Description
David Samuel Pike (March 23, 1938 – October 3, 2015) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. He appeared on many albums by Nick Brignola, Paul Bley and Kenny Clarke, Bill Evans, and Herbie Mann. He also recorded extensively as leader, including a number of albums on MPS Records.
He learned drums at the age of eight and was self-taught on vibraphone. Pike made his recording debut with the Paul Bley Quartet in 1958. He began putting an amplifier on his vibes, when working with flautist Herbie Mann in the early-1960s. By the late-1960s, Pike's music became more exploratory, contributing a unique voice and new contexts that pushed the envelope in times remembered for their exploratory nature. The Doors of Perception, released in 1970 for the Atlantic Records subsidiary Vortex Records, and produced by former boss Herbie Mann, explored ballads, modal territory, musique concrete, with free and lyrical improvisation, and included musicians including alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, bassist Chuck Israels and pianist Don Friedman.
Pike moved to Europe and signed with MPS Records. With the collaboration of Volker Kriegel, J. A. Rettenbacher, and Peter Baumeister, he formed the Dave Pike Set. The group recorded six records from 1969-1972 that ran the gamut from funky grooves to free, textural territory. The group, though short-lived, created a unique identity and textural palette. Kriegel's compositional and instrumental contributions to the group helped set the Dave Pike Set's sound apart, organically incorporating influences from jazz, soul jazz, psychedelia, avant-garde music, and world music.
He died in Del Mar, California of emphysema, aged 77.
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"Pike's Peak" is the second album by American jazz vibraphonist Dave Pike which was recorded in 1961 for the Epic label.
The Allmusic review called it: "An excellent if generally overlooked straight-ahead set".
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"In a Sentimental Mood" - jazz composition by Duke Ellington. He composed the piece in 1935 and recorded it with his orchestra during the same year. Lyrics were written by Manny Kurtz; Ellington's manager Irving Mills gave himself a percentage of the publishing, so the song was credited to all three. Other popular versions in 1935/36 were by Benny Goodman and by Mills Blue Rhythm Band.
According to Ellington, the song was born in Durham, North Carolina. "We had played a big dance in a tobacco warehouse, and afterwards a friend of mine, an executive in the North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company, threw a party for Amy. I was playing piano when another one of our friends had some trouble with two chicks. To pacify them, I composed this there and then, with one chick standing on each side of the piano." The recording featured solos by Otto Hardwicke, Harry Carney, Lawrence Brown, and Rex Stewart.
Ellington recorded a version with John Coltrane which appears on Duke Ellington and John Coltrane (1963) and Coltrane for Lovers" (2001). The original was recorded in F major, starting on D minor and with the bridge in Db major. But the Ellington and Coltrane version was performed in Bb minor or D-flat major, with an interlude in A major.
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Dave Pike - Pike's Peak (1961).
Tracklist:
1. In a Sentimental Mood (Duke Ellington).
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Personnel:
1. Dave Pike - vibraphone
2. Bill Evans - piano
3. Herbie Lewis - bass
4. Walter Perkins - drums.
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Genre: Jazz/Cool Jazz/Hard Bop
Recorded: New York City; November, 1961 .
Label: Epic – LA 16025
Release: 1962 (US)
Format: LP
Liner Notes – Ira Gitler
Photography By [Cover Photo] – Pete Turner, Chuk Stewart, Willem Schwertmann.
Producer – Mike Berniker.