Word: basses
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Candlelight flickered against the low ceiling of Washington's Showboat Lounge one night last week as a mild-mannered Virginian named Charlie Byrd started strumming the strings of his guitar. With bass and drum accompaniment, he played his own composition, Spanish Guitar Blues, went on to a hot-swinging number called Yoti Took Advantage of Me, and then pulled a 180° switch-two solo Bach gavottes, sedate Frescobaldi variations, Villa-Lobos' rolling Prelude in E Minor. At 33, Byrd is that rarity, a musician so versatile that he qualifies as one of the world...
Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos (Baroque Ensemble of Stuttgart, conducted by Marcel Couraud; Columbia, 2 LPs). Six concertos, each for a different combination of instruments (including horns, oboes, bassoons, flutes, double bass), and each giving an ample showing of Bach's inventiveness and variety which range from dainty to dynamic, once again make clear why Bach is undisputed master of the baroque style...
Saccharine Sale. The fact that the critics find Success too saccharine bothers Douglas not a bit. He has sold it, and the big (6 ft. 2 in., 191 Ibs.), bass-voiced producer who acts as his own narrator is more than satisfied. "In this business," says he, "you gotta go, and you gotta go with what you've got." What Jack Douglas has got is a $50,000 salary, an additional $50,000 that he earns as a performer, and the proud knowledge that if "I really needed it, I could pay myself $250,000 a year without missing...
...surprise, the festival's standout was the Dave Brubeck Quartet. Blending classical and jazz traditions with a masterful touch, Milhaud-trained Pianist Brubeck (TIME cover, Nov. 8, 1954) and his mates (Eugene Wright on bass, Joe Morello on drums, Paul Desmond on alto sax) made each number sound like a theme and variations. The quartet usually started with well-known tunes (These Foolish Things, St. Louis Blues), then varied the tempo (from 4/4 to 5/4 and back to 3/4) as it injected its own sometimes loud, sometimes soft designs. The solo lead flew like a badminton bird from...
...Modern Jazz Quartet, a fine, precise team of arrangement-conscious musicians led by Pianist John Lewis, who make jazz sound like a 19th century tone poem. With a sharp, clear vibes, a versatile piano, a bass and a set of traps, the quartet warmed up with a cool version of I'll Remember April, approached mastery in its last offering, a three-part number (The Singer, Harlequin, Contessa) delivered in a boogie-woogie, bass-led tempo and highlighted by an atonal, polyphonic piano...