Tuesday, May 06, 2014

Slim Gaillard

I wish I could find part 2 of this 1989 BBC Documentary, Slim Gaillard's Civilisation.
Slim, who was born in 1916 and died in London in 1991, was multi instrumentalist jazz musician from Detroit. He wrote some of the greatest comedy jazz songs ever recorded. In the late 30's into the early 40's he worked as a duo with one of my favoritest bass players ever, Slam Stewart. Together they were billed as Slim & Slam. They both sang. The piece near the beginning, Dunkin' Bagels is worth the price of admission alone! Mixing the jazz jargon of the 30's with Yiddish slang and humor was so hip in New York if you have ever read any history of the NYC Harlem Jazz world of that time! I was really pleased to discover that Slim Gaillard went to my High School in Detroit, Cass Tech! I really want to see the rest of this. It is so rich. Here's a sample of Slim&Slam...Stewart with his bowed bass and synched vocals was in a class by himself. 

Department of One More Thing!
I found another segment of the video on BBC's web site. This is a live recording of Slim at home singing with his family, including his daughter Jan, the second wife of Marvin Gaye.

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