He
signed with Blue Note and recorded three brilliant piano trio albums
from 1955-1956, adding another one for Bethlehem in late 1957. Nicholslanguished
in obscurity after those sessions, though; sadly, just when he was
beginning to find a following among several of the new thing's
adventurous, up-and-coming stars, he was stricken with leukemia and died
on April 12, 1963. In the years that followed, Nichols became a favorite composer in avant-garde circles, with tributes to his sorely neglected legacy coming from artists like Misha Mengelberg and Roswell Rudd. He also inspired a repertory group, called the Herbie Nichols Project, and most of his recordings were reissued on CD.
Herbie Nichols
Herbie
Nichols is a perennially neglected jazz pianist and composer. He
recorded less than half of his 170 compositions on three classic trio
albums for Blue Note and one for Bethlehem before dying of leukemia at
the age of 43 in 1963.
He
is often compared to Thelonious Monk, and his piano playing and
compositions certainly do have some of the harmonic angularity people
associate with Monk. But he had a very distinctive sound of his own,
more melancholy and, for lack of a better word, poetic than Monk in many
ways. In fact, Nichols was something of a poet, as the titles to his
tunes suggest. And he was fully Monk's equal in the quality and
individuality of his tunes. He is held in high critical esteem within
jazz, although his tunes are still not widely recorded. Outside of jazz
circles, the only tune of his anyone is likely to know is “The Lady
Sings the Blues,” which Billie Holiday set lyrics to and adopted for the
title of her autobiography.
Nichols
was born in New York in 1919 and died there forty-four years later. In
the course of his brief life he was for a time an associate of Monk's,
though to consequently call his music Monk-like is to do it a grave
disservice. He played with amongst others Milt Larkin and Rex Stewart
out of economic necessity. His own harmonically extraordinary music was
no small distance removed from theirs.
This
is not to imply however that his music amounted merely to an academic
exercise. As it was to be with Andrew Hill some years later, Blue Note
records afforded Nichols an unprecedented opportunity to record his own
music, and he made full use of it, as the three CD set of “The Complete
Blue Note Recordings” shows. The music found here comes exclusively from
his pen and it was recorded in a bout of concentrated recording
activity between May 6, 1955, and April 19, 1956. It was all performed
in the trio setting, and throughout Nichols plays with a variety of
virtuosity that couldn't be included in any jazz curriculum.
As
a player he has capable not only of dark lyricism but also of writing
melodies so harmonically adventurous that they can make the listener
laugh out loud over their audacity. Furthermore, his music was in a
rhythmic league of its own, and Nichols was indeed fortunate in the
drummers he worked with in his brief recording career these Blue Note
sides find him in the company of both Art Blakey and Max Roach.
In
his lifetime Nichols only put out four records under his own name,
three for Blue Note and one for the even smaller Bethlehem label, this
time in the company of Dannie Richmond, Charles Mingus's drummer of
choice. This date offers listeners evidence of his way with a standard
song or two.
The
music of Herbie Nichols is undoubtedly an acquired taste. Whilst he
plowed an individual furrow he did so with clarity of purpose and
vision. The irony of it is that if he were alive today he would probably
have to work outside of music in order to make a living. The passing of
time has moved several steps away from the recording and marketing of
music as idiosyncratic as his. As such, his life was and is a stark
example of the gulf between art and commerce.
Source: Nic Jones
ALL THAT JAZZ
A Too-Brief Glimpse of Herbie Nichols
by DON HECKMAN | SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Herbie Nichols is one of the forgotten heroes of jazz.
Thirty-four
years after his death in 1963, he continues to be relatively unknown,
even to many serious jazz fans. Sadly, the lack of recognition simply
continues the circumstances of his brief life (he was 44 when he died of
leukemia), since Nichols--despite a prodigious talent as a pianist and
composer--recorded rarely and was obliged to spend a good part of his
life accompanying shows and playing in Dixieland bands.
Ironically,
he wrote an article about Thelonious Monk for the African American
magazine Music Dial in 1946 that may have been instrumental in bringing
Monk to the attention of producer Alfred Lion at Blue Note. Yet Nichols
himself, despite sending frequent tapes to Lion, was not recorded by
Blue Note until eight years after the company signed Monk in 1947.
And
when he did get around to recording, his career was painfully short. In
five trio sessions for Blue Note, recorded in 1955-56, he produced
material intended for release on five 10-inch LPs. All of those
recordings, as well as extensive alternate takes, have now been released
in a three-CD collection, "Herbie Nichols: The Complete Blue Note
Recordings."
What
emerges is a too-brief portrait of a genuinely original talent.
Nichols' playing bears references to Monk and to Art Tatum, even a few
traces of Teddy Wilson and Bud Powell. And one wonders if Phineas
Newborn Jr. was familiar with Nichols, given some of the similarities in
their style. But mostly Nichols simply sounds like a unique player--so
unique that it's hard to understand why he wasn't recorded more often.
His
tunes are solid melodies, often moving in unlikely harmonic directions,
and--like Monk's music--intriguing enough and filled with sufficient
musical resources to attract the attention of other players.
Unfortunately, the music in this compilation, attractive as it is,
represents a small portion of Nichols' 170 compositions.
Still,
it's all that remains of his work as a leader (he recorded on rare
occasion as a backup player), and Blue Note should be commended for
making it available. (Mosaic issued the same material a few years ago in
a limited-edition, five-LP boxed set.)
A.B.
Spellman's book "Black Music: Four Lives" (Schocken Books) includes an
extensive interview with Nichols, speaking shortly before his death.
"I'm not making $60 a week," Nichols told Spellman. "I'm trying to sell
some copyrights, but if you don't have somebody behind you in this
country, you die."
Nichols'
talent, his creativity, and his intelligent observations about the
music business are the stuff of an important jazz voice--one that
deserves to be rescued from its current anonymity.
On
the Shelves: There is plenty of interesting reading matter available
for holiday gift giving for both the dedicated and the casual jazz fan.
For example, no less than three Thelonious Monk books arrived in the
legendary jazzman's 80th anniversary year.
"Thelonious
Monk: His Life and Music," by Thomas Fitterling (Berkeley Hills Books),
first published in Europe in 1987 and now available in a new
translation, takes a look at Monk from three perspectives: his piano and
composition techniques and his discography.
"Straight,
No Chaser, The Life and Genius of Thelonious Monk," by Leslie Gourse
(Schirmer Books), is written in the author's characteristically detailed
style, filled with anecdotal material, and based upon extensive
interviews with friends and family.
"Monk,"
by Laurent de Wilde (Marlowe & Company), is particularly intriguing
because it was written by a first-rate jazz pianist. De Wilde's
observations are all highly personal, his viewpoint that of a musician
attempting to find insights and understanding in the life of a
much-admired influence.
Miles
Davis fans will find a variety of diverse views of the Prince of
Darkness in a series of essays in "A Miles Davis Reader," edited by Bill
Kirchner (Smithsonian).
Another
book by a practicing musician, "What Jazz Is," by pianist Jonny King
(Walker), informatively addresses questions listeners always ask about
jazz--"Where's the melody?" "What does the rhythm section do?," etc.
And
budding guitarists who have worn out their blues licks will enjoy the
quick entree into jazz phrases provided by guitarist Sid Jacobs'
"Complete Book of Jazz Guitar Lines and Phrases" (Mel Bay
Publications).
Mark Miller’s Herbie Nichols: A Review
September 23rd, 2010
Jazz Journalists Association
Herbie Nichols: A Jazzist’s Life
by Mark Miller
Mercury Press, Toronto, 2009; 224 pp.; $19.95 paperback
The jazz world is filled with musicians who have not received the recognition they deserve. But after reading Herbie Nichols: A Jazzist’s Life by veteran journalist Mark Miller, the obscurity surrounding this pianist seems particularly tragic.
Nichols
had his heart set on being a classical pianist, but because a classical
career was impossible for a young African-American in the 1930s, he
switched to jazz. “My earliest ambitions were to become a Prokofiev,”
Miller quotes him as saying. “When I learned that I would be unable to
obtain formal conservatory training I decided to become an Ellington and
to enter the fascinating field of jazz.”
In
the author’s notes and acknowledgements, Miller quotes one of Nichols’
admirers, pianist Frank Kimbrough: “I can’t imagine anyone coming up
with enough information for a book [on Nichols].” Miller is to be
commended for completing that task. However, one wonders how many jazz
followers know enough about Nichols to be interested in learning more.
Nichols clearly had the talent to be successful, but he had a somewhat
distant personality and also seemed to be haunted by the success of his
peer, Thelonious Monk.
Nichols
often lamented his separation from the classical world and was critical
of the attitude of other jazz musicians toward it. According to Miller,
“He acknowledged the tension between classical and jazz musicians, a
tension that he clearly still felt in himself, given his early
aspirations in the classical field and his undying respect for its
ideals and innovations.” Writing in the Harlem magazine, Rhythm,
Nichols said, “The funniest thing to me is the complete realization
that our florid 1946 jazzmen are austere creatures who actually sneer at
the classicists. It is all an emotional mumble jumble wherein we fools
should be big enough to view everything objectively.”
Nichols’s
alienation from many of his contemporaries is typified in comments he
made to the poet George Moorse: “I used to sit in a lot in the late
thirties and forties with the guys who later became known as the
bopsters. I guess my playing was even too far out for them. And most of
them thought I couldn’t say anything. Of course, in those days I must
have looked like a professor, with a starched white shirt. I used to
talk about poetry almost as much as I talked about music.”
The
vocalist Sheila Jordan recalled that Nichols would “sit in a corner. It
wasn’t that he was standoffish, I think he was shy – or maybe his mind
was elsewhere…. He was very quiet, stayed to himself, went and stood
outside of the club, smoked his cigarets [sic]. I don’t ever remember
him even talking to anybody.”
Then
there were the comparisons with Monk, who did achieve the widespread
recognition that alluded Nichols. According to Miller, both were
“similarly influenced by Ellington,” but Monk by 1944 was “already a
force among his contemporaries for the formative role that he had played
at Minton’s [Playhouse] in shaping the conventions of bebop.” Critic
Lawrence Gushee, writing about Nichols’s 1957 Bethlehem album Love Gloom Cash Love in The American Record Guide,
said there were “pretty obvious” reasons for comparing Nichols and Monk
but concluded that Nichols “is far from the champion that Monk is.” On
the other hand, Alfred Lion, co-owner of Blue Note Records, told
producer Michael Cuscuna in 1985 that when he first heard Nichols, “I
hadn’t been so excited about someone since I first heard Monk.”
Miller’s
book is at its best when describing Nichols’s live performances and his
willingness, coupled with practical necessity, to play at all kinds of
gigs, giving his all even when the style wasn’t his preference. The book
only bogs down when Miller goes into unnecessary detail about each
selection of Nichols’ recordings.
Dan
Morgenstern expressed the tragedy of Herbie Nichols most succinctly in a
quote at the beginning of chapter five, which covers the period from
1958-1961. “Herb Nichols,” wrote Morgenstern in the January 1959 issue
of Jazz Journal,
“has, of course, recorded with Rex Stewart, and with his own trio on
two ten-inch Blue Note LPs and on the defunct Hi-Lo label, but all of
this is out of circulation, and so is Herb.”
About the Author:
Sanford Josephson is the author of Jazz Notes: Interviews Across the Generations (Praeger/ABC-Clio), and currently writes the “Big Band in the Sky” obituary section for Jersey Jazz, the magazine of the New Jersey Jazz Society.
The Complete Blue Note Recordings by Herbie Nichols
There
is a little dark bar I like to go to where people know things. We wile
away the nights in friendly arguments. Which phase of Bergman’s career
gave us the best movies, where in Mexico is Ambrose Bierce living and
who are the all time greatest jazz pianists? What is interesting is that
now, one of the main ingredients in determining "the best" seems to be
their level of exposure.
Perhaps
the greatest accolade and curse an artist can be given is to be termed
"an artist's artist." The label which seems to resign them to obscurity
except among the most hard core aficionados. This has largely been
Herbie Nichols’ fate.
Herbie
Nichols (1919-1963) started formally studying piano at the age of nine.
Early on he mainly played in Dixieland bands, a start akin to two other
fonts of progressive improvisation, Steve Lacy and Roswell Rudd. These
two would also later prove to be two of the most talented interpreters
of his music. For all of them, these early Dixieland years were more of a
financial necessity than an aesthetic choice.
Herbie
also played in The Savoy Sultans while mingling with the early
progenitors of Bop. Aside from a friendship with Thelonious Monk, he did
not get much joy out of the then fertile 52nd Street scene. During this
time there was still a misplaced nobility associated with jazz
musicians and addiction(s). Herbie, ever the tea-totaler was shunned.
Another off-putting aspect of this quite young man was his intellect.
Herbie played chess, wrote and appreciated poetry. He also wrote
insightful jazz articles. Well before jazz aficionados gleaned onto him,
he wrote an article on Monk for Dial Magazine.
In
1941 he was drafted into the army. It would be another two years before
he was demobilized, partially eating up the time by writing poetry and
lyrics.
Upon
his discharge, he found himself back in New York where he had to play
piano for burlesques in Greenwich Village to make rent.
Pianist Mary Lou Williams was the first to record one of Herbie’s songs (1951) "Stennell," which was re-titled "Opus Z."
Starting
in 1947 he would send his music to Blue Note’s Alfred Lion. For various
reasons it would take nine more years before Herbie would be signed.
Herbie was one of three all time great pianist-composers signed by
Alfred Lion (Thelonious Monk and Andrew Hill being the other two).
Things
seemed to be looking up for Herbie. Also around this time (1956) Billy
Holiday fell hard for his piece "Lady Sings the Blues" writing lyrics
for it and making it her own to the point of using it for the name of
her autobiography, too. The piece, originally titled "Serenade" has
become an important part of the jazz lexicon and a totem of longing and
heartache.
Herbie
wrote over 170 songs. After his death much of his writing which was
then stored at his father’s house was lost in a flood. We owe much of
our knowledge of his pieces to Herbie himself, he had always been
diligent about supplying the library of congress with his scores.
He
would record three albums for Blue Note Records and one for Bethlehem.
This would be followed by five years of studio inactivity, when jazz was
in a constant frenzied state of flux. At the end of this period Herbie
would die way too early of leukemia. A factor in Herbie’s long standing
obscurity would seem to be lack of recorded sideman appearances. He did
share the stage with some established heavy weights, but unlike another
"obscure" pianist who also recorded for Blue Note, Elmo Hope, there is
not sideman documentation on record for fans to hunt down or the casual
listener to come across. An artistic ascension established without wax
pedigree save for his own recordings.
The
Blue Note boxed set collects all of his Blue Note output. It comprises
thirty songs with eighteen, previously unreleased alternate tracks.
Unlike some alternate tracks to be found on other musical omnibus, these
alternate tracks will appeal to more than just the jazz completionists.
Often it is subjective which is the "better" version of a track. The
liner notes make mention that it sometimes took lengthy discussions to
decide.
The
packaging is aesthetically pleasing and avoids some of the more
impractical concepts of other boxed sets. A cardboard slip case houses
three CDs and a booklet. The tracks and musician information are listed
on back of the slipcase and in the booklet itself. The CDs each go in a
slim case which contains a different image on each by Francis Wolf, the
man responsible for some of jazz’s most iconic images. The booklet
contains the album’s original liner notes by Herbie himself and an
informative essay by Frank Kimbrough and Ben Allison; the founders of
The Herbie Nichols Project which is a group seeking to further
appreciation of Herbie’s work through recordings and concerts.
The
sound is pristine, the entire collection having been remastered by
Michael Cuscuna, a man behind many important reissues over the years and
a man who has made the remaster an art unto itself. The Super Bit
Mapping process was used which allows the music to retain its ambient
warmth while combining it with digital clarity.
From
the start, Herbie’s intellect and formal training had given him an
appreciation for 20th century composers. It is not too much of a stretch
to see similarities between some of Herbie’s oeuvre and turn of the
century French pianist/composer Erik Satie, whose deceptively simple
melodies and their daydream inducing properties (Gymopedies,
Gnossiennes) Herbie’s own compositions sometimes mirrors.
Also
in the classical tradition, much of Herbie’s music was Programme music,
music which like some of Debussy’s and Liszt’s was inspired by and
describes a specific thing. Song titles were given much thought and an
important part of the overall creative process for Herbie.
Although
a contemporary of both Monk and Bud Powell, Herbie has often been
referred to as a "disciple of.... " His playing does have some
percussive aspects to it, the earliest most visible proponent of such
technique being Bud Powell. I have found though, that one of the marvels
of Herbie’s playing is his ability often contained within one piece to
change tempos, touch and the actual cadence of his pianos tone. While
there is definite joy to be had listening to the percussive school of
playing, after awhile a formula is detected in a song’s structure. This
never occurs with Herbie’s playing and pieces.
His
friend Monk is a noticeable influence but no more so than the jagged
lines to be found in the rhythmic works of Hungarian composer Bela
Bartok who Herbie also greatly enjoyed.
Too
often it is the easy thing to call any pianist/composer with odd time
signatures or jagged note/chord clusters "Monk-like". Cecil Taylor and
Andrew Hill also frequently get this adjective. What the three have in
common is that they represent separate artistic evolutions stemming from
the same instrument and to some extent the same inspiration of Monk. It
is a new modern classical. Jazz is sometimes referred to as American
classical, but these three provide a more literal example. To really
listen to their music is to realize they are from jazz but not of jazz.
It
is not a case of "better than" but of the three Herbie is the more
accessible style wise. While he remained his own man, he drew from
diverse sources such as the previously mentioned classical idiom. There
was of course the vernacular of jazz in many forms to be found too in
both his playing and composing, elements of bop, stride and things yet
to come, but also Caribbean rhythms which made up some of his ethnic
background and Indian music which was another key to his works rhythmic
complexity. Cecil Taylor’s music is amazing and complex as is Andrew
Hill’s, even now their music seems ahead of the curve; musical taste
makers still not having caught up to them. A modernism which in its
newness and containing cerebral aspects, manages to intimidate many.
Herbie’s manages to be cerebral but often with a playful sense of humor.
Before
these sessions, as was Blue Note’s habit, the artists were allowed
ample rehearsal time. In general, this practice led to the freedom to do
more complex pieces and not have to have non-touring/working bands rely
on jazz standards for lack of knowledge of a new piece.
There
are no weak links in what is essentially two trios. Another practice of
Blue Note’s was to put a more established musician from their stable on
a session by a new guy. While this has never been disastrous it had
made for some odd and uncomfortable pairings, such as some of the
session men of Thelonious Monk’s Blue Note Debut "The Genuis of". Al
McKibbon had been the house bassist at Birdland and often played with
Thelonious Monk. He is able throughout the recordings to provide a solid
bottom without any hint of boredom inducing repetition.
While
it is easy to lament the fact that Herbie never got to play with the
likes of Elvin Jones or Tony Williams, to name but two top notch
skin-men, here, Max Roach is a perfect fit.
Like
Herbie and many other greats of jazz’s next era, Max formally studied
at the Manhattan School of Music. At the age of eighteen Max had been
the house drummer at Monroe’s Uptown House, which along with Minton’s
Playhouse was ground zero for bop. Here he came into contact with jazz’s
vanguard.
He
and Kenny Clark were directly involved with the creation of bop. Max
was one of the first, true percussion stars who helped change the way
his instrument was played. Instead of keeping time and then impressing
during solos with pure speed, Max created the now well known technique
of creating pulse points not with the base drum as had been the standard
but utilizing the cymbals. This allowed for great freedom for the other
instruments’ solos as well as his own. It also allowed for more
dramatic and supple tempo changes.
Max
would perfect his voice initially on the early important records of
Charlie Parker’s, who he was with 1945, 1947-49 and 1951-53. He would
appear with the who’s who of jazz. It was not until 1953 however that he
finally recorded a date as a leader. Like many of his peers, he now saw
bop as becoming formulaic but still a worth while jumping off point.
With Miles Davis and a host of others there would be the "Birth of the
Cool" sessions where he would participate in the birth of third-stream
music, a sort of hybrid of symphonic big band mixed with intricate solos
which organically grew out of the main body of a piece. There was ever
an ongoing process of things being added to Max’s palate, the common
factor throughout it all was an intricate forward thinking bent.
Around
the time he was doing the sessions with Herbie he had also had his own
group, co-led with trumpeter Clifford Brown and Bud Powell’s younger
pianist brother, Ritchie. The group would last for only two years, a
fatal car crash taking both Clifford and Ritchie. Max would continue the
group with Kenny Dorham on trumpet and Sonny Rollins replacing Harold
Land on tenor sax. These two versions of his group showed him the way to
naturally meld impressive solos with more intricate arrangements,
arrangements which did more than serve to fill time between the
musicians' solos.
With
Herbie you hear a most successful partnership not born of touring but
sharing the same combination of daring and highly polished talent.
On
disc two "House Party Starting" contains subtle tempo changes and a
long snaking rhythm which is trance inducing, like watching candlelight
reflect off the polished wood of a bar. The song seems to almost stop
time without relying on mere repetition. This was actually the first
song I ever heard by Herbie and every time, still, I marvel at not just
the song structure but his ability to seamlessly change himself within
the body of one piece.
Teddy
Kotick throughout his career took great pride in sticking with the
rhythm section and avoiding solos. He had a rich tone which has been
heard on many important jazz records from the 50’s and 60’s. What is
interesting is the subtle difference in the pieces which feature him as
opposed to Al. Too often if a bassist does not specialize in solos or
does not take his obligatory turn during a piece, people seem hard
pressed to notice a difference. But notice the subtle changes in Max’s
playing on pieces which feature him with Teddy instead of Al. Both
bassists add to the pieces which already contain kinetic aspects to
them.
The
other drummer on the sessions is Art Blakey. Art had gotten his start
in the big band circuit including time in the forward thinking Flecther
Henderson group. He naturally gravitated towards the bop players brining
the steady funky groove concept to this new jazz.
Art
felt that with the possibilities of this new music being made, a band
should work as a cohesive unit, not just providing back up for whom ever
was soloing. He appeared on many seminal albums before forming a sort
of jazz collective, The Jazz Messengers.
Art
was one of the first jazz musicians to be interested in what would
later be known as world music, mixing in aspects of it in his playing.
Aside from leaving a legacy of adding to percussionists over all
palette, he left what could possibly be considered jazz’s version of an
ivy league school, The Jazz Messengers.
Many
of his band members would go on to lead groups of their own. There were
many incarnations of this band and the roster reads like jazz royalty
role call.
Even
while working with various versions of his own ensemble, Art was
frequently to be found on other artists’ dates. He played on Thelonious
Monk’s first Blue Note dates (now available as two separate remasters
Genuis of Modern Music vols 1&2.) Similar to this Herbie Nichols
collection, he and Max split drum duties on the still amazingly powerful
album "Thelonious Monk Trio (Fantasy Records 1952.)
Around
the time of the Herbie Nichols session, Art and an incarnation of the
Jazz Messengers which featured Clifford Brown, Horace Silever, Lou
Donaldson and Curly Russell were recorded live at Birdland. (A Night at
Birdland Vols 1&2 Blue Note Records). Aside from being a compelling
live document of a version of the Messengers which was as powerful as
it was short lived, it manages to capture if not the birth, then the
infancy of what would become known as hard-bop.
Both Max and Art had always been polyrhythmic, but Art ‘s was more an emphasis on setting up a funky groove.
On
the first CD "It Didn’t Happen" which Herbie wrote just four days
before going into the studio. It was inspired by an unrequited romance
and Art shows that funky can also be accomplished with great subtlety.
Like
Monk, Herbie did not often do covers and usually when done they would
be lesser known pieces that could be made their own. Here Herbie tackles
Gershwin’s "Mine" from a musical revue "Of Thee I Sing".
All
the music to be found on these three discs is thoroughly engrossing,
but not in a way that demands one listens in silence or alone.
When
it comes up again, and I am looked at with skepticism by those who have
yet to discover Herbie’s art, is he one of the greatest?
All I can do is paraphrase Joyce’s Molly Bloom:
"Yes, yes.."
Additional Info
Artist / Group Name: Herbie Nichols
CD Title: Herbie Nichols-The Complete Blue Note Recordings
Genre: BeBop / Hard Bop
Year Released: 1997
Reissue Original Release: 1955-56
Record Label: Blue Note
Musicians: Herbie Nichols (piano), Al McKibbon, Teddy Kotick (bass), Max Roach, Art Blakey (drums)
Label Website: -
Rating: Four Stars
Albums We Love: Herbie Nichols
by Jessica Rand KMHD Jazz Radio | June 4, 2013 3 p.m. | Updated: April 1, 2015 12:54 p.m.
Herbie Nichols
Love, Gloom, Cash, Love (Bethlehem, 1957)
Herbie
Nichols has been called one of jazz’s “most tragically overlooked
geniuses” and the pianist’s final 1957 masterpiece, Love, Gloom, Cash,
Love, bears witness to that description. Some think of him as a disciple
of Thelonius Monk, but that’s not giving him nearly enough credit.
Highly imaginative and unpredictable, Nichols was a contemporary of
Monk; he was also equally innovative, curious and playful.
For
those who only know his earlier Blue Note recordings, or the iconic
song he composed — Lady Sings the Blues — for Billie Holiday, the
Bethlehem date is a revelation. The soothing sophistication of his piano
work is rounded out by Charles Mingus’ drummer Dannie Richmond and
bassist George Duvivier to create the challenging, provocative and
magical wonderland that is Nichols’ vision of jazz. The melodies are
complex; the rhythms subdued.
Denzil
Best’s 45 Degree Angle is a finger-snapping, mischievous smoker while
All the Way is breathtakingly restrained and romantic. The spirited
warmth of Every Cloud is a playful exchange between Nichols’ heavy piano
chords and Richmond’s shifting rhythms. Beyond Recall is a
call-and-response jazz march, perhaps reminiscent of his days serving in
World War II. Nichols’ whimsical imagination comes to the fore in the
title track, Love, Gloom, Cash, Love, a sweet, gratifying waltz.
Sadly,
just as Nichols began to develop a following, he was stricken with
leukemia and died too young in 1963. Humble and hard-working, he wasn’t
alive long enough to reap the benefits of his genius and his works went
largely forgotten. It’s time to pull this album from the vaults and
rediscover the warmth, imagination and spirit of his long overlooked
brilliance.
– Jessica Rand, Host of Takin’ Off, Mon-Thurs, 3-6pm.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Herbie-Nichols
Herbie Nichols
American musician
- Also known as
-
- born
January 3, 1919
- died
April 12, 1963 (aged 44)
Herbie Nichols, byname of Herbert Horatio Nichols (born Jan. 3, 1919, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died April 12, 1963, New York City), African-American jazz pianist and composer whose advanced bop-era concepts of rhythm, harmony, and form predicted aspects of free jazz.
Nichols attended the City College of New York and served in the U.S. Army in 1941–43. He participated in the Harlem sessions that led to the development of bop, and Billie Holiday wrote lyrics to his song “Lady Sings the Blues.” Most of his career, however, he spent playing in Dixieland
and swing groups or accompanying singers and nightclub acts, only
occasionally working with stylistic contemporaries or performing his
original music publicly.
He
composed about 170 songs, and in 1955–57 he recorded the four albums
upon which his reputation is largely based. After his death, from leukemia, most of his unrecorded compositions were
destroyed in an apartment flood; however, unissued recordings by
Nichols, including eight “new” songs, were discovered and released in
the 1980s.
As
a pianist Nichols was at his best interpreting his own compositions; he
also was his own best interpreter. Like early jazz composers, Nichols
created portraits (“117th Street,” “Dance Line”) and dramas (“Love,
Gloom, Cash, Love,” “The Spinning Song”) in his themes. The harmonic
foundations of his songs were original and often daring; his structures
frequently extended song form far beyond the customary four strain, 32
measure limits. His solos, which were variations on his themes,
incorporated rhythmic displacements and reharmonizations and created
open spaces in his melodic lines that inspired interplay with his
drummers. The generous strain of humour in his work belied the
difficulties he experienced in his career.
Friday, March 13, 2015
The Music of Herbie Nichols featuring Jason Marsalis
I've
got a string of interesting gigs coming up these days including several
dates leading a quartet featuring Jason Marsalis on vibraphone, playing
the music of pianist Herbie Nichols.
I've
been fascinated with Nichols' music for over ten years now. I was first
introduced to his music while I was studying with Matt Wilson in New
York City in 2004 and he was playing with the Herbie Nichols Project, a
band co-led by Ben Allison and Frank Kimbrough that extensively
researched and performed his music.
I'm also looking forward to finally working with Jason Marsalis. He's a force on the drums AND now the vibraphone as well!
We are at the Yardbird Suite in Edmonton, AB on Friday, March 20th:
And River Park Church in Calgary on Saturday, March 21st, presented by JazzYYC:
Here's a link to a little interview I did with JazzYYC in advance of our Calgary concert:
Interview: Fay Victor on Herbie Nichols
(photo: Fay Victor by Eliseo Cardona)
Some of the most memorable – poetically exuberant and just plain house-rocking – concerts over the past five years of the Sound It Out series have been those by singer Fay Victor’s Herbie Nichols Sung band. This Friday, June 23, at Greenwich House Music School,
Fay will return to lead her hard-grooving quintet in a two-set event to
help celebrate the fifth anniversary of Sound It Out, as well as raise
money for Greenwich House. Fay and company – Michaël Attias (alto and baritone saxophones), Anthony Coleman (piano), Ratzo Harris (double-bass) and Devin Gray
(drums) – will be performing her vocal re-creations of music by the
great, unsung bop-era pianist-composer Herbie Nichols, who penned the
music for Billie Holiday’s “Lady Sings the Blues,” along with making
evergreen trio recordings under his own name for Blue Note and
Bethlehem. Nichols, a New York City native born in 1919 and who died at
age 44 in 1963, would no doubt love what Fay does with his music, as he
once said: “The voice is the most beautiful instrument of all.”
About
her project to convey the spirit of this music vocally, Fay told me:
“I’ve been working with Herbie Nichols’ music for over a decade and a
half – I’m madly in love with it. His is joyous, irresistible music,
even if it has been sadly underplayed. There are scholarly approaches to
his pieces, but our way is to open up the forms and get that joyousness
across. Except for Billie’s words to ‘Lady Sings the Blues,’ I wrote
the lyrics to all the tunes, with the words coming out of the music
itself and my response to it. The way the band plays is sensitive and
open but with real muscularity and intensity. I hope people aren’t
intimidated if they don’t know the music or even the name of Herbie
Nichols – I want them to come dig the music and leave having been taken
by the beauty of the melodies and their singability. I want people to
fall in love with Herbie Nichols like I have.”
Before
my interview with Fay continues below, it’s perhaps best to interpolate
a description of Nichols’ music – the best I know – that appears in the
liner notes to the indispensable boxed set The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Herbie Nichols.
Describing the art of Nichols, estimable jazzers Frank Kimbrough and
Ben Allison write: “As a pianist, [Herbie] was kaleidoscopic,
encompassing the entire history of jazz piano and much of European
classical music as well, which blended with his own innovative harmonic
and rhythmic ideas – allowing him to weave a style that is essentially a
school unto itself. Although his playing is often compared to that of
his contemporaries Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell – and one can also
detect the influence of Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum and Jelly Roll Morton,
among others – [Herbie] is like no other. He possessed a touch capable
of evoking the entire emotional spectrum, from quiet introspection to
joyous exuberance, and from delicate sensitivity to primitive brutality…
“As
a composer… [Herbie penned] tunes that are evocative, usually written
with a particular place, person, event or feeling in mind. His oblique
approach to melody and harmony creates musical ideas that sparkle the
more they are scrutinized. Herbie’s love of mixing the strange with the
familiar gives his music the feeling of simultaneously looking backward
and forward in time. Imagine a Dixieland beat, a diatonic, hummable
melody, and the harmonies of Bartók all woven together and you’ll get
the idea. Nobody’s music grooves like Herbie’s… [It] reveals a lope and
sense of humor that could only come from playing the Harlem and
Greenwich Village dives where he so often worked. You can feel the sweat
of the crowd, see the dancers, taste the 15-cent beers, smell the
cigarette smoke swirling around the music.”
How could you not dig that? Now onto more of my conversation with Fay…
Bradley Bambarger: Was the late-’80s LP Carmen Sings Monk, by Carmen McRae, a key inspiration for you? Did it plant a seed for your Herbie Nichols Sung project?
Fay Victor:
Oh, yes, that was a big inspiration, as I first heard it around the
time I got started singing. I know and love that album deeply – it’s
amazing, so adventurous. It was the first record I knew where a singer
devoted an entire album to exploring a composer of primarily
instrumental music. As much as I had loved Monk before that – and knew
the famous vocal versions of “Round Midnight” that had already been done
– the Carmen McRae album made Monk’s music more accessible to me as a
singer. It opened up possibilities in my thinking. But a figure who
inspired me directly when it came to the music of Herbie Nichols was the
late Mischa Mengelberg [the Dutch pianist, composer and arranger, who
recorded exciting, individualist interpretations of Nichols’ music with
his ICP Orchestra]. I’m dedicating this concert to Mischa’s memory, his
example. He had this deep knowledge of the jazz tradition, as well as a
real love of improvisation – and a playful sense of humor.
My
first work with Herbie’s music was when I wrote lyrics for his tune
“House Party Starting,” calling it “Tonight.” I recorded that song for
my second album, Darker Than Blue,
which came out in 2001. Pianist Vijay Iyer and bassist John Hébert, who
many jazz fans know well, were on that record. All these years later,
and I’ve recently recorded a live trio album of Herbie Nichols music in
Europe, with pianist Achim Kaufmann and reed player Tobias Delius at the
Bimhuis in Amsterdam and the Loft in Cologne.
BB: What does the music of Herbie Nichols say to you?
FV:
More than anything, there’s that joy in Herbie’s compositions. The
sheer exuberance in his music is one element that makes it ideal for
singing. You know, Herbie’s mother was from Trinidad and so was my
mother. I’ve spent a lot of time down there, and I can discern a
characteristic Trinidadian trait in his music, a mix of intellectual
confidence on one hand and not taking yourself too seriously on the
other. There’s a good-time element to Herbie’s songs coupled with a
sense of cultural and creative achievement. We want to bring something
of that alive in the way we use the tunes as vehicles for improvisation,
taking advantage of the elasticity of the music. One thing I learned
from working with Mischa and the ICP is that it’s not just the notes and
the harmonic contours of a song that matter – it’s also the spirit of
what it means to us. So, we open the songs up: The composition as a
composition is stated, but where in the process it’s stated is open to
the moment.
BB: Describe the particular sonic character of your Herbie Nichols Sung band.
FV:
First of all, these guys bring a real intensity to this music, whether
it’s the sort of smoldering intensity that Michaël Attias has or the
burning intensity of Anthony Coleman. Ratzo Harris, too – the whole band
has a strong sense of ‘inside-outside’ playing, as we’re going in and
out of the structure of the material. These guys are so good at jumping
between the two worlds seamlessly. For jazz repertory bands, it’s hard
to find players who both know the tradition and can take it further, but
these are the right musicians for it. They can take the music to a free
space and then jump back to form and time effortlessly. All of these
guys love Herbie’s music, and you can hear that. Michaël was into Herbie
way before this band. Anthony, of course, is someone who knows jazz
from its very beginnings all the way forward. He had previously delved
more deeply into Monk and Jelly Roll Morton, but that experience makes
him an ideal player for Herbie’s music. The usual drummer for this
project, Rudy Royston, couldn’t make the gig, so we have Devin Gray –
this will be his first show with the band. We rehearsed the other day,
and Devin got it right off – while bringing his own energy to the music.
BB: Which tunes will be on the set list?
FV:
We’ll be doing “House Party Starting,” “The Gig,” “2300 Skidoo,” “Step
Tempest” and “Lady Sings the Blues,” among others. And we’ll be
presenting three tunes with my lyrics for the first time live: “Double
Exposure,” “Another Friend” and “Twelve Bars.” We’re really looking
forward to sharing this music with the Sound It Out audience at
Greenwich House. As I said before, we want people to fall in love with
the music of Herbie Nichols like we have.
(photo: Fay Victor’s Herbie Nichols Sung, by Bradley Bambarger)
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Herbie Nichols
One
of jazz's most tragically overlooked geniuses, Herbie Nichols was a
highly original piano stylist and a composer of tremendous imagination
and eclecticism. He wasn't known widely enough to exert much influence
in either department, but his music eventually attracted a rabid cult
following, though not quite the wide exposure it deserved.
Nichols
was born January 3, 1919, in New York and began playing piano at age
nine, later studying at C.C.N.Y. After serving in World War II, Nichols
played with a number of different groups and was in on the ground floor
of the bebop scene. However, to pay the bills he later focused on
Dixieland ensembles; his own music -- a blend of Dixieland, swing, West
Indian folk, Monk-like angularity, European classical harmonies via
Satie and Bartók, and unorthodox structures -- was simply too
unclassifiable and complex to make much sense to jazz audiences of the
time. Mary Lou Williams was the first to record a Nichols composition --
"Stennell," retitled "Opus Z," in 1951; yet aside from the song he
wrote for Billie Holiday, "Lady Sings the Blues," none of Nichols' work
got enough attention to really catch on.
He
signed with Blue Note and recorded three brilliant piano trio albums
from 1955-1956, adding another one for Bethlehem in late 1957. Nichols
languished in obscurity after those sessions, though; sadly, just when
he was beginning to find a following among several of the new thing's
adventurous, up-and-coming stars, he was stricken with leukemia and died
on April 12, 1963. In the years that followed, Nichols became a
favorite composer in avant-garde circles, with tributes to his sorely
neglected legacy coming from artists like Misha Mengelberg and Roswell
Rudd. He also inspired a repertory group, called the Herbie Nichols
Project, and most of his recordings were reissued on CD. ~ Steve Huey
ORIGIN
New York, NY
GENRE
-
BORN: 3 Jan 1919
Top Songs
Herbie Nichols: A Jazzist’s Life
