Arnold Jay Smith Jazz Vent

’tis the season.  for a lot of things: fat turkeys, overeating, fat men in red suits, overbuying or receiving inane stuff, overeating, faux (and some genuine) glad-handing, smiles which hurt your face after a while, overeating, greetings which escape your lips that haven’t all year to people to whom you might not have even given a nod, songs you will be more than happy to never hear again, by the same singers, ad nauseam.  did i mention overeating?

and then there are Tributes, some unfortunately in that the dedicatee has passed, but others with whom you genuinely celebrate life with them.  and still others who play on the Holiday spirit to pry bucks from you.

the innovative and influential drummer CHICO HAMILTON passed away Mon, November 25.  he was 92 and in ill health.  you may find an interview/profle i did with my friend Chico Hamilton for www.jazz.com by Google-ing arnold jay smith/Chico Hamilton.

the Manhattan School of Music‘s ambitious 2013-14 program began with a bang.  their Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra presented Don Sebesky‘s “BELA AND BIRD IN B-FLAT” and Bob Belden‘s complete incidental music to the film noir classic “BLACK DAHLIA.”

Sebesky, whose music i have admired since he played trombone and arranged for Maynard Ferguson in the 1950s, later switched to piano to lead small groups.  i was his publicist during some gigs at the late lamented Fat Tuesday club in Manhttaan.  his arranging work for Creed Taylor’s CTI Records is legendary as the cushion he created for CTI artists such as Wes Montgomery led to hits and a new way to listen to jazz.  it may even have prolonged Montgomery’s career.

Reedist Ted Nash has co-produced and leads a CD based on the seven Chakras philosophy.  the CD features a large ensemble of 17 pieces.  Nash, from a musical big band tradition family –father Dick, trombone, and uncle Ted, reeds, his namesake– performs in a small group context as well, but he shines fronting big bands, notably with Jazz At Lincoln Center.  the CD with its eye-catching cover of a shapely woman’s back painted with the Chakra’s seven symbols, is only the beginning.  i caught the band during its CD-breaking performance at Dizzy’s Club in Jazz at Lincoln Center.  it is in its essence program music.  however, the soli are all individual experiences.  these guys and gal– Anat Cohen is in the reed section– are the very best.

if you’re tired of hearing Nat ‘King’ Cole roast Mel Tormé’s nuts, or Bing Crosby croon Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” –the movie remake versions are better– if you’re sick of Johnny Mathis “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” with Mitch Miller, then listen here.  this year’s jazz-Christmas harvest is about the most eclectic bunch since i began collecting these things in the 1950′s.  herewith a cherry-picking trio of the few which crossed my desk.

Las Vegas, NV, Oct. 26, 2013 —

the world famous University of Nevada/Las Vegas has accepted my vast collections to their Arnold Shaw Music Library Archives.  my collections include upward of 10,000 LPs –10″ and 12 “– self recorded and edited cassettes and open reel tapes, many of rare concerts, jottings, posters, artwork and various memorabilia.  the collections –already being shipped there– will be accessible to any and all for display and listening in UNLV’s state-of-the-art facility which is completely climate controlled and computerized.