One of the greatest pleasures of running this site is hearing from our readers. Shortly after we went to press last month, I received an e-mail from Barry Hatcher, a retired record executive now living in England. Mr. Hatcher prepared the Paul Desmond/Rob McConnell album “Canadian Nights” for release. (Before you jump over to Amazon to order a copy, you should know that album was never issued due to issues from Desmond’s estate.) Naturally, there’s plenty of mystery surrounding this recording. Mr. Hatcher contacted me to correct a few statements from my Historical Essay on Desmond’s Canadian Quartet, and has arranged for me to hear this music for the first time. In addition, I will have the opportunity to view a rare video of Desmond and the Canadian Quartet on CBC. I wish I could share this music with all of you, but I will include detailed discussions in a revised version of the Desmond article. We will announce the revisions in the coming weeks through our Facebook fan page.
Also added since our last issue is a new concert review of Luciana Souza and Romero Lubambo. Our New York reporter, Nicky Schrire, caught the pair during a recent engagement at the Jazz Standard. Nicky’s review will remain on the Front Page throughout March. We hope that you enjoy Nicky’s writing as much as we do. She is a very gifted young lady, and we’re very proud to have her on our staff.
Speaking of musician/writers, Wynton Marsalis is now a musical correspondent for CBS. During the endless pre-Super Bowl hoopla in New Orleans, he presented a six-minute feature on the history of “When the Saints Go Marchin’ In”. For months, I’ve planned to write a short essay on that piece for our Sidetracks column, but Marsalis’ piece made it timely. My piece is a little more speculative than usual, but I believe that my principal theory about the song’s origins is quite plausible. Sometimes. that ‘s the best we can get. Our reviews include the revised and expanded version of Rick Kennedy’s book, “Jelly Roll, Bix and Hoagy” (the story of Gennett Records); two classic Ella Fitzgerald albums with Ellis Larkins; two CDs featuring Brad Goode‘s controversial polytonal techinques; and three vocal albums with the common theme of collaboration.
As always, your comments are welcome and appreciated. Please e-mail your thoughts and suggestions to me at [email protected]
Best,
Thomas Cunniffe