Deep in the Stacks: Your Daily Jazz LP Podcast
Every day, Danny from Kissa Kissa -- the Japanese-style jazz vinyl bar in Crown Heights, Brooklyn -- pulls one album from the stacks and tells you who made it, why it matters, and what to listen for. Three minutes, one record you need to hear. Calendar-driven picks tied to recording dates and artist birthdays, plus deep cuts from the Kissa Kissa collection.
Deep in the Stacks: Your Daily Jazz LP Podcast
To My Queen — Walt Dickerson (New Jazz, 1962)
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In nineteen sixty two, Downbeat magazine named Walt Dickerson the best new artist in jazz. He was a vibraphonist who played with the intensity of a horn player, long, searching phrases that treated the vibraphone less like a percussion instrument and more like a voice. Then he recorded a 17-minute love letter to his wife and called it To My Queen. This is Deep in the Stacks, today's album To My Queen by Walt Dickerson. Dickerson was born in Philadelphia in 1928, studied at Morgan State University, and served two years in the Army before settling in California. There, he formed a group with pianist Andrew Hill and drummer Andrew Sarrill, two musicians who would each go on to reshape the boundaries of jazz in their own right. By the early 60s, Dickerson had moved to New York and was recording for the prestige family of labels. To My Queen was cut on September 21, 1962 for the new jazz imprint, with that same core trio, Hill and Surreal, plus bassist George Tucker. The album is just four tracks. The title composition runs over 17 minutes and is dedicated to Dickerson's wife, whose portrait appears on the cover. It's one of the most emotionally direct extended performances in the vibraphone repertoire. Dickerson builds slowly, circling melodic ideas before committing to them, while Hill's piano responds with chords that feel both supportive and unpredictable. The rest of the album balances the original material with two standards How Deep is the Ocean and God Bless the Child, plus the quartet original Bacon and Eggs. After this period of concentrated recording, Dickerson stepped away from music almost entirely from 1965 to 1975. When he returned, he picked up with Hill and Sun Ra, but those early new jazz sessions remain his definitive work. Go straight to the title track To My Queen Takes Its Time Unfolding. Dickerson's vibraphone enters with a patience that rewards attention. Listen for how Hill's piano shadows him, sometimes harmonizing, sometimes offering something completely unexpected. For contrast, try God Bless the Child. Dickerson takes a melody everyone knows and makes it feel like you're hearing it for the first time. His tone is diaphanous, but the phrasing has a vocal quality to it. And Surill, who was barely into his twenties at this session, already shows the sensitivity to texture and dynamics that would define his career. This is chamber jazz before anyone was using that term. Four musicians listening as hard as they play. To My Queen by Walt Dickerson, an album built on devotion, both to the music and to the woman who inspired it. I'm Danny from Kissakissa in Brooklyn. Go put on a record. We'll see you tomorrow.