RIP Frank, as well as the other giants in this video from the Basie band. I'm so honored to have played w/Frank Wess, Frank Foster, Grover Mitchell, Snookie Young, and some of the others. You guys will live on for all of us in our daily thoughts and lives.
I met Frank Wess during the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival. He was a wonderful man and musician. There's nothing as beautiful and swinging as a flute, especially played by a artist such as the iconic Frank Wess! He graciously agreed to do a voice-over ID for my Artistry in Jazz radio program. He is truly missed...
Hearing Frank Wess playing flute with the Basie Orchestra in London around 1960 was what made me want to learn music and play the flute. It has given me so much pleasure over the years since....Thanks Frank!
Gorgeous. Goosebumps. I met Frank Wess at the Village Vanguard many years ago when he performed with Sir Roland Hanna in the New York Jazz Quartet. What a delightful evening. A wonderful man whose memory I will always cherish. Charles Skeete, Canada
First saw Basie live in Carnegie Hall in early 1970s at 19 or 20. Wess may have been there. Listened to recordings of him with Basie, and later on his own. One of my favorite all time musicians. Would have loved to shake his hand and thank him, like I was lucky to do with Basie. RIP.
Frank was a pioneer on Jazz flute............he truly understood how to make the most of an under appreciated instrument....Wess, Mann and Moody paved the way for other more well known Flutists........I love and appreciate his playing....has been and always be an inspiration to me.
When I was about 15 I found an album called BAGS AND FLUTES with Milt and Frank Wess and I can still hear their magnificent version of SWEET AND LOVELY. I met Frank once at the Blue Note when he came to Jackie McLean's dressing room between sets with Johnny Griffin in 1998. He was a gracious and kindly soul and the three of us sat as I listened to the two masters relate tales of laughter and love.
I was driving when this tune came over WDCB awhile back...I was indeed captivated by the flutist approach of the composition...Mr. Wess did a beautiful rendition of the song no doubt...peace
Many in that band were like Frank Wess, Basie veterans. Nothing like a big band that can swing, play the blues, and do a ballad like this. I wish I met this guy, just to shake his hand. What music!
Rest in Music....dear Frank ! Lovely memory: he visited me & I played some Mozart for him. He gave me a recording inscribed : "I like your piano !" ( maybe he just meant my old Steinway ) Lol.
The other wonderful Frank in the great swinging Basie Band of the 50's and 60's saxaphone section has left the stage. Frank Wess has passed away just yesterday and with Mr.Foster, gave us beatiful music
What a beautifully expressive tone Mr. Weiss has--melancholy and joyful at the same time. His work with jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby on Hip Harp is also great. Give it a listen.
I was introduced to the artistry of Frank Wess via the Count Basie Orchestra. This is fine art. Thank you for posting this and thank you Frand and the Count.
I was just beginning to collect Jazz when I heard this composition on WBEZ ... the Dick Buckley show...and the rest is history... I bought the ablum..and needless to say...what an album!..peace
I would be remiss if I did not add that it was because of Frank Wess, along with Hubert Laws, that the flute became my favorite jazz instrument. Charles Skeete, Canada
Having played the flute for many years, at a far, far less superior level, I can tell you, his playing is phenomenal and what he does is not easy. The flute is a weird instrument. It can go wonky on you at the weirdest times. Plus it does take time to warm the flute up and get the embouchure right, which is why at the very beginning he sounds kind of "breathy".
Dear Sir- I was lucky enough to meet Frank at the 92nd Street Y when he wa playing with Dick Hyman and his crew a few years back- with Eddie Locke on traps and Wycliffe Gordon on Bone... :) My mom and I have been making documentary films since the 80s, including the A&E Biographies of Jerry Lewis and The Rat Pack- this is her first, while I was at Reed College... the live performance is at the old West End across the street from Columbia U on Bway in NYC... hope that you enjoy it... love to you and yours! Luke Sacher JOE ALBANY... A JAZZ LIFE 1980 Complete 60 min. Feature Documentary Film
P.S. He also takes solos on three Basie cuts from the Complete Roulette Studio Recordings, 1958: Meet B.B., A Square at the Roundtable, and Jessica's Day.
I make keyless scale flutes for fun...it's helping me understand the flute alot more and it's bringing me closer to buy one of these beautiful creations.. it's the money to buy these and passion I think will take you this far...drone meditations... 2 5 1 jams.. learning the standards and just being sure not to literally fall in love with just one song at a time...
Sensitivity pure. His sound would have even been better if they had given him a microphone like most of the other guys had. Which looked like a Neumann, usually used for vocal recording. (Profi flutist)
Thanks again for posting this timeless work of flautic mastery. I can't get enough of this. Do you 'Sitting On The Dock OF The Bay' by Frank. I have been trying to obtain this from his Flute-A-The Loom LP.Can you help?
