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Tadd Dameron Birthday Celebration at Smoke

By Nick Catalano
March 3, 2012
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Tadd Dameron was born on Feb. 21 in 1917, and for the past few years, Smoke has celebrated his birthday over President's weekend. This year the tribute featured tenor saxophonists

George Coleman

saxophone, tenor
b.1935

" data-original-title="" title="">George Coleman and

Eric Alexander

saxophone, tenor
b.1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Eric Alexander on alternating nights, with a rhythm section of drummer

Joe Farnsworth

drums
b.1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Farnsworth, bassist

John Webber

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">John Webber and pianist

Richard Wyands

piano
b.1928

" data-original-title="" title="">Richard Wyands.

Tadley Ewing Peake Dameron hailed from Cleveland and began his arranging work with swing bands, writing for

Harlan Leonard

clarinet
1905 - 1983

" data-original-title="" title="">Harlan Leonard,

Jimmie Lunceford

composer / conductor
1902 - 1947

" data-original-title="" title="">Jimmie Lunceford,

Coleman Hawkins

saxophone, tenor
1904 - 1969

" data-original-title="" title="">Coleman Hawkins,

Count Basie

piano
1904 - 1984

" data-original-title="" title="">Count Basie and

" data-original-title="" title="">Artie Shaw. Very little of this swing writing has survived in present-day retrospectives—a glaring omission, given his later popularity. In the early '40s, he became enamored with bebop and began gigging in New York leading groups as a pianist. At various times such bebop stalwarts as

Fats Navarro

trumpet
1923 - 1950

" data-original-title="" title="">Fats Navarro,

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis,

Sonny Rollins

saxophone
b.1930

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Rollins,

Dexter Gordon

saxophone, tenor
1923 - 1990

" data-original-title="" title="">Dexter Gordon and

Wardell Gray

saxophone, tenor
1921 - 1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Wardell Gray performed in his groups. His bebop writing was much in-demand and appeared in arrangements for the pioneering

Billy Eckstine

vocals
1914 - 1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Billy Eckstine and

Dizzy Gillespie

trumpet
1917 - 1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Dizzy Gillespie bop orchestras. His signature song "If You Could See Me Now" was written for

Sarah Vaughan

vocals
1924 - 1990

" data-original-title="" title="">Sarah Vaughan later in the decade and in 1948 his orchestral piece "Soulphony" was world-premiered at Carnegie Hall by Gilespie's band.

Dameron's writing has endeared itself to many performers in the post-bop era and the celebration at Smoke drew guests such as drummer

Jimmy Cobb

drums
1929 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">Jimmy Cobb, all eager to join the party. On the other hand perfunctory analysis of his work has led to some critical misconceptions—that he failed to sufficiently incorporate bop rhythms and other stylistic devices. Revisionist critical commentary of Dameron's contribution is much needed and that is bound to come because of tributes like the one at Smoke.

On the night I attended I had to catch the last of three sets and, by that time, most of the Dameron standards had already been performed. Actually, only one of his compositions, "Ladybird," was left, but Webber dazzled the late nighters on this tune with some interesting intervallic leaps. Dameron's melodies often transcend octaves, making them difficult for singers—which may be the reason vocal recordings of his songs are relatively rare. But knowledgeable instrumentalists find the heads fodder for exploratory improvisations.

Dameron's groups in the early '50s often featured trumpeter

Clifford Brown

trumpet
b.1930

" data-original-title="" title="">Clifford Brown, who continually performed and recorded Dameron tunes like "The Scene is Clean" throughout his career. After years of drug abuse, which included a two-year prison sentence, Dameron passed away in 1961 at age 48 but his music has never been forgotten thanks to many tributes such as the annual birthday celebration at Smoke.

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