Jazz on the Beach 168: hard boppin' with Doug Watkins
Lauren Henderson, Tyreek McDole, Charles Williams & this week's jazz radio from Deal
Doug Watkins was a terrific double bass player from Detroit who played on dozens of great recording sessions throughout the ‘50s. That’s him on Saxophone Colossus with Sonny Rollins, Boss Tenor with Gene Ammons, Oh Yeah with Charles Mingus, Eight Pieces of Silver with Horace Silver, Byrd in Flight with Donald Byrd, Lights Out! with Jackie McLean and many more. Sadly, his stellar career as one of the leading young bassists of the day ended tragically in 1962, when he was killed in a car accident while touring in drummer Philly Joe Jones’ band. He was only 27 years old.
On this week’s Jazz on the Beach radio show playlist, Watkins features on two tracks which were both recorded during 1956. The first is pianist Horace Silver’s composition Nica’s Dream from The Jazz Messengers (Columbia, 1956), with the superb line up of Silver, drummer Art Blakey, trumpeter Donald Byrd and tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley. (If you’re wondering why the band isn’t called Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, the name evolution didn’t happen for another couple of years).
The second is Thad Jones’ More of the Same from Watkins At Large (Transition, 1957), his first album as leader for producer Tom Wilson’s short lived but excellent label. The lineup again features Mobley and Byrd, but with guitarist Kenny Burrell, pianist Duke Jordan and drummer Arthur Taylor. If you want to hear more, Watkins At Large was recently given the deluxe reissue treatment by Blue Note in their Tone Poet series, with lacquers cut from the original masters by Kevin Gray.
Incidentally, Tom Wilson would soon become one of the defining producers of the mid ‘60s at Columbia Records and Verve/MGM with Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, The Animals, Simon and Garfunkel and The Mothers of Invention. It was a fascinating career, read more here.
Also this week, two hot singles from two fine singers, starting with Lauren Henderson’s wonderful version of the My Fair Lady classic On the Street Where You Live (Brontosaurus Records, December 27th), with pianist of the moment Sullivan Fortner, vibraphonist Joel Ross, double bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Joe Dyson.
The second is by Floridian Tyreek McDole who kills on his debut, the Memphis Slim classic Everyday I Have the Blues (Artwork Records, December 6th), with tenor saxophonist Dylan Band, pianist Caelan Cardello, double bassist Rodney Whitaker and drummer Justin Faulkner. McDole won the prestigious 2023 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, only the second male vocalist to do so. There’s a debut album Open Up Your Senses coming up sometime soon.
McDole is signed to French label Artwork Records that released one of my favourite albums of last year, pianist Kenny Barron’s magnificent Beyond This Place. I’ve added to the playlist Barron’s reworking of his 1978 noirish Innocence with alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, double bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and drummer Johnathan Blake.
There’s pianist Geri Allen and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel’s magical performance of Thelonious Monk’s Ruby My Dear from A Lovesome Thing (Motéma Music & Heartcore Records, 2023). It’s their only recorded collaboration and was captured at the Philharmonie de Paris during the Jazz à la Villette Festival in 2012.
Also this week, pianist Emmet Cohen’s Henei Ma Tov from last year’s Vibe Provider (Mack Avenue, August), his beautiful development of the simple melody of a traditional Hebrew prayer, with double bassist Phillip Norris and drummer Joe Farnsworth. I had the chance to hear Cohen at the Wigmore Hall in London last month, but came down with a nasty virus and really missed something special, here’s a review.
And finally, alto saxophonist Charles Williams plays the blues on Percy Mayfield’s Please Send Me Somebody to Love from Charles Williams (Mainstream 1971), with tenor saxophonist David ‘Bubba’ Brooks, guitarist Earl Dunbar, organist Don Pullen, electric bassist Gordon Edwards and drummer Bill Curtis.
To listen to this week’s Jazz on The Beach on Mixcloud, just click below:
Listen live on Deal Radio or Catch up on Mixcloud
Jazz On The Beach is broadcast live every Wednesday evening from 10.00pm - midnight and repeated the following Monday from 2.00am - 4.00am
Blues Beach is broadcast live every other Thursday from 6.00pm - 7.00pm
The the Kenny Barron on regular rotation here !