Original version(s)

• Originally released as "The Stolen Moment" by Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis Big Band, Trane Whistle (Prestige PR 7206, 1960); then by Oliver Nelson, The Blues And The Abstract Truth (Impulse A-5, 1961).

 

FZ album(s) in which song has appeared

• Broadway The Hard Way (CD, 1989), as Stolen Moments, performed in Muskegon, MI, March 1, 1988; Chicago, IL, March 3, 1988
• Broadway The Hard Way (CD, 1989), as last section of Murder By Numbers, performed in Chicago, IL, March 3, 1988

 

Tour(s) on which song is known to have been performed (main source: FZShows, v. 7.1)

• February-March 1988 (North America)—known performances: 7
• April-June 1988 (Europe)—known performances: 3

 

Comments

Foggy G, "The Songs That Were Played," We're Only In It For The Touring

1988: Unlike the BTHW version, the '88 performances of this tune are typically Monster songs. After performing the main theme, the band would typically veer off into improvisational madness, with horn solos, percussion solos, bass solos, and general madness ensuing. It is only during the Chicago 3/3 performance found on BTHW that the post-head activities are limited to one solo.

Marc De Bruyn (emdebe@village.uunet.be)—September 6, 2003

"Stolen Moments" was written by Oliver Nelson (1932-1975), a respected sax player who gradually became sought after as a writer and arranger for many stellar jazz musicians. He wrote, arranged and played with the likes of Eric Dolphy, Louie Jordan, Louie Bellson, Quincy Jones, Jimmy Smith, Wes Montgomery and more.

"Stolen Moments" originally appeared on an 1960 Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (1922-1986) album, but the version that came to be considered the definitive classic one was released in 1961 on "Blues and the Abstract Truth" (an all-star—Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Bill Evans—Impulse session amid a series of recordings made for Prestige; MCA/Impulse MCAD-5659 CD; the album offered some of the most poignant trumpet solos of Freddie Hubbard's career).

"Stolen Moments" was one of the compositions FZ picked out on John McNally's "Castaway's Choice" radio program, broadcast in 1989 on NPR. FZ cited it as one of the few jazz tunes that had appeal for him over the years. He said: "Back in the days when I had recreational listening time these are the things I would actually listen to: Octandre (Edgard Varèse), The Royal March from L'Histoire du Soldat (Igor Stravinsky), The Rite of Spring (Igor Stravinsky), Third Piano Concerto, first movement (Bela Bartok—'I think it is one of the most beautiful melodies ever written'), Stolen Moments (Oliver Nelson), Three Hours Past Midnight (Johnny 'Guitar' Watson), Can I Come Over Tonight? (The Velours), Bagatelles for String Quartet (Anton Webern), Symphony, Opus 21 (Anton Webern), and Piano Concerto in G (Maurice Ravel)."

Also recorded by: Carmen McRae, Kenny Burrell, Phil Woods, Quincy Jones, and Stanley Jordan.