Henry Young with Nina Simone

Got a note from North Vancouver's own Henry Young today, leading me to a link of a fantastic (looking) DVD that came out last September. If you click on the 'watch preview' link, you'll see a young Mr. Young at the tender age of 26 in the song "Ain't Got No" accompanying Nina Simone on guitar. I don't have the video so I'll just put the link here for you:

http://jazzicons.com/ji3_simone.html

Steve Garrick

I really like this clip, but then again I'm a sucker for jazz accordion. The graphic up front says The Steve Garrick Septet, but there are eight of 'em. Maybe that's how they roll in Montreal, where the band was based. And damned if I can't find even a hint of a Vancouver connection to this one. But hey, let's not be so provincial. We're all Canadians, afterall. Even Montrealers. The musicians are Garrick on piano, Herbie Spanier on trumpet, Gordie Fleming on accordion, Al Baculis on clarinet and alto sax, Nick Ayoub on tenor sax, Fred Nichols on baritone sax, John Lanza on bass, and Bob Malloy on drums. It's from 1959. If you know of a Vancouver connection, put it in the comments section. Lord knows this blog could use a comment. We've received nary a one to date.

Ron Collier

Ron Collier is another Toronto guy who got his start in Vancouver. Specifically the Kitsilano Boys' Band. Here he is with his quintet in 1959 playing the Norman Symonds' composition, Gently. The quintet features Collier on trombone, Bernie Pilch on alto sax, Ed Bickert on guitar, Carne Bray on bass, and Ron Rully on drums.

Patty Surbey

Patty Surbey sings A Sign of the Times on The Ken Colman Show in 1966. Boy, was she ever a cutie. When this was on YouTube, a relative of hers wrote me asking for a hard copy of this to surprise her on her 60th birthday. It's hard to think of that cute little thing being 60! There's not much info on Surbey on-line, but I see she had a bit of a hit with Hey Boy with Patty Surbey and the Canadian VIPs. The Bobby Hales band backs her up.

The Pair Extraordinaire

I don't know much about The Pair Extraordinaire, and neither does the interweb. I learned that they once toured with Bill Cosby, opening for him. That's about it. The Pair are Carl Craig on vocals and Marcus Hemphill on bass. Hemphill, if you follow the link, wrote for The Cosby Show and died in the mid-1980s at the age of 56. Don't know anything about Craig. This seems to be the only video of the American duo out there. They're pretty great, judging from this version of the Monkee's I'm a Believer and a couple other audio tracks I heard on-line. Not jazz, but jazzy and soulful. The clip is from the 1968 CBC Vancouver series, Hits A-Poppin', hosted by none other than Mr. Terry David Mulligan. Enjoy.

Phil Nimmons

Phil Nimmons is thought of as a Toronto musician, but he was raised in Vancouver, so that's gotta count for something. If any of you can fill in the line-up, please add them to the comments section and I'll get around to amending this write-up with the relevant information. Meanwhile, enjoy three clips from Nimmons 'n' Nine Plus Six (d0n't you hate it when you have to do basic math? But you gotta admit it sounds better than Nimmons 'n' Eight Plus Seven or Nimmons 'n' Nineteen Minus Three). The first tune is called Bird Burger:

Next one that was too long for YouTube. It weighs in at a hefty 11:41 and is named The Silver, the second movement from a suite for the Olympics. Could this be from 1976 or thereabouts? Probably.



And finally a tune called Think Nice Thoughts:

Moe Koffman

Moe Koffman... not a Vancouver musician. Everyone knows that. But here's the connection: ... uh... Ed Bickert, the guitarist in this clip, is from Vernon, which, as everyone knows, is closer to Vancouver than to Toronto. So there you have it. Here we have Koffman playing an original composition written for the show's sponsor, Timex. It's called Time Piece. Koffman plays alto sax and flute, Bickert on guitar, Bill Britto is on bass, and Ron Rully on drums. From 1959.

Mike Campbell

I don't know anything about Mike Campbell except that he was a featured singer on the Vancouver edition of the CBC daytime series, Let's Go, in the mid-1960s. That's it! That's the curse of having a common name. It's hard to Google. (One of the other featured singers, by the way, was Joani Taylor... which led me to her website. It's fantastic! Check it out. There are some great old clips of her in the retrospective section.) But back to Campbell. Here he is singing The Rascals' hit, How Can I Be Sure? at the Nitobe Memorial Garden at UBC. In a world that's constantly changing, it's still introduced by the ever-present Terry David Mulligan. This is from 1968.