was hij in 1986 o.a. te horen in Rotterdam en in Porgy en Bess (Terneuzen) tijdens het Scheldejazzfestival, waar het concert werd samengevat als "Wereldklasse".

 Retrospect
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Tom Kennedy - Just Play

No rehearsals - no written arrangements .... just play!
We were like kids in the studio ..... (quote: Tom Kennedy)(source: liner notes Bill Milkowski)
Hans Koert

Whow   - What a great opener ….. Airegin, originally composed and recorded in 1954 by Sonny Rollins in Miles Davis early Prestige Quintet (1954) opens Tom Kennedy’s latest album Just Play, released a few months ago by Capri Records Ltd. ( 74122 ).  It is one of the nine standards performed by an all-star band, directed by featured bass player Tom Kennedy.

Tom Kennedy ( source: tomkennedymusic.com)



(photo courtesy:
Hans Koert)

Tom Kennedy – born in St. Louis, August 1960 – started to play the acoustic bass when he was nine years old. Ray Brown was my hero, Tom says in the liner notes and he learned a lot from his mentor Jerry Cherry, who was … a monster bass player coming out of Ray’s things and also Leroy Vinnegar’s walking bass thing. 
He had such a strong will and he was such a strong player that it really left its influence on me forever. As a teenager he discovered the electric bass and when he was eighteen years young he had accompanied dozens of great jazz icons, like Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, Stan Kenton, James Moody, Barney Kessel, Eddie Harris, George Russell, Nat Adderley, Peter Erskine and Freddie Hubbard, among others … Is there a better start for a professional career? (source: Wikipedia)

Tom Kennedy ( source: tomkennedymusic.com)

During the 1980s he moved to New York and debuted on record in Billy Williams’ Quartet, which featured his elder brother piano player Ray Kennedy.  Tom's latest album, Just Play, is in fact, dedicated to his brother, who is suffering from multiple sclerosis. I’ve dedicated this recording to my brother for so many reasons, Tom says, He has always been such an inspiration to me, as a phenomenal pianist, composer and arranger, and even more, through his incredible spirit of giving.

(photo courtesy:
Hans Koert)

Tom Kennedy selected some great musicians for his band …. What to think about Mike Stern and Lee Ritenour at the guitars or Tim Hagans on trumpet, to list some.  His mate in the rhythm section is Dave Weckl, which he met in the 1970s at a Stan Kenton music camp in Springfield, Missouri .. I remember when Dave and I first played together we just connected immediately ….. Tom learned that Dave lived in St. Louis too and from that time they often jammed together – in 1984 they were recorded for the first time together at the Bill Connors album Step it – the start of a series of albums they made together ………….

Tom Kennedy ( source: tomkennedymusic.com)

As told before, the album Just Play contains standards only, from Freddie Hubbard’s Ceora  and Brubeck's In Your Own Sweet Way up to Cedar Walton’s Bolivia and Elllington's In a Sentimental Mood.  It has to do with the idea Tom had for this recording ….. No written arrangements nor rehearsals, …. Just Play as the album is entitled …  And so it happened … All tracks were recorded in one day with most tunes captured on the first take …. It was like we were kids in the studio!
 As you may have learned from the top of this blog ..... I really liked Airegin, but also Bolivia and Cole Porter's  What Is This Thing Called Love which is played in a way seldom heard ….. No - I'won't tell you - Let is surprise you.

MY JAZZ LINKS: Tom Kennedy

Hans Koert

keepswinging@live.nl 

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Just Play .....no written arrangements nor rehearsals…. Just Play! as the album is entitled … And so it happened … all tracks were recorded in one day with most tunes captured on the first take …. It was like we were kids in the studio!  Let Tom Kennedy latest album surprise you.

 Retrospect
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Carline Ray (1925-2013)

Jazz guitarist, bassist, activist and vocalist passed away. 
 I never felt strange about being a woman in music. (Carline Ray)
Hans Koert

Last month US vocalist, bassist and guitar player Carline Ray passed away, 88 years young, her daughter Catherine Russell reported.  I met Catherine at an in-shop concert at The Drvkkery in Middelburg (The Netherlands) a few years ago and then she told me that her mother was still active in singing. I learned that Catherine Russell’s father was the well known band leader Luis Russell, but about her mother I didn't know more then that she had been part of the International Sweethearts of Rhythm for a few years. I love to honour this special woman.

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm with leader - vocalist Anna Mae Winburn and guitarist Carline Ray and bass player Edna smith somewhere at the back (photo: ca. 1946) ( source: Carline Ray Collection)

When I found the DVD The All Girl Bands “Accent On Girls”, released in 2005 by Storyville  Films (Denmark) in its series Jazz Legends, I found several shorts by the International Sweethearts of Rhythm featuring Carline Ray at the guitar in nine tracks.


Although its leader and vocalist Anna Mae Winburn draws attention from the camera, a young Carline Ray can be seen at the far left somewhere at the back of the band next to bassist Edna Smith.

Carline Ray - publicity photo (late 1940s) (source: Carline Ray Collection)

Carline Ray was born in New York City, April 1925. Her father played now and then in James Reese Europe’s band, which visited France during World War I.

Edna Smith

Carline sang and played the piano as a kid and joined the Juilliard School of Music at the age of 16. She came into contact with jazz thanks to a friend of her, Edna Smith, who also introduced her to the bass.  Ray’s first gig must have been a taxi dancehall date, somewhere in the early 1940s, when she was still a student at Juillard's. When she and Edna graduated they were offered a job in the then well known International Sweethearts of Rhythm; Edna on bass and Carline on guitar, but also as a vocalist now and then.  ...........She would continue to sing at an advanged age and she must have forwarded these skills to her daughter Catherine Russell, who started a solo carreer a few years ago after a long career in pop background choirs for great pop-artists like Paul Simon. David Bowie an the band Steely Dan.  

Carline Ray in actie ( waarschijnlijk jaren vijftig)

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was originally founded to give the poor kids of Piney Woods, a school for poor and Afro American children, most were orphaned, a living …..  “It was a time when American thought it improper for women to make a sax wail or let loose hot licks on skins.” I found in the book Take-Off – American All-Girl Bands During WWII by Tonya Bolden “But the advent of World War II dispatched many men overseas, giving women the chance to finally strut their stuff on the bandstand.

Carline Ray ( detail of the The Internationale Sweethearts of Rhythm photo above ( ca. 1946)
 
All-girl bands, like the International Sweethearts of Rhythm kept moral high on the home front and on USO tours of military bases across the globe. At the same time, they helped to establish America’s distinguished legacy of jazz music”.
All-Girl bands, Damesorkesten in Dutch, like The International Sweethearts of Rhythm were extreme popularlate 1930s - early 1940s, not only in the States but also in Holland, where bands like Clara De Vries and her Jazzladies and saxophone players like Annie Van't Zelfde ( aka Annie The Same) draw full houses, until the nazis forbid to play this kind of Entartete Musik.



The International Sweethearts of Rhythm would develop into one of the most popular US All-Women bands of the 1940s, but when Carline Ray and Edna Smith joined, the popularity of the orchestra was over the hill. In 1948 the band was disbanded and Carline started in Erskine Hawkins Orchestra as a vocalist and guitarist playing at the so-called black theatre circuit.


Luis Russell with his daughter Catherine ( ca. 1958) (photo courtesy: Carline Ray collection)

During the 1950s Carline joined the Manhattan School of Music and graduated in 1956. In the 1950s she founded with Edna Smith and Pauline Braddy Williams a trio, which performed in New York clubs.  In one of the clubs, Luis Russell, the former band leader and Louis Armstrong’s musical director, was the manager …… Ray and Luis felt in love and married.  In 1956 Catherine was born.

Catherine Russell (photo courtesy: Hans Koert)

She started to play fender bass in bands like Skitch Henderson Big Band, where she was the only woman in the band, but she never felt that as something special …. I never felt strange about being a woman in music. I enjoy what I’m doing, and I’m all business. We’re musicians first. Ray became also an activist for women's liberation for equal rights. She played in all kinds of orchestras, too much to list here, but I love to mention her cooperation with Melba Liston ( Melba Liston and Company) and a concert with the All-Women band Aerial, featuring Ray at the 1979 Newport Jazz Festival. In those days she studied the acoustic bass at Major Holley's.

Carline and her daughter Catherine in duet ( photo courtesy: Joseph A. Rosen)

Carline Ray can be heard on dozens of record albums, made by great names like Red Richards en zangeres Ruth Brown, to list some, but she never made one by herself. 
Thanks to her 88th birthday, spring 2013,  her daughter Catherine Russell released Ray's debut's album Vocal Sides.  I hope to review this album later .... a debut album by a very special woman who loved to play her jazz music in a band with most  male artists ....  I enjoy what I’m doing, and I’m all business. We’re musicians first.

Carline Ray passed away 88 years old ( 1925-2013).

MY JAZZ LINKS: Carline Ray - Catherine Russell

Hans Koert
keepswinging@live.nl
Follow the Keep (it)  Swinging blog at Facebook or Twitter (#keepitswinging) and ask its free newsletter.

Carline Ray started to play the guitar at the famous All-Girl band The International Sweethearts of Rhythm, but was also active as a bass player, a vocalist and champion for women rights. She passed away last month 88 years old. A few months ago she made her debut as a singer on the first album under her own name Vocal Sides, produced by her daughter, jazz vocalist Catherine Russell. Enjoy the story of this special woman: Carline Ray. 

 Retrospect
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