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John Graas: Jazz Studio 1/2: Complete Sessions
by David Rickert
Why isn't John Graas more well-known as a jazz musician? Partly because he spent his time on the West Coast in and out of studio bands, recording infrequently with jazz bands or leading his own sessions. It could also be that his chosen instrument, the French horn, is the awkward kid standing off to the side at the dance as far as jazz instruments go. Or maybe it's because he died at the age of thirty-seven, before he could really ...
read moreWest Coast Jazz Horror
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
There's only one film I know of that includes French hornist John Graas (right). As you may recall, I posted on Graas back on April 24. The film is Dementia, better known as Daughter of Horror. Completed in 1953, the film wasn't released until '55, thanks to nettlesome issues with Hollywood censors. The expressionist film was directed by John Parker and starred Adrienne Barrett. Comedian Shelly Berman can be seen as a stoned beatnik toward the end, and Marni Nixon ...
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John Graas: French Horn Jazz
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
According to Tom Lord's Jazz Discography, the French horn in jazz dates back to 1921. By the 1930s, the instrument was popping up on recordings by Bing Crosby and Woody Herman. In the 1940s, Artie Shaw, Claude Thornhill, Harry James and other bandleaders included the horn when they added strings. Neal Hefti used Vincent Jacobs on French horn when he recorded Repetition with Charlie Parker in 1947. Junior Collins was on the horn during Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool" ...
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John Graas: Complete '50s Sessions
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
What's surprising about the French horn isn't that it became a jazz instrument but that there were so many fine jazz players in the late 1940s and '50s. Among the best were Junior Collins, Julius Watkins, David Amram, John Cave, Willie Ruff, Tony Miranda, Jimmy Buffington and Gunther Schuller. But perhaps the finest of them all was John Graas [pictured]. It's his mellow bellow that stands out in many of the best West Coat jazz orchestras, particularly in bands led ...
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