The Gone Sounds of Jazz with Sid Gribetz

Hank Mobley was one of the leading tenor saxophonists of the hard bop years, with a mellifluous tone in this otherwise hard biting genre, harmonic sophistication, and a meaningful soloist style that brought grace, lyricism and a swinging rhythmic sensibility to this soulful beat. He also was a prolific composer, his many delectable melodies recorded often and contributing to the repertoire.

As his output was so extensive, I’ve chosen to focus on just one discrete portion of his career, 1959-1963, in this five hour radio program.

Preliminarily....
Mobley was born in Georgia in 1930 but raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Coming of age as a young man in the Newark jazz scene, he drew the attention of Max Roach and quickly established himself. By 1954 he was performing frequently with many jazz greats. In the mid 1950s Hank was a key member of Art Blakey’s early Jazz Messengers, the Max Roach and Horace Silver groups, and a contributor to numerous now classic albums of his own leadership and as a sideman.

After being off the scene for a bit in 1958, Mobley returned in 1959. First, he worked in a brief reunion with the Jazz Messengers (in the interregnum between Benny Golson and Wayne Shorter’s tenures). In 1960 and 1961 he recorded what I, and most critics, consider his best albums as a leader (“Soul Station”, “Roll Call”, and “Workout”) backed by Wynton Kelly. During this time, as a sideman he contributed to great recordings by Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Drew and others. Significantly, in 1961 and 1962 he was in the working band of Miles Davis, including the legendary “Someday My Prince Will Come” LP.

Many historians of the jazz lore term this Mobley’s “middle period”, where he played with a rounder saxophone tone in distinction to a more brash approach of his youth, and in which his conceptual ideas reached a “next level” of sophistication.

For my program I will also extend to 1963 and his “No Room For Squares” sessions, which I feel fit more squarely into this period.

1964 saw Mobley incarcerated for a time due to issues from his narcotics addiction. His return in 1965 bought a more direct and acute approach to his musical tone, and some presentations for larger ensembles. This final “period” extended into the early 1970's, after which he withdrew from active musical activity due to general health problems as well as his addiction. Mobley died in 1986 at the age of 55.

originally broadcast October 25, 2026

The "Bird-Prez Birthday Broadcast", a 72 hour (and some years longer) marathon celebrating Lester Young and Charlie Parker around their birthday anniversaries, August 27 and August 29, is a long standing tradition at WKCR, and it is among our listeners' favorites.

On the middle, swing, date, August 28, we play mixtures of Bird and Prez.

Here’s a 183 minute long shift from the 2026 edition.

Included are special segments of a half hour or so of Bird and Prez sharing the stage at the January 28, 1946 Jazz At The Philharmonic concert, and one contrasting their solos in classic big band recordings (Bird with Jay McShann and Prez in the original Count Basie orchestra), 65 minutes. There are also some portions for general listening, among which are a sampling of some Parker features with large ensembles.

Celebrating the great songwriter of Americana, Johnny Mercer, for five hours.

The program starts with a review of his early career as an actor and singer. It also includes a look at his impact as a founder of Capitol Records. But of course the essence and core of the show are his hip and magnificent songs that endure forever.

As one of my “Jazz Profiles” presentations, the main focus is observing jazz influences on his art. We explore his collaborations with Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael and other great composers, and his legendary pieces which have become jazz standards in addition to their place in the great popular songbook – ranging from Blues In The Night, Skylark, Come Rain or Come Shine, One For My Baby, Jeepers Creepers, Too Marvelous For Words, That Old Black Magic, I Remember You, Laura, I Thought About You, and so many more.

The final three hours is a cornucopia of listening pleasure to recordings of Mercer classics by great jazz artists. Billie, Ella, Louis, Dinah, Carmen, Jackie Paris, Johnny Hartman, Aretha Franklin, Cassandra Wilson, Etta Jones, and Etta James, to name just a few.

originally broadcast November 15, 2009
re-broadcast May 23, 2021

From the August 4, 2026 Louis Armstrong WKCR special on his baptismal birth date, here’s a show with two separate features, about an hour each -- Pops in duets (with Duke, Ella, Bing, Carmen, Billie and Lotte Lenya); and another focusing on Armstrong with the Luis Russell band in the late 1930s on Decca. These two thematic segments are interspersed with some unstudied tracks for general listening appeal.

This program presents the masterwork collaborations of John Coltrane with Miles Davis, in context. It can serve as a history primer “Jazz 101" for the jazz lay person; for the aficionado, it can simply be an opportunity to submerge oneself in five hours of intense musical enjoyment.

Miles Davis was a teenage trumpet prodigy who came to fame during the bebop years of the 1940's. Despite this reputation and additional successful endeavors, such as with the Birth of the Cool band and other post bebop ensembles, by the mid-1950's Miles had fallen from popularity and was also in ill health.

Saxophonist John Coltrane had some accomplishments as a professional jazz musician but in the mid-1950's was mostly performing around his home turf in Philadelphia and searching to develop his sound.

Miles Davis regained notoriety with his captivating performance at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival. In its wake, he was signed to a lucrative contract by major record label Columbia and was booked for many significant concerts and tours. Assembling a new band for these engagements, Davis hired Coltrane for the saxophone chair, and had the stellar rhythm section of Red Garland piano, Paul Chambers bass, and Philly Joe Jones at the drums.

From the fall of 1955 through the spring of 1957 this group performed regularly and made numerous now-classic recordings to finish Miles’s existing Prestige Records obligations. When released to begin fulfilling his new Columbia contract, Davis made sessions to constitute the acclaimed “‘Round About Midnight” album on Columbia.

Later in 1957 Miles fired Coltrane and Philly Joe, and he moved on to orchestral projects with Gil Evans and a sojourn in France where he did film scores for Louis Malle. Meanwhile Thelonious Monk combined with Coltrane in their legendary association and six month long Five Spot gig, which helped Coltrane’s musical growth to new heights.

In 1958, Miles Davis re-formed his combo, bringing back Coltrane, adding the alto sax of Cannonball Adderley, experimenting with different pianists in addition to Garland, such as Bill Evans and later Wynton Kelly, and drummers such as Art Taylor and Jimmy Cobb, to add further textures and flavors to the ensemble. The 1958 band produced great Columbia recordings “Milestones” and the Green Dolphin Street session with Evans, among others.

With their continued advances, and adaptation of “modal” styles, the Davis-Coltrane musical collaborations hit its zenith in early 1959. The Miles Davis group created the most famous jazz album of all time, “Kind Of Blue”.

At the same time, Coltrane, preparing to leave Davis and emerge in his own stardom, broke out with his “Giant Steps” LP, and moved on in his own career.

Finally, as a savory dessert, Coltrane would reunite with Davis for special concert tours in Europe and elsewhere in 1960, and he sat in on Davis’s 1961 “Someday My Prince Will Come” album.

originally broadcast July 17, 2022

The "Bird-Prez Birthday Broadcast", a 72 hour (and some years longer) marathon celebrating Lester Young and Charlie Parker around their birthday anniversaries, August 27 and August 29, is a long standing tradition at WKCR, and it is among our listeners' favorites.

From the 2026 edition, here's a segment that includes a survey of Lester Young's recordings with small groups during the Big Band years of the 1936-1940 period when he was in the Count Basie orchestra.

While lesser-remembered today, Bennie Green was one of the great trombone players in the post war jazz years, a period when the otherwise cumbersome instrument developed into a persuasive and interpretive soloist’s vehicle. Green had a facile and fluid ease on the trombone, a great sense of rhythm and swing, and a sophisticated understanding of modern jazz harmonies. These traits all informed his ability to succeed in many styles of mainstream jazz, and laid the groundwork for his contributions to the historic developments of jazz trombone.

Bennie Green was born in Chicago in 1923 and came of age with lessons from the famed Walter Dyett at DuSable High School, and he also gained influence from his musical family. His first major professional engagement was with the Earl Fatha Hines big band as a teenager. Green was eventually drafted in to the armed forces later in World War II, but after the war he returned to the Hines organization. In the late 1940's, Green joined Charlie Ventura’s popular “Bop For The People” band, and afterwards he resumed an affiliation with the Hines small groups in the early 1950's.

In addition to his facility with swing and bop, Green participated in seminal early modern jazz dates with Miles Davis and Charles Mingus. By the later 1950's, Green recorded prolifically as a leader, for Prestige, Blue Note and other labels in the prevalent hard bop idiom, while also swinging hard.

As jazz lost its popularity in the rock era, Green worked for a time with Duke Ellington’s orchestra, and then he settled in Las Vegas for a professional career with the resort hotel bands. After a long bout with cancer, Green died in 1977.

originally broadcast July 19, 2015
re-broadcast April 4, 2021

Cedar Walton is one of the leading “hard bop” pianists to come of age in the late 1950's and 1960's. In addition to his great lyrical skill at the piano, Walton is well-known as a composer and arranger, and this radio show focuses on his compositions.

Among the prominent work early in his career was his stint in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the early 1960's, and he contributed the songs Mosaic, Ugetsu [Fantasy in D], Plexus, and others, which have become classics of the Blakey book. Additionally, Walton has penned many compositions that, if not by title, you will find familiar as standard tunes of the enduring modern jazz repertory, such as Bolivia, Firm Roots, Cedar’s Blues, Afreaka, Mode For Joe, and Turquoise. His songs are dynamic and complex but always “meaty” and accessible numbers for soulful jazz improvisation.

This program features both classic and lesser known recordings of Walton’s songs, by Walton’s own groups, from Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, and friends and musical companions such as Joe Henderson, Lee Morgan, Houston Person, Blue Mitchell and Junior Cook.

Born in Dallas, Texas in 1934, Walton was selected for the prestigious National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award in 2010. He was still active at the age of 79 when I produced this program in July 2013. Unfortunately, after a brief illness, Walton passed away several weeks later on August 19, 2013.

originally broadcast July 7, 2013
re-broadcast September 26, 2021

John Coltrane’s 1959-1960 recordings for the Atlantic record label are surveyed during this three hour program.

Having finally left the Miles Davis group, John Coltrane had the opportunity to explore his own developing sounds and lead his own groups. This was a transitional period that featured the breakthrough classic albums “Giant Steps” and “My Favorite Things”. Atlantic’s releases also included memorable songs such as “Like Sonny” and “Central Park West”, and the Milt Jackson collaboration, among other choice treats.

originally broadcast September 22, 2019

There is a long history of American jazz musicians making the scene in Europe, and there are many expatriate stories of note. For this program I’ve selected three significant aspects of Americans in Paris to comprise a five hour package for an afternoon of casual listening.

First I will feature Don Byas. Byas was a magnificent tenor saxophonist, fluent in both the swing and bebop idioms, harmonically sophisticated, and possessed of an exquisite tone. He was most prolific from the years 1944-1946 and poised to be a major star, but he moved to France in 1947, where he remained until the mid-1950s, and then lived elsewhere on the continent until his early death in 1972, therefore not achieving greater fame in the US. I will play his many recordings with French musicians which are not as well known but display his awesome talents.

For the second portion I’ll turn my attention to the fall of 1953, when during a lengthy residency in Paris during a European tour, the young turks from the Lionel Hampton orchestra conspired to sneak away and record their own music in numerous sessions for local record companies. Gigi Gryce organized and arranged the productions, which included various small and large ensemble settings. These discs are great examples of the beginning careers of brilliant figures such as Gryce, Clifford Brown, Art Farmer, Quincy Jones and others.

The final chapter will focus on Lucky Thompson, a sublime genius of the tenor sax and early modern innovator on soprano as well. During extended visits to Paris in 1956 and 1957 he made numerous recordings that were never released in the US until the 21st century but serve as prime examples of his oeuvre. Thompson also moved to Paris full time in 1959, and he lived there into the early 1960s, also producing some fine music in those years.

originally broadcast July 12, 2026

For the Miles Davis Centennial (May 26, 1926) WKCR presented a series of marathon programming over several days. To kick things off, I presented this five hour "Introduction to Miles Davis".

Teddy Charles was a hard swinging master of the vibes and also a sophisticated composer and arranger of forward looking sounds.

Theodore Charles Cohen was born in 1928 to Jewish immigrant parents in Springfield, Mass. He loved music as a child, noodled on the piano and took drum lessons. As a teenager during the World War II years he played professional gigs filling in for those drafted overseas. He suffered from anti-semitism and chafed at the poor musical prospects in his small town. So, upon graduating high school he was fortunate to move to New York, and he eventually qualified to enroll in Julliard. He also pursued “musical studies” in 52nd Street nightclubs.

These were the bebop years, and the youthful Teddy was caught up in the sway of this modern music. It the early 1950s he formed a vibes-guitar-bass trio and later worked closely with pianist Hall Overton and guitarist Jimmy Raney. Teddy’s “New Directions” series for Prestige incorporated his modal ideas and concept of more free form improvisation within straight ahead jazz. It was during this period that his agent had him use the professional name “Teddy Charles”.

Prestige records hired Teddy to open and run its California office in 1953 at the age of 25. There he honed his organizational skills, recorded old friend Wardell Gray and “discovered” Sonny Clark and Frank Morgan, among others, for their first recordings.

Charles returned to New York and had significant associations with modern workshops and composers, and he developed a long lasting friendship and collaboration with Charles Mingus. He arranged the stunning “Blue Moods” album with Miles and Mingus. Teddy also formed his own favorite group, his Tentet, which gave him the opportunity to explore his complex writing and arranging ideas. The Tentet released two classic albums on Atlantic.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, in addition to his own playing, Charles became an A&R man and producer for record companies and an arranger, championing the likes of Booker Little. He was part of the scene of the “Newport Rebels”. As a producer, he supervised recordings for artists ranging from John Coltrane to Aretha Franklin.

Later in the 1960s, fed up with the music business and wishing to explore the other love of his life, sailing, Teddy moved to the Caribbean and became a charter boat captain. In the early 1980s, Charles felt an itch to return to music, so he moved back to New York, living first on City Island and then for many years in Greenport on Long Island, and from those bases he still pursued maritime activity while also returning to the jazz scene and many gigs, working often with Harold Danko.

In his later years Teddy collaborated with Chris Byars. They resurrected his tentet charts and other compositions, and Chris organized ensembles for renewed concerts and recordings.

Teddy Charles died of heart failure in 2012 at the age of 84.

originally broadcast June 21, 2026

Frank Strozier, a powerful and dynamic player on the otherwise softer instruments of alto saxophone and flute, was born in 1937 and came of age in Memphis the 1950's among an influential group of young musicians who combined the soulful Southern rhythms with the intricacies and sophistication of bebop to create a style and sound that has a lasting impact in the development of modern jazz.

Strozier made his first mark with the “MJT + 3" group. He also played with Memphis buddies such as Booker Little, George Coleman, and Harold Mabern, among others in the New York area. Frank was in the Roy Haynes group for a time. In the mid-60's he moved to California, working with people like Shelley Manne and Oliver Nelson. He briefly was in the famous Miles Davis organization.

Strozier returned to be a prominent player on the New York jazz scene in the 1970's and early 1980's. But thereafter he retired from music and became a science teacher in Yonkers, still occasionally sighted the piano in the Westchester area.

The radio show will present a retrospective of his various recordings, which will impress you with his power, lyricism, and personal voice, a strong musician who should be wider known.

originally broadcast June 2, 2013

Shirley Scott was born in 1934 in Philadelphia and was raised in a musical family. As a schoolchild she played both trumpet and the piano. She began playing jazz professionally on the then-robust and creative Philadelphia jazz scene. Upon embarking in earnest in her professional career, in the mid 1950's Shirley turned to the Hammond B-3 Organ and established herself as one of the primary figures in our jazz organ canon.

Her first major professional association, and what a great one it was, was in the dynamic combos of saxophonist Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, performing around the country and creating classic albums such as the Cookbooks. By the early 1960's, Scott became one of the foremost jazz organists. In this fertile and prominent period of her career, Shirley led her own groups, appeared as an accompanist to her then-husband Stanley Turrentine, and also used Stanley as her “sideman” – she produced prolific recording outputs in all these formats.

Scott stepped aside from her touring career in her later years, and focused on education in her native Pennsylvania, establishing a jazz music program at Cheney State University. She continued to perform, mainly on piano, and she remained an important figure and mentor in Philadelphia, and on the national jazz scene, as well.

Shirley developed health problems in her sixties after taking the dietary supplement fen-phen, and she died of heart disease in 2002. As a legal footnote to her life story, Shirley won a significant lawsuit against the makers of the drug shortly before her demise.

originally broadcast April 14, 2019

For the Miles Davis Centennial (May 26, 1926) WKCR presented a series of marathon programming over several days.

Here's one of my segments. It includes selections of Sonny Rollins, Miles with Bob Dorough, and then over two hours of an in depth listen to the Bill Evans association with Davis.

Mark Murphy (1932-2015) was an unsung hero among modern jazz vocalists, a cult figure who deserves wider recognition, a primary influence for new generations of jazz singers.

He was a risk taker of musical invention. Murphy was a masterful scat singer and a champion of vocalese with compositions such as Stolen Moments and Red Clay. Mark’s outlook is that of a wide ranging humanist, including his poetry and theatrical sides, with interpolations from Jack Kerouac, Lord Buckley, and other literary greats in his songs and presentations. And he possessed a sturdy baritone on standards and Brazilian songs.

Murphy was born in Syracuse, NY and made his first name as a pop-jazz singer with recordings on the Decca and Capitol labels. He hit his stride upon moving to New York City in the early 1960's, and with hip modern recordings on Riverside. Since then he traveled the world as a vibrant, performing force.

This episode provides five hours of fun.

originally broadcast December 4, 2011

WKCR presents a marathon broadcast celebrating Charles Mingus annually, on his birthday anniversary, April 22.
From my segment on the 2026 edition, I presented a variety of sounds, among them a selection of early Debut recordings, and a feature of live concerts of the 1964 ensemble with Eric Dolphy (about an hour towards the end).

Saxophonist Teddy Edwards was born in Jackson, Mississippi on April 26, 1924. His grandfather and other family members were leading local musicians, and Teddy began playing the alto sax as a youth. By age 12 he had played in some professional settings himself. As a teenager he went to Detroit to live with an uncle and began participating in the vital Motor City scene. In his development, he forged connections with many young jazz artists, among others notably Wardell Gray with whom he became a close friend.

Edwards toured with R&B and jazz bands and ended up in Los Angeles in 1945. There he teamed up with Howard McGhee and switched to tenor sax. With his sophisticated harmonic sense and free flowing sound, Edwards became a leading figure in the early bebop days on the West Coast. He was a key member of the Central Avenue scene, participating in duels with Dexter Gordon and Wardell and making notable records such as “Blues In Teddy’s Flat”.

Prominent on the West Coast, Edwards was one of the original Lighthouse All Stars and an early choice to be in the Clifford Brown-Max Roach Quintet. By the late fifties and sixties, he recorded notable LPs with compatriots such as McGhee, Leroy Vinnegar and Gerald Wilson for the World Pacific, Contemporary, and Prestige labels (“It’s All Right”).

An accomplished arranger, Edwards wrote for brass and string ensembles and contributed to many projects. Additionally, he was an important accompanist for vocalists such as Jimmy Witherspoon, Helen Humes, King Pleasure and numerous others.

Edwards never ventured to the major New York limelight, but he was an important and influential figure in Los Angeles. In later years he spent time in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, where he enjoyed admiration and popularity. Edwards gained some publicity in the popular field when he toured regularly with Tom Waits for a time in the 1980s..

Edwards had a powerful and pulsating sound on the sax, always tinged with emotional warmth and insight.

I always liked this encomium to Edwards from Tom Waits: “He can sound like a train, or he can sound like he's drinking champagne on that same train."

Edwards had various health problems in later life, and he died of cancer at the age of 78 in 2003.

originally broadcast April 19, 2026

For the 2026 WKCR Billie Holiday Birthday Broadcast. I prepared a survey of Lady Day's recordings with Prez, Lester Young (about 2 hours). The epitome of sublime intimacy and heartfelt companionship. The episode opens and closes with several other Holiday tracks for casual listening, not so shabby in their own right.

John Coltrane is a major figure in our culture. The majesty, grandeur and passion of his saxophone communicates with the soul and has inspired the reverence and spiritual devotion of his listening audience.

It would be difficult to profile his widespread body of work in a single radio program. Therefore, this episode focuses on one discrete portion of his career, his recordings on the Prestige record label.

Coltrane attained his first major notice in his late twenties as a member of the classic Miles Davis Quintet (fall 1955-early 1957). However, Coltrane was struggling with substance abuse and other personal difficulties, and Miles fired him from the group. With immense personal dedication, and spiritual guidance from his wife Naima, Coltrane beat his addiction and began a renewed, refreshed life. He moved to New York City (203 West 103rd Street). Trane began working with Thelonious Monk, and their legendary six month engagement at the Five Spot reinvigorated each of their careers.

At the same time, Coltrane was looking to establish himself as a recording artist. While with Miles, he was also a freelance sideman on many now classic albums, and in early 1957 Coltrane eventually got a contract with Bob Weinstock’s independent Prestige company, a deal that would last through the end of 1958.

There, Coltrane recorded his first three albums as a leader (“Coltrane”, “John Coltrane With The Red Garland Trio (aka Traneing In)” and “Soultrane”), sessions led by his friend Red Garland, and many all star dates. As was his custom, Weinstock recorded many sessions under Trane’s leadership, which were "kept in the can", stockpiled, and released on additional albums in the next few years.

This was a pivotal period in the development of Coltrane’s career, leading in to “Giant Steps” and further levels of artistry. Accordingly, these Prestige records are sometimes overlooked, but they, too, have a robust and sophisticated improvisational fervor worth savoring. Critic Ira Gitler wrote of “the excruciatingly exhilarating intensity of rapid exigent runs with their residual harmonic impact” in coining the overworked but still apt term “Sheets of Sound” to characterize this phase of Coltrane’s style.

originally broadcast May 19, 2024