Five-Star Collection... Bill Holman

Bill Holman

Big Band In A Jazz Orbit

Bill Holman's compositions and arrangements are both experimental and basic at the same time; they never for one moment cease swinging, and yet their rhythmic complexities are brilliant. His harmonic sense is quite daring at times, and still his changes are comfortable and logical to play on. All his pieces have form and definite orderliness; they have strength and an underlying feeling of "There's something left in reserve, this isn't the climax yet". His voices are for the most part linear and his sections play a good deal in unison; however, the interweaving of the lines is so assured and musically sophisticated as to create a bigger harmonic sound than the thickest of chordal arranging. He builds his arrangements carefully and soundly and rarely succumbs to the screaming flag-waver ending so popular with many big bands. He has limited himself to the orthodox jazz instrumentation; trumpets, trombones, saxes and rhythm, but his knowledge of their possibilities is enormous. Being a highly talented instrumentalist himself, his arrangements are relatively easy to play. Everything lies well in the horns, a fact for which Bill is looked upon with gratitude by the playing musicians. He is very fond of the use of canonic imitation in his writing, and uses it to great advantage throughout this album. From a composer-arranger's point of view, he has already arrived at an enviable position: namely that his style is totally distinctive, recognizable, and personal; it is possible to say "That's Bill Holman" after listening to 8 bars of his music, and that is a very major accomplishment for a creative musician.

Bill Holman most assuredly is a first-rate saxophonist, but this true instrument is the orchestra, and he plays it with musicianship, honesty and brilliance. *André Previn (from the liner notes)*

While this, the second Holman big band set to be released in a year, lacks the compositional stature lent the first LP by his monumental work, The Big Street, it stands as an excellent album of modern big band jazz writing.

Thanks to the powerful rhythm section and the well-drilled ensemble, there is no dearth of rhythmic excitement. But the essence of musical interest lies in the imaginative quality of Holman's writing. One particularly interesting aspect of this set is the obvious Ellington-Strayhorn influence in certain portions of the ensemble work. This is evident — to this reviewer, anyway — in the saxes on No Heat and the massed brass effects on Kissin' Bug. It must be stressed, however, that these voicings are used not in imitation, but rather for effect where the overall character of the arrangement demanded them.

The composer ranges from utilizing an almost small band effect (on The Man I Love) to sheer powerhouse ensemble sound (as on Aura, for example) . Yet, for all the complexity of the arrangements, there is ample room for solo blowing and the various horn men use it well. Fontana solos only twice in the entire album, on The Man I Love and After You've Gone. Sheldon plays all the jazz trumpet, from fast glittering open horn lines to moody, muted statements blown right into the mike in the Davis manner. Holman has most of the tenor solos, although Kamuca is heard in relaxed statements on The Man I Love and Aura.

Space does not permit extended discussion of the playing of all soloists, unfortunately, but there is very little disappointment in the individual performances.

It is becoming increasingly evident to these ears that Holman and Gil Evans now emerge as the only two arranger-composers to come to prominence in recent years who have reached a point of maturity wherein their work is so completely individual that it becomes immediately recognizable. Each speaks with his own voice and, as the music on this album attests, Holman’s is eloquent indeed. Highly recommended. Also available on stereodisc.

*John A. Tynan (Down Beat, March 19, 1959 [5 stars])*

1 - Kissin' Bug

(Billy Strayhorn, Rex Stewart, Joya Sherrill)

2 - The Man I Love

(George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)

3 - Goodbye

(Gordon Jenkins)

4 - You Go To My Head

(Jay Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie)

5 - After You've Gone

(Henry Creamer, Turner Layton)

6 - Far Down Below

(Bill Holman)

7 - No Heat

(Bill Holman)

8 - Theme & Variations #2

(Bill Holman)

9 - Aura

(Bill Holman)

Conte Candoli, Ed Leddy, Al Porcino,

Jack Sheldon [replaced by Stu Williamson on #3, #4, #9] (trumpets);

Carl Fontana, Frank Rosolino, Ray Sims (trombones); Herb Geller, Charlie Mariano (alto saxes);

Bill Holman (tenor sax); Richie Kamuca, Charlie Kennedy (tenor saxes);

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California,

February 11(#1, #2, #6), 12 (#5, #7, #8) and 13 (#3, #4, #9) 1958.

Five-Star Collection... Stan Getz / Bob Brookmeyer

Stan Getz And Bob Brookmeyer

Recorded Fall 1961

Despite what you read in liner notes, an appalling percentage of jazz albums lose their allure over the years. I think particularly of that period in the mid-1950s when the monthly streams (main and others) of jazz releases first began to overflow. Many of the sets issued during those years have become as inactive on most turntables as Paul Whiteman sides without Bix. Yet a few albums of the time have proved durable, and among them were the Verve colloquies between Stan Getz and Bob Brookmeyer. The reason they lasted is that both these jazzmen had already established substantial personal styles that did not feed on fads (cool or funky) and besides, they completed each other so naturally that whole performances resulted, not fragmentary strings of solos.

The first meeting between Getz and Brookmeyer since that period took place in September 1961, while Getz was back in this country to refuel himself through stimulation from American jazzmen. (And also make some money). Since 1958, Getz has been an expatriate in Copenhagen, and while his recordings in Europe have been consistently interesting, they often lacked the level of mutual interaction between Getz and the local sideman that ignites the best of home-brewed recordings. (If this be chauvinism, ask American jazzmen about their experiences with most European rhythm sections).

The lapse of years and distance have not flawed the musical communion between Getz and Brookmeyer, as is evident from the first track on. They interweave lines and fuse rhythmically as if they'd been playing together steadily for a long time. Both, moreover, have a rare capacity for fresh, uncluttered, melodic imagination that is a refreshing relief from dates on which the players beguile themselves — but not always the listener — by the speed with which they can conjugate chord changes. The opener itself was written by Brookmeyer a month or so before the session, and as the title indicates, represents his quixotic conception of what a contemporary, jazz-limned minuet can sound like.

(...)

The rhythm section is one that Getz chose for his club dates on his return to America. John Neves has long been known to musicians who visited Boston in recent years and for a time was an important part of the Herb Pomeroy band there. Steve Kuhn, who also first established a reputation in that area, is an uncommonly imaginative pianist with formidable technique. In the past year, Kuhn has become even more effective as he's learned how to edit his abundance of ideas. Roy Haynes may well be the most taken-for-granted major drummer in jazz. He also been so reliable and resourceful for so long that he doesn't get nearly the degree of attention he merits.

The quintet blends well together, all the more so since each of the five has enough confidence in his own musical way to relax enough to listen to the others. From this kind of shared attitude records are produced that can be replayed long after the polls have changed and rechanged.

*Nat Hentoff (from the liner notes)*

This marks two events, the first recording by Getz since his return to the United States; a reunion with Brookmeyer, his partner of the mid-'50s.

The simultaneous happenings are cause for celebration. Getz and Brookmeyer are mature players, and everything they do on this record is in perfect balance insofar as ingredients required for one style of complete jazz performance are concerned.

The group, exclusive of Brookmeyer, is the one Getz has toured with since spring, 1961. Kuhn is a young pianist who has shown a liking for Bill Evans. He manifests this in several places here but also exhibits things of his own. He fits well in a subtle but driving (when it has to) rhythm section, completed by the strong Neves and the impeccable Haynes.

The three Brookmeyer originals are delightful: Minuet has as infectious a line as I’ve heard in a while, Who Could Care? is a lovely ballad. Thump is an equally engaging composition.

The other material is complementary. Berkeley Square is a beautiful ballad that has not been recorded into the ground, and Buck Clayton's Love Jumped Out is an old Basie feature that has only been done once since the 1930s (Paul Quinichette with a Basie alumni group in the '50s). It also has been some time since we've heard Nice Work. When it's played like this, however, you can enjoy it even if you had just heard several other versions.

There are many good things to be said about the individual merits of Getz and Brookmeyer, but the most important factor in the success of this set is the ease with which these men communicate their thoughts and feelings to the audience. It seems to flow out and by the same token, right in.

*Ira Gitler (Down Beat, February 15, 1962 [5 stars])*

1 - Minuet Circa '61

(Bob Brookmeyer)

2 - Who Could Care

(Bob Brookmeyer)

3 - Nice Work If You Can Get It

(George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)

4 - Thump, Thump, Thump

(Bob Brookmeyer)

5 - A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square

(Manning Sherwin, Eric Maschwitz)

6 - Love Jumped Out

(Buck Clayton)

Stan Getz (tenor sax), Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone),

Steve Kuhn (piano), John Neves (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded at Nola Recording Studio, New York City, September 12 and 13, 1961

Five-Star Collection... Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Blue Moods

There was a boy... somehow strange and enchanted, perhaps... but a natural, not a nature boy. This one grew and learned, among other things, not to whistle at the lovely lady of a cigar-smoking citizen of Mississippi. Which made it possible for him to grow enough to read news service reports about what happens to that kind of boy. It made possible, too, some disenchanted wanderings, with horns often not his own; wanderings along a series of personal precipices where nostrils may ache from the sheer agony of breathing.

If there is dignity and artistry in such a boy, he will record such a life with gaunt gestures, or as an anointed conscience, or as the inveterate cynic, or, or... there are some few, even, who merely reflect, neither urging nor decrying. Miles, it seems to me, is one of these latter. His the almost fragile, though never effeminate, tracing of a story line which is somewhat above and beyond him, of almost-blown-aside, pensive fragments which are always persuasively coherent.

His are moods, blue ones if we can allow for a programatic spectrum. Not the kind of blue that happens on Mondays those lastNIGHTWASanight, now-it's-five-days-till-Friday kind of blues. More like Sunday blue; nothing to do in the morning, no family dinner, only a movie in the afternoon and a gig at night kind of blues. That's what Miles says to me anyway, says it in particular and at length in the course of this LP, says it, too, in as moving a way as it can be said.

(...)

All those moods, present and to be accounted for in the music on this LP. For example, you don't hear it here, but on one take Miles wandered so far afield that he was completely lost. But he made no mention of it, not even a request for another take, although, fortunately, another was made, almost as if he really didn't care, was above caring, whether anyone had discovered the error.

And the tunes: "Nature Boy", and where was I; "Alone Together", oh there I am; "There's No You", there never was; and "Easy Living", maybe, but I haven't seen it. All cut of the same cloth. Again, moods. Again, blue.

From this, and the sensitivity of each musician to the others, comes a clarity of expression which makes annotation superfluous, perhaps, even presumptuous. But there are these things which occurred to me, which may make this seemingly strange sales-talk more persuasive. (Sales-talk it is, too, for I am moved enough by this poignant side of jazz to boost its circulation.)

(...)

Through it all, none of the musicians show Miles' finality of mood, but they do perfectly match him as if they shared the same secret, each one adding, as is natural, his own interpretation, and, in the case of Teddy and Mingus, his own answer to that secret. In that very special way it is Miles’ album in the same way that a wedding always belongs to the bride no matter what entertainment is presented at the reception.

These are reflections about a life in which we are all shareholders.

*Bill Coss (from the liner notes)*

Note: The spelling "programatic" appears in the original liner notes and is most likely a typographical error for "programmatic". It is reproduced here as part of the original text.

The album is called Blue Moods and the title is exact. Miles is backed with taste and intelligence by Charlie Mingus, Teddy Charles, Britt Woodman, and drummer Elvin Jones. Everyone falls sensitively into the reflective twilight scene, and everyone plays excellently. Miles has the major share of solo space and demonstrates again how lyrically he excels in this kind of context. Mingus is characteristically strong and penetratingly imaginative in both solo and section. Britt has only one solo (There's No You). It's a good one, and he should have had more. All the spare, well-knit arrangements (except for Mingus' equally capable one of Alone Together) are by Teddy Charles. *Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, December 14, 1955 [5 stars])*

1 - Nature Boy

(Eden Ahbez)

2 - Alone Together

(Dietz, Schwartz)

3 - There’s No You

(Adair, Hopper)

4 - Easy Living

(Rainger, Robin)

Miles Davis (trumpet), Britt Woodman (trombone),

Charles Mingus (bass), Teddy Charles (vibes), Elvin Jones (drums).

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, July 9, 1955

Five-Star Collection... Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane

Certain combinations of men have been leaving indelible marks on the music called jazz since its beginning. Some formed a lifetime association; others were together only for a brief period. Some actively shaped the course of jazz; others affected it more osmotically. All have had one thing in common; they produced music of lasting value.

One historic teaming was that of Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane at New York's Five Spot Cafe, beginning in the summer of 1957. Although the group remained together for only a half-year, those of us who heard it will never forget the experience. There were some weeks when I was at the Five Spot two and three times, staying most of the night even when I intended just to catch a set or two. The music was simultaneously kinetic and hypnotic. J.J. Johnson has compared it to the mid-Forties union of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. "Since Charlie Parker, the most electrifying sound that I've heard in contemporary jazz was Coltrane playing with Monk at the Five Spot. … It was incredible, like Diz and Bird", Jay said.

Monk and Coltrane complemented each other perfectly. The results of this successful musical alliance were beneficial to both. In this setting, Monk began to receive the brunt of a long-overdue recognition. On the other hand, Coltrane's talent, set in such a fertile environment, bloomed like a hibiscus. 'Trane's comments in a Down Beat article (September 29, 1960), clearly describe how he reveres Monk. "Working with Monk brought me close to a musical architect of the highest order. I felt I learned from him in every way — through the senses, theoretically, technically. I would talk to Monk about musical problems and he would sit at the piano and show me the answers by playing them. I could watch him play and find out the things I wanted to know. Also, I could see a lot of things that I didn't know about at all", he stated.

Later in the piece, 'Trane added: "I think Monk is one of the true greats of all time. He's a real musical thinker — there're not many like him. I feel myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with him. If a guy needs a little spark, a boost, he can just be around Monk, and Monk will give it to him".

Monk certainly brought 'Trane out beautifully. It was in this period that John began to experiment with what at the time I called "sheets of sound". Actually, he was thinking in groups of notes rather than one note at a time. Monk's practice of "laying out" allowed 'Trane to "stroll" against the pulse of bass and drums and really develop this playing attitude on his own. 

(...)

To round out the album, three alternate masters from previously released Monk sessions are included. Off Minor and Epistrophy were heard on "Monk’s Music" (Riverside RLP 242). It is stimulating to compare the different versions and how the solos vary and coincide from take to take. Off Minor has solos by Hawkins, Copeland and Monk, but the bits by Ware and Blakey are not as developed as on the original issue. Epistrophy, in the original version, featured all the horns of the septet and Monk. Here, only Coltrane and Copeland are heard in solo.

The first Functional is on "Thelonious Himself" (Riverside RLP 235). This version is as different in individual idea and, at the same time close in spirit to the other, as two takes can be. It almost deserves a title of its own. I only wish I had two turntables. I think the two Functionals might make a wild duet for four Monk hands.

But, as intriguing as these alternate masters are, the main attraction here is the unearthing of the quartet tracks. These are milestones in jazz history and important to every serious listener.

Steve Lacy, the soprano saxophonist who worked with Monk for 16 weeks in 1960, has said of Monk's music: "Monk has got his own poetry and you've got to get the fragrance of it".

It is obvious that in 1957, Coltrane was doing some deep breathing.

*Ira Gitler (from the liner notes)*

To spell out the contents for a bit, Functional is a remarkable, unaccompanied piano solo. It is an alternate version to the one included on Thelonious Himself (Riverside 235) and so different from the original that I think it should have been given a different title.

Off Minor and Epistrophy are alternate and briefer versions from the septet date that produced Monk's Music (Riverside 242). The former has very good solos by Hawkins, Copeland, and Monk, the latter solos by Coltrane and Copeland.

Nutty, Ruby, and Trinkle are by Monk. Coltrane, Ware, and Wilson — the quartet that had an almost legendary stay at the Five Spot in New York during the summer of 1957, a prelude to Monk’s rediscovery as a major jazzman and to his current popularity and surely one of the most important (and exhilarating) events in jazz in recent years.

These three selections were recorded and the tapes were labeled "for posterity" and set aside until contractual conflicts had been resolved, permitting their release now. They are strong experiences, and if they are not as good as the performances one heard those summer nights at the Five Spot, they are nevertheless exceptional jazz.

Each member of that quartet played with great enthusiasm and at the peak of his own abilities, and through Monk's music each man was discovering and expanding his potential almost nightly.

Monk and Coltrane had exceptional emotional rapport. Technically, on the other hand, they were superb contrasts. Coltrane's techniques are obvious, Monk's more subtle. At the same time that Coltrane, with his showers of notes and his "sheets of sound", seemed to want to shatter jazz rhythms into an evenly spaced and constant array of short notes, Monk seemed to want to break them up subtly and phrase with a new freedom. Monk is a melodist: his playing is linear and horizontal. Coltrane is an arpeggio player; his approach is vertical. He is a kind of latter-day Coleman Hawkins.

But even Coltrane's earlier solo on Epistrophy shows that he found enormous harmonic stimulation in Monk's music — he seemed to know not only where Monk was but where he was headed, as very few players did. But again, as the quartet tracks show (particularly Ruby, Coltrane also knew that Monk's melodies are very strong and important and that it isn’t enough merely to run their changes. Over and over again here, Monk's materials discipline Coltrane and order his explorations in a way that no material he has since dealt with seems to have done.

Ware is, like Monk, a melodist, and he also finds surprise twists even in the most traditional approach. Wilson, whose early work had the smooth evenness of a Jo Jones, responds to Monk's hints with enthusiastic and appropriate polyrhythmic patterns.

Monk also got a remarkable variety of textures from this group — by playing with Coltrane, by playing contrapuntally against Coltrane, by laying out and leaving Coltrane to Ware and Wilson, sometimes predominately to one of them, sometimes to both equally.

Some details: On Nutty, after Coltrane has strayed further and further into elaborate harmonic implications of the piece, Monk enters for his solo with, as usual, a simple and eloquent re-establishment of the theme in paraphrase. He does the same on Trinkle, with an even more subtle recasting of that intricate melody.

Ruby is a knowingly embellished version of a lovely piece. The end of Coltrane's opening solo has a particularly beautiful (and Monkish) effect of suspension, and Monk's decision to begin his solo with lightly implied double-timing was a near master-stroke of meaningful contrast.

The best quartet performance is Trinkle. The one flaw is that the line itself, unlike most of Monk's melodies, is a bit pianistic in conception to be fully effective on saxophone. But the spontaneous interplay between Monk and Coltrane in Trinkle is quite wonderful, as is Monk's intuitive logic in knowing just when to stop it and let Coltrane stroll along against Ware and Wilson. Ware's solo is good (and I'm afraid makes one long for those evenings when he would spin several effortless choruses in each piece).

As I said, this solo Functional is quite different from the previous version. On the earlier releases, Monk manages to play variations on one of the simplest and most percussive of all blues phrases in a nine-minute tour de force of cohesive imaginative invention. Here we hear nearly 10 minutes of Monk playing the blues in a dramatic yet lyric curve of melody.

Other delights: the interplay of Ware behind Monk on Off Minor. Copeland's solo on the same piece; in his way he knows the relationship of parts of Monk's music, of melody to harmony, as well as Coltrane does.

Nostalgia can corrupt memory, of course, but even allowing for that, I don't think these quartet performances are up to the level one heard at the Five Spot from this group. However, Trinkle very nearly is. The other two are fine performances. I think that in this way Epistrophy is excellent, too. And Functional is a near masterpiece.

*Martin Williams (Down Beat, December 21, 1961 [5 stars]*

Note: Although the Original Jazz Classics CD edition cites a four-star Down Beat rating, no contemporary issue of the magazine appears to support that figure. The original Down Beat review published on December 21, 1961 awarded the album five stars, and no earlier four-star review has been documented. The discrepancy likely stems from a later typographical error rather than from the original magazine review.

1 - Ruby, My Dear

(Thelonious Monk)

2 - Trinkle, Tinkle

(Thelonious Monk)

3 - Off Minor (alternate master)

(Thelonious Monk)

4 - Nutty

(Thelonious Monk)

5 - Epistrophy (alternate master)

(Kenny Clarke, Thelonious Monk)

6 - Functional (solo piano, alternate master)

(Thelonious Monk)

Thelonious Monk (piano); John Coltrane (tenor sax); Ray Copeland (trumpet [#3, #4]);

Gigi Gryce (alto sax [#3, #4]); Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax [#3, #4]);

Wilbur Ware (bass); Shadow Wilson [#1, #2, #4]), Art Blakey [#3, #5] (drums).

Recorded at Reeves Sound Studios, New York City,

April 12 (#6), June 26 (#3, #4) and circa July (#1, #2, #4), 1957

Five-Star Collection... Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker

Charlie Parker Memorial • Vol.1

CHARLIE PARKER was born in Kansas City, August 29, 1920. He played baritone saxophone in his school band and accumulated his experience with the orchestras of Lawrence Keyes and Harlan Leonard. In 1937 he joined Jay McShann with whom he came to New York in 1942. "BIRD" left McShann to work with Kenny Clarke and Thelonious Monk at Minton's and Clark's Uptown House. Soon after he blew with Noble Sissle for about a year and then he joined the Earl Hines Orchestra which featured Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Harris and Billy Eckstine. In 1944 he joined the fine Billy Eckstine Band and, at this time, he cut his first session which, we are proud to say, is on Savoy records.

One of the greatest chapters in Jazz came to a close on Saturday, March 12, 1955 when CHARLIE PARKER passed away, stricken with bronchial pneumonia and a greater blow to Jazz was never dealt. We in Jazz will never forget the "BIRD" and because we feel that you, the Jazz audience, may not have had the opportunity to know the "BIRD" as well as you would have liked to, we are releasing all of his unreleased versions of his most famous compositions.

Along with these new versions and short takes, we include some of the original masters to try to give you a more complete musical description of CHARLIE PARKER's recording sessions and also to give you a greater insight of his work. Also heard herein is some conversation between CHARLIE PARKER and the other musicians on the dates, which is added because we are sure you will find it as interesting as we do. *Ozzie Cadena (from the liner notes)*

This is the first of the Savoy 12" Memorial LPs. Included are several previously unreleased takes, as well as several (often more than one to a number) short takes. The comparisons are illuminating insights into the processes of improvised creation. Ozzie Cadena has clearly listed the nature of each take as well as complete personnel. Rudy Van Gelder has done a first-rate remastering job, and while this is not a hi-fi recording, as the envelope states, it's often a considerable improvement over the originals and the sound is quite clear.

Among the musicians present are Miles Davis, Duke Jordan, Tommy Potter, Max Roach, John Lewis, Curly Russell, and Bud Powell. These are taken from Bird's 1944-1948 sessions for the label, a period that saw Bird's influence on modern jazz begin to take hold firmly throughout the country and world. These records were some of the vital messengers of the new era, and they rank in musical and historical importance with the Louis Armstrong Hot Fives 20 years before.

*Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, June 1, 1955 [5 stars])*

1 - Another Hair Do (short take 1)

2 - Another Hair Do (short take 2)

3 - Another Hair Do (original take 3)

4 - Bluebird (new take 1)

5 - Bird Gets The Worm (new take 1)

6 - Barbados (new take 1)

7 - Constellation (short take 2)

8 - Constellation (new take 1)

9 - Parker's Mood (new take 1)

10 - Ah Leu Cha (short take 1)

11 - Ah Leu Cha (original take 2)

12 - Perhaps (short take 4)

13 - Perhaps (new take 5)

14 - Perhaps (original take 6)

15 - Marmaduke (short take 1)

16 - Marmaduke (new take 2)

17 - Steeplechase (original take 1)

18 - Merry Go Round (new take 1)

19 - Buzzy (short take 4)

20 - Buzzy (original take 5)

(All compositions by Charlie Parker)

Charlie Parker (alto sax) with:

#1 to #5:

Miles Davis (trumpet), Duke Jordan (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), Max Roach (drums).

Recorded at United Sound Studios, Detroit, Michigan, December 21, 1947

#6 to #18:

Miles Davis (trumpet), John Lewis (piano), Curly Russell (bass), Max Roach (drums).

Recorded at Harry Smith Studios, New York City,

September 18 (#6 to #11) and September 24 (#12 to #18), 1948

#19 and #20:

Miles Davis (trumpet), Bud Powell (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), Max Roach (drums).

Recorded at Harry Smith Studios, New York City, May 8, 1947

Five-Star Collection... Bud Powell

 ...and here we go again

At the end of last year, the story was deliberately left with The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 1 — the first five-star album in Down Beat’s modern jazz reviews. It was a natural place to pause, with a promise implied rather than stated: the sequence would resume where it inevitably led. Returning now, Outlet Jazz picks up exactly at that point, with The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2, an album that also received the magazine’s highest rating and confirmed that the earlier accolade had been no isolated judgment.

The fact that Bud Powell was the first musician to achieve the highest rating was no small detail.His emergence as a modern pianist — capable of reshaping the bebop language from the keyboard — marked a clear before and after for critics and musicians alike. That initial five-star rating did more than celebrate virtuosity; it acknowledged, in real time, the arrival of a defining voice in mid-twentieth-century jazz.

Between 1949 and 1955, Bud Powell recorded three albums that not only defined his career but also shaped the course of modern jazz piano: The Amazing Bud Powell and The Artistry of Bud Powell. The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1 (Blue Note, 1949–51) and The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2 (Blue Note, 1953) document, with remarkable clarity, the evolution of an artist who brought the language of bebop to the keyboard with unprecedented precision and intensity. The first, recorded for Alfred Lion with musicians such as Fats Navarro, Sonny Rollins, and Max Roach, displays Powell’s genius in trio, quintet, and solo formats, establishing a model that would influence an entire generation. The second volume, more introspective and focused, reveals a less explosive but more refined Powell, asserting his voice amid the personal difficulties already beginning to surround him.

Finally, The Artistry of Bud Powell (Norgran, 1954), produced by Norman Granz, offers a different perspective on the pianist. Recorded in a more controlled setting and with a polished sound, it finds Powell joined by George Duvivier, Percy Heath, and Art Taylor, revisiting standards and original compositions with a serenity that contrasts with the urgency of his Blue Note sessions. Heard together, these recordings trace Bud Powell’s creative summit: the passage from the fire of bebop to a more contained — yet no less intense — maturity, and the sound world of one of the most decisive artists of the twentieth century.

When Down Beat reviewed The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2, it did more than close the chapter opened by the first volume. The magazine used the occasion to place Powell’s recent work in a broader context, bringing The Artistry of Bud Powell into the same critical frame. Following that logic, Outlet Jazz resumes its work by addressing both albums together.

Here is how Down Beat reviewed the two albums that concern us today — The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2 and The Artistry of Bud Powell:

Two absorbing journeys (recorded this June) into the musically astonishing and troubled mind of Bud Powell. The first, made for Norman Granz, has Arthur Taylor on drums with George Duvivier and Percy Heath splitting the bass assignment. On the five standards, Bud is in an unusually gentle, reflectively passionate mood. Buttercup is a characteristically angular, intensely rhythmic original that is almost sunny in its casualness. Fantasy is more angular, more intense. (Norgran LP MG N-23)

The Blue Note program is more diversified. On this set, issued by Alfred Lion with the permission of Norman Granz, Bud was backed in August, 1953, by Taylor and the amazing Duvivier (amazing not only in his too long underrated bass artistry but in his ability to communicate so fully with Bud, no matter how rapidly and unpredictably the latter's musical mind races). Bud involves himself with Autumn and Polka Dots here with much the same measured passion as in the Granz album.

On the other bands (but one) he is the familiarly unfamiliar Bud Powell at middle and uptempo originals and in reappraisals of standard lines. The one exception is Enclosure, the best and most stimulatingly organized Bud original yet recorded and one that shows in small area the potential of this musician for significant composition as well as influential interpretation. It is to be hoped for himself and for music that Bud soon will come back to health. Good, helpful notes for the Blue Note LP by Leonard Feather. The Blue Note is better recorded and has the better cover. Both sets are worth repeated listening. (Blue Note LP BLP 5041). 

*Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, November 17, 1954 [5 stars]*

Bud Powell

The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2

Between these covers lies the harvest of a journey through the mind of Bud Powell. It is a journey in which beauty and darkness, pleasure and sorrow are to be gleaned along the way; for this mind is a strange land, endowed with a glow of genius yet beset by illness and deprivation.

Bud Powell's career has been an erratic one, gregarious months along 52nd Street alternating with lonely months in the hospital. For all the inconsistency of his march to fame, he has managed to earn the unanimous admiration of his contemporaries and to forge an ineradicable place for himself in the international hall of jazz fame.

A year ago, on his return from a year's absence, he was approached by Alfred Lion of Blue Note Records to make his first return to the recording studios since his illness. But at that time he was enjoying two weeks' vacation between engagements at Birdland.

The session that resulted was no hasty, impromptu venture. It was the product of many meetings between Lion, Powell and Duvivier and Taylor. Each tune was selected to show a certain aspect of Bud's style, and the entire set offers a comprehensive picture of this extraordinary talent. (...)

If you know Bud Powell only by repute, or through the media of radio and night clubs, this LP is the definitive set to represent him in your collection. If you already have his earlier recordings, you will probably agree with me that in this group of performances Bud Powell is at his peak. Let us hope that today, at the age of 30, he may have a future studded with many more such achievements. *Leonard Feather (from the liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - Reets And I

(Benny Harris)

2 - Autumn In New York

(Vernon Duke)

3 - I Want To Be Happy

(Vincent Youmans)

4 - Sure Thing

(Jerome Kern, Ira Gershwin)

Side 2

5 - Glass Enclosure

(Bud Powell)

6 - Collard Greens And Black-Eye Peas

(Oscar Pettiford)

7 - Polka Dots And Moonbeams

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

8 - Audrey

(Bud Powell)

Bud Powell (piano), George Duvivier (bass), Art Taylor (drums).

Recorded at WOR Studios, New York City, August 14, 1953

✳✳✳

Bud Powell

The Artistry Of Bud Powell

I've tried, in the past album brochures which I have written about Bud Powell, to describe carefully the man's playing with the man himself, because the two parts are inseparable and each is the key to the other’s personality.

I know of no other musician on the jazz scene today who is as frustrated as Bud Powell. He has so much to say and he tries so hard to say it that from time to time his efforts are too much for his body and his mind. I started to say and his spirit but I find that once seated at the piano his spirit is unquenchable. Bud loves his music and, having a natural talent for creation, something wonderful usually comes out of this marriage of creation and love. But there are too the frustrated edges which occasionally creep in, and in saying this I don't mean to derogate Bud but rather to describe him as accurately as I can, and in many ways this frustration at the edges is a kind of comment that Bud has to make about life and about his music, just as they, in turn, explain Bud.

This date was done with a great deal of preparation and Bud made it a point to practice his numbers as often and as thoroughly as he could so that he would be completely familiar with them and I think this comes through genuinely and sincerely on the sides. Bud chose all the tunes himself, and among them are the great standards, "Moonlight In Vermont", "Spring is Here" and "My Funny Valentine", and also a perfectly delightful original composition Bud made, entitled "Buttercup". The date was done in two sections and on one date we used George Duvivier on bass and on the other Percy Heath. The drummer on both dates was Art Taylor. The respect that these men have for Bud is evident, as is their own contribution on the date.

This, then, is more of the creative Bud Powell. *Norman Granz (from the liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - Moonlight In Vermont

(Karl Suessdorf, John Blackburn)

2 - Time Was

(Miguel Prado, Gabriel Luna, Bob Russell)

3 - Spring Is Here

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

Side 2

4 - Buttercup

(Bud Powell)

5 - Fantasy In Blue

(Bud Powell)

6 - It Never Entered My Mind

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

7 - My Funny Valentine

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

Bud Powell (piano); George Duvivier [#1, #3, #4, 5],

Percy Heath [#2, #6, #7] (basses), Art Taylor (drums).

Recorded at Fine Sound Studio, New York City,

June 2 [#1, #3, #4, 5] and June 4 [#2, #6, #7], 1954

✳✳✳

For those who prefer digital versions, each file includes the corresponding CD which, as usual, also adds bonus tracks and alternate takes not present on the original LPs.

The compact disc Bud Powell's Moods appears here thanks to the generosity of my dear friend Melanchthon.

Five-Star Collection... The Down Beat Five-Star History (Part III)

After exploring both the symbolic ratings of 1946 and the numerical approach introduced in 1951, we now arrive at the reform that would define Down Beat for generations of readers.

This final part revisits the introduction of the magazine's most enduring metric — its hallmark five-star scale.

✤ 1952 ✤

The Star System

Finally, in the May 21, 1952 issue, Down Beat introduced the five-star system — the format that would come to define the magazine's identity for decades. By then, the review department was organized into three distinct sections: Popular, Jazz, and Rhythm & Blues, each with its own criteria and editorial approach.

The new system formalized a crucial distinction. Popular and Rhythm & Blues releases were to be judged by their broad general appeal, while Jazz records — reflecting the magazine's core mission — were evaluated strictly on their musical merit. The editors also devised an additional symbol for popular and R&B items whose musical interest rose above their commercial category.

Here is how Down Beat announced the change:

"Records in the popular and rhythm-and-blues sections are reviewed and rated in terms of broad general appeal. Records in the jazz section are reviewed and rated in terms of their musical merit.

Records in the popular and rhythm-and-blues sections of interest from the musical standpint are marked with a sharp (#), or, if exceptionally interesting, a double sharp (##)".

Ratings:

★★★★★ Excellent (Masterpiece [today])

★★★★ Very Good (Excellent [today])

★★★ Good

★★ Fair

★ Poor

With this clear and durable format — and with its three-tiered review structure firmly in place — Down Beat finally arrived at the rating system that would carry it through the 10-inch and 12-inch LP eras, the CD market, the reissue boom, and well into the digital age.

What was the first Jazz album reviewed that achieved the highest score?

The Amazing Bud Powell!

Bud Powell

The Amazing Bud Powell

Two piano solo sides, four trios and two numbers by a quintet (Fats Navarro, Sonny Rollins and rhythm) are here combined into an LP, justifiably entitled "The Amazing Bud Powell".

Cynics who are inclined to sneer at bop and belittle its accomplishments are hereby advised to spend a few hours browsing over this disc. Congratulations to Blue Note's Alfred Lion for catching Bud at his fabulous best, and to the artist, name of Bacon, who conjured up that brilliant likeness of Bud for the cover. (Blue Note LP 5003.) *(Down Beat, Chicago, May 21, 1954 [5 stars])*

Powell's place in the jazz galaxy can hardly be overstated. He was a genius, the Charlie Parker of piano, and a brilliant composer. He was a contemporary (and friend) of Thelonious Monk, but declared that his greatest influence on piano was Art Tatum. He had a right hand that was described as lightning fast, a dazzlingly melodic way of improvising, and a rhythmic complexity that nonetheless flowed naturally. In the course of his career, Powell’s playing underwent style changes and, near the end, as his health went downhill, there was sometimes a certain raggedness about it — but it was always right.

The Amazing Bud Powell is the product of two separate recording sessions, one of a quintet on August 9, 1949, the other of a trio on May 1, 1951. Originally released on the Blue Note label in 10-inch LP form, the album, not surprisingly, has been re-released a number of times. 

Along with Powell on the 1949 date are the pioneering bop trumpeter Fats Navarro, a 20-year-old Sonny Rollins on tenor sax, bassist Tommy Potter, and drummer Roy Haynes. The trio date in 1951 included bassist Curley Russell and drummer Max Roach.

As the leader on both the recording dates, Powell's playing is naturally showcased. But what a treat to hear Fats Navarro — a bebop icon who died way too young — along with Sonny Rollins and Roy Haynes, both of whom are still alive, still playing, and whose evolving approaches to the music we’ve been able to witness over all these years. Not to mention Max Roach, who many consider to have been the greatest drummer in jazz history.

The original Powell compositions recorded here are bebop classics, and wonderful to hear. But the album also more than does justice to compositions by Bird, Dizzy and Monk as well as some hand-picked gems from the Great American Songbook.

I'm hardly the first to note that this is bop at its highest level. And if you have any real interest in jazz, this album belongs in your collection. Be warned, though: Bud Powell can be addictive. ("Betcha can’t hear just one!"). *Terry MacDonald (seacoastjazz.org)*

Side 1

1 - Un Poco Loco

(Bud Powell)

2 - Over The Rainbow

(E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, Harold Arlen)

3 - Ornithology

(Bennie Harris)

4 - Wail

(Bud Powell)

Side 2

5 - A Night In Tunisia

(Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)

6 - It Could Happen To You

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

7 - You Go To My Head

(J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie)

8 - Bouncing With Bud

(Bud Powell)

#1, #5:

Bud Powell (piano), Curley Russell (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#2, #6:

Bud Powell (solo piano)

#3, #4, #7, #8:

Fats Navarro (trumpet), Sonny Rollins (tenor sax),

Bud Powell (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded at WOR Studios, New York City,

August 9, 1949 [other source gives August 8, 1949] (#3, #4, #7, #8)

and May 1, 1951 (#1, #2, #5, #6)

The CD containing these recordings is a digital replica of the 12" LP issued two years later.

Appropriately, it too was "awarded" five stars… While Bud’s solo "Over The Rainbow" is not included, the disc is rounded out by alternate takes and additional tracks not found on the original 10" LP.

Bud Powell

The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 1

In view of the importance of this album historically, and the fact that four of its tracks have never been released previously, this part-reissue set gets listed here. Loco, one of Bud's most striking performances, is shown here in genesis. Infidels, never released on LP before, has Fats Navarro, Sonny Rollins, Tommy Potter, and Roy Haynes. Like Theme, Wail, and Bouncing with Bud (which have the same personnel and were previously on 10'' LPs), Infidels was recorded in 1949.

It Could Happen is a hitherto unreleased alternate master as is the first Tunisia. Both, like Loco and Parisian Thoroughfare, were cut in 1951 with Curly Russell and Max Roach. Ornithology with Potter and Haynes dates back to 1949. Thoroughfare, never released before, is an earlier version of the original Bud recorded for Clef. This is the first volume of two Blue Note 12'' Powell LPs. Blue Note has also repackaged in 12'' form albums by Sidney Bechet (BLP 1201), Jay Jay Johnson (BLP 1605) and Miles Davis (BLP 1501). All are recommended. Remastering has been done by Rudy Van Gelder. *Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, April 18, 1956 [5 stars])*

1 - Un Poco Loco (1st take)

(Bud Powell)

2 - Un Poco Loco (2nd take)

(Bud Powell)

3 - Un Poco Loco

(Bud Powell)

4 - Dance Of The Infidels

(Bud Powell)

5 - 52nd St. Theme

(Thelonious Monk)

6 - It Could Happen To You (alternate master)

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

7 - A Night In Tunisia (alternate master)

(Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)

8 - A Night In Tunisia

(Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)

9 - Wail

(Bud Powell)

10 - Ornithology

(Bennie Harris)

11 - Bouncing With Bud

(Bud Powell)

12 - Parisian Thoroughfare

(Bud Powell)

#1, #2, #3, #7, #8, #12:

Bud Powell (piano), Curley Russell (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#6:

Bud Powell (solo piano)

#4, #5, #9, #10, #11:

Fats Navarro (trumpet), Sonny Rollins (tenor sax),

Bud Powell (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded at WOR Studios, New York City,

August 9, 1949 [other source gives August 8, 1949] (#4, #5, #9, #10, #11)

and May 1, 1951 (#1, #2, #3, #6, #7, #8, #12)

After The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 1 came The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2, a logical next step for the Blue Note label.

It, too, received five stars — reason enough to leave the story here, and to pick it up again next year.

For now… a pause...

The Punta del Este lighthouse points me in the right direction for summer vacation... 

Best wishes to everyone for the upcoming 2026!

Will back in February...

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Five-Star Collection... The Down Beat Five-Star History (Part II)

In the previous post, we revisited the origins of Down Beat's first attempt to formalize its record-rating system through simple note symbols.

In this second part, we turn to the moment when the magazine tried to sharpen its critical tools with a short-lived but revealing experiment:

✤ 1951✤ 

A Brief Experiment in Precision:

Down Beat's 1951 One-to-Ten Rating Scale

By 1951, Down Beat felt the need for greater nuance in its reviews. The solution was a short-lived numerical scale running from 1 to 10, an attempt to introduce finer gradations of quality at a moment when the LP era was just beginning to reshape listening habits.

Here we revisit that transitional system and reproduce the magazine’s statement explaining its purpose and scope.

In the January 26, 1951 issue, the section "What’s On Wax"—written by Jack Tracy, Pat Harris, and George Hoefer—introduced a far more precise numerical scale ranging from 1 to 10.

Each reviewer assigned a score, and the final rating printed in the review was the average of the three.

The announcement read:

"With this issue, Down Beat inaugurates a new system for rating records. It is our hope that it will be of increased value to you in helping you choose those records you plan to add to your own collection.

Records are rated by each of the three reviewers on a scale of 1 to 10, with the rating increasing with the quality of the record. The final veredict is an average of the individual scores and will be found in front of the tittles listed at the head of each review. Albums will continue to be judged as a whole, with individual comments on those sides meriting them".

It was a clear attempt to bring greater objectivity and consistency to Down Beat's expanding review section.

Which was the first artist reviewed who received the highest score?

None... throughout the entire period that this criterion was applied, no record reached the level of excellence.

The only one who came close was Lee Koniz with 9 points.

p

Lee Konitz 

9 - Rebecca

7 - Ice Cream Konitz

Jack: Lee delicately and feelingly picks his way through Rebecca (My Old Flame). He's backed only by Billy Bauer's guitar. Beautifully done, thoughtfully expressive, it's some of Lee's best recorded ballad work to date. Ice Cream has Bauer, Arnold Fishkin, drummer Jeff Morton, and pianist Sal Mosca backing Lee. It's uptempo, with Lee fleet but not as fertile as usual, and Bauer and Mosca taking choruses. 

Rating: Rebecca—9; Ice Cream—7.

George: Lee's Rebecca is a note of beauty rare in the field of jazz. The delicacy of his alto tone and phrasing is brought out in bold relief by Bauer's sympathetic guitar. The side is a study in perfect execution. Ice Cream, a Konitz original, is typical Tristano fare without the participation of Lennie. Sal Mosca takes over the piano and closes the side with a sprightly solo. Nothing outstanding happening, but nice listening. 

Rating: Rebecca—9; Ice Cream Konitz—7.

Pat: Konitz' dainty alto, cool just to the point of chillness, but not quite, traces tastefully through Konitz. Note the smooth way Sal Mosca's piano takes over after Billy Bauer's solo on this one. Rebecca, named after Lee's baby daughter, is a fine fatherly tribute. Very lovely and delicate, Lee manages to be sunny and wistful at the same time. (New Jazz 834.)

Rating: Rebecca—8; Ice Cream—7

The restored version of these tracks was included on one of the CDs in the Original Jazz Classics series.

Lee Konitz

With Tristano, Marsh And Bauer

Subconscious-Lee

Of the Lennie Tristano "school" of music, which predated the Lennie Tristano School of Music, Lee Konitz is the outstanding "pupil". Naturally Lennie's music had a great influence on Lee. Other influences are lesser and have been more completely absorbed in to the mainstream of his playing. For instance, in his rhythmic figures you can hear Charlie Parker (Bird left very few untouched and unmoved,) but whatever sources Lee has drawn on have been integrated beautifully into his personal expression. His style and sound are both highly personal. The point of excellence as an individual voice is a signal triumph for any artist.

The three sessions in this LP show Lee off in many different ways with quintet, quartet and duo. The interplay with Tristano, duetting with Billy Bauer and unisons and exchanges with Warne Marsh are all self-illuminating examples of Lee's early work in this graphic collection of Konitz.

Incidentally, the Subconscious-Lee session not only launched Lee's career but was the first recording date of this company. New Jazz was then the label. *Ira Gitler (liner notes)*

One of THE key records in the Konitz school — a full length Prestige album that brings together important material from sessions originally issued on 10" LPs! The lineup here is virtually the Konitz school — with shifting lineups that include Billy Bauer on guitar, Lenny Tristano or Sal Mosca on piano, and Warne Marsh on tenor — all working as airily and fluidly as Konitz himself! How Lee managed to achieve such unity with his groups here will forever be a mystery to us — as will the freshness of the work at the end of the 40s, especially given that it's still arguably more "modern" than much of the jazz it inspired in years to come! Titles include "Progression", "Subconscious-Lee", "Rebecca", "Sound-Lee", "Fishin Around", "Palo Alto", "Ice Cream Konitz", "You Go To My Head", and "Tautology".  *Dusty Groove, Inc.*

1 - Progression

(Konitz)

2 - Tautology

(Konitz)

3 - Retrospection

(Tristano)

4 - Subconscious-Lee

(Konitz)

5 - Judy

(Tristano)

6 - Marshmallow

(Marsh)

7 - Fishin' Around

(Marsh)

8 - Tautology

(Konitz)

9 - Sound-Lee

(Konitz)

10 - Rebecca

(Konitz)

11 - You Go to My Head

(Coots, Gillespie)

12 - Ice Cream Konitz

(Konitz)

13 - Palo Alto

(Konitz)

#1 to #5:

Lee Konitz (alto sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Lennie Tristano (piano),

Arnold Fishkin (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).

Recorded in New York City, November 1, 1949

#6 to #9:

Lee Konitz (alto sax); Warne Marsh (tenor sax); Sal Mosca (piano);

Arnold Fishkin (bass); Denzil Best [#6, #7], Jeff Morton [#8, #9] (drums).

Recorded in New York City, September, 1949

#9 to #13:

Lee Konitz (alto sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Sal Mosca (piano),

Arnold Fishkin (bass), Jeff Morton (drums).

Recorded in New York City, July 4, 1950

Five-Star Collection... The Down Beat Five-Star History (Part I)

Before this year's final post, it may be helpful to take a brief look at the history of how Down Beat has judged music over the years and how it eventually arrived at its classic five-star system, which we have used so far for the series we came up with to pay tribute to the publication's celebrated reviewers.

Throughout its long history, Down Beat not only chronicled the evolution of jazz— it also refined the very tools it used to evaluate recordings. Between 1946 and 1952, the magazine tried three different rating systems, each one formally announced to readers in its pages.

What follows is the first part (of three) of that sequence, along with the original texts that introduced each change.

✤ 1946 ✤ 

How Down Beat First Retooled Its Rating Method:

The 1946 Note-Symbol System

When Down Beat entered the postwar era, it sought a clearer, more flexible way to judge the rapidly growing stream of new releases. In early 1946, the magazine abandoned its older, loosely defined evaluation practices and introduced a system based on musical note symbols—a concise visual code meant to give readers an immediate sense of a record’s merit.

What follows is a simple presentation of that first experiment, along with the original editorial text that announced the change.

The first attempt at a consistent rating system appeared in the May 20, 1946 issue, in Michael Levin's section "Diggin' the Discs with MIX".

Down Beat introduced a simple visual code based on eighth notes, giving readers a quick sense of the reviewer's verdict. The scale ran as follows:

♪♪♪♪ — Tops

♪♪♪ — Tasty

♪♪ — Pleasing

♪ — Boring

The magazine presented the new system with this note of caution to readers:

"For the first time, Down Beat is using symbols to tell you at a glance something about each record reviewed by 'Mix', who, of course, is Michael Levin. One word of caution about their use: review symbols are as bad as B's used to be on grammar school report cards; namely, drawing the fine lines between a fair and a good record is a difficult process. A 4 note rating one week might draw only 3 notes if issued the following week, solely because the whole group of releases the next week might be better on an average. No critic can carry comparative ratings from week to week, save in an approximate fashion".

The system was short–lived, but it marked Down Beat's first effort to formalize its critical criteria.

Which was the first artist reviewed who received the highest score?

Coleman Hawkins!

Coleman Hawkins All-American Four

♪♪♪ Make Believe

♪♪♪♪ Just One of Those Things

First chorus here is a sample of liquid, lovely Coleman with no squawking or reaching for high ones. Same goes for the Wilson chorus that follows. Hawk comes on again and can’t top himself. It’s a topnotch side. Flipover has that fantastically crystalline left hand of Theodore Wilson at a fast bounce tempo, with Hawk's following chorus getting a trifle tangled in the middle; though the way Wilson plays on this side would be enough to scare anybody—everything and not an ounce extra is there (Keynote 1317).

*Michael Levine (Down Beat, May 20, 1946)*

The restored version of these tracks was included on one of the CDs in The Chronogical Classics series.

Coleman Hawkins

The Chronogical • 1944

It is one of the lucky coincidences in jazz history that Coleman Hawkins was in truly stupendous 1944/45, and that at the same time many small, new record-companies entered business, managing to entice the saxophonist into recordings so frequently — and almost always music of everlasting quality.

This volume of the recordings of Coleman Hawkins, presented in chronological order, opens with a fine set for the Keynote label. Hawk's perfect combination of virtuosity and swing is evident on the fast "Flame Thrower" and "Cattin'", his combination of elegance and finesse on the ballads. The boppish "Disorder" is followed by another one of the saxophonist's intricate compositions, plus "Rainbow Mist" a rather free improvisation of "Body And Soul". Less familiar but equally thrilling, the "Saxtet" session pairs Hawk with Georgie Auld and Ben Webster for some hot blowing. On "Pick Up Boys", a simple yet effective riff, Charlie Shavers first launches an unusually gruff Ben Webster, then Georgie Auld and Hawkins, into some sizzling solo work. The next four recordings, by the "Sax Ensemble", offer magnificent solos by Hawkins, Byas and Harry Carney. Tab Smith's efforts, on the other hand, are rather strange, his bizarre playing culminating in a curious run at the end of "Sunny Side". He later recorded a similar version of this same number under his own name. The CD ends with a set of unusually relaxed performances by Hawkins, backed by Teddy Wilson, John Kirby and Sid Catlett. Although recorded a bit off-microphone, Wilson's elegant playing has rarely been more impressive, his work on "Don't Blame me" rivaling his unforgettable 1937 solo version of this same song. *Anatol Schenker, July 1995 (from the liner notes)*

During the mid-'40s Coleman Hawkins was hitting another peak, seasoned by many years in big bands both in the States and Europe. He wasn't out of fashion during those early bop years, either, as he often played with the music's young Turks; their sound was a mix of the big band era's refined combo swing and bop's new, angular energy. This Classics disc captures some of the tenor great's best sides from the period, including an early bop milestone featuring Dizzy Gillespie and Don Byas ("Disorder at the Border") and tracks with Ben Webster and a variety of small bands graced by the likes of Byas, Teddy Wilson, Harry Carney, and Cozy Cole. Essential listening.

*Stephen Cook (allmusic.com)*

1 - Flame Thrower

(Hawkins)

2 - Imagination

(Burke, Van Heusen)

3 - Night And Day

(Porter)

4 - Cattin' At Keynote

(Lim)

5 - Disorder At The Border

(Hawkins)

6 - Feeling Zero

(Hawkins)

7 - Rainbow Mist

(Hawkins)

8 - Pick-Up-Boys

(Feather)

9 - Porgy

(Fields, McHugh)

10 - Uptown Lullaby

(Feather)

11 - Salt Peanuts

(Gillespie, Clarke)

12 - On the Sunny Side Of The Street

(Fields, McHugh)

13 - Three Little Words

(Ruby, Kalmer)

14 - Battle Of The Saxes

(Hawkins)

15 - Louise

(Whiting, Robin)

16 - Make Believe

(Kern, Hammerstein II)

17 - Don't Blame Me

(McHugh, Fields)

18 - Just One Of Those Things

(Porter)

19 - Hallelujah

(Robin, Grey, Youmans)

Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax) with:

#1 to #4:

Teddy Wilson (piano), Israel Crosby (bass), Cozy Cole (drums).

Recorded in New York City, February 17, 1944

#5 to #7:

Leo Parker, Leonard Lowry (alto saxes); Don Byas, Ray Abrams (tenor saxes);

Budd Johnson (baritone sax); Clyde Hart (piano); Oscar Pettiford (bass); Max Roach (drums)

Recorded in New York City,  February 22, 1944

#8 to #11:

Charlie Shavers (trumpet), Georgie Auld (alto sax, tenor sax),

Ben Webster (tenor sax), Hy White (guitar),

Bill Rowland (piano), Israel Crosby (bass), Specs Powell (drums).

Recorded in New York City, May 17, 1944

#12 to #15:

Tab Smith (alto sax), Don Byas (tenor sax),Harry Carney (baritone sax),

Johnny Guarnieri (piano),  Al Lucas (bass),  Sidney Catlett (drums).

Recorded in New York City, May 24, 1944

#16 to #19:

Teddy Wilson (piano), John Kirby (bass), Sidney Catlett (drums).

Recorded in New York City, May 29, 1944