Jazz Program Notes

Jazz Band

Strasbourg St. Denis Roy Hargrove

A two-time Grammy winner who topped the 2019 DownBeat Readers’ Poll for his instrument, Roy Hargrove is widely acclaimed as one of the premier trumpet players of his generation.  He was a musician of wide tastes with a special gift for composition and melody. While always keeping one foot firmly planted in jazz, Hargrove’s career was one of exciting genre-crossing exploration, including collaborations with Herbie Hancock, Branford Marsalis, Christian McBride, Chucho Valdes, D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Common and many others. He toured worldwide throughout his 30-year career with the Roy Hargrove Quintet, the Roy Hargrove Big Band, Roy Hargrove’s Crisol, the Jazz Networks, the Jazz Futures and his funk/jazz outfit, the RH Factor, until his death in 2018 at age 49. He entered the DownBeat “Jazz Hall of Fame” in 2021.

The Sidewinder Lee Morgan

The title track is perhaps Morgan's all-around best-known composition; it would go on to become a jazz standard, and was additionally released as a single, reaching number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1965. The album became Blue Note's best-selling record ever, breaking the previous sales record and saving the label from near bankruptcy. Record producer Michael Cuscuna recalls the unexpected success: "the company issued only 4,000 copies upon release. Needless to say, they ran out of stock in three or four days. And 'The Sidewinder' became a runaway smash making the pop 100 charts." By January 1965, the album had reached No. 25 on the Billboard chart.

The African Queen Horace Silver

Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. Silver transitioned from bebop to hard bop by stressing melody rather than complex harmony, and combined clean and often humorous right-hand lines with darker notes and chords in a near-perpetual left-hand rumble. His compositions similarly emphasized catchy melodies, but often also contained dissonant harmonies. Many of his varied repertoire of songs, including "Doodlin'", "Peace", and "Sister Sadie", became jazz standards that are still widely played. His considerable legacy encompasses his influence on other pianists and composers, and the development of young jazz talents who appeared in his bands over the course of four decades.

Just the Two of Us Bill Withers, William Salter & Ralph MacDonald

Recorded for the 1980 album entitled Winelight, by saxophonist Grover Washington, Jr and legendary singer, Bill Whithers, Just the Two of Us reached number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, staying there for three weeks, behind Morning Train (9 to 5) by Sheena Easton and Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes. It was Washington's only Top 40 hit. The song won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. Withers included the edited version on the 1981 compilation Bill Withers' Greatest Hits and many subsequent greatest hits collections. The song propelled Winelight's success, often credited for leading to the 1980s smooth jazz explosion.

Stairway to Heaven Jimmy Page & Robert Plant

Stairway to Heaven is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971 by Atlantic Records. It was composed by the band's guitarist Jimmy Page with lyrics written by lead singer Robert Plant for the band's untitled fourth studio album (commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV). The song is widely regarded as one of the greatest rock songs of all time. The song has three sections, each one progressively increasing in tempo and volume. The song begins in a slow tempo with acoustic instruments (guitar and recorders) before introducing electric instruments. The final section is an uptempo hard rock arrangement, highlighted by Page's guitar solo and Plant's vocals, which ends with the plaintive a cappella line: "And she's buying a stairway to heaven". Stairway to Heaven was voted number three in 2000 by VH1 on its list of the 100 Greatest Rock Songs, in 2004 Rolling Stone magazine ranked it number 31 on its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list. It was the most requested song on FM radio stations in the United States at the time, despite never having been commercially released as a single in the US. In November 2007, through download sales promoting Led Zeppelin's Mothership release, "Stairway to Heaven" reached number 37 on the UK Singles Chart.

Tequila Chuck Rio

This 1958 Latin-inspired surf instrumental song was written by Chuck Rio and recorded by American Rock and roll band The Champs. Tequila became a No. 1 hit on both the pop and R&B charts at the time of its release and continues to be strongly referenced in pop culture to this day. In 1958, the song won a Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Performance. In 2001, that song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The song earned a new generation of admirers when it was placed in the 1985 Tim Burton film, Pee Wee's Big Adventure.