Tommy Flanagan plays Rain Check in Cologne in 1991. For about two decades until his death a few years ago, Flanagan had a trio with bassist George Mraz (whose nickname was “Bounce” because that’s what a bad Czech does) and a succession of drummers, most more poised than Bobby Durham is here, frankly. Hearing Tommy Flanagan swing a trio was one of the consistent pleasures of jazz in the ’80s and ’90s, and like much else in this music, it hasn’t been entirely replaced by comparable pleasures since.
Only this summer I bought a bunch of older trio performances under Flanagan’s leadership, most from the late 1950s and early 1960s, and very little I’ve heard in jazz this year, old or new, can begin to compare. Turns out he was already as eloquent and deliberate, as a young man, as he would be by the time I caught up with him, but he also had all the virtues we associate with youth: crisp, punchy delivery, humour, a certain smart-assed quality that makes you sit up and take notice.
Flanagan belongs to the generation that arrived around 1950, just behind the bebop pioneers, and consolidated their sometimes wild advances into a more settled, codified language. People like Clifford Brown and Miles Davis on trumpet, Hank Mobley and Johnny Griffin on tenor sax, Paul Chambers on bass, Philly Joe Jones on drums. In an interview I once mentioned his Detroit youth, and he got a bit snippy, because people often talk about a Detroit school of piano (Hank Jones, Roland Hanna, Barry Harris) and Flanagan was pretty sure he became a good pianist by practicing his behind off, not by having a congenial mailing address. Fair enough. He was a wonderful pianist, and iTunes served up something of his at random while I was writing in my hotel room, and I thought I’d pass it along.
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Very nice! I enjoyed Mraz as much Flanagan.
Rich. But can he mastermind a gradual and hidden shift of the country to the right?
No, that would be Sinatra.
Jay-Z is the new Sinatra…
Fiddy Cent…
5-0 took a epic lost this week. 156,000 in sales, Jimmy Iovine had to step in and make billboard for the first time in history included ditigel sales. So dude only hit 115000.
50 is done in the music industry…..
Brings back an old memory. Back in the early 70's I was working a midnight to morning job
while taking a few university courses. During those clear hours I could pick up a jazz show out
of Rochester ( Harry Abraham, I think ). The only jazz that leaked into NS in those days.
Anyway, one night he had an "identify this player" contest. By blind dumb luck I made a stab
at Flanagan and won. ( my fall-back was Cedar Walton , which would have been another wild guess).
A couple of weeks later I received a stack of LPs as my prize. Still have a couple .. Roland Kirk and the
Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band.
I'm not sure if the boss ever noticed the call to Rochester on the phone bill or not.
Thanks … for the memories.
So PW, if you were to recommend one Tommy Flanagan disc for the uninitiated, would it be that Complete Original Recordings one that you linked to?
Yes. Or Nights at the Vanguard, by a nose among many fine late albums, if you want to hear him in his sunset years. Mostly because I can't believe how subtly and well Al Foster, a more modern drummer with a very particular style, fit into Flanagan's conception. And because the program on Nights gives you a good indication of the broad array of styles and arrangements Flanagan could throw at you.
OK, looks like I'm saying No, go for Nights at the Vanguard if you're only getting one.
Thanks very much PW. I'd always been aware of Flanagan as a backup man, but not a front man. As a backup man, BTW I love him and some other oldsters when they back up Dusko Goykovich (one of the best "School of Miles" trumpeters I've ever run across) in his album Soul Connection. If you're not aware of it, I recommend it:
http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/149...
D'oh! I purchased the Complete Original Recordings before reading this. I won't be disappointed I'm sure.
Wow, that was awesome, great post. You are sleeping Paul, on your music post…
As a young lad who grew up on rap I really love these types of post. The depth that the rap world sampled from jazz and other music during the 80's and 90's is unreal….
You can tell the real talented jazz players apart when their music is ageless and doesn't seem to be coming from any particular time. In this piece I'm detecting a faint late '70 tinge but it could just as well be inspired by a Charleston and still fit right in with modern day jazz.
*sigh* I wish that in my youth I'd had more jazz and less pop.
I've been to New York once in my life. I went to see the Tragically Hip in Central Park on Canada Day in 2000. A triple bill of Jeff Healey, Great Big Sea, and the Hip actually. Later that night, I went to CBGB's where Sarah Harmer was opening for Chris Brown and Kate Fenner.
The next night, I wandered down to a jazz club in midtown near the hotel I was staying at. I think it was called The Jazz Standard. The Tommy Flanagan trio was playing.
It is entirely unfair to these artists that you would even attempt to showcase them on a day that we celebrate the online revival of the Muppets. Remind me not to hire you as a talent agent. For two reasons: you'd make a lousy agent, and I have no talent. Ba-dum.
That was great PW A pity i'm such a jazz illiterate…more of a blues guy i guess. Although i did once catch this guy at the quasimodo in Berlin…one of the great concert experiences in my life. Not sure if he's your cup of tea?
Airto Moreira – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
21 Oct 2009 … Airto Moreira (born August 5, 1941) is a Brazilian jazz drummer and percussionist. Airto is married to jazz singer Flora Purim, …
Sublime experience.
The only thing close was catching John Hammond in a little underground club in Edmonton one winter. Great city for blues…well it was…hope it still is.
It certainly is bouncier than a Brahms trio, but it does not soothe my savage breast.