WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.500 Okay, so picture this. It's 1959. Right. You 00:00:03.500 --> 00:00:05.660 walk into a record store and you're flipping 00:00:05.660 --> 00:00:07.799 through the bins. You see the classic Columbia 00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:09.980 Records logo. You're going past the Miles Davis 00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:12.519 records, past Dave Brubeck, and then you land 00:00:12.519 --> 00:00:15.279 on something that looks just a little different. 00:00:15.380 --> 00:00:19.539 Yeah. The title is Gypsy in Jazz and the artist 00:00:19.539 --> 00:00:22.280 is Kitty Wilson. It's a collision that really 00:00:22.280 --> 00:00:24.300 just stops you in your tracks, doesn't it? It 00:00:24.300 --> 00:00:26.640 really does. I mean, on one hand you have Gypsy. 00:00:26.660 --> 00:00:29.739 Which is... arguably the brassiest, loudest, 00:00:29.739 --> 00:00:32.659 most domineering Broadway musical of that entire 00:00:32.659 --> 00:00:35.159 era. Yeah, it's Ethel Merman literally shouting 00:00:35.159 --> 00:00:37.320 to the back row. Exactly. And then on the other 00:00:37.320 --> 00:00:39.560 hand, you have Teddy Wilson, who is basically 00:00:39.560 --> 00:00:42.399 the absolute epitome of elegance. Right. He's 00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:44.479 the guy who put the swing in the Benny Goodman 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:48.939 groups. He's refined, precise, almost delicate. 00:00:49.100 --> 00:00:51.500 It feels a bit like hiring a master watchmaker 00:00:51.500 --> 00:00:54.119 to, I don't know, fix a monster truck. That's 00:00:54.119 --> 00:00:56.000 a great way to put it. But that's exactly what 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:58.060 we're looking at today. Welcome to the Deep Dive, 00:00:58.060 --> 00:01:00.219 by the way. Today we are unpacking this specific 00:01:00.219 --> 00:01:04.379 album, Gypsy and Jazz, released in 1959 by Teddy 00:01:04.379 --> 00:01:07.659 Wilson and his trio. And we're really lucky to 00:01:07.659 --> 00:01:09.879 have some great historical records to pull from 00:01:09.879 --> 00:01:11.859 for this one. We've got the original production 00:01:11.859 --> 00:01:15.680 details, the personnel logs, and some fascinating 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:18.260 critical reception documented in music databases 00:01:18.260 --> 00:01:21.079 and places like Wikipedia. Yeah, our mission 00:01:21.079 --> 00:01:24.099 today is to figure out how a hit Broadway show 00:01:24.099 --> 00:01:28.019 was translated into the jazz idiom. We want to 00:01:28.019 --> 00:01:30.700 understand why this specific album represents 00:01:30.700 --> 00:01:33.219 such a unique moment in music history. And to 00:01:33.219 --> 00:01:35.340 explore the really interesting effect of Teddy 00:01:35.340 --> 00:01:37.939 Wilson stepping completely outside his usual 00:01:37.939 --> 00:01:39.760 playlist. Right, because this wasn't his normal 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:42.299 gig. So let's just jump right into the concept 00:01:42.299 --> 00:01:45.560 here. Broadway meets jazz. Yeah. The sources 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:47.579 for this deep dive mentioned that this was a 00:01:47.579 --> 00:01:50.319 once common practice. It was. And to understand 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:52.040 this album, you really have to understand the 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:54.739 landscape of 1959. Because today it would be 00:01:54.739 --> 00:01:58.079 weird. Oh, completely. Today, if a jazz musician 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:00.799 released a track by track instrumental cover 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:03.159 of Hamilton or Wicked, it would be seen as a 00:02:03.159 --> 00:02:05.480 novelty. Or like an ironic statement. Exactly. 00:02:05.780 --> 00:02:09.039 But in the late 50s, this was standard operating 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:11.340 procedure. They were constantly feeding off each 00:02:11.340 --> 00:02:14.590 other. And the sources are really explicit. about 00:02:14.590 --> 00:02:18.810 who this was actually for. And it wasn't necessarily 00:02:18.810 --> 00:02:21.090 for the hardcore jazz fan smoking a cigarette 00:02:21.090 --> 00:02:23.250 in a basement club at 2 in the morning. No, not 00:02:23.250 --> 00:02:25.229 at all. And that's the key to this whole thing. 00:02:25.289 --> 00:02:28.310 This album was targeted at the casual music listener. 00:02:28.469 --> 00:02:31.629 Right. And I know that term can sound a bit derogatory 00:02:31.629 --> 00:02:33.229 today. Well, we're talking about people who only 00:02:33.229 --> 00:02:36.509 listen to the top 40. Yeah, exactly. But back 00:02:36.509 --> 00:02:38.449 then, it was a totally legitimate demographic 00:02:38.449 --> 00:02:42.090 strategy. Columbia Records had this massive library 00:02:42.090 --> 00:02:44.810 of intellectual property. The songs from Gypsy. 00:02:44.949 --> 00:02:46.889 Right, the songs from Gypsy. And they needed 00:02:46.889 --> 00:02:49.150 to maximize that property. So the strategy is 00:02:49.150 --> 00:02:51.509 basically you take these songs that everyone's. 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:54.300 is already humming because the musical is a massive 00:02:54.300 --> 00:02:56.500 smash hit and you use them as a trojan horse 00:02:56.500 --> 00:02:59.879 that is a perfect analogy you wrap the complex 00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:03.060 improvisational language of jazz inside the familiar 00:03:03.060 --> 00:03:06.280 package of a broadway melody it's sneaky it is 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:08.860 it's a way to help listeners broaden their horizons 00:03:08.860 --> 00:03:10.960 without scaring them away right because if you 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.120 put on a free jazz record for a suburban dad 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:16.000 in 1959 he might just turn it off immediately 00:03:16.460 --> 00:03:18.319 He absolutely would. But if you tell him, hey, 00:03:18.500 --> 00:03:21.199 this is, everything's coming up roses, just played 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:23.180 a little differently, he's going to listen. Because 00:03:23.180 --> 00:03:26.000 you have a map. It anchors him. Exactly. It takes 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:28.039 something complex and anchors it in something 00:03:28.039 --> 00:03:31.159 purely accessible. So let's talk about the man 00:03:31.159 --> 00:03:34.460 they hired to build this Trojan horse, Teddy 00:03:34.460 --> 00:03:37.860 Wilson. The Mozart of jazz. Yeah. For someone 00:03:37.860 --> 00:03:39.939 listening who might only know the name or maybe 00:03:39.939 --> 00:03:41.460 only knows him from those Benny Goodman days, 00:03:41.659 --> 00:03:45.400 where was he in his career in 1959? Well, he 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:47.699 was a living legend, but he was also very much 00:03:47.699 --> 00:03:50.580 a working musician. By 1959, you have to remember, 00:03:50.740 --> 00:03:53.500 the jazz world was changing incredibly fast. 00:03:53.659 --> 00:03:55.620 Right. You had the hard bop guys taking over. 00:03:55.699 --> 00:03:58.139 Hard bop, the beginnings of free jazz, people 00:03:58.139 --> 00:04:00.599 really pushing the boundaries of dissonance. 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:03.039 And Teddy Wilson. Teddy Wilson was not that. 00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:06.099 No. He was a swing era titan. He came up in the 00:04:06.099 --> 00:04:10.219 30s. His style was rooted in stride piano, you 00:04:10.219 --> 00:04:12.560 know, that rhythmic left hand bouncing back and 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:14.870 forth. But he smoothed it out. He did. He made 00:04:14.870 --> 00:04:17.790 it lighter, much airier. That pristine touch 00:04:17.790 --> 00:04:20.329 is why they called him the Mozart of jazz. So 00:04:20.329 --> 00:04:23.189 in a way, he really was the absolute perfect 00:04:23.189 --> 00:04:25.870 choice for this casual listener project. Oh, 00:04:25.889 --> 00:04:28.350 without a doubt. Because he wasn't going to deconstruct 00:04:28.350 --> 00:04:30.889 the songs until they were unrecognizable. Precisely. 00:04:30.889 --> 00:04:33.550 Like, if you hired Solonius Monk to play Gypsy, 00:04:33.750 --> 00:04:36.269 you might not recognize Small World until the 00:04:36.269 --> 00:04:39.170 very last chord. If at all. Right. If at all. 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:41.920 But with Teddy Wilson, you knew you were going 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:43.519 to get the melody. You were going to get that 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:46.920 sophisticated cocktail hour swing. It was safe, 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:50.040 but high level. Incredibly high level craftsmanship. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:52.360 I was looking at his discography around this 00:04:52.360 --> 00:04:54.980 time, as listed in the sources, and the guy was 00:04:54.980 --> 00:04:57.660 just grinding. Oh, he was prolific. Just in the 00:04:57.660 --> 00:04:59.800 mid -50s, you've got the creative Teddy Wilson 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:03.000 in 55, the touch of Teddy Wilson in 57. Right, 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:05.439 placing Gypsy and Jazz right near the end of 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:08.600 that specific decade's run. But Gypsy and Jazz 00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:11.620 marks a bit of a shift for him. How so? Well, 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:13.600 those other albums were him playing the Great 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:15.800 American Songbook or his own improvisations. 00:05:15.819 --> 00:05:18.480 This was a concept album. He was stepping outside 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:21.180 his usual playlist to service the material of 00:05:21.180 --> 00:05:24.019 a specific narrative show. Okay, let's talk about 00:05:24.019 --> 00:05:27.139 the trio part of Teddy Wilson and his trio. Yes. 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:29.060 Because when I think of Gypsy, I think of a pit 00:05:29.060 --> 00:05:31.360 orchestra. Naturally. We think of trumpets screaming, 00:05:31.620 --> 00:05:33.980 drums banging, overtures that literally knock 00:05:33.980 --> 00:05:36.519 you out of your seat. And here... They stripped 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:39.180 it down to three guys. It's a radical reduction. 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:42.500 You have Wilson on piano, Arvell Shaw on bass, 00:05:42.699 --> 00:05:45.759 and Burt Dollander on drums. That is it. Okay, 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:48.449 Arvell Shaw. That name jumped out at me in the 00:05:48.449 --> 00:05:51.750 sources. Oh, Arvel Shaw is royalty. He was Louis 00:05:51.750 --> 00:05:54.009 Armstrong's bassist for years, so he knows how 00:05:54.009 --> 00:05:56.670 to swing, obviously. But he also deeply knows 00:05:56.670 --> 00:05:58.970 how to support melody because he spent years 00:05:58.970 --> 00:06:01.170 backing up the most famous trumpet player on 00:06:01.170 --> 00:06:02.829 earth. That makes so much sense. And then you 00:06:02.829 --> 00:06:05.089 have Burt Dollander on drums. Right. A really 00:06:05.089 --> 00:06:07.930 solid Swedish drummer who is very active in the 00:06:07.930 --> 00:06:11.430 swing scene. But think about the physics of this 00:06:11.430 --> 00:06:14.050 trio format for a second. Okay. In a Broadway 00:06:14.050 --> 00:06:18.120 orchestra, you have... 20, maybe 30 people. If 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:20.879 the violins stop for a beat, the brass is there. 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:22.519 There's always someone to pick up the slack. 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:26.259 Exactly. If the brass stops, the woodwinds are 00:06:26.259 --> 00:06:30.540 there. There is this massive wall of sound. But 00:06:30.540 --> 00:06:33.220 in a trio. In a trio, there is nowhere to hide. 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:36.240 It is totally transparent. Wow, yeah. If Teddy 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:38.360 Wilson stops playing with his right hand, the 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:41.730 melody is just gone. If Arvel Shaw stops walking 00:06:41.730 --> 00:06:44.350 that bass line, the bottom falls out of the whole 00:06:44.350 --> 00:06:46.970 song. They have to fill all that dramatic space 00:06:46.970 --> 00:06:51.269 with just 88 keys, four strings, and a drum kit. 00:06:51.430 --> 00:06:54.329 The tension, the humor, the romance of the play, 00:06:54.470 --> 00:06:57.250 all of it rests on three guys. It's kind of like 00:06:57.250 --> 00:06:59.370 trying to recreate a blockbuster action movie 00:06:59.370 --> 00:07:01.829 using only shadow puppets. That's brilliant. 00:07:01.970 --> 00:07:04.370 Yes, you have to be incredibly creative to make 00:07:04.370 --> 00:07:06.370 it work. And that leads us perfectly into the 00:07:06.370 --> 00:07:09.100 repertoire. Because looking at the track list, 00:07:09.259 --> 00:07:11.560 they didn't just pick the three big radio hits 00:07:11.560 --> 00:07:14.199 and call it a day. No, they recorded 12 songs. 00:07:14.379 --> 00:07:17.079 Which is a lot for a jazz LP in 1959, isn't it? 00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:19.480 It really is. Usually you get maybe eight tracks 00:07:19.480 --> 00:07:21.779 and they're stretched out with long improvised 00:07:21.779 --> 00:07:24.300 solos. Right, so 12 tracks means they were keeping 00:07:24.300 --> 00:07:27.279 it really tight. They were respecting the structure 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:30.439 of the show. And if you look at the selection... 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:32.939 They took on some real challenges. Oh, you have 00:07:32.939 --> 00:07:35.279 the heavy hitters, obviously. Sure. Let me entertain 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:38.759 you. Everything's coming up roses. Together, 00:07:39.019 --> 00:07:41.920 wherever we go. And those are high energy, confident 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:45.220 songs. You can easily see Wilson swinging those 00:07:45.220 --> 00:07:47.779 up tempo. But then you have, and I have to pause 00:07:47.779 --> 00:07:51.339 on this. Okay. The cow song. The cow song. In 00:07:51.339 --> 00:07:54.459 the actual musical, this is a literal novelty 00:07:54.459 --> 00:07:57.300 number. It's a vaudeville routine with a cow 00:07:57.300 --> 00:08:00.759 costume. It's funny because of the lyrics and 00:08:00.759 --> 00:08:03.420 the visual context. How on earth do you translate 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:06.699 a song about a cow into serious, sophisticated 00:08:06.699 --> 00:08:09.379 jazz? That is the magic trick of this album. 00:08:09.579 --> 00:08:11.699 When you strip away the lyrics and the costume, 00:08:11.839 --> 00:08:14.040 what are you actually left with? The notes. You're 00:08:14.040 --> 00:08:15.839 left with the harmonic skeleton. You're left 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:18.300 with the bare melody. Wilson has to find the 00:08:18.300 --> 00:08:20.819 musicality hidden inside the joke. He has to 00:08:20.819 --> 00:08:22.800 take that goofy vaudeville bounce and turn it 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:25.209 into a legitimate swing rhythm. It's actually 00:08:25.209 --> 00:08:29.170 a massive test of a musician's integrity. Can 00:08:29.170 --> 00:08:31.870 you treat a silly song with the exact same respect 00:08:31.870 --> 00:08:34.629 you treat a sweeping ballad? It forces you to 00:08:34.629 --> 00:08:36.350 listen to the music of the song, not just the 00:08:36.350 --> 00:08:38.450 punchline. Exactly. And then you have the character 00:08:38.450 --> 00:08:40.610 songs, which present a totally different challenge. 00:08:40.870 --> 00:08:44.590 Like if Mama was married. Yes. In the show, that's 00:08:44.590 --> 00:08:47.440 a duet. It's about frustration, it's about two 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:49.899 sisters dreaming of a different life, and it's 00:08:49.899 --> 00:08:52.279 very conversational. Right, it's patter. If Mama 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:53.879 was married, we'd live in a house. It's super 00:08:53.879 --> 00:08:57.080 rhythmic. So Wilson has to capture that frenetic, 00:08:57.120 --> 00:09:00.940 hopeful, bickering energy with just his piano 00:09:00.940 --> 00:09:03.460 phrasing. He essentially has to... speak the 00:09:03.460 --> 00:09:05.960 lines without saying a single word and what about 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:09.240 the ballads well you have small world and little 00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:12.019 lamb little lamb is so fascinating to me because 00:09:12.019 --> 00:09:15.899 it's such a quiet almost uncomfortably introspective 00:09:15.899 --> 00:09:18.940 moment in the show and for a stride pianist like 00:09:18.940 --> 00:09:20.960 wilson who is used to playing a lot of notes 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:23.740 that's a moment to really show restraint just 00:09:23.740 --> 00:09:27.059 let the notes ring out Exactly. A trio format 00:09:27.059 --> 00:09:29.740 loves a ballad because you can hear the physical 00:09:29.740 --> 00:09:31.820 wood of the bass. You can hear the metal brush 00:09:31.820 --> 00:09:34.379 dragging across the snare drum. It creates an 00:09:34.379 --> 00:09:37.080 intimacy that. The big Broadway orchestra sometimes 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:39.860 just steamrolls over. And the track list rounds 00:09:39.860 --> 00:09:42.620 out with, all I need is the girl, mama's talking 00:09:42.620 --> 00:09:46.059 soft, and Mr. Goldstone, I love you. It really 00:09:46.059 --> 00:09:47.679 sounds like they were trying to tell the whole 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:49.899 narrative story of the musical, not just cash 00:09:49.899 --> 00:09:52.200 in on the hits. They absolutely were. And that 00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:54.480 brings us to the actual production and release 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:57.200 history of this thing. Right. So this was a Columbia 00:09:57.200 --> 00:09:59.879 Records release. The sources give us the specific 00:09:59.879 --> 00:10:02.519 catalog numbers, which I love for the audiophiles 00:10:02.519 --> 00:10:04.080 out there. Always good to have the receipts. 00:10:04.220 --> 00:10:11.389 It was C. And mentioning both mono and stereo 00:10:11.389 --> 00:10:13.789 is actually a really important detail for 1959. 00:10:14.309 --> 00:10:16.929 Because they were right on the cusp of the transition. 00:10:17.129 --> 00:10:20.309 Exactly. Stereo was the shiny new high -tech 00:10:20.309 --> 00:10:23.029 toy for the serious audiophiles, but mono was 00:10:23.029 --> 00:10:25.330 what most regular people still had in their living 00:10:25.330 --> 00:10:27.289 room consoles. So the fact that Columbia pressed 00:10:27.289 --> 00:10:30.240 both? Means they expected this to move major 00:10:30.240 --> 00:10:32.940 units. They wanted it in every single household. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:36.220 But here is the detail from the sources that 00:10:36.220 --> 00:10:39.019 totally sent me down a rabbit hole. The Australian 00:10:39.019 --> 00:10:42.779 connection. Ah, yes. This is fascinating. The 00:10:42.779 --> 00:10:46.419 record was released in Australia in 1963. Four 00:10:46.419 --> 00:10:49.080 years after the U .S. release. Right. And the 00:10:49.080 --> 00:10:51.240 source specifically notes that it was released, 00:10:51.340 --> 00:10:54.059 quote, shortly before the premiere of the musical 00:10:54.059 --> 00:10:56.379 Gypsy in Melbourne. This is where we get a master 00:10:56.379 --> 00:10:58.960 class in global marketing, mid -century style. 00:10:59.220 --> 00:11:02.259 Because today, if a show opens on Broadway, the 00:11:02.259 --> 00:11:04.559 cast album is on streaming platforms the next 00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:07.860 morning. It's in Melbourne, Tokyo, and London 00:11:07.860 --> 00:11:11.620 instantly. Right. But in 1963... Physical media 00:11:11.620 --> 00:11:14.000 was the only way to transmit the culture. You 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:15.659 couldn't stream the show. You couldn't watch 00:11:15.659 --> 00:11:17.620 a bootleg clip on your phone. The Australian 00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:19.559 audience arguably hadn't even heard these songs 00:11:19.559 --> 00:11:21.679 yet. Not unless they specifically imported the 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:23.860 U .S. cast album, which most casual listeners 00:11:23.860 --> 00:11:26.519 wouldn't do. So Columbia, or their Australian 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:29.580 distributor, uses the Teddy Wilson album as the 00:11:29.580 --> 00:11:31.779 hype man. It's the scout. You send the jazz album 00:11:31.779 --> 00:11:34.960 out first. It gets airplay on the local radio. 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:38.000 It gets into people's homes. They start tapping 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:41.220 their feet together. Wherever we go, while they're 00:11:41.220 --> 00:11:43.000 making dinner. They don't know the plot yet. 00:11:43.139 --> 00:11:44.899 They haven't seen the sets. They don't know the 00:11:44.899 --> 00:11:48.080 characters. But the melodies are now deeply planted 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:50.919 in their heads. It is literally subliminal advertising. 00:11:51.320 --> 00:11:53.500 It's brilliant. By the time the curtain actually 00:11:53.500 --> 00:11:56.120 goes up in Melbourne, the audience feels smart. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:11:59.080 They recognize the tunes. Oh, that's the song 00:11:59.080 --> 00:12:01.549 from the Teddy Wilson record. Exactly. It creates 00:12:01.549 --> 00:12:04.669 a warm, welcoming feeling towards a brand new 00:12:04.669 --> 00:12:08.129 theatrical production. Jazz was serving as the 00:12:08.129 --> 00:12:10.769 cultural ambassador, basically smoothing the 00:12:10.769 --> 00:12:13.350 runway for Broadway. It really highlights how 00:12:13.350 --> 00:12:16.629 incredibly useful jazz was to the music industry 00:12:16.629 --> 00:12:18.629 back then. It wasn't just art for art's sake. 00:12:18.830 --> 00:12:22.190 It was a functional, working part of the pop 00:12:22.190 --> 00:12:24.549 culture machine. Absolutely. It was the universal 00:12:24.549 --> 00:12:26.950 translator. You could take anything, a show tune, 00:12:27.070 --> 00:12:29.090 a movie theme, a folk song, run it through the 00:12:29.090 --> 00:12:31.279 jazz trio filter, and it... instantly became 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:34.059 sophisticated adult entertainment. OK, so we 00:12:34.059 --> 00:12:36.259 have the concepts, the incredible trio, the marketing 00:12:36.259 --> 00:12:38.600 strategy. But what about the verdict? How did 00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:41.600 it land? Right. We have a specific critique detailed 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:44.220 in the sources from Scott Yano at AllMusic. And 00:12:44.220 --> 00:12:47.399 Scott Yano is a massive heavyweight in jazz criticism. 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:50.360 He's reviewed thousands of records. When he talks, 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:53.720 people listen. So his first point is that he 00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:56.919 observed the album departs from Wilson's usual 00:12:56.919 --> 00:12:59.690 playlist. Which we've pretty well established. 00:12:59.929 --> 00:13:02.549 Right. It's a total outlier in his discography. 00:13:02.929 --> 00:13:04.809 But then he says something that I find really 00:13:04.809 --> 00:13:07.690 compelling. He notes that this departure created 00:13:07.690 --> 00:13:11.529 an, quote, interesting effect. Interesting effect. 00:13:11.629 --> 00:13:14.230 That is such a classic critic's phrase, isn't 00:13:14.230 --> 00:13:17.509 it? It really is. It's enticing, but so vague. 00:13:17.789 --> 00:13:19.490 What do you think he actually means by that? 00:13:19.950 --> 00:13:21.490 I think he's referring to the friction we were 00:13:21.490 --> 00:13:23.029 talking about earlier with the cow song. The 00:13:23.029 --> 00:13:26.230 constraints. Yes. When Teddy Wilson plays jazz 00:13:26.230 --> 00:13:29.610 standards like body and soul, he is totally in 00:13:29.610 --> 00:13:31.870 his comfort zone. He can just fly. But here he's 00:13:31.870 --> 00:13:34.429 boxed in. He's heavily constrained by the narrative 00:13:34.429 --> 00:13:36.929 arc of Gypsy. When he has to make these quirky 00:13:36.929 --> 00:13:39.690 character songs work as instrumental swing, he 00:13:39.690 --> 00:13:41.889 has to problem solve. He has to play differently 00:13:41.889 --> 00:13:44.309 than he normally would. The constraints force 00:13:44.309 --> 00:13:47.909 a new kind of creativity. Exactly. You might 00:13:47.909 --> 00:13:50.549 hear voicings or rhythmic ideas on the specific 00:13:50.549 --> 00:13:53.490 album that you simply wouldn't hear on his standard 00:13:53.490 --> 00:13:55.769 jam session records because the source material 00:13:55.769 --> 00:13:58.110 demanded something entirely else from him. That's 00:13:58.110 --> 00:14:00.210 the interesting effect. It's the sound of a master 00:14:00.210 --> 00:14:03.409 craftsman adapting his tools to a totally new 00:14:03.409 --> 00:14:06.769 set of blueprints. But then Yano drops the hammer. 00:14:07.250 --> 00:14:10.929 He finishes his review by, quote, lamenting the 00:14:10.929 --> 00:14:13.429 unavailability of the recording. And that right 00:14:13.429 --> 00:14:16.330 there is the tragedy of the jazz archives. It's 00:14:16.330 --> 00:14:18.309 heartbreaking. We've spent this whole time talking 00:14:18.309 --> 00:14:21.149 about how cool the concept is, how great Arvel 00:14:21.149 --> 00:14:24.490 Shaw's bass lines probably are, the genius Australian 00:14:24.490 --> 00:14:27.029 marketing. And then it turns out you can't just 00:14:27.029 --> 00:14:29.340 walk into a store and buy it. It speaks to the 00:14:29.340 --> 00:14:32.600 extreme fragility of our cultural memory. Even 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:34.740 for a major label release. Exactly. This had 00:14:34.740 --> 00:14:37.299 a global rollout. But at some point, it just 00:14:37.299 --> 00:14:39.200 went out of print. The physical master tapes 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:41.539 went back into the Columbia vault. And it probably 00:14:41.539 --> 00:14:44.120 didn't get prioritized during the big CD reissue 00:14:44.120 --> 00:14:47.399 boom in the 90s. Right. And if an album didn't 00:14:47.399 --> 00:14:49.860 get digitized early in that transition, it just, 00:14:49.879 --> 00:14:52.259 it drifts away. It becomes a ghost. It really 00:14:52.259 --> 00:14:55.340 does. Unless you are a dedicated crate digger 00:14:55.340 --> 00:14:57.779 hoping to find that original vinyl in a dusty 00:14:57.779 --> 00:15:00.779 vintage shop, the music effectively ceases to 00:15:00.779 --> 00:15:03.720 exist for the modern listener. So that interesting 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:07.580 effect Yanel talks about is just locked inside 00:15:07.580 --> 00:15:10.720 a piece of plastic from 1959. It makes you wonder 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:13.200 what else we've lost. Seriously. How many other 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:16.779 commercial jazz albums from that era, stuff that 00:15:16.779 --> 00:15:18.919 maybe wasn't considered serious art at the time, 00:15:18.980 --> 00:15:21.519 contain these incredible, unique performances 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:25.159 that are just gone now? Thousands, easily. And 00:15:25.159 --> 00:15:28.139 it's usually these exact kinds of crossover projects 00:15:28.139 --> 00:15:29.820 that suffer the most. Because they don't fit 00:15:29.820 --> 00:15:32.159 neatly into a box. Exactly. The critics protect 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:34.460 the avant -garde stuff, the serious milestones. 00:15:34.600 --> 00:15:36.179 Kind of blue is never going to go out of print. 00:15:36.299 --> 00:15:39.279 Right. But Gypsy in jazz, it falls into the cracks 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:41.580 between genres. Is it a jazz record? Is it a 00:15:41.580 --> 00:15:44.019 Broadway record? The history books don't always 00:15:44.019 --> 00:15:45.539 know where to put it, so they just leave it out. 00:15:46.039 --> 00:15:48.299 Which is deeply ironic, because as we discussed, 00:15:48.580 --> 00:15:51.279 this album was literally designed to be the bridge 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:53.340 between those worlds. And now it's fallen into 00:15:53.340 --> 00:15:55.740 the very chasm it was trying to cross. That is 00:15:55.740 --> 00:15:58.879 a very poetic, if somewhat depressing, way to 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:01.700 put it. It's the reality of physical media. So 00:16:01.700 --> 00:16:04.360 if we zoom out for a second, what is the actual 00:16:04.360 --> 00:16:08.019 legacy of this album? It's a 1959 recording of 00:16:08.019 --> 00:16:12.200 a jazz trio playing Broadway show tunes. Why 00:16:12.200 --> 00:16:14.779 should you, listening to this right now, care? 00:16:15.259 --> 00:16:17.500 I think it matters because it captures a really 00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:20.980 specific moment of optimism in music. I like 00:16:20.980 --> 00:16:23.500 that. It captures a time when record executives, 00:16:23.899 --> 00:16:26.639 musicians, and audiences all collectively agreed 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:28.720 that you could take something incredibly popular 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:31.120 and elevate it. You could make it smart. And 00:16:31.120 --> 00:16:33.600 accessible at the same time. Yes. It wasn't about 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:36.039 dumbing down jazz to sell records. It was about 00:16:36.039 --> 00:16:38.580 smartening up pop music. Teddy Wilson didn't 00:16:38.580 --> 00:16:40.840 compromise his incredible playing style. He just 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:43.399 applied it to a different text. Exactly. It shows 00:16:43.399 --> 00:16:45.580 us that great musicianship can redeem almost 00:16:45.580 --> 00:16:48.379 any material, even a song about a cow. And it 00:16:48.379 --> 00:16:51.259 reminds us of the sheer power of the trio format. 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:55.080 Just three guys in a room making an entire wall 00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:57.659 of sound. The intimacy of that is something you 00:16:57.659 --> 00:17:00.080 really can't fake. You know, this whole discussion 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:02.620 about Gateway albums and accessibility really 00:17:02.620 --> 00:17:05.029 has me thinking. What's on your mind? We live 00:17:05.029 --> 00:17:07.490 in an era now where we have instant access to 00:17:07.490 --> 00:17:10.089 everything. I can pull out my phone and listen 00:17:10.089 --> 00:17:12.670 to the original GypsyCast recording and then 00:17:12.670 --> 00:17:15.130 instantly switch to a Norwegian death metal cover 00:17:15.130 --> 00:17:17.509 of it if I wanted to. The algorithm just feeds 00:17:17.509 --> 00:17:19.289 me what it thinks I already like. It keeps you 00:17:19.289 --> 00:17:22.720 in your lane. Exactly. do we still have albums 00:17:22.720 --> 00:17:26.079 like Gypsy and Jazz? Do we have artists who intentionally 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:29.099 act as guides, taking us by the hand and walking 00:17:29.099 --> 00:17:30.980 us from one genre to a totally different one? 00:17:31.220 --> 00:17:33.859 Or has the algorithm just completely replaced 00:17:33.859 --> 00:17:36.869 the artist as the curator? That is a really profound 00:17:36.869 --> 00:17:40.609 question. In 1959, Teddy Wilson was the algorithm. 00:17:40.890 --> 00:17:43.990 Columbia Records was the curator saying, hey, 00:17:44.029 --> 00:17:46.269 if you like this Broadway melody, try this jazz 00:17:46.269 --> 00:17:48.650 rhythm. Today, we might be missing that human 00:17:48.650 --> 00:17:51.009 touch. We have all the access in the world, but 00:17:51.009 --> 00:17:53.250 do we have the context? We don't have the bridge 00:17:53.250 --> 00:17:55.970 anymore. We just have a billion separate islands. 00:17:56.150 --> 00:17:58.410 Exactly. And maybe that's exactly why we need 00:17:58.410 --> 00:18:00.690 to dig up these old records, to remember what 00:18:00.690 --> 00:18:03.329 it feels like to be guided by a human being who 00:18:03.329 --> 00:18:05.309 just wants to show you something cool. Well, 00:18:05.390 --> 00:18:07.710 I hope this deep dive has been a bit of a guide 00:18:07.710 --> 00:18:10.349 for you listening at home. We may not be able 00:18:10.349 --> 00:18:12.569 to spin the actual vinyl for you right now, but 00:18:12.569 --> 00:18:14.950 hopefully you can hear a little bit of that phantom 00:18:14.950 --> 00:18:17.910 piano in your head. And if you are ever in a 00:18:17.910 --> 00:18:21.170 thrift store and you happen to see a copy of 00:18:21.170 --> 00:18:23.690 Gypsy and Jazz with Teddy Wilson on the cover. 00:18:23.890 --> 00:18:27.670 Buy it. Do not even hesitate. Rescue it. Rescue 00:18:27.670 --> 00:18:30.589 it from the vault. Thank you all for joining 00:18:30.589 --> 00:18:33.789 us to geek out over 1959. It's been an absolute 00:18:33.789 --> 00:18:36.630 pleasure exploring this lost gem. Always a pleasure. 00:18:36.869 --> 00:18:38.930 We'll catch you on the next deep dive. Keep listening.