1959 The Year That Changed Jazz

BBC4 Friday 17th February 12.00 Midnight

1959 was the seismic year jazz broke away from complex bebop music to new forms, allowing soloists unprecedented freedom to explore and express. Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck and Charles Mingus (check out our Spotify playlist we put together following the event) made ground-breaking albums each a high watermark for the artists and a powerful reflection of the times. Rarely seen archive performances help vibrantly bring the era to life and explore what made these albums vital both in 1959 and the 50 years since.

Charles Mingus wrote his autobiography in 1971, appropriately titled “Beneath The Underdog”, which nakedly chronicled his turbulent life as a composer and player of some of the most emotionally intense music in the history of jazz. Charles Mingus fought tenaciously against the overt racism he encountered, problems exacerbated by his own egocentric nature and personal demons which led to many damaging clashes of personality.  Throughout it all however, he determinedly built up a unique style of music both as an imaginative soloist who chose largely to ignore conventional harmonic principles and as a writer who, while clearly strongly influenced by Duke Ellington, produced a substantial body of innovative work.

Dave Brubeck’s stunning 1959 album “Time Out” proved to be a landmark recording in the history of jazz music as it appealed to a wider audience than previously thought possible and contained the hit single “Take Five”, an infectious tune set in 5/4 time which crossed over to the pop market, and the distinctive opening track “Blue Rondo A La Turk”. The group comprised the leader on piano, Eugene Wright on bass, Joe Morello on drums and the inimitable Paul Desmond, who composed that best-known number, on lyrical alto saxophone. Presented in its entirety here, the seven tracks range over highly unusual time signatures with influences derived from blues and classical sources, with underrated compositions like “Three To Get Ready” and especially “Kathy’s Waltz” highlighting the work of a unique unit.

Miles Dewey Davis was born in Alton, Illinois in 1926 into a middle class family who provided him with his first trumpet at the age of thirteen. Miles Dewey Davis gained early experience of playing in public as a guest in Billy Eckstine’s travelling big band in 1944 and, while still a teenager, with Charlie Parker’s dynamic bebop pioneers in New York. He had won a scholarship to the city’s prestigious Juilliard School but quickly became drawn to the burgeoning new movement of modern jazz played at Harlem’s Mintons and the 52nd Street clubs led by Parker, Monk, Clarke and fellow trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. Miles Dewey Davis sometimes struggled to keep up with the breathtakingly fast tempos favoured by the boppers, but instead developed a unique sound instantly recognisable and perfectly suited to the lonely, largely melancholy repertoire which became the trademark of his introspective appeal.