Woody Herman, Live in ’64 (2009)

by | Oct 21, 2009 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews | 0 comments

Woody Herman, Live in ’64 (2009)

Jazz Icons Series IV
One-hour BBC concert by Woody Herman’s Swinging Herd in 1964
Program: After You’ve Gone, Sig Ep, That’s Where It Is, Lonesome Old Town, Sister Sadie, Better Git It In Your Soul, Hallelujah Time, Don’t Get Around Mushc Anymore, Jazz Me Blues, Days of Wine and Roses, Four Brothers, To Sum It Up, Caldonia
Studio: Reelin’ in the Years Productions 2.119016 [Release date: 10/26/09] [Distr. by Naxos]
Video: 4:3 B&W
Audio: English DD mono
All regions
Extras: 20-page booklet with notes by Steve Voce, rare photos, memorabilia collage
Length: 60 minutes
Rating: *****

Three of Woody Herman’s bands stood out from the rest, and this one – filmed during a British tour in 1964 – was the third of them. By this time, Herman had assembled a group of enthusiastic young men with high standards, who had studied at places like the Berklee College of Music, and his band was centered around his pianist and arranger Nat Pierce – who wrote most of the library.  Pierce could create versions of solos by Count Basie or Ellington that couldn’t be told from the originals. He was a devoted jazz fan and record collector, something most professional musicians weren’t. The band went downhill two years after this film was made, when Pierce left. The Swinging Herd also didn’t suffer from the drug problems which had sorely afflicted Herman’s previous band.

The odd thing about most of the tunes was that Woody’s clarinet style was not up to the cool modern jazz of the rest of his band, but emulating jazz pioneers Barney Bigard and Jimmy Noone. However, it’s an interesting contrast when the swinging sax quartet or quintet finishes their portion and Woody’s hot clarinet takes the spotlight for eight or sixteen bars.   The arrangements often feature grouped trumpets, trombones or saxes. The band’s rhythm section keeps things tight and together, with drummer Jack Hanna and bassist Chuck Andrus.

The hour kicks off with a roaring Bill Holman arrangement of After You’ve Gone. Paul Fontaine on trumpet and Sal Nistico on sax shine. It’s a Lonesome Old Town put trombonist Phil Wilson on the map; he eventually become head of the trombone faculty at Berklee.   Herman’s Herd could do wailing gospel-style stuff with aplomb, as witness their exultant treatment of Charlie Mingus’ Better Git It in Your Soul. Jazz Me Blues was one of Bix’s standards, and Nat Pierce arranged it with a Four Brothers-style sax sound.  There is also the track titled Four Brothers, written originally by Jimmy Giuffre in 1947 for Herman’s Second Herd.  The saxists now are Gary Klein, Tom Anastas, Sal Nistico and Joe Romano, and their right-on voicings and impact is something to experience. Woody wraps up the concert with his probably best-know number, Caldonia, done at a truly breakneck tempo – said to be twice as fast as his original recording of 1945. The band’s playing on this one is incredible, but you really can’t understand Woody’s opening vocal, and his closing vocal is spoiled by the band getting ahead of him.  The video quality, shots and editing are at a higher level on this BBC film than I recall on any of the earlier Jazz Icon DVDs.

– John Henry


 

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