Every Film Clip of Lester Young, Preview 2: He Talks to the Drummer & Jams with Hawkins!,+Bonus

(A complete listing of the Jazz Party programs is attached at the bottom for Paying Subscribers, with indexes to musicians and songs!)

In Part 1 we saw the amazing clip of Pres talking—and scat singing!—on television. (A better copy of the clip is there now, so you might wish to watch again.) Today we’ll see the rest of that 1958 TV show with Pres, and we’ll learn more about the Jazz Party show in general.

I have specified in previous posts that the fact that something was broadcast on radio or TV did not necessarily mean that it was also recorded. Creating a recording was a separate decision and required separate technology. So you might wonder why so many of the Jazz Party shows still exist. Many do survive on kinescopes (which were explained in this earlier essay about films of Bird). But believe it or not, according to jazz film researcher Franz Hoffman, a few of the clips only exist thanks to the fanaticism of two collectors, the late Terkild Vinding and John Fell. They filmed the shows off the television with home movie cameras when they were initially broadcast. (They later coauthored a book about stride piano.) But, as you may know, home movie cameras did not have sound. Sound came in with home video in the late 1970s. So how it is that these clips have sound? Well, the programs were simultaneously broadcast on radio. So the same collectors recorded from the radio at the same time. Franz improved the synchronization of the audio and video in recent years.

The featured band performing with Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins on this show, broadcast September 25, 1958, is typical of the high level of musicians who participated in the series. Most of them appeared on several of the programs, not only this one. They are: Charlie Shavers (leader, and trumpet), J.C. Higginbotham (trombone), Pee Wee Russell (clarinet), Willie the Lion Smith (piano), Dickie Thompson (guitar), Harry Sheppard (vibraphone), Vinnie Burke (bass), Sonny Greer (drums—yes, formerly of Duke Ellington’s band), and Mae Barnes (singer). There are additional musicians in the background who are not featured. I’ll get to them soon.

So—after Pres sang the count-off to “Mean to Me” that you saw last time, the song begins. At the beginning of this clip (below), you’ll hear the host Art Ford say “That was the President.” Someone dubbed that in from elsewhere in the program—it was not in the original broadcast. In any case, right after that Pres says “Gone,” meaning “I’m gone,” meaning, “Here I go.” Then he plays. But at 1:02 he turns and says something, twice. What’s going on??

He’s singing out the words “Little Tinkty Boom”! This is his unique way of saying “I don’t want the drummer to use brushes, I want to hear the sound of the sticks hitting the cymbals, ‘tinkty boom.’” While he says it, Higginbotham yells, something like “Blow it now!” But nothing changes, so Pres half-sings “Little Tinky Boom? One stick, you dig?” In other words, “Please change to sticks.” (Thanks to musicians/subscribers Andrew Dickeson and Dan Weinstein, for help with the words.)

But there’s a problem. Greer has no idea what Pres is talking about! Of course, we sympathize—not everyone would understand Pres’s language. Pres looks over, still playing, waiting for something to happen. Charlie Shavers, the leader for the day, walks over to Greer and explains it to him, and instantly, the sticks come out at 1:23, in time for the last 8 bars of the chorus. Please watch, and enjoy:

I can’t believe this moment was captured on film!! How amazing is that??!!

If you’re familiar with Pres’s early style, or if you heard his amazing solo that I posted from 1938, twenty years earlier, you will surely notice that his music changed dramatically over the years. His 1958 style has its virtues too, and on this program he’s in good shape. We will discuss the changes in his style in detail, later on.

A few more notes on the above clip: At 1:37, Shavers starts doing some sign language with someone off on the right side. Ford is, I believe, off to the left, so the person on the right would be the director. Evidently, Charlie’s being told to cut this number short. He disappears off to the left, and when Pres starts the next chorus at 2:17, there is some big-band-style riffing behind him. That’s always a sure sign that a performance is coming to a close. From 2:34 to the end you’ll get some glimpses of some musicians you haven’t seen before. Who are they?

The local chapter of the American Federation of Musicians (the union) required Channel 13 to employ seven New Jersey-based musicians on each program, to support local artists. In this series, some of them occasionally get a featured solo, but most of the time they work in the background as they do here, supervised by Shavers or whoever is the leader of the day. I see Bob McGarry on clarinet, and I believe Nick Travis is the taller of the two trumpeters. There are two trombonists who I don’t recognize. Cutty Cutshall had been on the show once, but neither looks like him to me. However, subscriber Seth Kibel pointed out that the shorter one looks something like Seymour Greene. The other two of the seven are bassist Burke and guitarist Thompson.

Now, as soon as “Mean to Me” ends, Ford asks Charlie Shavers to start the final number, but this moment has never been shown online in unedited form. My copy has numbers and letters over it because it was shared with me and my friend Frank Büchmann-Møller (author of two books on Pres) for research purposes by the Historic Films Archive, which offers clean copies (without numbers) of the Jazz Party shows (and thousands of others) for professional use, such as in documentary films.

While Ford refers again to the dichotomy between Pres and Hawk (Hawkins)—”both ends of the rainbow”—Shavers pushes past Pres, a bit gruffly. He’s intent on something, and soon we see what it is—he points to the right, and Hawkins comes forward. More on that soon.

Ford jokingly asks Charlie to start off a number that they’ll play “until the cops come.” Charlie jokes back, something about how someone might even get “the white coats” (medical people, to take them to what people used to call an “insane asylum”). Then he turns to the bassist and asks him to start a blues, and Burke begins “walking”:

All known copies of this film sound in the key of B, and the blues they play is Pres’s own “Jumpin’ with Symphony Sid,” which is often in C. But subscriber Dan Weinstein, an accomplished trombonist, has confirmed that they are playing in Bb—which makes sense for a blues jam—so the film must be running a little fast. This number was released on a Coleman Hawkins DVD, and that appears to be the source of every version online. But the introduction you just saw is cut short on the DVD, apparently to remove Ford’s mention of Young. Pres is not mentioned anywhere on the DVD or even in the booklet or packaging. Also, the DVD version is faded out before the ending credits. I will show you those credits below. (The editing of the DVD version probably has something to do with copyrights and permissions.)

So, Burke starts walking on the bass, totally alone, and then realizes that this is his chance to take a solo—so he does. He's followed by guitarist Dickie Thompson. Thompson (1917-2007) was born in Jersey City, had some success as a singer, and recorded with organist “Wild Bill” Davis from the early 1960s into the 1980s, but few know his name today. He played the guitar left-handed, flipping a right-handed guitar upside down. I personally enjoy his bluesy playing and his relaxed, “cool cat” manner, never looking at his hands, keeping a little smile on his face while he moves his head to the beat. He's followed by lots of terrific soloists, including Pres. At 5:00 Charlie Shavers starts to play but Higginbotham unexpectedly continues for another chorus. But Shavers is ready, and he was a spectacular trumpeter. He plays a striking pattern at 5:33. And he’s got his eye on a plan:

Shavers knows that having Pres and Hawk together in the studio is a unique opportunity. They had been on the same stage before, mostly at Jazz at the Philharmonic events, but they had never traded fours (four-measure phrases) with each other. That is, they had never interacted musically. So at the end of Hawkins’s intense solo, at 7:28, Charlie orchestrates some “fours” between the two giants. He’s very forceful about it, pointing to each one to play, even touching Young’s arm at 7:38. Thanks to Shavers, this historic exchange was captured on film!

And, since he’s the leader, it’s Shavers who ends the “fours” with a loud one-note riff. Everyone joins in, anticipating that the number will soon end. At 8:30 we get another good look at those extra musicians from New Jersey, and then the clip fades out:

But that’s the edited version, taken from the DVD. The actual ending went on for quite a bit longer, and you can watch it below (from my research copy). In fact, unfortunately Shavers, or Ford, or the director underestimated how much time was left, and the band started the final riff too early, so they end up repeating it endlessly. Not only that, but the one-note idea that Shavers started, thinking that they would only play it a few times, quickly wears thin. Everyone feels that it’s going on too long, and the whole band almost brings it to a close at 1:15 in the clip below— but then they evidently get the signal to keep going! From that point on Shavers gives up on the riff and just solos freely, which is great and keeps the music moving along. (At 1:20-1:33 we get our best look at the New Jersey players. Do you know the trombonists? The shorter trumpeter? Let me know please.) Here is the actual ending of the program, never seen before:

Some time in the future, we’ll look at the other films of Lester Young, including more TV footage that has never been online. Until then—

All the best,
Lewis

P.S. A complete listing of the Jazz Party programs is attached below for Paying Subscribers, with indexes to musicians and songs!