Jazz From Lincoln Center

"Blue Mance: Junior Mance Plays Solo Piano"

by Joe Hooper

© and (P) Jazz at Lincoln Center, 2000

1) Music: "Harlem Lullabye" (Mance) 10/6/00 [start at ~2:10 or so]

2) Vox: Junior Mance (JM int. 10/7/00 at 15:20)

"Everybody's got a little blues in them somewhere. // I must be reeking with it."

3) Bradley:

PIANIST JUNIOR MANCE IS A CASE OF MUSICAL DOUBLE IDENTITY. HE’S PART OF THE BEBOP GENERATION – HE PLAYED PIANO IN DIZZY GILLESPIE’S BAND. BUT MANCE IS ALSO A BLUESMAN OF THE OLD SCHOOL. LIKE HIS COLLEAGUES COUNT BASIE AND CANNONBALL ADDERLEY, HE EMPLOYS INFECTIOUS RIFFS AND A CONTAGIOUS "VOCAL" APPROACH TO JAZZ EXPRESSION.

IN A SOLO PERFORMANCE, JUNIOR MANCE PLAYS EVERY SHADE OF BLUE IN THE JAZZ TRADITION. "JUNIOR'S BLUES" IS THIS JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I'M ED BRADLEY.

4) Vox: Junior Mance (JM int. 10/7/00 at 15:20)

"I really worked hard to get some kind of solo thing together. And when

I did, something kept telling me in the back of my mind, 'Do what you

know how to do best which was the blues.

 

 

5) Bradley:

ONE OF THE FINEST EXPONENTS OF THE KANSAS CITY BLUES STYLE WAS MANCE'S FRIEND AND MENTOR, COUNT BASIE.

(alt) HERE’S A TUNE NEIL HEFTI WROTE AROUND BASIE’S DISTINCTIVE PIANO STYLE – "SPLANKY."

6) Mance intro: outro after 10/7/00 performance of "Harlem Lullaby"

"//Splanky is a nickname for Count Basie. The reason they called him

Splanky is because it was sort of imitating how he usually ends a tune.

You know, he says (note: talking and hitting keys), splank, splank,

splank. So they called him Splanky. (laughs) I just found that out."

7) Music: "Splanky" (Hefti) 10/6/00 (4:51)

8) Bradley:

SOLO PIANIST JUNIOR MANCE WITH "SPLANKY," NAMED FOR COUNT BASIE AND WRITTEN BY HIS ARRANGER, NEAL HEFTI.

FROM THE STANLEY KAPLAN PENTHOUSE, THIS IS JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I'M ED BRADLEY.

9) Vox: Junior Mance (JM int. 10/7/00 at 13:20)

"I'm probably very blues tinged because of coming from Chicago."

10) Bradley:

JUNIOR MANCE

11) Vox: Junior Mance (JM int. 10/7/00 at 13:25)

"My mother was really into blues and all the records that she bought

were always blues or boogie woogie. And my father was into stride piano

and big bands. My father played stride piano but never professionally.

Just for his enjoyment. So we had this beat-up upright in the house.

//When he at work, I was two fingers, listening to these boogie-woogie

records my mother was playing all day. That was the first music I played

(laughs) and from there I went to the straightahead, what they call

traditional swing. // And then somebody showed me bebop and I've never

been the same since. (laughs)"

12) Bradley:

JUNIOR MANCE GOT HIS LIFELONG CASE OF THE BLUES IN HIS HOMETOWN.

THROUGHOUT THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20TH CENTURY, MILLIONS OF BLACK SOUTHERNERS HAD MADE THE EXODUS TO CHICAGO. BY THE 1940S, THE CITY’S SOUTH SIDE WAS A MUSICAL MOSAIC WHERE RURAL BLUESMAN MUDDY WATERS, R&B SINGER DINAH WASHINGTON AND JAZZ TENOR SAXOPHONIST GENE AMMONS COULD SHARE THE BANDSTAND.

MANCE WAS WORKING REGULARLY WITH AMMONS ON THE SOUTH SIDE CIRCUIT -- WHERE ALMOST ANYTHING MIGHT HAPPEN.

13) Vox: Junior Mance (JM int. 10/7/00 at 1:01:00)

"I remember one night, Wardell Grey and Sonny Stitt both came in and it

was just a tragedy that somebody wasn't around with a recorder. I heard

// the best music I ever heard// //But this used to happen a lot in

Chicago. // // I guess that's what made them so good, they were so

impromptu with guys that could really play. That's the way the scene

always was, in Chicago."

14) Bradley:

THE TUNE "OUT SOUTH" IS MANCE'S TRIBUTE TO THAT TIME AND PLACE.

15) Music: Out South (Mance) 10/6/00 (7:35)

16) Bradley:

"OUT SOUTH," AN ORIGINAL BLUES BY JUNIOR MANCE AT THE STANLEY KAPLAN PENTHOUSE.

THE BLUES OF THE RURAL SOUTH WAS ROUGHHEWN MUSIC OF GREAT EMOTION. BUT ITS HISTORY HAD BEEN LARGELY INDEPENDENT OF EARLY JAZZ. THAT CHANGED WHEN COMPOSER AND BANDLEADER W.C. HANDY WROTE IT DOWN IN A FORM THAT JAZZ MUSICIANS HAVE BEEN BORROWING FROM EVER SINCE.

ONSTAGE AT THE KAPLAN PENTHOUSE, JUNIOR MANCE.

17) Mance on-stage intro to Atlanta Blues: 10/6/00

"Now I'd to play a tune that's written by WC Handy. It's a tune that has

two titles -- it's known as Atlanta Blues and the other title is, Make

Me a Pallet on Your Floor. I don't understand the correlation of the

two, but anyway, here it is. I'll call it, Atlanta Blues."

18) Music: "Atlanta Blues" (W. C. Handy) 10/6/00 (7:41)

19) Bradley:

W.C. HANDY’S "ATLANTA BLUES."

COMING OF AGE IN THE '40S, JUNIOR MANCE, LIKE MOST OF HIS PEERS, EMBRACED BEBOP. THE BOPPERS PLAYED PLENTY OF BLUES BUT OFTEN AT SUCH HIGH SPEED AND WITH SUCH ADVANCED HARMONIES, YOU ALMOST HAD TO BE A MUSICIAN HEAR THEM. NOT SURPRISINGLY, MANCE FELT CLOSEST TO THELONIOUS MONK, WHOSE SLOW TEMPOS AND DISSONANCES NEVER DISGUISED THE ROUGH PULL OF FOLK BLUES.

20) Vox: Junior Mance (JM int. 10/7/00 at 57:00)

"I like everything that Monk does//. // Years back, // on October tenth

one night, I went down to Birdland and Monk and few of the guys were

standing out front, you know, 'hey Thelonious,' 'hey Junior, how you

doing?' I said, 'Happy birthday.'// Then I told him, I said, you know,

today is my birthday too. And he jumps. And he says, 'No wonder you're

so weird.' (laughs) "

21) Music: "Blue Monk" (Monk) 10/7/00 (8:36)

22) Bradley:

PIANIST JUNIOR MANCE -- WHOSE READING OF THAT TUNE MAY BE THE SLOWEST AND BLUEST MONK OF ALL. "BLUE MONK.’

23) Midbreak Music: "Rockin Chair" (Hoagy Carmichael) 10/6/00

24) Bradley:

SUPPORT FOR JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER COMES FROM N-P-R AND ITS MEMBER STATIONS, WHOSE CONTRIBUTORS INCLUDE THE LILA WALLACE READERS DIGEST FUND, SEEKING TO ENRICH COMMUNITY LIFE THROUGH SUPPORT OF EDUCATION, THE ARTS AND CULTURE.

TO SEE THE SCRIPT OF THIS PROGRAM OR FIND OUT MORE ABOUT JUNIOR MANCE, VISIT US AT WWW.JAZZATLINCOLNCENTER.ORG.

YOU’RE LISTENING TO JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I’M ED BRADLEY.

[Midbreak @ tk -- (incl. :10 as bed for local stations ID's)]

[music fades to actuality]

25) Vox: Junior Mance (JM int. 10/7/00 at 31:00)

"//When I joined Dizzy, //I was one of those young guys who played too

many notes, like try to play all you know in one bar or something, and

he just casually mentioned, 'the sign of a maturing musician is when you

learn what to leave out, or what not to play.' And that still stuck with

me, even now."

26) Bradley:

IN THE LATE ‘50S, JUNIOR MANCE BECAME PART OF A BURGEONING MOVEMENT THAT AIMED TO SCALE BACK THE TECHNIQUE-DRIVEN BEBOP OF THE DAY. SOME MUSICIANS, LIKE DRUMMER ART BLAKEY AND PIANIST HORACE SILVER, WORRIED THAT JAZZ HAD STRAYED TOO FAR FROM ITS POPULAR BASE. THEY CREATED A NEW SOUND IN MUSIC THAT MIXED BEBOP WITH BLUES AND GOSPEL ELEMENTS. YEARS LATER, IT WOULD BE DUBBED "SOUL-JAZZ."

IN 1956 AND '57, MANCE BECAME THE PIANIST IN ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL "SOUL-JAZZ" OUTFITS, ALTO SAXOPHONIST CANNONBALL ADDERLEY'S QUINTET. HOW HE MADE HIS CONNECTION WITH CANNONBALL IS A STORY STRAIGHT OUT OF THE MOVIES. IN 1951, AS AN INFANTRYMAN-IN-TRAINING, JUNIOR MANCE VERY CASUALLY SAT IN WITH ADDERLEY'S CRACK ARMY BAND.

27) Vox: Junior Mance (JM int. 10/7/00 at 2:00)

So Cannonball says, 'OK man, what do you want to play,' //in a tone of voice that says, 'let's get rid of him quick if he can't play, out he goes.' " So I played about four, five choruses // and I looked at Cannonball and he said, 'go ahead man, go ahead, play some more.' // The band by now, they're all looking my way. Every now and then I'd peep out from under this helmet and I saw heads beginning to shake, (laugh) you know, feet beginning to stomp you know and as it went on, they kept yelling, 'yeah, yeah go ahead, blow man, play some more' and I played until my arms were about to drop off, // about ninety choruses. //"

 

28) Bradley:

FOR MANCE, JOINING ADDERLEY’S BAND MEANT LEAVING THE 24^TH INFANTRY, A UNIT THAT WAS HEADED FOR ACTION IN THE KOREAN WAR.

29) Vox: Junior Mance

"I heard that out of the company I was in, //only about four of them survived. //

So I say, I think Cannonball saved my life."

30) Bradley:

HERE IS JUNIOR MANCE’S TREATMENT OF ADDERLEY’S SOUL-JAZZ CLASSIC, "WORK SONG."

31) Music: "Work Song" (Nat Adderley) 10/7/00 (8:07)

32) Bradley:

"WORK SONG" – WRITTEN BY CORNETIST NAT ADDERLEY, CANNONBALL'S BROTHER AND A MEMBER OF BOTH HIS ARMY AND HIS JAZZ BANDS.

JUNIOR MANCE'S WORK WITH CANNONBALL ESTABLISHED HIM AS A TOP-DRAWER NEW YORK SIDEMAN. HE WORKED WITH DIZZY GILLESPIE AT THE END OF THE '50S, THEN WENT ON TO LEAD HIS OWN TRIOS. BUT WHATEVER THE FORMAT, YOU COULD ALWAYS RECOGNIZE MANCE'S SINGING APPROACH TO THE PIANO. HE GOT THAT FROM THE BLUES, AND PERHAPS FROM ACCOMPANYING BLUES SINGERS LIKE BASIE-BELTER JOE WILLIAMS IN THE '60S AND DINAH WASHINGTON IN THE '50S.

33) Bradley (cont):

BUT BEFORE THAT, HE ALSO LEARNED A THING OR TWO FROM THE SAXOPHONIST LESTER YOUNG.

34) Vox: Junior Mance (JM int. 10/7/00 at 34:00)

"There are three guys that used this theory, Lester, Charlie Parker and Ben

Webster, they always listened to the lyrics of the tune. When I was on

the road with Lester, Lester had stacks of records that he carried with

him with his record player, all vocalists, no instrumental records."

35) Bradley:

WHEN JUNIOR MANCE PLAYS THE JOHNNY MANDEL BALLAD "EMILY," HE’S GOT A SINGER IN MIND.

36) Vox: Junior Mance (JM int. 10/7/00 at 34:30)

"Tony Bennett did a fantastic record of that.// (note: skip about :20)

Those tunes, I kinda lean to.// That's what I like about singers,

singers that can phrase,// it's like talking, // if you talk in a

monotone, you're gonna get bored."

37) Bradley:

JUNIOR MANCE KEEPS IT INTERESTING ON "EMILY."

38) Music: "Emily" (Mandel) 10/7/00 (8:37)

39) Bradley:

JUNIOR MANCE WITH THE JOHNNY MANDEL BALLAD, "EMILY."

THIS IS JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER. I'M ED BRADLEY.

HARMONICALLY SPEAKING, THE BLUES AND SPIRITUALS ARE CLOSE COUSINS. YOU COULD SAY THAT BLUES COVERS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SPIRITUALS TAKE CARE OF SUNDAY MORNING. FOR JUNIOR MANCE, THE GOSPEL INFLUENCE SORT OF CREPT INTO HIS STYLE INDIRECTLY.

40) Vox: Junior Mance (JM int. 10/7/00 at 48:50)

"I never did play in the church and everybody thinks that I did. // My

mother when she used to work around the house, she used to sing

spirituals sometime, when she wasn't singing the blues. Maybe that's

where I got it from."

41) Bradley:

AT THE KAPLAN PENTHOUSE, SOLO PIANIST JUNIOR MANCE PLAYS "HARLEM LULLABY."

42) Music: "Harlem Lullabye" (Mance) 10/6/00 (6:56)

43) Bradley:

PIANIST JUNIOR MANCE FINISHING HIS TOUR OF THE BLUES WITH "HARLEM LULLABYE," AN ORIGINAL COMPOSITION -- AND A NOD TO THE CITY HE NOW CALLS HOME.

44) Music: "Single Petal of a Rose" (Ellington) 10/7/00

45) Bradley:

JAZZ FROM LINCOLN CENTER IS PRODUCED BY JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER AND MURRAY STREET ENTERPRISE NEW YORK. THIS PROGRAM WAS WRITTEN BY JOSEPH HOOPER. OUR SENIOR PRODUCER IS STEVE RATHE.

THE PROGRAM WAS EDITED BY VALERIE GLADSTONE WITH ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS AVE CARRILLO AND JOSHUA JACKSON.

THE RECORDINGS WERE MADE BY EDWARD HABER AND GEORGE WELLINGTON, WITH DIGITAL POST PRODUCTION BY DAVID GOREN AT STEVEN ERICKSON'S.

THE PRODUCTION TEAM INCLUDES LEE ANN BERNARD, GWENDOLYN DEAN, LAUREN KRENZEL AND PETER ZANGER.

THANKS TO ROB GIBSON, SUSAN RADIN, TRACEY SCHUTTY, THE RADIO FOUNDATION, AND THE STAFF AT THE STANLEY H. KAPLAN PENTHOUSE.

THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER IS WYNTON MARSALIS.

I'M ED BRADLEY. THIS IS N-P-R, WHERE JAZZ LIVES.