Fraser MacPherson was known as an interpreter of Great American Songbook classics. From The Pen Of features musicians performing his originals. Cellar Music has assembled a cast of all-star musicians from around the globe to play the original compositions of iconic Canadian tenor man Fraser MacPherson. Appearances by the likes of tenor saxophonists Scott Hamilton, Harry Allen and Grant Stewart, along with young up and comers like Jocelyn Gould and Virginia MacDonald, show just how revered MacPherson is.

Fraser MacPherson, composer. Those are words you don’t hear together often. Or ever. My dad (known to all his friends as Fras, which rhymes with jazz) was more of an interpreter of the great American songbook than someone who would pen obtuse jazz originals. If an original was called for, it was usually blues-based with a pretty melody – something steeped in the tradition of the melodies he usually improvised on.

Throughout his 43-year professional career, Fras only wrote about a dozen originals. I always loved these tunes, some of which he had recorded publicly, some of which only aired on a single radio show. Twelve years ago, I heard Joani Taylor sing her own lyrics to someone else’s original, so I approached her after her performance to ask if she’d want to try putting her own spin on one of my dad’s tunes. She was all over it.

Without presuming to tell her which one, I sent her 12 tunes to choose from. Damned if she didn’t do them all! In 2011, she presented them at Cory Weeds’ Cellar Jazz Club. I bootlegged the night with a hand-held mini-recorder so I could continue listening beyond that one night.

She proved that these little ditties could be interpreted just like the classics.

Cut to 2021. Cory Weeds had recently become the president of the Fraser MacPherson Jazz Fund. I had the thought that it would be a fine idea to put out a tribute album with various musicians playing my dad’s tunes. Cory’s a doer, so he jumped right on it, organizing a who’s who of the jazz world to put their spins on these Fraser MacPherson compositions.

Things get off to a fantastic start with the amazing tenorman Scott Hamilton and his international group playing the medium-tempo swinger Night Spot, a tune Fras recorded on his 1990 album Encore. I don’t need to give you Scott’s bona fides because he’s been a major player around the world for decades, but I will offer this interesting factoid. Both he and my dad played a Selmer Super Action tenor from 1952. One night in 1990, when the two were sharing a bill at the Vancouver Playhouse, they noticed that their horns were produced at almost the same time – their five-digit serial numbers were only off by four on the last digit.

Next up is the outlier. Queen’s Pawn (my dad was a big chess fan) is more cerebral than the others – at least until it gets into the blowing after the head. Here, it’s played by clarinetist Virginia MacDonald, a rising star from Toronto. The original composition was a one-timer for the radio back in 1973.

Toronto guitarist Jocelyn Gould takes a vocal turn on a tune my dad called Swing Time, which was retitled by Joani Taylor, who provided the wonderful lyrics, as It’s a Human Race. The original tune was a mid-1960s offering from my dad’s quintet that was played on a couple of radio shows but never recorded.

We turn down the tempo for Rabbit’s Habit, a tune honouring one of my dad’s musical heroes, the lead alto player in Duke Ellington’s band, Johnny Hodges, who was nicknamed Rabbit. (The composition was originally called “Reunion Blues”, but it was renamed for the Encore album.) Here, it’s given a soulful rendition by Vancouver’s Steve Kaldestad.

Up in Steve’s Room, a bouncer from the get-go, is also from his 1990 album Encore. My dad’s quartet had just come off a tour of the former Soviet Union. After every concert, the musicians would congregate in bassist Steve Wallace’s room to drink, tell stories, listen to music and drink some more. The tune is given that fun get-together feel here by Toronto’s Grant Stewart, now based in New York, where this track was recorded.

From the album In the Tradition (1992) comes the tune Why Am I Blue?, played here by clarinetist Evan Arntzen. It’s interesting to note that, in their formative years, bassist John Lee and drummer Morgan Childs, along with Evan, were all recipients of the Fraser MacPherson scholarship. However, pianist Miles Black is the only one in this group to have played with my dad. If you like this tune, check out Cory Weeds’ version of it on his album Just Coolin’ under the alternate title my dad gave it: “Night Walk”.

Another outlier next: the only one in 3/4 time. Waltz for Willi was named for Vancouver promoter Willi Germann, who was responsible for the famed Planetarium concert in 1975. My dad’s original trio, featuring Oliver Gannon and Wyatt Ruther, recorded it for a CBC album that never saw the light of day. Here, it’s given a beautiful treatment by American tenor player Harry Allen and his own similar trio, with Australian Dave Blenkhorn on guitar and New York’s Mike Karn on bass.

Our Blues, written in the early 1960s and eventually released on the posthumous album Our Blues, features Ryan Oliver, another Fraser MacPherson scholarship winner. Ryan’s band is made up of heavyweights Bernie Senensky, Neil Swainson and Terry Clarke. Terry[PQ1] , who played with my dad throughout the decades, told me, “Our track just burned. We just did one take and it was hot from the get-go. It's a great take.” I think you’ll agree.

Next up is a tune my dad originally called “Seven Mile Beach”, written in the 1960s after a trip to the Cayman Islands. Joani Taylor has recontextualized it as For Your Love, but you still get that lazy-afternoon-by-the-seaside feel from it.

Ol’ Bill’s Blues is the only track that features a musician who was featured on the original recording. Guitarist Oliver Gannon was my dad’s right-hand man for over 20 years and was on the 1992 album In the Tradition. Here, he starts things off with the Cory Weeds group. The Ol’ Bill in question is logger Bill Moore, who produced that album for Concord and organized the Winter Harbour Music Festival. Fun fact: Cory plays my dad’s old tenor here.

We close out the proceedings with the first-ever recipient of the Fraser MacPherson scholarship back in 1995: James Danderfer. The tune is Theme, another one from the early 60s that came out on the Our Blues album. Here, James plays bass clarinet and is joined by Phil Dwyer on piano and Steve Wallace himself (see Up in Steve’s Room).

I’m thrilled with the way this album turned out. Kudos to the 41 musicians who so artfully took my dad’s music and made it their own, all while maintaining that all-important swing. And, of course, kudos to Cory Weeds for putting this all together so seamlessly.

Guy MacPherson
April 2022
Vancouver, BC