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Jimmy Rowles
In the late '40's and in New York, he recorded with Billie Holiday and the Youngs, as well as artists, Harry "Sweets" Edison and Benny Carter. He also recorded with Ben Webster and appeared in the documentary, The Brute and the Beautiful, filmed by John Jeremy and exclusively screened, August 24, 1989, by the L.A. Jazz Society.
He composed several jazz pieces, the best known being "The Peacocks" which is performed on the alto flute by Gary Foster on Foster's album Make your own Fun. Rowles also performs on this album. The song is also featured on Foster's upcoming release "Perfect Circularity".
According to jazz critic, Leonard Feather, "Long acknowledged as the favorite accompanist of every singer, for whom he has played, Rowles was an artist of consummate harmonic imagination. For many years he specialized in building a repertoire of Ellington and Strayhorn compositions".
During his long and varied career, Jimmy Rowles was acclaimed for his imaginative, whimsical, sentimental and lyrical style. Deceased May 28, 1996, Jimmy Rowles' 50+ years in jazz, has left an indelible mark in history.
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Jimmy Rowles
by Carol Sloane
Part 1 I had just finished my night's work at a long-since vanished jazz club in Greenwich Village called Hopper's. I was singing with The New York Jazz Quartet: Sir Roland Hanna, George Mraz, Richie Pratt, and Frank Wess. The year was 1977. Mraz said he was going to walk over to Bradley's* to listen to the legendary jazz pianist Jimmy Rowles, and invited me along. I was very eager to hear the great California musician who had played for ...
read moreJimmy Rowles & Ray Brown: The Duo Sessions
by AAJ Staff
With considerable charm and elegance, Jimmy Rowles and Ray Brown breeze through 18 tunes, some standards and some jazz classics and some fairly obscure, without seeming to work up a sweat. These two consummate professionals, revered by fellow musicians, were teamed to produce two Concord albums in the late 1970’s. In spite of the loss of Rowles, Brown’s staying power remains remarkable even until this day as he continues touring and recording with his trio. Brown’s preference for the piano ...
read moreJimmy Rowles Digs Henri Renaud
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Henri Renaud was a Parisian jazz pianist in the 1940s and '50s who never lost his French touch. Outgoing, charming and a delightful composer, he was a natural point person for American musicians on tour in Paris searching for sidemen, venues and recording opportunities. In addition to recording in the early 1950s in Paris with Bobby Jaspar, the Belgian saxophonist and flutist, Renaud recorded with Sandy Mosse, Nat Peck, Lee Konitz, Gigi Gryce, Tony Ortega, Art Farmer, Clifford Brown and ...
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Jimmy Rowles: Kinda Groovy!
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Jimmy Rowles was the dean of West Coast jazz pianists. Not only was he a tasty favorite of jazz giants in Los Angeles in the 1940s, including Lee and Lester Young, he was a preeminent recording studio pianist with Swing Era bandleaders, top jazz recording artists and leading vocalists. To give you an idea of how prolific and eclectic a pianist Rowles was, The Jazz Discography lists him on 540 recording sessions, which is a significant number. This doesn't even ...
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Rowles on Tatum
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Many stories about jazz heroes are apocryphal. This is one is true. One night in the late 1930s, Fats Waller And His Rhythm were playing at the Yacht Club on 52nd Street in Manhattan. Art Tatum, the other half of the Tatum-Waller mutual admiration society, came in to listen. When he first moved to New York, Tatum’s almost superhuman virtuosity at the piano had bowled over every pianist in town, including Waller. Introducing his friend to the audience, Fats said, ...
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Jimmy Rowles: Looking Back
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Last week I happened to be listening to a Jimmy Rowles album he recorded with his daughter Stacy in 1988. One of the most interesting tracks on the CD is the moody waltz-time ballad Looking Back, a tune Rowles wrote in the 1960s. Over time, Rowles recorded Looking Back five times--once as an instrumental duet with Ray Brown and three other times with vocalists Carol Sloane, Stacy Rowles and Jeri Brown. Jimmy also recorded it while singing and accompanying himself. ...
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Jimmy Rowles
Instrument: Piano
Born: August 19, 1918
Died: May 28, 1996
