Jimmy Heath

[Ian Thumwood]

I got bored a few weeks ago and having not touched my piano seriously since the Christmas holiday because I'd really lost any interest whatsoever in playing it, was intrigued to see that Amazon was selling some Aebersold play-a-long disc very cheaply. They used to cost about £15-20 but I picked up a Jimmy Heath one for £8.75. Because I've been doing cost reports and marking exam papers for the best part of the last week and a half I never had a chance to look at it until this morning.

Jimmy Heath!! I've always taken him for granted but he really knows how to put a tune together. There's some superb tunes in this book including "Gemini" and "A sound for sore ears" as well as stuff that make me realise my finger have turned in to bananas. most of it is Latin / Bop orientated but there are some interesting ideas in there which raise it several notches above the standard bop fodder. Sometimes I feel he is note to dissimilar to that other under-appreciated jazz composer, Tom Harrell. He's a player I've frequently heard yet never properly appreciated. Looking at his music on Youtube I'm becoming a fan and have snapped up his "Really big" record which was going to peanuts online. The samples sound fabulous and it is great to encounter someone who puts together some tasty tenor playing with rip-snorting big band writing . He is not a player whose name crops up a lot on this message board so I thought we should have a thread about him. I suppose he is evidence of the comments I made last week about American jazz having a kind of winning formula and no matter how far jazz goes out or borrows ideas from other styles of music, the "truer" styles of jazz will always prevail and always sound good. Amazing that he has slipped under my radar as a soloist and as a composer.

How about some recommendations for Jimmy Heath records.......

[Alyn_Shipton]

Short memory Ian - there was a Jazz Library with all three of them. The podcast is streamable where it says "Clip" on this page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jksl1
I can also recommend the autobiography, Joseph McLaren the co-author is a highly respected scholar - he was at last year's jazz changes conference in Salford. http://www.amazon.com/Walked-With-Gi.../dp/1439901988

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i had this on cassette once and loved it

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

i had this on cassette once and loved it

There is/was an excellent Riverside compilation cd called Nice People. All the Riversides are great...my favs are The Thumper and The Quota.

There is also a double cd on Camden of his 70s etc later work.

BN.


Somewhere in my triple locked tape cellar I have a R3 Jazz Legends on Jimmy. I will send the ducks to find it. No fear of spiders.

Dont forget the 50s BN sides with Miles...Heath really kicks. Shame he was forced to pull out of the post Trane gig over cabaret card/parole issues.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

the word this above links to Nice people El Senor! oddly Allmusic only gives it three stars but does rate the riverside lps enthusiastically ..

but they top rate this one

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

the word this above links to Nice people El Senor! oddly Allmusic only gives it three stars but does rate the riverside lps enthusiastically ..

but they top rate this one

Sorry Calum...my SmRtski pnone dont do links! Soviet technophobia. Ever since Trotsky got the WBGO gig....

BN.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

ask Moira to try it underwater - used to work with Sovski radios in 1959

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I havent spoken to Moira...."The Human Face of Back Tax or Else"....since she shifted her own tax affairs into a Corp identity...

Way to go Dame M. May the beery ghost of Ron Coltrane chase you thro Soho in yer nightie.

BN.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

ah

[burning dog]

[Ian Thumwood]

I've been investigating Jimmy Heath a bit further. Yesterday I had a chance to play some of his compositions which were surprisingly good and essentially give a fresh spin more familiar approaches. I think that "Gemini" is a good composition and a surprisingly feisty 3/4 composition . "A sound for sore ears" reminded me a bit of Jobim's "Wave" although it is essentially 16-bar blues. Both tunes fall under the fingers quite nicely and it is strange that they have not caught on as well as standards as they should have done. I haven't tried the more ambitious stuff yet. The writing seems more interesting than your average type of composition at that time but not contemporary as , say, someone like Wayne Shorter.

I ordered a CD of a mid-sized big band recorded in 1960 called "Really big" and featuring a stellar line up that includes the two Adderleys, the three Heaths , Clark Terry and Pat Patrick on a break from Sun Ra's band. The music on the record largely consists of originals with "My Ideal" and "On Green Dolphin Street" thrown in for good measure. Some of the charts reminded me of Tadd Dameron's writing for larger ensembles and whilst I don't think that Heath's writing set him at the forefront of where jazz was at that time, the charts have a degree of snap about them that makes it puzzling as to why this disc isn't more widely known. The band is very crisp and there is a fine roster of solos with highlights being the Nat Adderley / Clark Terry battle on "A picture of Heath." That said, the star soloist is Jimmy Heath and, to my ears, he sounds very much like late 50's Coltrane. However, I would have to say that Heath's playing seems at the peak of his powers with the tone and control being, in my estimation, more mature than JC's stuff that he had being doing up to this point / the creation of the classic quintet. I know that Heath and Coltrane grew up and rehearsed together and this makes the comparison. There is also a degree of sinew about Heath's tenor that reminded me of Johnny Griffin.

The interesting thing is how a band assembled for a studio recording could be so sharp and gobble up the scores with such confidence.

[Ian Thumwood]

I bought my Dad the latest Jimmy Heath big band recording for his birthday last week and having been listening to it the music is immediately impressive. The album is a live session from the Blue Note club and includes the likes of Antonio Hart, Mark Gross, Roy Hargrove, Steve Davis, Peter Washington and Lewis Nash (one of the best bass and drum partnerships in jazz) who rip through some excellent charts by the tenor-playing leader. I just can't understand why he isn't as venerated as he should be. Not only is a he a distinctive soloist but his big bands are really on the money. If you are a fan of the likes of the legendary Gerald Wilson, I think Jimmy Heath's big band records are the next stop. The music swings really hard and the tunes are memorable as well. There is something timeless about this style of jazz.

[Ian Thumwood]

The great man himself:-

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/jimmy-heath-charlie-parker-with-strings-by-william-ellis.php#.U_hVMpV8PIU

[clive heath]

That's a very enjoyable track from Jimmy Heath, someone I have followed for quite a while. Thankyou, Ian. The chords are, near enough, "There will never be another you" and there's that shameless quotation from ? by the guitarist. I knew that ? was on the "Birth of the Cool" and dug out my old LP, not "Move" so maybe "Jeru", over to you-tube and up comes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di7jX-4iFlo

which is "Jeru" from Gerry Mulligan's "Re-Birth of the Cool" with Phil Woods etc.