Arnold Jay Smith Jazz Vent

September 26, 2011

we said farewell to Frank Foster (aka Uncle Frank, Fos) at Abyssinian on Fri. the 23rd.  the truly giant tenor saxist & arranger was represented by family & friends who told & played his story with the love & gusto he passed on to them.  or should i say musical alliance as family doesn’t cover the topic.  Lady Cecelia Foster’s maiden name is Jones, as in Hank, Thad & Elvin.  through them there are the Otises, as in Johnny & Shuggie.  then there are the extended families, the musicians he touched: the Basie band for whom he arranged & later led, succeeding Thad, whose band he guest conducted at the Village Vanguard when Thad abdicated to Copenhagen.  (there’s an LP out there.)  and us.

October 5, 2011, 3:00 a.m.

from & for the hip.

don’t you just hate it?!

when singers learn from someone else’s recording, and get it wrong.  when they try to correct the lyricist’s grammar as in “I’ve Got It Bad,” and “I’ve Got Rhythm.”  when they don’t (can’t?) sing it once thru properly.  when even the song titles become obscured as in “On Green Dolphin St.”  there’s no “our” in the title of “Love Is Here to Stay.”  i can easily understand why “Oh, Lady Be Good” became just “Lady Be Good.”  we have Ella to thank for that.  there are too many to list here; someone on the Jazz Journalists Association site has already done it for us