Caravan Jones 1965?

Jo Jones-drum feature together with Hawkins(ts), Harry Edison(tp), Jimmy Woode (bass) and Sir Charles Thompson (pno)
This session was video-recorded in London
The group had played into the morning of October 2 at the concert in Paris, and then recorded this session later in the same day.
note: I do have a French CD of very good sound quality of Caravan recorded in Salle Pleyel, Paris from that same day.
Your email address and I'll send it to you in mp3 format

Sweet Lorraine Cole Nat King 1957

In this 1957 Nat King Cole TV show Nat presents Jazz at the Philharmonic. The introductions are done by Norman Granz, the JATP promotor since 1944. Here is Nat's tophit, Sweet Lorraine.
With him are Oscar Peterson on piano, Herb Ellis on guitar and Ray Brown on bass. There is a sax solo by Hawkins

Ballade Hawkins - Parker 1950

Coleman Hawkins on tenor and Charlie Parker on alto. The greatest swing saxophonist meets the new wunderkind and his Bebop. There is a feeling of great respect in the facial expression of Parker when he listens to the master. However as soon as Charlie starts playing it's another world. Is it?
Recorded in 1950 with Hank Jones on piano, Ray Brown on bass and Buddy Rich on drums.

It's only a paper Moon Cole Nat King 1957

Nathaniel Adams Coles was known professionally as Nat King Cole (March 17, 1919 -- February 15, 1965)

Cole was considered a leading jazz pianist, appearing, for example, in the first Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts. His revolutionary lineup of piano, guitar and bass in the time of the big bands became a popular set up for a jazz trio. Cole was the first African American to have his own radio program. He repeated that success in the late-1950s with the first truly national television show starring an African-American

Nat King Cole, a heavy smoker, died of lung cancer in February 1965 while still at the height of his singing career.

On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC-TV. While commentators have often hailed Cole as the first African-American to host a network television show, the Cole program was the first of its kind hosted by a star of Nat Cole's magnitude. Initially begun as a 15 minute show on Monday night, the show was expanded to a half hour in July 1957. Despite the efforts of NBC, as well as many of Cole's industry colleagues, The Nat King Cole Show was ultimately done in by a lack of national sponsorship (companies such as Rheingold Beer assumed regional sponsorship of the show, but the a national sponsor never eventuated). The last episode of The Nat King Cole Show aired December 17, 1957. Cole had survived for over a year, and it was he, not NBC, who ultimately decided to pull the plug on the show (NBC, as well as Cole himself, had been operating at an extreme financial loss). In the following 1957 clips Cole features Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic.
In this clip Nat sings "It's only a paper moon" and is accompanied by the Oscar Peterson trio with Herb Ellis guitar and Ray Brown bass. A tenor solo by Flip Phillips with Jo Jones on drums

Fine and Mellow Holiday 1957

Billie Holiday recorded "Fine and Mellow" during a TV session in New York on December 8, 1957, about a year and a half before she died at the age of 44. To me this is probably the most emotional and gripping recording ever made in jazz.
Billie sings Sweet and Mellow, which is just a 12 bar blues. There is some wonderful solo work by Ben Webster, Lester Young, Vic Dickenson, Gerry Mulligan, Hawkins and Roy Eldridge. This is music made for heaven!

Peggy Carter 1980

Benny Carter in Sweden
Kustbandet is a big band from the Stockholm area of Sweden. They play in the style of the late twenties and the thirties and do it better than any band I've ever heard. Initially under the leadership of reedplayer Kenneth Arnstrom they started in 1965 or 66 ar the Detta Kust Band. In 1969 the name was changed to Kustbandet and today, the band, with many of the same musicians from the seventies are still playing festivals and concerts all over the world.
These clips are from a midnight concert in the summer of 1980 and the band has Carter as a special guest.
Benny, (1907-2003) played in the late twenties with Don Redman's McKinney's Cottonpickers and started his own band in 1932.
While with the Cottonpickers a recording was made in 1929 of a tune called Peggy. Kustbandet plays Peggy again some 50 years later, and Benny with his alto sax just fits in if he has been playing this tune yesterday. Brilliant!

Someday Sweetheart Carter 1980

Benny Carter in Stockholm, Sweden.
Kustbandet is a big band from the Stockholm area of Sweden. They play in the style of the late twenties and the thirties and do it better than any band I've ever heard. Initially under the leadership of reedplayer Kenneth Arnstrom they started in 1965 or 66 as the Detta Kust Band. In 1969 the name was changed to Kustbandet and today, the band, with many of the same musicians from the seventies, is still playing festivals and concerts all over the world.
These clips are from a midnight concert in the summer of 1980 and the band has Carter as a special guest.
Benny, (1907-2003) played in the late twenties with Don Redman's McKinney's Cottonpickers and started his own band in 1932.
This tune is an piece recorded by King Oliver's Dixie Syncopators in 1926 and must have had a big impact on the then 19 year old Benny Carter.
Kustbandet more or less follows the original Oliver arrangement and Carter is all smiles while taking it in, then the musicians invite him to solo and off it goes, Benny must feel some 50 years younger.
Isn't it beautiful!

The Mooche Kustbandet/Benny Carter 1980

Benny Benny Carter and Kustbandet from Sweden
Kustbandet is a big band from the Stockholm area of Sweden. They play in the style of the late twenties and the thirties and do it better than any band I've ever heard. Initially under the leadership of reedplayer Kenneth Arnstrom they started in 1965 or 66 ar the Detta Kust Band. In 1969 the name was changed to Kustbandet and today, the band, with many of the same musicians from the seventies are still playing festivals and concerts all over the world.
These clips are from a midnight concert in the summer of 1980 and the band has Benny Benny Carter as a special guest.
Benny, (1907-2003) played in the late twenties with Don Redman's McKinney's Cottonpickers and started his own band in 1932.
The band plays Ellington's "The Mooche" and Benny plays another inspired solo

Kansas City Blues Basie 1957

Jimmy Rushing was the grand-daddy of all big-band blues singers, fronting many bands, especially the Count Basie band from the '30s through the '50s. Here he is in a 1957 broadcast together with a Count Basie Orchestra. This is the Kansas Ciy Blues.
The back up of his vocal is by Ben Webster on tenor. The solos in between the vocals are by trombonist Dickie Wells, trumpet player Roy Eldridge and tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins.

Dickie's Dream Basie 1957

When he was two he sat on Count Basie's knee, one of the first things he remembered and that's why this clip is dedicated to my new Youtube friend Napoleon. Napoleon lives in Lausanne Switzerland and is a jazzfan, a jazz festival organizer and has a collection of hundreds of hours of video. His friends Harry Sweets Edison and Ray Brown gave him his nickname Napoleon.

Dickie's Dream
The Count Basie Band in 1957, that's to say a band where all the musicians at some time had played in the Basie Orchestra
In this all star feature I recognize most of the players. First solo is by Ben Webster ( you see also shots of Billy Holiday hanging around and talking to Hawkins), next trombonist Benny Morton , then a trumpeter I don't recognize, following that is Gerry Mullligan, then trombonist Vic Dickenson. After that the high note man Roy Eldridge, then other trumpet players Joe Wilder, Emmett Berry and Joe Newman. The big sound of Coleman Hawkins followed by the specific recognizable trombone sound of Dickie Wells.
All together an impressive big band with Basie on piano, Jo Jones on drums and Freddie Greene on guitar .
This is a piece of jazz history on film not done before. Aren't we lucky we can witness this jazz event some 50 years later.

Who's got Rhythm Webster Ben/Gerry Mulligan 1963

In a 1963 Dinah Shore show two great jazz saxophonists are being featured. On tenor saxophone we see Ben Webster and on the bariton sax is the young 30 year old Gerry Mulligan. This is a little gem that very few people have seen ( lately) and it is a great pleasure to be able to post it on dailymotion. This come from a film collector in the Netherlands.
Ben Webster 1909-1971), born in Kansas City , Missouri, was considered one of the three most important "swing tenors" along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young. He had a tough, raspy, and brutal tone on stomps (with his own distinctive growls), yet on ballads he would play with warmth and sentiment. Stylistically he was heavily indebted to Hawkins, particularly for his low, muscular tone and his vibrato. But Webster was also significantly different from his main influence in that his sound was sleeker, less aggressive, and much more spacious.
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan (1927 -- 1996) was a jazz musician, composer and arranger best known for his baritone saxophone playing. He made fame with a pianoless quartet together with Chet Baker on trumpet, as well as with bass and drums

Ben Webster plays Billy Strayhorn's composition. 

piano Hank Jones, bass George Duvivier, drums Jo Jones

Blue Lou Hawkins/ Carter

After a fine introduction by Norman Granz Coleman Hawkins on tenor and Benny Carter on alto play Blue Lue with a fine rhythm group which includes Teddy Wilson on piano and Louie Bellson on drums.
Hawkins born in 1904, died in 1969
Carter born in 1907, died in 2003
To think that both musicians played together for more than two years in the famous Fletcher Henderson Band in 1930 and 1931
Some 36 years later, each with separate music careers are brought together by Norman Granz in as series of concerts of Jazz at the Philharmonic

I Can't Get Started Carter/Kustbandet 1980

Saxophonist Benny Carter was featured with the Swedish big band Kustbandet. Probably around 1980 at a summer midnight concert in the Stockholm area.
Benny announces and plays I can't get started.
For over six decades, Benny Carter has occupied a unique place in American music. As Duke Ellington once wrote: "The problem of expressing the contributions that Benny Carter has made to popular music is so tremendous it completely fazes me, so extraordinary a musician is he."
As a soloist, Carter, along with Johnny Hodges, was the model for swing era alto saxophonists. He is nearly unique in his ability to double on trumpet, which he plays in an equally distinctive style. In addition, he is an accomplished clarinetist, and has recorded proficiently on piano and trombone. As an arranger, he helped chart the course of big band jazz, and his compositions, such as "When Lights Are Low" and "Blues In My Heart," have become jazz standards. Carter has also made major musical contributions to the world of film and television. His musicianship and personality have won him the respect of fellow artists and audiences on every continent.

On the Sunny Side of the Street Carter Benny 1985

Benny Carter in Copenhagen
From a club concert in Copenhagen in 1985 we see a jam with Benny Carter alto sax, Red Norvo on vibes and Ed Thigpan 0n drums. On piano is Horace Parlan and the bassist is Jesper Lundgaard

When Lights are Low Carter Benny 1985

Benny Carter in Copenhagen
From a club concert in Copenhagen in 1985 we see a jam with Benny Carter alto sax, Red Norvo on vibes and Ed Thigpan 0n drums. On piano is Horace Parlan and the bassist is Jesper Lundgaard
Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 -- July 12, 2003) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a major figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s, and was recognised as such by other jazz musicians who called him King.
Red Norvo (31 March 1908- 6 April 1999) was one of jazz's early vibraphonists. He helped establish the xylophone and later the vibraphone as viable jazz instruments.
Norvo's career began in Chicago with a band called "The Collegians", in 1925. He played with many other bands, including an all-marimba band on the vaudeville circuit, and the bands of Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Charlie Barnet, and Woody Herman. Norvo recorded with Mildred Bailey (his wife), Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra, among others. Together, Red and Mildred were known as "Mr. and Mrs. Swing." He also appeared in the film Screaming Mimi (1958), playing himself.
Born in Pittsburgh, Horace Parlan studied piano from the age of 12 and after suffering from polio developed a strong left-hand technique.