Ever hear of drummer BUDDY DEPPENSCHMIDT? He invented the "Jazz Samba" style

I have The Guitar Artistry Of Charlie Byrd, and it's one of my favorite jazz albums. Deppenschmidt is very tasteful and reserved here, and that drum sound has got to be my favorite. His solo in "House Of The Rising Sun" really packs a wallop when he begins to lean into it. That album has an intimate quality that I really enjoy...I have to get more of Byrd's stuff.


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Yes, this is an interesting story...this same article appeared in either Jazz Times or Downbeat in the last couple of years...ADDENDUM: ah now I see from the footer, it was Jazz Times.

JAZZ SAMBA, great record for sure...Steve, your comments about your current project of this other record have me literally salivating...

 

Funny, I had the DCC Jazz Samba playing today at lunch. Great Album!

 

Please let us know how it came out... I need more Buddy in my collection.

 

I'm looking forward to this Steve.

 

Well....I don't think you can quite say 'he invented the jazz samba style' Steve. There would be an awful lot of musicians in Brazil who would disagree with you there. The common misconception is that US musicians travelled to brazil and brought back some kind of pure, unadulterated brazilian essence of bossa nova which they then mixed with jazz sensibilities and sold to the world as 'the' bossa nova or 'jazz samba'. But the truth is that there was a vibrant jazz scene from the late 40s in Rio and Sao Paulo. The true originators of a 'jazz/samba' style ie drummers who picked up the 2nd and 4th beats so vital to the samba and then worked in the propulsive forward beats derived from Joao Gilbertos guitar technique were Milton Banana, Edison Machado, Dom Um Romao and others. I think Milton Banana is the man who should be given credit for the jazzification of bossa as it was made famous through the Getz,Byrd records. At the time in Brazil there was a lot of controversy about the 'Jazz Samba' record. It was ridiculed as being stiff and clumsy.
I personally like the album. It was one of the first Stan Getz records I purchased back in 1976, and it led me into the world of Brazilian music. But amazingly it still rankles with many brazilian musicians as I discovered when I was over there in 2000 on a trip reseaching for an exhibition and article about bossa nova. Attached is a part of the great book 'Bossa Nova' by Ruy Castro. Quite funny to hear how bitchy the sessions for such a chilled album as Getz/Gilberto were. For me the best of the verve 'jazz/samba' projects is the Luiz Bonfa/Stan Getz 'Jazz Samba Encore!' and the Bob Brookmyer 'Trombone Jazz Samba'. As for obscure Verve braziliana drummers how about Donald MacDonald from the brilliant 'Barra Limpa' album
by Luiz Henrique. Great name too!

 

Hi Steve,

Yes, I have heard of Buddy. I love his drumming on Bossa Nova dates better than any other drummer. His LP's are great. I look forward to hearing more. How about some articles about the 45 Mastering Sessions. We hope to obtain a copy of this and we will play it on air. Thanks Steve and Kevin for superb cuttings. I have cut discs so I can appreciate the complexities of cutting discs.

 

Thats a great article Steve. Cool photos. I can only download 4 pages of the 8 though. Any chance you can cut and paste the text into a text only post?
The Byrd album you are working on sounds amazing. Tell us more!!

 

And this is the album that started the whole thing off. Just as important to popular music as Elvis' first or the Beatles first. Unbelievably STILL not available on cd!!!!! (crappy spanish time-life club comp is floating around..but thats OOP I think)...cover still in its original 1959 brazilian plastic sleeve if you're wondering.

 

Steve, Japanese mastering guru Tamaki Beck did a 20 Bit job on "Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd" about 5 years ago. He did a really nice job on it. It was released on CD in Japan in a mini-Lp case.

Great version of "Rising Sun"

 

Based on the recent Charlie Byrd threads that Steve started, along with his modest, understated assertion that "'The Guitar Artistry Of Charlie Byrd' has to be ONE OF THE BEST RECORDED ALBUMS IN THE HISTORY OF JAZZ," I stopped by Borders on the way home and picked up the OJC CD for $11 (after discount coupon). Remastered 1997 by Kirk Felton.

Sounds great so far; some exciting brushwork and some wonderful guitar sounds are contained therein. Thanks for the recommendation.

Craig(VC).

 

I think it's nothing but completely understandable that the Brazilian musicians would be somewhat rankled by the mega-success of records like JAZZ SAMBA. But honestly I do think it's unique - a hybrid form, not exactly what those Brazilian musicians had invented and were masters of, yet not straight American jazz, something different. It should be judged on its own terms, IMHO, and not slagged as inferior/inauthentic.

While we're talking Brazilian music and talking about guitar-driven stuff, let's not forget the great Baden Powell. One of the more eclectic of the masters, and one who settled in France and brought the Brazilian influence to Europe. This compilation is a fantastic place to start:

 

IIRC, the majority (or even all) of the tracks Charlie Byrd cut for Riverside can be found on the two Charlie Byrd 2-LP sets which came out on the "Milestone" label in the late 70s. The sound is faboulous on these, much better than on the individual OJC reissues.

Arne

 

Lets not forget the great track 'samba triste' from Jazz Samba. My favourite cut from the album. Charlie must have got this one from Baden Powells first record for Philips which came out in '60/'61. 'Samba Triste' was Badens first big song (Billy Blanco co-wrote). Charlie plays a great solo on this one and I love the way they just float it along in the coda...I guess it was one guitarist grooving on anothers work. Stan is super mellow on the track too. If you like that comp (which is Barclay/Festival stuff from Badens european sojourn) then you should really stump-up for the motherlode universal Philips/Forma/Elenco box..13 albums in original sleeves, beautiful sound. So good. If thats a purchase too far then check out the recent DVD from universal 'Velha Amigo' which is a great doco on Badens life and music. Same cover as the comp you pictured

 

Is it safe to assume that David Drew Zingg is the father of Drew Zingg, the guitar player from the Steely Dan and Boz Scaggs touring bands?

 

Oh sure Steve...just force me to buy a turntable now!

 

From the Jazz Times article Steve linked to above, with reference to recording Jazz Samba:​

"The recording date was Tuesday, February 13, 1962. Byrd chose the small, acoustically promising Pierce Hall at All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, D.C. “It looked like a basketball court in there,” Deppenschmidt recalls. “It didn’t have fixed seating, just folding chairs. It almost gave me the feeling of a junior high school stage, like if you were going to see your kid in a play. There were no baffles on the walls, no glass window. [Recording the album] was like playing a concert to no people. Ed Green was the engineer, and he had done all the recordings I had done with Charlie, with the exception of Blues Sonata.” Creed Taylor remembers the technical aspects: “I used a 7 1/2-inch portable Ampex, not even 15 ips. There were two mikes placed on the stage. The church had pretty nice acoustics, good natural reverb. We didn’t add much. Not too much would have been available.”

The session was done in less than three hours, according to Deppenschmidt (four hours according to Taylor)...."

Steve, was The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd also recorded at Pierce Hall?

 

Steve, thanks for the info. Straight from the source!

Enjoy the mastering session!