#Ed Bickert

[jazzdailyblog]

Ed Bickert: The Quiet Virtuoso of Jazz Guitar

Introduction: When it comes to the greats of jazz guitar, names like Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall, and Pat Metheny often spring to mind. Yet, nestled in this pantheon of innovators is Ed Bickert, a Canadian musician whose understated brilliance has left an indelible mark on the world of jazz. Known for his harmonic sophistication, warm tone, and impeccable taste, Bickert’s legacy is one of quiet…

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 11.29

Beer Birthdays

Herman Uihlein Jr. (1917)

Darron Welch (1967)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Don Cheadle; actor (1964)

Chuck Mangione; jazz trumpeter, songwriter (1940)

Andrew McCarthy; actor (1962)

Gary Shandling; comedian, actor (1949)

Fuzzy Thurston; Green Bay Packers G (1933)

Famous Birthdays

Louisa May Alcott; writer (1832)

Peter Bergman; comedian, actor (1939)

Busby Berkeley; choreographer, film director (1895)

Ed Bickert; jazz guitarist (1932)

Suzy Chaffee; skier (1947)

Joel Coen; film director (1954)

Kim Delaney; actor (1961)

Jeff Fahey; actor (1952)

Anna Faris; actor (1976)

Ambrose Fleming; diode inventor (1849)

Barry Goudreau; rock guitarist, songwriter (1951)

Lew Hewson; Australian actress (1995)

Diane Ladd; actor (1942)

Madeleine L'Engle; writer (1918)

C.S. Lewis; Irish writer (1898)

Howie Mandell; comedian, actor (1955)

John Mayall; blues singer, musician (1933)

Meco; pop musician (1939)

Gena Lee Nolin; actor (1971)

John Ray; English naturalist (1627)

Mariano Rivera; New York Yankees P (1969)

Tom Sizemore; actor (1964)

Krystal Steal; adult actress (1982)

Howard Stern; radio show host (1968)

Billy Strayhorn; jazz pianist. composer (1915)

Merle Travis; country singer (1917)

[projazznet]

Ethan Iverson relistens to Pure Desmond, the 1975 album from saxophonist Paul Desmond and featuring Canadian guitarist Ed Bickert.

[jazztidbits]

Vocals: Ernestine Anderson Guitar: Ed Bickert Piano: Gene Harris Drums: Harold Jones Upright  Bass: Lynn Seaton Alto  Saxophone: Marshall Royal

Recorded live, Concord, California, August 1990

[slackville-records]

Paul Desmond (born Paul Emil Breitenfeld; November 25, 1924 – May 30, 1977) had a sound on alto saxophone that remains highly recognizable. His ambition, he said, was to sound like a dry martini. He began by playing clarinet in high school and was tutored in music theory by his father, a theater organist and arranger. Paul studied literature at San Francisco State and, although he did not pursue a writing career, he displayed considerable talent. A short, witty piece entitled “How Jazz Came to Orange County Fair” was published in Punch in 1973. This was an excerpt from a book that Desmond was purportedly writing called “How Many of You Are There in the Quartet?”

Desmond first met pianist Dave Brubeck while both were in the Army, and in 1947 they connected again. Brubeck was studying at Mills College and playing nights with a trio in San Francisco. Desmond began sitting in with the trio and with Brubeck’s experimental octet at Mills.

In 1951 Desmond joined what was to become one of the most famous groups in jazz, the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Desmond’s airy, melodic style was a perfect balance to Brubeck’s forceful, polytonal playing. Their uncanny rapport and ability to interact kept the music exciting and fresh. The group’s popularity had spread via college campuses, but a Time magazine article featuring Brubeck brought them international attention in 1954, the same year that Paul recorded his first album as a leader, The Paul Desmond Quintet - Desmond.

In 1959 their Time Out album, which experimented with time signatures, was an enormous hit, and “Take Five,” written by Desmond in 5/4 time, was the first jazz instrumental to sell over a million singles. Other of his compositions such as “Audrey,” “Desmond Blue,” and “Wendy” are often visited by jazz musicians.

After the Quartet disbanded in 1967, Desmond recorded a duet with Brubeck, guested with Brubeck’s musician sons, and played in pianoless groups with guitarist Jim Hall and baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan. He frequently played in Toronto, Canada, leading a quartet that included guitarist Ed Bickert, bassist Don Thompson, and drummer Jerry Fuller.

Desmond’s wry humor was intact even as he was dying. Doug Ramsey in his book Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond reports that when asked if he wanted a memorial service, Desmond replied, “I don’t care. I’ll be dead.”

Source: Sandra Burlingame

[theloniousbach]

FROM THE SMALL’S LIVE STREAM: BEN WOLFE with Nicole Glover, Peter Bernstein, and Aaron Kimmel, SMALL’S JAZZ CLUB, 5 MAY 2023, 9 pm set

I was so struck with Nicole Glover’s 8 November trio set at The Jazz Gallery that I am going back through the Small’s Archive to see at what point her playing, er, call it, mellowed—not as rushed, more melodic and linear, with a middle registered tone. It is perhaps the result of her not being the leader and playing someone else’s compostions or playing, as with George Colligan on 5 November or here more than six months ago, both with a chordal instrument. In any case, she is just as smart a student of the instrument and the music as a whole, but she is not as intense.

This gig had Peter Bernstein’s guitar, if anything more steeped in that instrument’s tradition, than Lage Lund who was so key to Melissa Aldana’s 12 Stars. Seeing that band and living with that album got me thinking about saxes and guitars (Sonny Rollins with Jim Hall, Pat Metheny’s Song X with Ornette Coleman and 80/81 with Michael Brecker and Dewey Redman, Paul Desmond also with Jim Hall but also Ed Bickert) and the possibility that the narrower range of the instrument opened up more space for the horn. As a one off gig, I don’t imagine that this fundamentally transformed Glover’s playing. But with BEN WOLFE’s smart tunes with extended intricate lines played in sync with guitar and/or bass, Glover drew on those different skills than in her earlier trio work.

Sideways opened things easily settling into an extended parallel line for all of them to play. Glover took her turn with a linear mid-ranged solo that had a punch without being rushed. In Community she came in with an extended note over the moody tone Bernstein added to Wolfe’s defining figure. Masked Man for Lenny Bruce had a late 50sish bounce and either had a second part that was slinky and smoky. Lots of interplay among bass, guitar, and tenor. Aaron Kimmel’s Unjust was bright but also included a bop quote and a rich fluid solo from Glover. She was plaintive on the ballad Love Is Near. The closer Blind Seven had both a relaxed pace and another extended line with a double time section before releasing nicely.

Wolfe was properly forward as the leader but wasn’t overwhelming. Bernstein was a tasteful team player as was Kimmel. All contributed mightily, but I was listening with a purpose and focused on Glover. Wolfe’s tunes gave her an interesting platform to showcase facets of her art that I’m noting more carefully.

[sheetmusiclibrarypdf]

Oscar Peterson - Hymn to Freedom (Easy Piano Solo arr. sheet music)

Oscar Peterson - Hymn to Freedom (Easy Piano Solo arr. sheet music) Best Sheet Music download from our Library.Recognized as one of Oscar Peterson’s most significant compositions, Hymn to Freedom was written in 1962 and was swiftly embraced by people over the world as the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. Please, subscribe to our Library. Thank you! Celebrating 60 Years of Oscar Peterson's Hymn To Freedom Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson - Hymn to Freedom (Easy Piano Solo arr. sheet music)

https://youtu.be/YQGV0WVGnB4

Recognized as one of Oscar Peterson’s most significant compositions, Hymn to Freedom was written in 1962 and was swiftly embraced by people over the world as the anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. The piece was Peterson’s first major work and written with encouragement from his producer and dear friend Norman Granz. During those initial recording sessions, Granz urged Peterson to create a tune with a ��definitive early-blues feel”. For inspiration, Peterson drew upon various church renderings of Negro spirituals recalled from his childhood in Montreal. He aimed to maintain the unadorned, yet poignant quality of these early Baptist hymns while composing the beginning chorus of Hymn to Freedom. Upon its completion, Peterson and Granz decided that lyrics would complement the music and contacted Malcolm Dodds, composer, arranger and choir director of The Malcolm Dodds Singers; a backup group for many popular artists of the day. Dodds turned to his collaborator Harriette Hamilton, who had been writing lyrics for the choir group’s original compositions for several years. According to Hamilton, “all the lyrics had to do was express in very simple language the hope for unity, peace and dignity for mankind. It was easy to write.” With Peterson on piano, Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums, the trio recorded the piece on Night Train (Verve 1962), which became one of their most commercially successful albums. Critical acclaim moved Peterson to record Hymn to Freedom on several albums that followed. During the 1980s, fellow Canadian jazz musicians Oliver Jones and Doug Riley recorded their own renditions of Hymn to Freedom. In 1986, 10 children’s choirs from around the world met in Helsinki, Finland, for the International Choral Sympaatti (the biggest international festival for children’s choirs ever organized in Finland), and performed their version of Peterson’s Hymn to Freedom. In 2000, the Deutsche Welle Choir of Fifty Voices performed Hymn to Freedom in Aachen, Germany, where Peterson was awarded the UNESCO International Music Prize. Today, it has been adopted as the unofficial anthem of youth choirs throughout the world, and is frequently chosen as a choir’s closing piece. In 2002, Oscar Peterson and his trio, along with various other Canadian artists, performed the Hymn at the end of a Gala Tribute Concert to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II during her Golden Jubilee celebrations in Canada. Hymn to Freedom is, indeed, one of Peterson’s most relevant and timeless pieces. Acknowledgements are due to this Canadian legend for creating this superbly moving composition, capturing a period of Western history that saw radical change, and becoming a powerful force for freedom and equality.

Celebrating 60 Years of Oscar Peterson's Hymn To Freedom

https://youtu.be/yuYeOUZfbY8

Oscar Peterson

As a virtuoso performer with unmatchable dexterity, speed, and expressiveness, as well as a talent for creating evocative compositions, he distinguished himself as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time. Very few jazz musicians have achieved such great heights of success as this Canadian legend. The career of internationally renowned jazz pianist and composer Oscar Peterson spanned over sixty years. He led the way in establishing a space for Canadian jazz legends such as Oliver Jones, Joe Sealy, Maynard Ferguson and Ed Bickert on the international music scene, and influenced musicians from all across the world while paving the way for contemporary Canadian artists such as Diana Krall. Global renown did not stop him from paying tribute to Canada through numerous compositions dedicated to his homeland, as well as committing his time to educational endeavours that nurtured the growth and development of young Canadian talents Peterson was born in Montreal on August 15, 1925, the fourth of five children. His gift was discovered and nurtured early on by his father, a porter with Canadian Pacific Railways who had taught himself how to play piano while in the merchant marine. Throughout high school, Peterson studied with Louis Hooper, Canadian veteran of the Harlem jazz scene, and the distinguished pianist Paul de Marky, who reinforced the importance of technique and confidence. During this time, he was inspired by artists such as Teddy Williams, Nat King Cole, James P. Johnson, and in particular Art Tatum. In fact, the first time he was exposed to one of his father’s Tatum records, the young Peterson was so impressed and intimidated by what he heard that he avoided the piano for over a month. Peterson won a CBC national amateur contest, at only 14 years of age, after his sister Daisy, who became a noted piano teacher in Montreal, persuaded him to audition. He became a regular on the Montreal radio show Fifteen Minutes’ Piano Rambling and the CBC broadcast The Happy Gang. Peterson’s big break came in 1949 when Norman Granz, producer of Jazz at the Philharmonic, was on his way to the Montreal airport in a taxi and heard Peterson and his trio on the radio performing live from the Alberta Lounge. He immediately asked the driver to take him there, thus sparking the beginning of a long-lasting relationship between the two men. Granz offered Peterson an opportunity to play as a surprise guest at Carnegie Hall and he accepted, performing a brilliant set with bassist Ray Brown and motivating Granz to offer him a permanent position with Jazz at the Philharmonic. Peterson toured the United States extensively with the company and eventually formed the Oscar Peterson Trio with Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis. They worked hard, motivating and inspiring each other unflaggingly. Despite the demands of touring and recording, fellow musicians constantly clamored to be a part of the trio, due to a desire to work with Peterson and be part of his vision and talent. Peterson’s career involved continuous performing and recording. His discography of group and solo work amounts, incredibly, to over hundreds of records. He collaborated with such notable names as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Stan Getz and others. Although Peterson never recorded or performed with his idol Art Tatum, they did become friends. In addition to being a brilliant pianist, Peterson was also a gifted composer. One of his first major works, Hymn to Freedom (1962) is a protest piece that became an anthem for the civil rights movement. His best known work, Canadiana Suite (1963), is self-described as “a musical portrait of the Canada I love”; Fields of Endless Day (1978) is a film score about the journey of black slaves who escaped to Canada through the Underground Railroad; City Lights (1977) composed for the Ballets Jazz de Montreal, is a waltz composed about the city of Toronto. Canadian filmmaker Norman MacLaren’s film Begone Dull Care was made to the music of Oscar Peterson. Other compositions include African Suite (1979), A Royal Wedding Suite (1981), Easter Suite (1984) and The Trail of Dreams Suite (2000) for the Trans-Canada Trail. He has composed works for Bach 300, the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, the opening of the Skydome in Toronto and countless films and documentaries, including The Silent Partner, for which he won the Canadian Film Award for Best Original Score in 1978. Throughout his career, Peterson was always involved in creating and supporting music education programs in one capacity or another. From co-creating and training at his short-lived, yet highly-esteemed Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto in the early 1960s, to his role as Chancellor at York University three decades later, he remained adamant about supporting the development of young Canadians: “I’ve been fortunate to have a successful jazz career, and I believe it’s now my turn to use that experience to help direct students.” Peterson received innumerable awards throughout his prolific career, including eight Grammys, two Junos, one Genie, one Gemini, nine Lifetime Achievement Awards from various organizations, eight Hall of Fame awards, thirteen consecutive Downbeat Awards, and is the recipient of 13 honourary degrees. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1972 and promoted to Companion in 1984. He received the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Arts Association in 1999 (the arts equivalent of the Nobel Prize; the first Canadian and first jazz musician to receive this award) and the UNESCO International Music Prize in 2000. He was the first recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. He had a stamp issued in his honour by Austria in 2003 and by Canada Post in 2005. Peterson was forced to slow down momentarily in 1993 after suffering a stroke while performing at the Blue Note club in New York, which slightly weakened his left hand. In more recent years, arthritis caused him to perform less frequently, although his performances contained as much passion and verve as they did half a century ago. Indeed, he is not only inspiring as an exquisite pianist and gifted composer, but also as a human being with unparalleled fortitude. On June 8, 2007, a tribute concert featuring jazz icons such as Hank Jones and Clark Terry was held for Peterson at Carnegie Hall, the same place where his prolific career began nearly 60 years before. Although ill health prevented him from attending, fellow jazz greats, young virtuosos, family and friends gathered together in his honour to celebrate the profound and prolific achievements of this beloved Canadian. On December 23, 2007, Oscar Peterson passed away at his family home in Mississauga, Ontario. Read the full article

[bamboomusiclist]

4/18 おはようございます。Ray Parker Jr / The Other Woman al9590  等更新しました。

Coleman Hawkins / with the Red Garland Trio svlp2001 Coleman Hawkins / Good Old Broadway mv23 Duke Ellington / Far East Suite lsp-3782 Louis Bellson / Hawk Talks mgv8186 Charlie Mingus / Tonight At Noon 1416 Oscar Peterson / Tenderly v2046 Steve Allen / All Star Jazz Concert Vol1 DL 8151 Polly Bergen / My Heart Sings Cl1171 Ed Bickert / 5 at Toronto's Bourbon Street cj-216 Erroll Garner / Now Playing e4335 Idrees Sulieman /  Groovin' scs1218 Spin / Spin st-50013 Grover Washington JR / the Best is Yet to Come 60215 T Connection / Pure & Natural st-12191 Ray Parker Jr / The Other Woman al9590 Rosinha De Valenca / Rosinha De Valenca ssig1029 Francesco Buccheri Complesso F.B.M.R. / Journey AL79LP Flora Purim / Every day Every Night bsk3168 Flora Purim / Stories to Tell /fpm-4005/M9058 Flora Purim / Carry On bsk3344

~bamboo music~ https://bamboo-music.net  info@bamboo-music.net   530-0028 大阪市北区万歳町3-41 シロノビル104号 06-6363-2700

[jazzplusplus]

[mosaicrecords]

Paul Desmond and Ed Bickert: Making Magic on Pure Desmond

Ethan Iverson’s assessment of the aptly titled Pure Desmond, a 1975 album which introduced guitarist Ed Bickert to the jazz world, rings true and makes it a perfect gateway to the breathtaking Paul Desmond: The Complete Toronto 1975 Sessions 7-CD set on Mosaic, featuring Bickert, Don Thompson and Jerry Fuller.

-Michael Cuscuna

Read from JazzTimes… Follow: Mosaic Records Facebook Tumblr Twitter

[seenopoint]

[dustedmagazine]

Paul Desmond – The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings (Mosaic)

Describing 2020 as a difficult year invites immediate derision for egregious understatement. Slings and arrows seem constant, from the shuck and jive shambles that is our national leadership to contagion, hurricanes, wildfires and other accumulating indications that Nature has had enough of us as a species. Enter Paul Desmond, whose preternatural acumen at allaying the existential anxieties of audiences with his alto saxophone was singular and authentic. Desmond recorded a lot with Dave Brubeck, but aside from several bursts of activity his albums as a leader were less frequent. That disparity makes The Complete 1975 Toronto Recordings all the more edifying and valuable.

Nineteen Seventy-Five wasn’t an easy year, either. The protracted and polemical Vietnam War had finally ended with the fall of Saigon in April. Rampant inflation persisted, resulting unemployment rate of 9.2% in the United States. Removed from the societal strife by an upscale mid-Manhattan residence, altoist Paul Desmond was also basically retired. Resting on the laurels of his long tenure with Brubeck and still raking in royalties from the cash cow that was “Take Five,” he indulged in a steady diet of Scotch, cigarettes, steaks and the intimate company of fashion models. 

Even the most solvent and satisfied of individuals isn’t immune to the encroachment of ennui and boredom. Beset by doldrums, Desmond decided that he needed a renewed creative outlet. The set documents the results of two week-long tenures at Toronto’s Bourbon Street club in March and October. Old friend Jim Hall wasn’t available, so Desmond conscripted Canadian guitarist Ed Bickert’s trio as rhythm section at his colleague’s suggestion. Bassist Bob Thompson, also a seasoned audio engineer, had a tape machine rolling over the succession of nights. 

Approximately three-hours of material circulated on three different labels over the next several years, garnering acclaim as a return to form for Desmond and shining an expedient spotlight on Bickert and his bandmates that led to an interim stint by Hall with Thompson and drummer Terry Clarke in June. The other five-plus hours of music sat in cans for four decades until plans for this box set began to coalesce under the Mosaic aegis. Thompson went back to the tapes, remastered the music and the aperture on the quartet’s stands suddenly became a whole lot wider. 

Desmond officiates the action in his usual self-effacing way, taking solo honors often, but also deferring to both Bickert and Thompson with regularity. The set lists are mergers of standards and originals including a series of tunes named after ladies in Desmond’s life including “Emily,” “Wendy,” and “Audrey.” The last is a minor-keyed blues dedicated to the actress answering to Hepburn rendered through a noirish filter that sets it intriguingly apart from the balladic contours of the others. Pull quotes from a stack of other tunes abound in the fluid improvisations. 

An inventive arrangement of the obligatory “Take Five” that draws on modal Middle Eastern influences is arguably the most adventurous entry, but Desmond, Bickert and Thompson take quiet and creative liberties on many of the other tracks. Bickert’s father passed away in the midst of the band’s second Bourbon Street stint necessitating the guitarist’s departure and the addition of valve trombonist Rob McConnell. The shift marks one of the few recorded occasions where Desmond played in the absence of a conventional chordal instrument.

Eight-hours of ethereal alto-led cocktails-conducive jazz may seem excessive, but in these times of extraordinary ongoing angst its effectiveness as an aural means of temporary escape make this set feel at once opportune and essential.

Derek Taylor

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 11.29

Beer Birthdays

Herman Uihlein Jr. (1917)

Darron Welch (1967)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Don Cheadle; actor (1964)

Chuck Mangione; jazz trumpeter, songwriter (1940)

Andrew McCarthy; actor (1962)

Gary Shandling; comedian, actor (1949)

Fuzzy Thurston; Green Bay Packers G (1933)

Famous Birthdays

Louisa May Alcott; writer (1832)

Peter Bergman; comedian, actor (1939)

Busby Berkeley; choreographer, film director (1895)

Ed Bickert; jazz guitarist (1932)

Suzy Chaffee; skier (1947)

Joel Coen; film director (1954)

Kim Delaney; actor (1961)

Jeff Fahey; actor (1952)

Anna Faris; actor (1976)

Ambrose Fleming; diode inventor (1849)

Barry Goudreau; rock guitarist, songwriter (1951)

Lew Hewson; Australian actress (1995)

Diane Ladd; actor (1942)

Madeleine L'Engle; writer (1918)

C.S. Lewis; Irish writer (1898)

Howie Mandell; comedian, actor (1955)

John Mayall; blues singer, musician (1933)

Meco; pop musician (1939)

Gena Lee Nolin; actor (1971)

John Ray; English naturalist (1627)

Mariano Rivera; New York Yankees P (1969)

Tom Sizemore; actor (1964)

Krystal Steal; porn actor (1982)

Howard Stern; radio show host (1968)

Billy Strayhorn; jazz pianist. composer (1915)

Merle Travis; country singer (1917)

[ondasyletras]

Ed Bickert Trio - "Easy To Love"

Ed Bickert Trio with Don Thompson

[thenothingpastofnawgnuskrap]

2019년 2월 26일 오전 03:04

[jenslarsenjazz]

Ed Bickert - A Jazz Guitarist You Need To Know About!

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B745LU3GAU&t=0s&index=21&list=PLWYuNvZPqqcF247KJAOrdpBzCY0YTWk6O

Ed Bickert is the secret super hero of Jazz Guitar. He is somehow always under the surface, but you don'w want to miss checking him out! Probably most of us know him from his great playing on Paul Desmond albums like Pure Desmond and Desmond Quartet Live

What I really like about Ed Bickerts playing is his sense of melody and also how he is amazing at adding chords to his solos. But the examples in this video also highlights his use of reharmonization and cross rhythms. 

This video is on a solo on the Standard Have You Met Miss Jones, off a live trio album with Don Thompson and Terry Clarke. 

 Hope you like it!