John Cooper

Throughout my career in music, I've been fortunate to have come into contact with some of the most giving talented and loving individuals who have nurtured my interest in music and helped me further on my path.  Bobby Shew, a great artist and teacher has become just this kind of mentor for me.  We met several times at different performances and jazz festivals, none of which I think he would remember.  I finally worked up the courage to ask if he might have time to allow me to study with him privately and he graciously offered to allow me to visit his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  I made the travel arrangements and Flew there for a week of study with him.  Our days were filled with hours of learning as he gave his knowledge freely and really helped me as a player and teacher.  Our nights were equally fulfilling as he and his wife hosted my wife and me for wonderful dinners and some very relaxing hang time.  It was magical and transformative for me.

Some weeks ago, he sent me a recording of one of his students, Tony Kadleck, who I met while living in New York in the early 1990s.  It was a simple note attached to the package…I thought you might enjoy this…I'm proud of my student Tony and his accomplishments.

I dutifully set aside some time and listened to the CD and was just knocked out by the writing and inventive music on the recording.  Indeed, Tony has produced a glorious project on which he plays wonderfully and wrote all the music as well.  I'm including a cut from his recording: Tony Kadleck Big Band - Sides

This is a masterful re-imagining of a tune from the popular music lexicon composed by Joni Mitchell, Both Sides Now.  Though the instrumentation is not from a typical big band, it is orchestrated for strings, horns and rhythm section, it is a touching orchestration with his great playing woven through the orchestrational fabric.

Thanks Bobby!

The world is a lesser place without American Icon Tony Bennet. A true gentle-man Tony's career spanned decades and filled us all with the magic of his voice and style.  Anthony Dominick Benedetto lived an incredible life filled with accolades and awards.  Many didn't know of his infantry service to America where he served in the closing years of WWII.  Tony was in some of the most bitter fighting as the Army closed in on Germany near the end of the war.  

We know him for the warm and infinitely swinging voice he projected throughout his career where he relied mostly on the material of the American Songbook.  These show tunes provided a canvas on which Tony would craft uniquely interpreted renderings that thrilled audiences the world around and communicated the true essence of the great lyrics he sang. In his later career, Tony teamed up with contemporary pop icons like Lady Gaga which brought his unique approach to music to a whole new generation.

Though Tony recorded and worked with his famous trio throughout his career, some of my favorite recordings are the ones he made with the Count Basie Orchestra.  Here is a great clip from a 1981 concert he performed with that band at Carnegie Hall.  Please feel free to leave a comment if you'd like to remember Tony.

Throughout his Career, Edward "Duke Ellington made it a point to write music specifically for the incredibly talented musicians he employed.  Many stayed in his band for their entire career and were very faithful to him.  Duke's band came to prominence in New York City at the cabaret called the Cotton Club.  It was a dinner theatre of sorts that featured black entertainment for mostly white audiences also known as a black and tan.  Duke wrote for the theatre shows at the Cotton Club and honed his unique compositional and orchestrational style combining instruments for musical color and effect to suit and support the shows.

One of the great musicians Duke employed was Cat Anderson.  Cat recorded and was a featured soloist with Duke's Orchestra from 1951 to 1977.  He was featured to create excitement through his ability to play high on the trumpet.  When I say high, I mean in a register that is super-human!  Much of Duke's library, though available commercially or through transcription is impossible to recreate just because he wrote for these super-human performers.  

Here is a short video clip of Duke's band performing The Opener: 

  Cat's solo is at the end.  Feel free to leave a comment if you think Cat is the Cat's Meow of high-note trumpet players!