Bob Merrill - Tell Me Your Troubles: Songs By Joe Bushkin, Vol. 1

Size: 114,7 MB
Time: 49:02
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Frank Remembers Joe (0:49)
02. Oh Look At Me Now (3:46)
03. There'll Be A Hot Time In The Town Of Berlin (2:50)
04. Wise To Myself (3:30)
05. Boogie Woogie Blue Plate (4:59)
06. Tell Me Your Troubles (5:33)
07. Girl Wanted (3:56)
08. Lovely Weather (4:52)
09. Goin' Back To Storyville (6:06)
10. Somerhting Wonderful Happens In Summer (3:44)
11. Man Here Plays Fine Piano (5:02)
12. Red Buttons Remembers Joe (3:49)

Coinciding with the centennial of pianist/composer Joe Bushkin’s birth, the release by trumpeter and singer Bob Merrill of "Tell Me Your Troubles: Songs by Joe Bushkin, Vol. 1" celebrates the musical legacy of a man who was revered by many of America’s foremost entertainers for his wizardry at the keyboard and skills as a tunesmith. He also happened to be Merrill’s father-in-law.

Bushkin penned songs with his longtime lyricist John DeVries or the great Johnny Burke in the repertoires of the likes of Sinatra (Joe’s “Oh! Look at Me Now” was Frank’s first hit), Bing Crosby, Nat “King” Cole, Benny Goodman, Louis Jordan, and countless others. This first volume of a planned two-album commemorative project pays reverential tribute to Bushkin’s oeuvre and its special blend of mood and merriment on contemporary interpretations of 10 songs ranging from the popular to the obscure. The album opens and closes with archival spoken word salutes to Bushkin by Sinatra and comedian Red Buttons.

Cut from the same engaging entertainer’s cloth as Bushkin—not to mention trumpeter-singers like Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Prima, and Chet Baker—Merrill was already performing crowd-pleasers like “Oh! Look at Me Now” and “Boogie Woogie Blue Plate” (a 1947 hit for Louis Jordan and his Tympani Five) before he met his future wife Christina and bonded with her gregarious father. “These songs have such a timeless, universal appeal,” says Merrill. “I really hope the album exposes them to a new generation. Maybe Harry Connick, Diana Krall, Michael Bublé, or even Lady Gaga will give them new life.”

"Tell Me Your Troubles" is full of classic tunes and rediscoveries, charismatic vocals, swinging solos, and sparkling arrangements and presents Merrill at his elegant best, whether showcasing his brass palette of trumpet, cornet, and flugelhorn or his smooth Tormé-like vocals, easy articulation, and natural enthusiasm. In addition to the A-List rhythm section of guitarist Howard Alden, bassist Nicki Parrott, and drummer Steve Johns, the album features an illustrious list of guest artists including saxophonist Harry Allen, trombonist/singer Wycliffe Gordon, cabaret star Eric Comstock, guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, and pianist Laurence Hobgood.

A previously unreleased performance of “Oh! Look at Me Now!,” from Bushkin’s final recording session in 2003 with Merrill, Howard Alden, and drummer Duffy Jackson, is one of the album’s standouts. “Joe’s tempo for the song had increased over the years,” says Merrill, “but I suggested we slow it down to the tempo of Sinatra’s later version, from the 1957 album 'Swingin’ Affair' on Capitol.”

“I got to spend a lot of time with Joe, always looking over his shoulder, absorbing stuff by osmosis,” recalls Merrill, who coaxed Bushkin out of retirement in the early 1990s and performed with him at festivals and clubs such as New York’s Tavern on the Green and L.A.’s Jazz Bakery until his passing in 2004 at age 87. He also produced and wrote liner notes for CD reissues of four Bushkin albums, including last fall’s release of "Live at the Embers" (Dot Time Legends) from 1952.

Born in Manhattan in 1958, Bob Merrill traces his early interest in jazz to the fact that Benny Goodman lived in the penthouse of the building he grew up in on the Upper East Side. After his father took him to a Tonight Show taping where he heard Doc Severinsen, Merrill devoted himself to the trumpet (Bushkin’s second instrument). He studied with William Vacchiano, first trumpet of the New York Philharmonic, and received improv tips as a teen from Red Rodney. Merrill attended both the New England Conservatory of Music (studying with Jaki Byard, in whose Apollo Stompers he played) and Harvard, where he co-founded a jazz concert series at the Hasty Pudding Club and led a house band for such visiting artists as Illinois Jacquet, George Coleman, Lee Konitz, and Warne Marsh.

Merrill released his first album as a leader, "Catch as Catch Can," in 1997, the same year he was featured on American Movie Classics leading the AMC Orchestra on the series "Gotta Dance!" His second album, "Got a Bran’ New Suit," featured pianist Bill Charlap among others. It was followed by "Christmastime at the Adirondack Grill," and then the wildly eclectic "Cheerin’ Up the Universe" (2015), which featured pianist John Medeski and trombonist Roswell Rudd.

Tell Me Your Troubles

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Bob Merrill - Cheerin' Up The Universe

Size: 168,2 MB
Time: 72:14
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Jazz: Trumpet Jazz, Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Cheerin' Up The Universe (2:50)
02. What The World Needs Now (5:00)
03. The Secret O' Life (4:05)
04. Glad (7:46)
05. Political Science (Let's Drop The Big One) (3:24)
06. Somewhere (3:00)
07. Compared To What (4:54)
08. Imagine (5:08)
09. I Say A Little Prayer (6:30)
10. Feelin' Groovy (The 59Th Street Bridge Song) (2:29)
11. Overjoyed (4:55)
12. Happiness (4:00)
13. The Creator Has A Master Plan (7:24)
14. Happy (3:09)
15. Igy (What A Beautiful World) (4:18)
16. I'm So Tired (3:15)

Trumpeter/vocalist Bob Merrill has had an amazingly varied career in and around music—mentored by his late father-in-law Joe Bushkin, Jaki Byard, and Red Rodney; starting and operating Hip Pocket Recording Studios in New York City; and recording as a leader himself. "Cheerin’ Up the Universe," his new CD and fourth to date, is being released September 4 by Accurate Records, which has also reissued two of Merrill’s earlier albums ("Catch As Catch Can," "Got a Bran’ New Suit").

In the great tradition of trumpeter-singers, going back to Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Chet Baker, and Louis Prima, Merrill is both a carefree entertainer who wants to lift up his audience and a serious artist who pays the deepest respect to jazz tradition with his mastery of forms.

On previous albums, the New York-based artist mined the jazz mainstream, sometimes with a stylish Rat Pack-era sound, sometimes with a deeper blend of late swing and hard bop—and always, says Accurate Records honcho Russ Gershon, who has known Merrill since they were classmates at Harvard, with real jazz and real blues feeling. “He has a passionate attachment to the real thing,” said Gershon, leader of Either/Orchestra, who lends his saxophone skills to the album.

Backed by such one-of-a-kind guest players as trombone great Roswell Rudd and keyboardist John Medeski, Merrill indulges himself—and anyone who has grown up loving the likes of James Taylor (“The Secret o’ Life”), Steely Dan (“IGY [What a Beautiful World]”), Burt Bacharach (“I Say a Little Prayer”), and Stevie Wonder (“Overjoyed”)—by applying his personal touch to a selection of pop hits that in spirit and title promote happiness. For a little icing on the cake, he covers Pharrell’s inescapable “Happy,” with the lyrical bassist Nicki Parrott harmonizing and a touch of Lee Morgan’s infectious “Sidewinder” informing the bridge. The title track, a fetching Merrill original, aims to cheer up the universe “one star at a time.”

Merrill has deep history with the musicians on the date: guitarist Drew Zingg was a grade school classmate; his friendship with drummer George Schuller dates back to boarding school; keyboardist/arranger John Van Eps first connected with Merrill at the New England Conservatory.

John Medeski, who contributes to four tracks on piano and two on organ, met Merrill in 1989, when the keyboardist was hired, at Gershon’s suggestion, for a gig in Cambridge. “Russ also suggested some bass players who were all booked,” Merrill explains. “But my last call was to Chris Wood, who was free. It was on that gig that Medeski met Wood, and they later added Martin—the rest is history.”

Bob Merrill has had similar encounters with kismet throughout his life, which began in 1958 in Manhattan. He grew up in the Upper East Side building where Benny Goodman lived, and once he’d heard Goodman’s “Sing, Sing, Sing,” young Bob was hooked on jazz. After his head was turned by Doc Severinsen’s trumpet playing during a Tonight Show taping his father took him to, Bob devoted himself to the horn. He took lessons and played gigs with local trumpet guru Felix Sangenito and also studied with William Vacchiano, first trumpet chair at the New York Philharmonic.

While attending Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, he jammed with saxophonist Thomas Chapin. Accepted at Harvard, Merrill deferred for a year to study jazz at the New England Conservatory of Music, where his teachers included George Russell and Jaki Byard. He formed a group with drummer George Schuller, son of the late Gunther Schuller, then president of NEC.

Merrill began singing, he says, when he played wedding gigs and discovered that attractive women on the dance floor turned to hear what someone on stage was singing more than they ever turned to hear what someone was playing. His relaxed vocals add an important dimension to his art. He modestly says that his understated style is a concession to his vocal limitations. But with his Mel Tormé-influenced smoothness and Kurt Elling-like articulation, he is an appealing and distinctive interpreter of the Great American Songbook.

After marrying Christina Bushkin in 1991, Merrill coaxed her father, the fabled swing pianist Joe Bushkin, out of retirement. One of their first gigs was a memorable run at Tavern on the Green in Central Park with a group featuring bass immortal Milt Hinton, who credited Bushkin for bringing him to New York in the early ’50s for an extended run at the Embers with Jo Jones. Merrill produced CD reissues of Joe Bushkin’s classic LPs, and they played the jazz festival circuit until the pianist’s death in 2004.

The release of "Cheerin’ Up the Universe" opens a new chapter in Merrill’s musical life. “We now embark on the process of cheering up the universe in various venues, until we reach Pluto,” says Bob.

Cheerin' Up The Universe

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