Chuck Wayne
steve
Guitarist Chuck Wayne died in Jackson New Jersey on July 29. He was a
virtuoso player who replaced Billy Bauer in the Woody Herman band in the
mid '40s. His first recorded solo with Woody was on Sidewalks Of Cuba, a
great track graced by that wonderful solo from trumpeter Sonny Berman
which begins with the quote from Flight Of The Bumble Bee. Chuck also
featured on Ralph Burns's suite for the band, Summer Sequence. Later
Chuck became a key member of the commercially successful George Shearing
Quintet. He also taught and, in the early days played with boppers like
Bud Powell and Dizzy Gillespie.
--
Steve Voce
Loudon Briggs
steve <st...@jazmusic.demon.co.uk> wrote:
I had not seen a notice of this and am pleased that you posted it.
When the stars and headliners die there is no lack of space devoted to
the event, but when talented contributors, such as Chuck, pass on, too
often they hardly rate a mention. The bandleader needs a band!
I often relax listening to Summer Sequence and I'll give Chuck's
efforts even more attention now.
Steve Herberman
Loudon Briggs wrote:
>
> steve <st...@jazmusic.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
> >Guitarist Chuck Wayne died in Jackson New Jersey on July 29. He was a
> >virtuoso player who replaced Billy Bauer in the Woody Herman band in the
> >mid '40s. His first recorded solo with Woody was on Sidewalks Of Cuba, a
> >great track graced by that wonderful solo from trumpeter Sonny Berman
> >which begins with the quote from Flight Of The Bumble Bee. Chuck also
> >featured on Ralph Burns's suite for the band, Summer Sequence. Later
> >Chuck became a key member of the commercially successful George Shearing
> >Quintet. He also taught and, in the early days played with boppers like
> >Bud Powell and Dizzy Gillespie.
> >--
> >Steve Voce
history project at the Smithsonian.Chuck Wayne was scheduled to be
interviewed at length about his career.I'll find out whether or not that
interview ever occurred and post it to this newsgroup.Jazz has lost a
true pioneer in Chuck Wayne or I should say music has lost ... for Chuck
could play the hell out of the "legit" repetoire as well!If there is an
interview unfortunately it could only be seen in D.C. at the
Smithsonian.
Steve
Larry Koenigsberg
In article <33E16D...@erols.com>, jazz...@erols.com says...
>
> Three weeks ago I was speaking with the person in charge of the oral
>history project at the Smithsonian.Chuck Wayne was scheduled to be
>interviewed at length about his career.I'll find out whether or not that
>interview ever occurred and post it to this newsgroup.Jazz has lost a
>true pioneer in Chuck Wayne or I should say music has lost ... for Chuck
>could play the hell out of the "legit" repetoire as well!If there is an
>interview unfortunately it could only be seen in D.C. at the
>Smithsonian.
> Steve
Chuck Wayne was the subject of an interview in CADENCE magazine, which sells
their back issues. This was Vol. 22 #8 (i.e., August 1996). An interesting
interview -- I'd never heard of him and was astonished once again at the
insider's view of how jazz had evolved, an experience which I've often had
reading CADENCE interviews. On the web at www.cadencebuilding.com.
steve
In a move totally out of character for such a sensitive musician,
guitarist Chuck Wayne tried, in 1963, to bring the banjo into modern
jazz, playing lines that had been used by the influential Charlie
Christian on the guitar. Musicians as a whole are averse to the banjo.
Famously a banjo player left his banjo on the back seat of his car. When
he returned the car had been broken into and on the back seat were two
banjos. "There's a banjo boom in the offing," Wayne said confidently at
the time, and recorded a long-vanished album on the instrument. All
those with perfect pitch (the ability to throw a banjo into a skip
without it touching the sides) must be grateful that he proved to be
wrong.
Chuck Wayne's family had come to New York from Czechoslovakia
and his musical career began when he played with a balalaika band. He
also became an expert mandolin player. When his balalaika warped he
threw it away and bought a guitar. He worked full time as a lift
operator at the beginning of the Forties and spent his evenings in the
jazz clubs on 52nd Street. At that time the crucible for the development
of modern jazz. He worked in bands led by the pianists Clarence Profit
and Nat Jaffe before his army service. Released in 1944, he immediately
moved to the higher echelons, working with leading figures in the
emergent Bebop music such as Dizzy Gillespie, Jay Jay Johnson, Lee
Konitz and Bud Powell and playing in the band led by clarinettist Joe
Marsala at the Hickory House from 1944 to 1946.
Wayne replaced Billy Bauer in the Woody Herman band in 1946 and
drew universal attention with his first recording with the band, the
classic "Sidewalks of Cuba", where he shared the solo space with the
remarkable trumpeter Sonny Berman. Wayne's cultured and flowing style,
mixing chords and single-line styles, gave him a much more prominent
role in the band than Bauer had had. When the band's pianist and
composer Ralph Burns wrote his "Summer Sequence" suite, he based it
largely on the solo voice of Wayne's guitar. The band later recorded
"Early Autumn", a fourth movement to the suite which was the first
feature for Stan Getz. This
His work with Herman proved to be his only jazz big band
experience and ever afterwards he worked with small groups, most notably
with the popular George Shearing Quintet for whom he worked from 1949 to
1952.
The delicacy of his playing made him especially suited as an
accompanist and he toured from 1954 to 1957 backing Tony Bennett. Later
he worked with Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand and Sarah Vaughan and
became a singer himself, working in a duo with the husky-voiced Morgana
King.
Wayne was a composer of great ability, writing the music for the
Broadway show Orpheus Descending in 1957. Miles Davis appropriated
Wayne's tune "Sunny" and recorded it as "Solar" with the composer credit
given to Davis. In 1959 Wayne became a studio musician and composer for
CBS, at the same time leading his own groups and teaching guitar
privately. He also studied classical guitar, appeared in a multitude of
television programmes and made many recordings in jazz and other musical
styles. He was involved with more Broadway shows including The Nervous
Set and Copper and Brass. In 1973 he wrote the score for the documentary
film The Mugging at a time when he was frequently called on to play in
concerts, jazz clubs and guitar seminars.
The list of his recordings reads like a jazz history, for he
appeared in groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins, Jack
Teagarden, Tadd Dameron and Claude Thornhill, amongst innumerable
others.
During the last years of his life he was handicapped by
Parkinson's disease, although he still played occasionally.
Chuck Wayne (Charles Jagelski), guitarist, composer, born New York 27
February 1923, died Jackson, New Jersey, 29 July 1997.
--
Steve Voce
JFR
In <5rsmpf$5ps$1...@haus.efn.org> nojun...@nospam.com (Larry
This whole thing is sad, I have a cd of his and he was a great player.
He had to die to get this recent attention, like so many unsung heroes
in music and other art forms..... while the lions get all this
attention (e.g. M. Whitfield on guitar).....oh well, RIP Chuck
JFR
> Wayne was a composer of great ability, writing the music for
the
>Broadway show Orpheus Descending in 1957. Miles Davis appropriated
>Wayne's tune "Sunny" and recorded it as "Solar" with the composer
credit
>given to Davis. In 1959 Wayne became a studio musician and composer
for
>Chuck Wayne (Charles Jagelski), guitarist, composer, born New York 27
>February 1923, died Jackson, New Jersey, 29 July 1997.
>
>--
>Steve Voce
Thanks for the great bio on Chuck Wayne. Very interesting. Of course,
I have to re-ignite the thread about how Miles stole other people's
tunes and took credit. Is this true about Solar - one of my favorite
"standard" tunes????? Chuck Wayne really wrote it? Unbelievable, yet
believable......if you know what I mean.
John
RalphPatt
<<This whole thing is sad, I have a cd of his and he was a great player.
He had to die to get this recent attention, like so many unsung heroes
in music and other art forms..... while the lions get all this
attention (e.g. M. Whitfield on guitar).....oh well, RIP Chuck>>
"Sad" (his death)..."unsung" (he had a great career and was a very strong
influence on a lot of jazz guitarists). These don't fit Chuck.
I was a student of his in 1952 and 1953 and a friend for many years. We
published a book together in 1962.
Think of it this way. He was very talented, good looking, played with
Bird, Dizzy, Woody Herman, George Shearing etc. etc...was always in the
polls from 1945 to 1955, every jazz player of the time knew and respected
him.
He left a small but good legacy of records, made a decent living as a
musician and lived to be 75. A lot of guitarists would love to have had
his life. We all have to die. Don't feel too bad about his passing. He had
a great life!
Ralph Patt
JMG61
>Of course,
>I have to re-ignite the thread about how Miles stole other people's
>tunes and took credit. Is this true about Solar - one of my favorite
>"standard" tunes????? Chuck Wayne really wrote it? Unbelievable, yet
>believable......if you know what I mean.
>
>
An interview with Chuck was published by Cadence Magazine sometime within
the last 12 months (I'm at work and don't have access to the copy).
Anyway, Chuck brought up the Solar composer issue during the interview and
was adamant that he wrote the tune. If I recall the interview correctly,
he heard either Eddie Costa or Bill Evans playing Solar at a club date
with Miles. Chuck asked the pianist where he learned the tune since it
was, at the time, fairly obscure. The pianist pointed to Miles and said
"from him."
Again, refer to the Cadence interview for full details since I'm writing
this from memory.
John Galich
JFR
In <19970807072...@ladder01.news.aol.com> ralp...@aol.com
Good points relative to someone with your background. However, I never
heard of him until this year, despite being a jazz guitar afficianando
for the last 20 years. However, I have had all the lions in my face
constantly, so it is meant as a relative popularity vs. talent concept.
I am glad he had a good life and just wish he were recognized more
than the lesser talents of today. Anyways, Chuck, RIP.
John
JFR
In <19970807214...@ladder01.news.aol.com> jm...@aol.com
Unfortunately, I do not have access to Cadence. Does he explain some
mechanism on how Miles got the tune from him? It just seems that their
paths would never cross.......
John