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Bobby Jaspar
Bobby Jaspar: Club St. Germain
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
\For me, the only tenor saxophonist who rivals Stan Getz in tone, improvisation and phrasing is Bobby Jaspar. The Belgian saxophonist and flutist had a singular cool approach and, like Getz, loved the high register of his instrument. In 1955, on December 27 and 29, Jaspar and his All Stars were recorded at Club St. Germain, a basement venue in Paris at 13 rue Saint-Benoît on the Left Bank. Jaspar (ts,fl) was backed by Rene Urtreger (p) Sacha Distel (g) ...
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J.J. Johnson and Bobby Jaspar
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
Tropical storm Isaias blew into New York around 11 a.m. yesterday, whipped things around and split at about 3 p.m. When it did, the sun came out and the 35-mph gusts began, cooling things off a bit. For some reason, I craved J.J. Johnson and his distinct, muffled trombone sound. The albums I turned to were the three he made with the Belgian woodwind player Bobby Jaspar. On J Is for Jazz (1956), Dial J.J. 5 (1957) and Live at ...
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Belgian Jazz: 1950-1970
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JazzWax by Marc Myers
I've never been a big fan of jazz sampler albums. Samplers provide you with an overview of a jazz period by featuring many different artists and the songs that made them famous. Most samplers are invariably dull, loaded up with filler that was inexpensive to license. Instead of providing a service, they generally turn off audiences new to the music. One set that defies this trend and is one of the most rewarding survey albums I've heard in years is ...
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Video: Bobby Jaspar, 1958
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Since we're on a bit of a flute kick, let's end the week with Belgian flutist (and saxophonist) Bobby Jaspar. In the following video clip, he's performing in Cannes, France, in July 1958 with Donald Byrd (tr), Walter Davis Jr. (p), Doug Watkins (b) and Art Taylor (d). They're playing a contrafact on I'll Remember April—a contrafact being a newly invented melody on top of the chord changes of an existing established song. Dig Jaspar's swinging flute and the impeccable ...
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Video: Bobby Jaspar, 1957
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
On French TV in 1957, Bobby Jaspar, the Belgian jazz saxophonist and flutist, was joined by Martial Solal on piano, Sacha Distel on electric guitar, Pierre Michelot on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums. This video shows just how superb Jaspar was on the flute, playing There Will Never Be Another You... And yes that's Sacha Distel, the French singer, who would go on to become better known as a pop vocalist, featured here with Dionne Warwick in 1964... ...
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David Amram on Bobby Jaspar (2)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
What makes Bobby Jaspar so appealing to the ear is his ability to swing softly. Jaspar on sax or flute had a West Coast sound before the sound existed. In some respects, he was simply delivering a European interpretation of Lester Young's phrasing. Then again, this wasn't so far afield from what the European-trained West Coast musicians wound up doing in the early 1950s--combining formal training with Young's sound and swing. It's just that Jaspar may have arrived in that ...
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David Amram on Bobby Jaspar (1)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Bobby Jaspar is all but forgotten today. Back in the late 1950s, the Belgian tenor saxophonist recorded with Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Eddie Costa, J.J. Johnson, Herbie Mann and many other notable New York jazz artists of the period. Married to singer Blossom Dearie, Jaspar's best-known recordings are probably Interplay for Two Trumpets and Two Tenors (1957), for which he was teamed with John Coltrane, and Chet Is Back (1962), recorded with Chet Baker after the trumpeter's release from an ...
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David Amram on Bobby Jaspar
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Bobby Jaspar is all but forgotten today. Back in the late 1950s, the Belgian tenor saxophonist recorded with Hank Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Eddie Costa, J.J. Johnson, Herbie Mann and many other notable New York jazz artists of the period. Married to singer Blossom Dearie, Jaspar's best-known recordings are probably Interplay for Two Trumpets and Two Tenors (1957), for which he was teamed with John Coltrane, and Chet Is Back (1962), recorded with Chet Baker after the trumpeter's release from an ...
read more