Ruby Braff – For the Last Time – Historic final performance at Nairn, Scotland – Arbors Jazz (2 CDs)

by | Jan 21, 2009 | Jazz CD Reviews | 0 comments

Ruby Braff – For the Last Time – Historic final performance at Nairn, Scotland – Arbors Jazz ARCD 19368 (2 CDs) ***** [Distr. by Allegro]:

(Ruby Braff, cornet; Scott Hamilton, tenor sax; Jon Wheatley, guitar; John Bunch, piano; Dave Green, bass; Steve Brown, drums)

Boston-born Ruby Braff was one of the all-time greats on cornet and trumpet.  He had a straightforward style with no gimmicks, and a gorgeous timbre. His models were Louis Armstrong and Bix. Tony Bennett called him the finest cornetist in the world. I especially liked his silky sound on such slower ballads as the 13-minute Yesterdays on the second CD here. He was also a mentor and teacher to many other jazzmen during his long career, which began in the early 1940s. His Arbors albums with just cornet and piano are among my favorites, with such lights as Ellis Larkins, Dick Hyman and Ralph Sutton.

This live concert was recorded in 2002 in Scotland a year before the cornetist’s death.  According to the notes he was in a wheelchair and obviously ill with emphysema and short of breath, but you would never suspect it listening to these ten tracks. As one observer put it, “the horn seemed to double as an oxygen mask.”  Among those reporting on the concert in the notes is the manager of the tour, speaking of Braff’s often bizarre demands.  When his accommodations failed to bespeak a reputation as important as Pavorotti’s he tended to get upset.  One of the writers reports that Scott Hamilton didn’t have the best remembrances of this concert, but when he heard the tapes again he agreed they must be issued on CD.  The other members of the sextet all were clearly pleased to be playing with Ruby and they work together like they had been a continuing aggregation for years.  The sonics are excellent except that the very end of the final tune is cut off – perhaps ran out of tape? (I remember running into that little problem too.)  The double album is “specially-priced,” by the way.

TrackList:
Sometimes I’m Happy, Why Shouldn’t I?, Just You Just Me, I Want a Little Girl, Rockin’ Chair, Dinah, Yesterdays, The Man I Love, The Man With a Horn, Indiana.

 – John Henry

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