2-5-1 – Details, episodes & analysis

<p>We discusss &nbsp;"<strong>Stella by Starlight</strong>" &nbsp;a popular <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_standard">jazz standard</a> with music by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Young">Victor Young</a> that was drawn from thematic material composed for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_title">main title</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundtrack">soundtrack</a> of the 1944 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Pictures">Paramount Pictures</a> film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Uninvited_(1944_film)"><i>The Uninvited</i></a>. Appearing in the film's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underscoring">underscore</a> as well as in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_music">source music</a> as an instrumental <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_song">theme song</a> without lyrics, it was turned over to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Washington">Ned Washington</a>, who wrote the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyrics">lyrics</a> for it in 1946.</p><p>At one point in the film, the main character, Rick (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Milland">Ray Milland</a>) tells Stella (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_Russell">Gail Russell</a>) that he is playing a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenade">serenade</a>, "To Stella by Starlight".</p><p>an Apple Music playlist is <a href="https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/stella-by-starlight/pl.u-kvXlJIgLpGy">here</a></p>

<p>in this episode we discus the pianist and vibraphonist Eddie Costa</p>

<p><a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/973312/open_sms">Send us a text</a></p><p>In this episode we discuss Philip Larkin [the English Poet] and his love of some jazz and his hatred of other jazz&nbsp;</p><p>This is our <a href="https://2-5-1.onpodium.co">website</a>&nbsp;<br>This is our <a href="https://instagram.com/twofiveonepodcast?igshid=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&amp;utm_source=qr ">Instagram</a><br>This is our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100032453421239">Facebook</a> group</p>

<p>Tete Montoliu was a Spanish pianist who had a long and successful career. As part of our "under-the-radar" pianists strand we discuss him and his playing style. This goes with our other episodes on pianists Mel Powell, Joe Albany, Hod O'Brien and Horace Parlan, all well worth checking out if you haven't heard those episodes.</p>

<p>Riverside Records only ran from 1953 to 1964 but in that time captured some of the greats of the period. Orin Keepnews was the producer of a majority of the jazz albums, and even had a tune named after him composed by Bill Evans at his anagramatical best!&nbsp;</p>

<p>In this Episode Nick and Simon discuss <b><em>Stars of Jazz</em></b>  which was an American television program that ran between 1956 and 1958 and featured performances and interviews with many leading <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz'>jazz</a> performers of the time. The innovative program started on <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KABC-TV'>KABC-TV</a> in <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles'>Los Angeles</a> in June 1956. It was produced by <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmie_Baker_(television_producer)'>Jimmie Baker</a>, and presented by pianist and songwriter <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Troup'>Bobby Troup</a>. Musicians who appeared on the show included <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Peterson'>Oscar Peterson</a>, <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Holiday'>Billie Holiday</a>, <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Blakey'>Art Blakey</a>, <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Brubeck'>Dave Brubeck</a>, <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Getz'>Stan Getz</a>, <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_Ory'>Kid Ory</a>, <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chet_Baker'>Chet Baker</a>, and Troup&apos;s wife <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_London'>Julie London</a>.  All 130 shows were filmed as <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinescope'>kinescopes</a>, but all but 45 were later lost. The remaining films were donated to the <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UCLA_Film_and_Television_Archive'>UCLA Film and Television Archive</a>, where they are gradually being restored.</p>

<p>Another in our series of&nbsp;music theory podcasts, this time we focus on the whole tone scale. In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music">music</a>, a <strong>whole-tone scale</strong> is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale_(music)">scale</a> in which each <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_note">note</a> is separated from its neighbors by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_(music)">interval</a> of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_tone">whole tone</a>. In twelve-tone <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_temperament">equal temperament</a>, there are only two <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complement_(music)#Aggregate_complementation">complementary</a> whole-tone scales, both six-note or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexatonic_scale"><i>hexatonic</i></a> scales. A single whole tone scale can also be thought of as a "six-tone equal temperament". Some early instances of the use of the scale in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz">jazz</a> writing can be found in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bix_Beiderbecke">Bix Beiderbecke</a>'s "In a Mist" (1928) and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Redman">Don Redman</a>’s "Chant of the Weed" (1931). In 1958, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Evans">Gil Evans</a> recorded an arrangement that gives striking coloration to the "abrupt whole-tone lines"of Redman's original. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Shorter">Wayne Shorter</a>'s composition "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JuJu_(album)">JuJu</a>" (1965), features heavy use of the whole tone scale, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coltrane">John Coltrane</a>'s "One Down, One Up" (1965), is built on two augmented chords arranged in the same simple structure as his earlier tune "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressions_(instrumental_composition)">Impressions</a>"</p><p>However, these are only the most overt examples of the use of this scale in jazz. A vast number of jazz tunes, including many standards, use augmented chords and their corresponding scales as well, usually to create tension in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnaround_(music)">turnarounds</a> or as a substitute for a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominant_seventh_chord">dominant seventh chord</a>. For instance a G7 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_seventh_chord">augmented 5th dominant chord</a> in which G <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_scale">altered scale</a> tones would work before resolving to C7, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritone_substitution">tritone substitution</a> chord such as D♭9 or D♭7♯11 is often used in which D♭/G whole tone scale tones will work, the sharpened 11th degree being a G and the flattened 7th being a C♭, the enharmonic equivalent of B, the major third in the G dominant chord.</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Tatum">Art Tatum</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelonious_Monk">Thelonious Monk</a> are two pianists who used the whole-tone scale extensively and creatively. Monk's "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_in_One_(composition)">Four in One</a>" (1948) and "Trinkle-Tinkle" (1952) are fine examples of this.</p>

<p>Nick and Simon talk about <b>Birdland</b> the  <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_club'>jazz club</a> which  started in <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City'>New York City</a> on December 15, 1949. The original Birdland, which was located at 1678 <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_(Manhattan)'>Broadway</a>, just north of West <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52nd_Street_(Manhattan)'>52nd Street</a> in <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan'>Manhattan</a>, was closed in 1965 due to increased rents, but it re-opened for one night in 1979 for the 30 year anniversary. A revival began in 1986 with the opening of the second nightclub by the same name that is now located in Manhattan&apos;s <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theater_District,_Manhattan'>Theater District</a>. The current location is in the same building as the previous headquarters of <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Observer'><em>The New York Observer</em></a>.</p>

<p>Horace Parlan is another of our 'under-the-radar' piainists,&nbsp; known for working in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_bop">hard bop</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-bop">post-bop</a> styles of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz">jazz</a>. In addition to his work as a bandleader Parlan was known for his contributions to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Mingus">Charles Mingus</a> recordings <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mingus_Ah_Um"><i>Mingus Ah Um</i></a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_%26_Roots"><i>Blues &amp; Roots</i></a>.&nbsp;<br><br><br>&nbsp;</p>

<p>What is a fakebook, where can I get one and is a real book different? These questions are answered as Nick and Simon discuss the jazz player's tune bible.</p>