Jazz Shots From The West Coast Vol. 2 / Gerry Mulligan, Lester Young, Shorty Rodgers, Wes Montgomery, Paul Desmond, Teddy Edwards.

[Place of publication not identified] : FLIXU, [2006]

1 streaming video file (67 min.) : sound, color

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"This second volume dedicated to West Coast jazz offers an enticing program of "live" concerts, featuring Gerry Mulligan in quartet (with Bob Brookmeyer on trombone, Red Mitchell on double bass and Frank Isola on drums, and with Mulligan sitting at the piano on Darn That Dream), Shorty Rogers in quintet, and Paul Desmond in quartet filmed at the Monterey Festival in the 1970s. It is the ideal illustration of a style full of finesse and delicacy which valued the search for sound alliances, the flexibility of melodic lines, and a feeling of relaxation - a style which was an alternative to Be Bop during the 1950s . Also present are guitarist Wes Montgomery in quartet (the focus on his right hand playing without a pick will fascinate amateur guitarists), and Teddy Edwards in sextet, the latter offering a more edgy music. If Lester Young is also on the bill, it is because his role was crucial in the genesis of a movement with a complex reality. His contribution: a melodic phrasing that frees itself from the tyranny of chords, and a discreet vibrato. The extracts from the short film Jammin' The Blues where the Albanian photographer Gjon Mili introduces a truly revolutionary way of filming jazz in action are the most daring moments of the program. To see Lester Young's posture, his way of slouching while playing his saxophone and holding his cigarette between his fingertips; to listen to the fluidity of his speech like that of trumpeter Harry Edison and the ""wavering"" voice of Marie Bryant, like a carbon copy Billie Holiday's, fills us with incomparable emotion. Philippe Lesage".

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English

August 11, 2023

Concert films.