Warne Marsh - Jazz Of Two Cities

Whether it be jazz of Johnny Dodds, Duke Ellington or Dave Brubeck, jazz above all else must have vitality. That's a polite way of saying that jazz has to swing. The degree of swing, like most things, can be measured only by the listener and judged by whatever message jazz holds for his ears alone.

The Warne Marsh Quintet is such a group, whose avowed musical purpose lies in just that swingin' direction. Much of modern jazz today appears on the surface to be a melange of discord to the uninitiated. Unity however, is obtained by freely improvising, perhaps not so much from arrangements, but rather, in the case of the Warne Marsh five, from an innate feeling for playing together, and above all else, swinging.

Though the group has been playing as a unit for a limited period of time, they have already attracted wide attention in jazz circles. Four of the members were students, as were many other jazz greats, of Lennie Tristanto, and they have worked together off and on for a number of years.

Though the group originally got together for the purpose of "jamming", it was soon evident that they would stay together. A successful engagement at The Haig in Los Angeles only whet their enthusiasm and urged the group to go on.

Sound plays a very important role in the Warne Marsh Quintet framework. Notice the manner in which the two tenors are integrated with the piano voice in many of the selections, with a good deal of simultaneous improvisation throughout all the works.

Though most of the selections are original jazz pieces, they only serve to further highlight the stimulating musical effort of the musicians. "Lover Man", and "I Never Knew" are the only standards in this album, the former piece so well associated with the late Charlie Parker, the latter a "head" arrangement allowing wide berth for lots of swinging and vaguely reminiscent of an older rendition by Lester Young a good many years ago.

You don’t have to be old in years to feel pain, and by the same line of reasoning, neither do jazz musicians need to be gray to be able to lay down what they feel. 

The feel, the sincerity of purpose and the inner knowledge that what they perform is true, is all important, and is perhaps the underlying force in jazz today. *(Liner notes)*

These tracks date from the time Marsh spent back in his hometown, Los Angeles —from February 1956 to November 1957—, leading a quintet that was something of a Tristano student reunion.

There are some very familiar characteristics: improbably tricky themes deriving from familiar harmonic territory —Ball, Brown and Marsh all contribute— propelling the improvisation into fascinating demonstrations of agility. Marsh and Brown are never exactly competitive, but clearly stimulate each other intensely; at times they wrap around themselves almost organically, prodded on by Ball's perfectly-judged piano work.

This sessions mark the start of Marsh's career as leader and organiser, and as such fill an important gap in his history. *Jack Cooke*

The "two cities" referred to were Los Angeles and New York, and the title suggests Marsh's ambivalence: he considered New York his aesthetic home, the locus of his education in jazz, while Los Angeles was not only his birth home but the place where his education truly flowered, independently of his mentor (Lennie) Tristano. 

In his review of Jazz of Two Cities Nat Hentoff noted the Tristano influence "in the penchant for long lines and the kind of airy but wiry phrasing and logical, flowing conception". Warne Marsh and Ted Brown "blow with admirable technical ease, empathic, and stimulating ideas and good if coolish sound... Their time is also precise and subtle". As for the complex Tristno-style lines, Hentoff commented that they "project a certain amount of brittleness... as if they were mores a problem to solve than a story to tell".

At the time, Lennie Tristano praised Jazz of Two Cities as "one of the best records made in recent years, from the standpoint of originality, swing, drive, improvising, and charts". On the basis of marsh's playing alone Tristano's judgment is justified, and the group as a whole is arguably the best that Marsh ever led.

*Safford Chamberlain (from his book An Unsung Cat: The Life and Music of Warne Marsh)*

1 - Smog Eyes

(Ted Brown)

2 - Ear Conditioning

(Ronnie Ball)

3 - Lover Man

(Jimmy Davis, Ram Ramirez, James Sherman)

4 - Quintessence

(Ronnie Ball)

5 - Jazz of Two Cities

(Ted Brown)

6 - Dixie's Dilemma

(Warne Marsh)

7 - Tchaikovky's Opus #42, Third Movement

(Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

8 - I Never Knew

(Ted Fio Rito, Gus Kahn)

Warne Marsh, Ted Brown (tenor saxes); Ronnie Ball (piano); Ben Tucker (bass), Jeff Morton (drums).

#1 to #4:

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California, October 3, 1956.

#5 to #8

Recorded at Master Records, Hollywood, California, October 11, 1956.

Modern Jazz Gallery

Modern Jazz Gallery

A Notable Exhibition By West Coast Jazz Artists

Away back, when jazz was young and almost always gay, you could pretty well spot the home territory of a jazzman or a group by the way they played. Up until the Nineteen Thirties, the few centers where jazz musicians congregated each had their own individual hallmarks. The Kansas City bands played with a heavy, inexorable four-four beat. Chicago groups exuded a lusty, supercharged quality. A Harlem pianist walked in the ragtime shadow of James P. Johnson, the New Orleans clarinetists held to the mellow Creole tradition of Lorenzo Tio and the New Orleans bands scarcely budged from the polyphonic interweaving of cornet, clarinet and trombone.

But as jazz spread, it became faceless. The New Orleans musicians moved to Chicago, the resultant Chicago-New Orleans amalgam trudged on to New York and from New York they fanned out to any spot where there was work to be had. Styles became personal rather than territorial. A trombonist sounded like Jack Teagarden or a clarinetist was in the Benny Goodman vein —they weren’t considered to be playing Texas style, in the first case, or Chicago, in the latter. 

Jazz became pigeon-holed and subdivided by types rather than origins. There was traditional jazz, there was swing and there was bop (which, as an instance of the growing inconsequence of origins, was prodded into existence by musicians from South Carolina, Missouri, Pennsylvania and New York).

But then something went into reverse. A switch was thrown and suddenly, during the past decade, a territorial type of jazz appeared once more. Or, at least, it seemed to appear. It was called West Coast jazz and it was readily accepted as a regional phenomenon until some East Coasters, in a fit of petulance, charged that there was no such thing as West Coast jazz, that jazz was just jazz on any coast. Whereupon they set out to prove their point by trying to whoop up some interest in East Coast jazz.

To a degree, the petulant East Coasters were right. It was almost impossible to encompass all the jazz played on the West Coast within a workable definition since it ranged from the traditionalist revival, which burned particularly bright in San Francisco, to efforts in the more southerly areas of California to effect a liaison between modern jazz and modern serious music. As the East Coasters said, it was just jazz.

But still and all, West Coast jazz —particularly as played by small modern groups— did have an identifiable quality. Recognition of it was achieved not so much through a regional style as through the presence of a resident colony of jazz musicians, each with a relatively personal style, who kept turning up over and over again on the recordings made on the West Coast. It was the repeated sound of these individuals, rather than an underlying group sound, which gave West Coast jazz the semblance of a territorial style. It is true that younger musicians who have developed on the West Coast since the colony-in-residence was established have, quite naturally, tended to follow the lead of the musicians to whom they had the most ready access but this is not apt to blossom into the kind of pure, undeviating school that New Orleans, for instance, once produced. Today a jazz musician is able to hear all of the far flung facets of jazz (which didn’t even exist in the New Orleans heyday) and some of these are inevitably absorbed in whatever sort of finished product the young musician becomes.

So, although this album is an exhibition of modern jazz by West Coast artists, we will find that the music draws on that played in other sections of the country and that it is West Coast jazz primarily in the sense that it is played by musicians who have acquired the characteristics common to the culture of the southern part of California (and musicians who have been resident for some time on both coasts will tell you that this has a distinct effect on how they play and what they play).

The six groups which are heard here —three big bands and three combos— give representation to most of the leading members of the West Coast jazz colony as of summer and fall, 1956.

It will take slightly more than an hour and a quarter to examine this gallery of modern jazz by West Coast musicians. Once it has been heard through, see if you detect a uniformity of style that might be pinpointed as regional. Or do you hear a varied group of musicians expressing themselves in their own personal jazz terms? In other words, is there really West Coast jazz or are there simply West Coast jazzmen? This album provides a sound basis for reaching your own conclusions.

*John S. Wilson (liner notes)*

*LP 1*

Side 1

1 - Music City

(Russell Garcia)

2 - Ben Blew

(Ben Tucker)

3 - Joanies Jump

(Med Flory)

4 - Caribe

(John Towner)

5 - There Will Never Be Another You

(Mack Gordon, Harry Warren)

6 - Times Square

(Marty Paich)

Side 2

7 - Plain Jane Snavely

(Bob Brookmeyer)

8 - Spring Is Here

(Richard Rodgers, Laurenz Hart)

9 - Coldwater Canyon Blues

(Marty Paich)

10 - Time's Up

(Ronnie Ball)

11 - Fish Tail

(Russell Garcia)

12 - Angel

(Shorty Rogers, Sid Robbins)

*LP 2*

Side 3

1 - Four Blow Four's

(Marty Paich)

2 - Earful

(Ronnie Ball)

3 - Wonderful You

(Al Cohn)

4 - Anything Goes

(Cole Porter)

5 - Blooz

(Paul Moer)

6 - Smoggy Day

(Russell Garcia)

Side 4

7 - In From Somewhere

(Wes Hensel)

8 - Lonely Time

(Marty Paich)

9 - Aunt Orsavella

(John Towner)

10 - I Love You, That's All

(Med Flory)

11 - Black Jack

(Warne Marsh)

12 - Los Angeles River

(Russell Garcia)

Med Flory and His Orchestra

#3, #7 (LP 1);  #3, #10 (LP 2)

Med Flory (alto sax [#15], tenor sax [#3, #7 {LP 1}; #3 {LP 2}], vocals [#3 {LP 2}]); Joe Burnett, Ed Leddy, Jack Holman, Ray Triscari (trumpets); Bob Burgess, Dave Wells, (trombones);  Bill Perkins, Bill Masinghill, Arno Marsh (tenor saxes); Leo Anthony (baritone sax); John Banister (piano); Tom Kelly (bass); Mel Lewis (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California, March 12, 1956.

Billy Usselton Sextet

#5, #12 (LP 1); #5, #7 (LP 2)

Billy Usselton (tenor sax), Bob Burgess (trombone), Abe Aaron (bass clarinet), Paul Moer (piano), Buddy Clark (bass), Mel Lewis (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California, October 17, 1956. 

Marty Paich Orchestra

#6, #9 (LP 1); #1, #8 (LP 2)

Conte Candoli, Don Fagerquist, Ed Leddy (trumpets); Francis Fitzpatrick, Bobby Burgess (trombones); Herb Geller (alto sax); Richie Kamuca, Bill Perkins (tenor saxes); Marty Berman (baritone sax); Marty Paich (piano); Joe Mondragon (bass); Mel Lewis (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California, October 23, 1956.

Warne Marsh Quintet

#2, #10 (LP 1); #2, #11 (LP 2)

Warne Marsh, Ted Brown (tenor saxes), Ronnie Ball (piano), Ben Tucker (bass), Jeff Morton (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California, October 24, 1956.

Russell Garcia and His Orchestra

#1, #11 (LP 1); #6, #12 (LP 2)

Maynard Ferguson, Don Fagerquist, Buddy Childers, Ray Linn (trumpets); Milt Bernhart, Frank Rosolino, Lloyd Ulyate, Tommy Pederson (trombones); Art Pepper, Bud Shank (alto saxes); Ted Nash (tenor sax); Chuck Gentry (baritone sax); Gerald Wiggins (piano); Howard Roberts (guitar); Max Bennett (bass); Alvin Stoller (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California, November 2, 1956.

John Towner Quartet

#4, #8 (LP 1); #4, #9 (LP 2)

John Towner [a.k.a. John T. Williams] (piano); Howard Roberts (guitar), Curtis Counce (bass); Jerry Williams (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California, November 2, 1956. 

Billy Usselton Sextet - Complete Recordings

Billy Usselton (1926-1994), was a modern, controlled, articulate, swinging tenor man, full of fresh ideas and surprises and rhythm and good taste. These recordings are the only ones he did as featured soloist of his own group.

George T. Simon wrote: This is jazz of pure sound and free spirit. The arrangements are bright and imaginative. They make elegant use of counterpoint and of the unusual sound afforded by the addition of bass clarinet to the leading tenor sax and trombone and by the piano, too. *Jordi Pujol*

This artist, proficient on enough reed instruments to fill the trunk of a midsize car, appeared on nearly 100 different recording sessions between 1946 and 1978, including every Coral or Capitol record cut by Les Brown's bands since 1954. Usselton went professional while still in high school, after lightweight bandleader Bubbles Becker heard the young man blowing at a local nightclub jam session. Following his stint with the Becker band, Usselton played with Sonny Dunham for several years, then joined trumpeter Ray Anthony for a pair of two-year stretches from 1948 through 1949 and 1951 through 1952. In between, Usselton brought his tenor, clarinet, and oboe chops to the Tommy Dorsey band to close out the '40s.

In the early '50s, Usselton and the fine trombonist Bill Harris started their own band, based out of Florida. Usselton would eventually record only one album under his own name, quite accurately entitled His First Album and released in 1957 on the jazz-savvy Kapp imprint. In 1954 he joined Brown, with whom he was affiliated for most of the balance of his career, with the Brown band's busy schedule including tours of Europe, Africa, and the Far East. The group's vocalist, Lauri Johnson, became Usselton's bride in 1958, obviously ignoring the potential for dementia in even a part-time oboe player. In his younger years with Anthony, the reed player's features included numbers such as "Idaho". Although the later years with Brown could hardly be considered rich in jazz content, Usselton remained a swinger to the end with a particular fondness for the playing of Stan Getz. If this ever became a problem with Brown, he never indicated it; there are no reports of the bandleader ordering Usselton to "Getz out of here". *Eugene Chadbourne*

Billy Usselton Sextet

Complete Recordings

1 - Tangerine

(V. Schertzinger, J. Mercer)

2 - Delilah

(Horatio Nicholls)

3 - Sweet Sue

(W. J. Harris, V. Young)

4 - Dinah

(S. M. Lewis, J.Young, H. Akst)

5 - Coquette

(G. Kahn, J. Green, C. Lombardo)

6 - Georgia On My Mind

(H. Carmichael, S. Gorrell)

7 - Miss Annabelle Lee

(S. Clare, L. Pollack)

8 - Liza

(G. and I. Gerswin, G. Kahn)

9 - Cleone

(Alyson Skypp Hoyland)

10 - Jill

(Billy Usselton)

11 - Margot

(R. Webb, R. Carter)

12 - Smokey

(M. Flory, B. Usselton)

13 - There Will Never Be Another You

(H. Warren, M. Gordon)

14 - Blooz

(Paul Moer)

15 - Angel

(S. Rogers, S. Robbins)

16 - In From Somewhere

(Wes Hensel)

#1 to #12:

(Originally "His First Album" [Kapp (KL-1051)])

#1 to #4:

Billy Usselton (tenor sax), Bob Burgess (trombone), Abe Aaron (bass clarinet), Paul Moer (piano), Mel Pollan (bass), Lloyd Morales (drums).

Recorded in Hollywood, June 22, 1956.

#5 to #8:

Billy Usselton (tenor sax), Bob Burgess (trombone), Abe Aaron (bass clarinet), Paul Moer (piano), Buddy Clark (bass), Frank Capp (drums).

Recorded in Hollywood, July 13, 1956.

#9 to #12:

Billy Usselton (tenor sax), Bob Burgess (trombone), Abe Aaron (bass clarinet), Paul Moer (piano), Buddy Clark (bass), Larry Bunker (drums).

Recorded in Hollywood, July 17, 1956.

#13 to #16:

(Originally as part of "Modern Jazz Gallery" [Kapp (KXL 5001)])

Billy Usselton (tenor sax), Bob Burgess (trombone), Abe Aaron (bass clarinet), Paul Moer (piano), Buddy Clark (bass), Mel Lewis (drums).

Recorded in Hollywood, October 17, 1956. 

Kai Winding Sextet & Red Rodney Quintet - Broadway

Broadway is the name of many streets but there is one Broadway, if you know what I mean. 

Broadway is also the name of a tune which is dedicated to the street that I mean. 

Broadway in the late '40s was the stamping ground —or, more accurately, the stomping ground— for the young modernists who had learned from Lester Young and the Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie axis. They chipped in to rent rehearsal studios in the Broadway area where they could jam if they were not working. When they did work, it was at the Three Deuces —the last holdout to feature modern jazz on 52nd Street— or on Broadway at the Roost and its successor, Bop City. 

Broadway was played quite often at the studio sessions like the ones held at Don Jose’s in the summer of 1949. 

Gerry Mulligan, Brew Moore, George Wallington, and Red Rodney were frequent participants. Anytime Mulligan is involved, there is a good chance that Broadway will be played in one form or another. His Gold Rush is based on Broadway. Broadway and/or Gold Rush have shown up in groups in which he has been a sideman, and in the various combos and orchestras he has led. 

Broadway is an example of these musicians' link to the Count Basie-Lester Young tradition. Count recorded it in 1940 with Pres as the featured soloist, and it captured the imagination of a generation of players.

This is the music they were playing on and around Broadway in the late '40s and early '50s. Broadway has changed and so has the music. Broadway has also endured. So has Broadway.

*Ira Gitler (liner notes)*

Kai Winding Sextet & Red Rodney Quintet

Broadway

Side 1

1 - A Night On Bop Mountain

(Winding)

2 - Waterworks

(Mulligan)

3 - Broadway

(McRay, Rayven)

4 - Sid's Bounce

(Kaminsky)

5 - Red Wig

(Rodney)

Side 2

6 - The Baron

(Rodney)

7 - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

(Kern, T. B. Harms)

8 - Coogan's Bluff

(Rodney)

9 - This Time The Dream's On Me

(Arlen, Mercer, Remick)

10 - If You Are But A Dream

(Jaffe, Fulton, Bronx)

11 - Mark

(Rodney)

#1 to #4:

(Originally as part of "Modern Jazz Trombones" [Prestige PRLP 109])

Kai Winding (trombone), Brew Moore (tenor sax), Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax), George Wallington (piano), Curly Russell (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded in New York, August 23, 1949.

#5 to #11:

(Originally "The New Sounds" [Prestige PRLP 122])

Red Rodney (trumpet), Jim Ford (alto sax), Phil Raphael (piano), Phil Leshin (bass), Phil Brown (drums).

Recorded in New York, September 27, 1951. 

Dick Marx - Delicate Savagery

One of the primary requisites of jazz improvisation is the ability to play the right notes, with the right sound, in the right sequence at the right time. Not until all four of these elements have been blended in the imagination of a creative artist and expressed through the medium of a sensitive instrument can we hear a perfect demonstration of what might best be called musical marksmanship, or the skill of hitting one's musical aims right on the bull's-eye. 

Marxmanship, as we might call it in the particular instance of this LP, can be found in abundance as Dick Marx seeks a particular musical formula and finds it with the help of two sidemen no less adequately equipped in this subtle art of perfect timing. 

Dick is one of the minority of jazz musicians that have managed to plant firm footprints on the sands of rythmic time without taking either foot very far from Chicago. Since at least 90% of today's big name musicians have spent much of their careers rooted either in New York or Los Angeles, twin meccas of most of the radio, recording, and general business activity for jazz, it is all the more remarkable that he has built up a firm following nationally while during the past six years he has enjoyed a series of two-year stretches respectively at three Chicago clubs, the Lei Aloha, Cloister Inn and Mr. Kelly's.

Dick names Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson and Billy Taylor as his favorite performers and, presumably, major influences. "I found myself playing in a different style from what I’m used to", Dick comments. "As a rule I don’t play many single-note passages, but with such a strong rhythm section it was fun to let them swing while I played little "tinkly" things. My intention with most of these performances, aside from the ballads, was to swing. I didn't use any really fast tempos because I was aiming for that middle tempo that seems to me to be most conducive to real swinging. And most of the tunes we selected were things that had not been recorded too often, so that they would be a little fresher to the majority of listeners".

After listening to these sides we feel you will agree with us that Dick was well-advised to change the pace a little by adding drums for this moving set of performances. The result is an interestingly different demonstration of the delicate art of Marxmanship. *Leonard Feather (liner notes)*

Side 1

1 -How Could You Do A Thing Like That To Me

(Tyree Glenn, Alan Roberts)

2 - Ding Dong–The Witch Is Dead

(Harold Arlen, E. Y. Harburg)

3 - Shenandoah

(Traditional)

4 - Joey, Joey, Joey

(Frank Loesser)

5 - The Breeze And I

(Ernesto Lecuona, Al Stillman)

6 - Midnight Sun

(Lionel Hampton, Sonny Burke)

Side 2

7 - Waitin' For Debbie

(Dick Marx, John Frigo)

8 - Change Partners

(Irvin Berlin)

9 - Blue Safari

(Lou Stein)

10 - Here I Am In Love Again

(Moose Charlap, Chuck Sweeney)

11 - (Love Is) The Tender Trap

(J. V. Heusen, S. Cahn)

Dick Marx (piano); Johnny Frigo (bass); Norm Jeffries [#4, #5, #7, #8], Cy Salzberg [#1, #2, #3, #6, #9, #10 #11] (drums).

Recorded in Chicago, Illinois, May 5 (#4, #5, #7, #8) and 6 (#1, #2, #3, #6, #9, #10 #11), 1957. 

Dick Marx - Marx Makes Broadway

In recent years, a young Chicago pianist —without ever leaving his native city— has become a subject for musicians’ backstage conversation from coast-to-coast.

His name is Dick Marx and "you ought to hear Dick" is almost a cliche now. But Marx cannot be enjoined to go out on a road trip. It was an unusual thing for him to accept Omega’s invitation to come to Los Angeles and make this stereo recording.

Dick Marx is a serious, studious musician (not that his personality or music lacks humor; it’s just that music is his life and he’s serious about it) who has developed a naturally flexible piano technique into one of the most formidable piano styles of modern jazz. Pianist Billy Taylor, one of the top musicians in modern Jazz, has said, "Marx uses modern harmonic devices exceptionally well and because of excellent technical facility can execute many interesting polyphonic ideas... his touch is firm and sure and he can toss off a bravura passage with the ease that comes only from a solid pianistic background". 

Dick Marx began playing the piano at 5, and at 13 was accompanist to a dancing class. He studied music at DePaul University, and since 1948 has worked steadily in the Chicago area at such swank supper clubs as the Streamliner, the Pump Room and Mr. Kelly’s. He has arranged for a variety of singers, including Eydie Gorme, Eartha Kitt and Lurlean Hunter, and for numerous radio and TV shows. He has recorded several LPs for Coral and Brunswick with his bass-playing sidekick, John Frigo. He’s also heard as accompanist for Jeri Southern and for Johnny Desmond on recent LPs. In between night club and recording chores, he doubles as a vocal coach and piano teacher in Chicago, where he is much in demand. Dick is heard either in trio or with a quartet of the best jazz men in Hollywood. It required a particularly deft jazz musician to handle the gossamer melodies of the best Broadway show tunes to retain their intrinsic beauty without losing the jazz feeling. On this date Dick’s friends are Buddy Collette, flute; Carson Smith, bass; Frankie Capp, drums; and Irving Ashby, guitar. On the five numbers you'll hear Red Mitchell on bass, and on three Howard Roberts replaces Ashby on guitar. *Ralph J. Gleason (liner notes)*

This LP is one of the more obscure sessions reissued by V.S.O.P. and was originally cut for the Omega label. Dick Marx was a Chicago-based bop-oriented pianist brought to Los Angeles for these sessions. He gives a variety of show tunes melodic yet swinging treatment with the assistance of flutist Buddy Collette, either Howard Roberts or Irving Ashby on guitar, Red Mitchell or Carson Smith on bass and drummer Frank Capp. All ten of the tunes (which include "All of You", "Too Close for Comfort", "If I Were a Bell" and "Just in Time") are still remembered; it is a pity that this program (at 34 minutes) is so brief and that little has been heard of Dick Marx since. *Scott Yanow*

Side 1

1 - Joey, Joey

(Loesser)

2 - Why Can't You Behave

(Cole Porter)

3 - All Of You

(Cole Porter)

4 - Cool

(Leonard Bernstein)

5 - Too Close For Comfort

(Holofocner, Weiss)

Side 2

6 - If I Were A Bell

(Loesser)

7 - Baubles, Bangles And Beads

(Forrest, Wright)

8 - A Sleepin' Bee

(Loesser)

9 - Guys And Dolls

(Loesser)

10 - Just In Time

(Comden, Green, Styne)

Dick Marx (piano); Buddy Collette (flute); Howard Roberts, Irving Ashby (guitars); Carson Smith, Red Mitchell (basses); Frank Capp (drums).

Recorded in Los Angeles, California, 1958. 

Herbie Mann - Flute Mann • Salute To The Flute

The flute, an honorable pastoral spirit in the classical orchestra and chamber groups, is only beginning to be more than glancingly accepted by jazz critics. The jazz musicians, always more hospitable and curious than the critics, have, with rare exceptions, not objected to its increasing inclusion in jazz record sessions and regular combos and orchestra. There have been, however, several dourly skeptical writers, most notably in England, who feel the flute is not capable of projecting all the heat and urgency of elemental jazz. 

It is absurd (it seems instantly axiomatic to me) to proscribe any instrument as being inherently alien to jazz. It is the player, after all, who is transmitting the message; the instrument is his means, and if his message is heated and urgent, it will get through. In any case, an increasing number of jazz musicians, especially within the past four and five years, have become intrigued with and soon assured on the instrument; and it is not at all outré to bring a flute to a jam session on an average gig. 

A majority of the jazz flutists, however, utilize the instrument secondarily. Frank Wess of the Basie and Jerome Richardson, for example, are primarily tenors although their transformation of the flute into a vessel afire may eventually make the flute their first instrument. Buddy Collette distributes his calm skills about equally among the clarinet, alto, tenor and flute. Bud Shank is still an altoist first and Sam Most continues to concentrate on the clarinet although both have become flute-facile too. Bobby Jaspar of the J. J. Johnson quintet is regarded by his colleagues as a tenor who, on the side, plays warm, singing flute.

Mann, on the other hand, although a professional tenor saxophonist and clarinetist, can be considered the first of the younger jazzmen to regard the flute as his major instrument. Born in Brooklyn on March 16, 1930, he gained experience during three years with an Army band in Trieste and first became known on the jazz scene through his work with the Mat Mathews combo in 1953 and 1954. He started playing flute as well as other reeds with Mat, and as he explains the context at the time, "it was impossible for me to be influenced by any other flute player then, because there were hardly any. I had that advantage. I had heard and been impressed by Harry Klee's flute on a Mary Ann McCall album in the early '50's, but it has been a trumpet player, Miles Davis, who has actually been my one major influence on flute". *Nat Hentoff (liner notes)*

This Columbia LP (a 1981 reissue of an Epic album titled Salute to the Flute) found flutist Herbie Mann accompanied for the first time by a big band on five of the nine selections. Prior to 1959, virtually all of Mann's recordings were bop-oriented, and this one is no exception. Whether it be "Little Niles", "When Lights Are Low", "Beautiful Love" or even "Old Honky Tonk Piano Roll Blues", Mann proves to be an excellent bop soloist; other important players on this date include trumpeter Joe Wilder, altoist Anthony Ortega, pianist Hank Jones, guitarist Joe Puma and bassist Oscar Pettiford. This LP will be a difficult one to find. *Scott Yanow*

The best of the plethora of Mann sets that have hit the market recently. With the aid of excellent musicians, in example, Hank Jones, Anthony Ortega, Joe Puma, Oscar Pettiford, Joe Wilder, Urbie Green, etc., and arrangements by A. K. Salim and Gigi Gryce, the flutist is heard in big, medium-sized and small band contexts, and the music is at once pleasant, interesting, and provides adequate blowing space. Set should be appealing to jazz coterie, and those not so heavily oriented as well. Try "Little Niles" and "A Ritual" as demo bands. *Billboard, October 28, 1957*

Side 1

1 - When The Lights Are Low

(Benny Carter)

2 - Little Niles

(Randy Weston)

3 - Old Honkie Tonk Piano Roll Blues

(Herbie Mann)

4 - Pretty Baby

(A. K. Salim)

Side 2

5 - Beautiful Love

(Victor Young, Wayne King, Egbert Van Alstyne)

6 - Hip Scotch

(Joe Puma)

7 - Song For Ruth

(Herbie Mann)

8 - Noga's Nuggets

(Oscar Pettiford)

9 - A Ritual

(Herbie Mann)

Herbie Mann (flute, alto flute); Bernie Glow, Don Stratton, Joe Wilder (trumpets); Urbie Green, Chauncey Welsch (trombones); Anthony Ortega (alto sax); Dick Hafer (alto and tenor sax); Dave Kurtzer (tenor sax); Sol Schlinger (baritone sax); Joe Puma (guitar); Hank Jones (piano); Oscar Pettiford (bass); Gus Johnson [#1, #3, #5, #6, #8, #9]), Philly Joe Jones [#2, #4, #7] (drums).

Recorded in New York City, April 18 (#2, #4, #7) and April 29 (#1, #3, #5, #6, #8, #9), 1957. 

Harry Arnolds And His Orchestra - The Jazztone Mystery Band

Arnold was among the finest big-band arrangers and tenor saxophonists in Sweden during the 1950s and '60s. From 1956 to 1965, Arnold led the Swedish Radio Studio Orchestra that featured many of the country's leading Swedish jazz musicians. They recorded quite a few albums, including their first, The Jazztone Mystery Band. It's easily one of the finest big band recordings of 1957. 

*Marc Myers*

An overlooked and now obscure figure in jazz, Harry Arnold led an incredibly tight, talented, and swinging big band in the 1950s. Arnold knocked American critics on their collective ears with what was to become known as The Jazztone Mystery Orchestra named after the record label they were first signed with in the U.S.

Harry Arnold studied clarinet in 1937 and 1938 and started arranging without the benefit of formal study in 1938. He claimed to have learned the technique of arranging through analyzing the works of everyone from Ravel to Basie. Arnold led his own band in Malmo from 1942 to 1949. He then went to Stockholm as a tenor man and arranger with Thor Ehrling's band taking his own outfit back to play weekends in Malmo from 1952 to 1954. In 1956 he organized a 17 piece group to play weekly radio broadcasts (except during the summer) in 1956.

The music of Harry Arnold And His Swedish Radio Studio Orchestra hit the states in the late 1950's. Author George Simon recounted Claes Dahlgren, Sweden's Jazz ambassador, walking into Simon's office and in a very modest and disarming manner leaving some tapes of the band on Simon's desk with a polite, "give a listen if you have the time". Simon and his colleagues were so knocked out by the tapes they played them to others to get second opinions afraid their ears were deceiving them.

Harry Arnold and his big band was subsequently signed to Jazztone. Simon said of the band, "it's brilliant ensembles, it's abundance of exciting modern soloists, it's biting, swinging beat, and it's superb polish – all these things really thrilled us". A few other quotes made by famous jazzmen, upon first hearing the band, having only been told it was the Jazztone "Mystery" Band include; arranger Ernie Wilkins: "This band would be a gasser to write for! What musicianship!" Bandleader Elliot Lawrence: "The band sounds like a modern swinging Tommy Dorsey". Don Cerulli, New York editor of Down Beat magazine: "Actually the band is Elliot Lawrence". Willis Canover from the Voice Of America network: "This is a hell of a swinging band". *swingmusic.net*

Side 1

1 - I Found A New Baby

(Williams, Palmer)

2 - Six-Ten

(Gösta Theselius)

3 - Our Love Is Here To Stay

(G. and I. Gershwin)

4 - This Can't Be Love

(Rodgers, Hart)

5 - This Is Harry

(Harry Arnold)

6 - Crazy Rhythm

(Meyer, Kahn)

Side 2

7 - Blue Lou

(Sampson, Mills)

8 - Little White Lies

(Walter Donaldson)

9 - Cuban Trombones

(Harry Arnold)

10 - Now It Can Be Told

(Irvin Berlin)

11 - Sunday

(Herbert, LeBaron)

12 - Jersey Bounce

(Johnson, Wright)

#1, #3, #5, #6, #7, #8, #12:

Bengt-Arne Wallin, Sixten Eriksson, Weine Renliden (trumpets); Arnold Johansson (trumpet, valve trombone); Andreas Skjöld, George Vernon, Gordon Olsson, Åke Persson (trombones); Arne Domnérus, Rolf Lindell (alto saxes); Bjarne Nerem, Carl Henrik Noren (tenor saxes); Lennart Jansson (baritone sax); Bengt Hallberg (piano); Bengt Högberg (guitar); Simon Brehm (bass); Egil Johansson (drums).

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, February 2, 1957.

#2, #4, #9, #10, #11:

Bengt-Arne Wallin, Sixten Eriksson, Weine Renliden (trumpets); Arnold Johansson (trumpet, valve trombone); Andreas Skjöld, George Vernon, Gordon Olsson, Åke Persson (trombones); Arne Domnérus, Rolf Lindell (alto saxes); Bjarne Nerem, Carl Henrik Noren (tenor saxes); Lennart Jansson (baritone sax); Gösta Theselius (piano); Bengt Högberg (guitar); Simon Brehm (bass); Egil Johansson (drums).

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, March 6, 1957.

Gösta Theselius And All Stars - Swedish Jazz

Gösta Theselius born in Stockholm, June 9, 1922. Started musical studies on piano at the age of seventeen, played with a military orchestra, taking up clarinet and tenor saxophone. In 1940, started making orchestrations for dance bands and continued playing sax and clarinet until August, 1955. He is now considered Sweden’s foremost jazz arranger and composer, and has seven motion picture scores to his credit. His favorite composers are Stravinsky and Ravel. *Liner notes*

By remaining neutral during WWII, the Swedes avoided a Nazi occupation and were able to listen to the changes in American jazz. Consequently while their European counterparts were mired in Dixieland in the postwar period, the Swedes were into west coast cool jazz. If I didn't know who the players were, I'd have thought this was a California session. For example, they even manage to capture the Four Brothers sound on Michel LeGrand's "Cool and Cosy." Recorded in Stockholm in 1956, the session features players who went on to be Swedish Jazz Masters such as Arne Domnérus (alto sax), Lars Gullin (baritone sax), Åke Persson (trombone), George Riedel (bass), Egil Johanssen and Bengt Hallber, piano. Its a fine album worth multiple listenings!!! *Sadie Softshoe (amazon.com)*

Really wonderful work from the postwar side of the Swedish scene — modern jazz from leader Gösta Theselius, recording here with one hell of a great group! Theselius may not be that well known on these shores, but the record features key work from players who are — including Bengt-Arne Wallin on trumpet, Lars Gullin on baritone sax, Arne Domnérus on alto and clarinet, Bengt Hallberg on piano, and Åke Persson on trombone — all the sorts of players who made the Swedish scene one of the most exciting non-American jazz spots in the 50s! Theselius plays a bit of piano, handled arrangements, and also contributed a number of tunes — but the soloists really get the most sparkle in the set, and although the tracks are shortish, they all manage to really do a lot with the space — in ways that are similar to some of the west coast Americans who inspired them at the time. Titles include "Brewin", "Cool And Cosy", "The Swingin Thirds", "Strollin", "Just Like That", "Bugs", "Havana Horn", and "Chips".  *dustygroove.com*

Side 1

01 - Kreta

(Gösta Theselius)

02 - Laugh Or Cry

(Stanley Applebaum)

03 - Chips

(Frank Engelen)

04 - Havana Horn

(Gösta Theselius)

05 - Brewin'

(Gösta Theselius)

06 - Sabbath Blues

(Arne Domnérus)

Side 2

07 - Just Like That

(Ted Sommer)

08 - Just Lonely

(Gösta Theselius)

09 - Bugs

(Lars Gullin)

10 - Strollin'

(Billy Mure)

11 - The Swingin' Thirds

(Walter Yost)

12 - Cool And Cosy

(Michel Legrand)

Gösta Theselius (piano, arranger, conductor); Bengt-Arne Wallin (trumpet); Bjarne Nerem (tenor sax); Rolf Blomquist (tenor sax, flute); Arne Domnérus (alto sax, clarinet); Lars Gullin, Lennart Jansson (baritone saxes); Åke Persson (trombone); Bengt Hallberg (piano); Georg Riedel (bass); Egil Johansen (drums).

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, April 27 and 28, 1956.

Arne Domnérus And His Group - Swedish Modern Jazz

One of the wonders of the postwar jazz world has been the sudden rise to dominance in European jazz of Sweden, a country which could scarcely have been found on the jazz map before 1946. The first suggestion that Americans had of Sweden’s jazz potential occurred in the late Forties when the Swedish clarinetist Stan Hasselgard came to this country. Here, it seemed, was the first clarinetist who could challenge Benny Goodman’s long rule as top man on that instrument. So good was Hasselgard, in fact, that Goodman hired him and the young Swedish jazzman suddenly found himself in the unique position of being the only other clarinetist that Goodman has ever featured.

Hasselgard’s career was nipped in the bud when he died in a tragic auto accident, but even in the few brief months that Americans heard him, his presence served to turn attention to Sweden as a jazz source. And there proved to be jazz aplenty there. 

Not just jazz in general, either, but a rather special kind of jazz that the Swedes have since made uniquely their own. It is based on the Swing Era of jazz, the first jazz period of which the Swedes were strongly aware. From Swing, the Swedes moved readily to Bop and the later refinements of Bop. No other country is quite so oriented toward modern jazz as is Sweden. 

But it is apparently not in the Swedish nature to abandon anything that is good simply because something new and attractive has come along. So they have clung to swing even while they embraced bop and, in consequence, most Swedish jazz has a swingingly modern quality that is found only occasionally elsewhere. 

When the jazz world’s attention was directed toward Sweden by Hasselgard’s talent, one of the first major figures it encountered was Arne Domnérus who has maintained his position throughout the Fifties as one of thetop three jazzmen in a country brimming with able jazz musicians.

Domnérus began playing alto saxophone when he was a teenager (he was born in Stockholm in 1924) and one of his earliest experiences was in a young amateur band which included Rolf Ericson, a trumpeter who has played with Woody Herman and Charlie Barnet; Simon Brehm, who became a pioneer Swedish bass star; and pianist Gösta Theselius (who arranged the two full band selections in this collection). By the time he was seventeen, Domnérus was leading a band in a restaurant in a small town in Lapland, possibly the most frigid apprenticeship that any potential jazz star has undergone. For the next ten years he was heard in various Swedish bands playing both alto and clarinet.

In these selections, Domnérus is heard on alto saxophone in all but three instances he plays clarinet. In his early days, when the alto was his only instrument, his style was patterned on the smooth, sweeping flow of Benny Carter. Later he fell strongly under the influence of Charlie Parker but now, as these performances show (the first side was made in 1957, the second in 1956), he has evolved an extremely effective fusion of Parker and Carter which is thoroughly in the vein of the general swing-cum-modern feeling of Swedish jazz as a whole. *Liner notes*

Side 1 

1 - Topsy Theme

(Gunnar Svensson)

2 - Relax

(Arne Domnérus)

3 - Frenesi

(A. Dominguez)

4 - For Dave

(Domnérus, Svensson)

5 - Lady Be Good

(George Gershwin)

6 - Round About Midnight

(Monk, Williams, Hanighen)

Side 2

7 - Blue Moon

(Rodgers, Hart)

8 - I Got Rhythm

(George Gershwin)

9 - Don't You Know I Care

(Duke Ellington)

10 - Gone With The Wind

(Allie Wrubel)

11 - Take The ''A'' Train

(Billy Strayhorn)

12 - Creole Love Call

(Duke Ellington)

#1 to #10:

Arne Domnérus (alto sax, clarinet [#2, #5]), Gunnar Svensson (piano), Georg Riedel (bass), Egil Johansen (drums).

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, March 14, 1956 (#7, #8, #9, #10); March 10 (#1, #2) and March 19 (#3,#4, #5, #6), 1957.

#11, #12:

Bengt-Arne Wallin (trumpet), Arne Domnérus (alto sax, clarinet [#12]), Rolf Blomquist (tenor sax), Lennart Jansson (baritone sax), Gunnar Svensson (piano), Georg Riedel (bass), Egil Johansen (drums).

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, January 27, 1956. 

Leonard Feather's Swingin' Swedes - New Sounds From Sweden Vol.1

Almost all recordings in Sweden in the 1950s were issued on EPs, the little 7" 45rpm album. The leading record label was Metronome, which released about 500 albums during the decade, most of them jazz records.

In the 1950s Sweden was kind of the center of European jazz. Lots of gifted musicians had plenty of venues to play, and could make their living on jazz. Jazz was still the young people´s music, and there were huge and interested audiences. There were radio programs, special jazz magazines and also jazz features and reviews in weekly magazines and daily newspapers. And there were an abundance of jazz records.

Many Americans visited the country, played in concerts and clubs and made recordings with the domestic stars. The best Swedish musicians became wellknown over the jazz world.

First time Swedish jazz draw public attention abroad was at the jazz festival in Paris in 1949. A Swedish group with Arne Domnérus and Putte Wickman among others, made great success in several concerts and became one of the French public's favorites, despite competition from stars such as Charle Parker and Miles Davis.

The success led to magazine features and radio programs in both Europe and the United States. In USA, Leonard Feather started playing Swedish jazz records in his program "Jazz at its best", and other stations followed. Records from Metronome reviewed in the American jazz press.

Leonard Feather arranged recordings in Stockhom in 1951 with the young Swedish modernists. They were issued the same year in USA on this 10" LP (Prestige 119). In Sweden the recordings were issued on Cupol 78s. *birkajazz.se*

The eight performances on this record are the product of a trip made to Sweden to investigate the glowing reports I had heard about that country's modern jazz. 

Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Roy Eldridge and many other visitors to Stockholm came home raving about the musicians presented here. 

All but one of the Swingin’ Swedes, by the way, were voted No. 1 on their respective instruments in the first national poll conducted by the Swedish jazz magazine ESTRAD.

Four of the numbers are played by a seven-piece band. This group gets a bigger and cleaner sound than most groups of its kind, thanks to the musicians' fine ensemble interpretation of four arrangements written by the brilliant Gösta Theselius, who won the ESTRAD award as top arranger.

Maybe these eight numbers will give you a pretty clear picture of why more and more people are agreeing that outside the U.S., Sweden is producing the best modern jazz to be heard anywhere. As they would say at Birdland: man, it's a crazy country! *Leonard Feather (liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - The Daring Young Swedes (On The Flying Trapeze)

(arr. Gösta Theselius)

2 - Moonlight Saving Time

(Kahal, Richman)

3 - Swedish Butterfly

(GöstaTheselius)

4 - Meet Me Tonight In Birdland

(Williams)

Side 2

5 - Rain On The Roof

(Ann Ronell)

6 - A Handful Of Stars

(Lawrence, Shapiro)

7 - The Swedish Music This Side Of Heaven

(Feather)

8 - September Serenade

(Dizzy Gillespie)

#2, #5:

Putte Wickman (clarinet), Reinhold Svensson (piano), Rolf Berg (guitar), Simon Brehm (bass), Jack Noren (drums).

#1, #6:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Arne Domnérus (alto sax), Lars Gullin (baritone sax), Reinhold Svensson (piano), Simon Brehm (bass), Jack Noren (drums).

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, June 28, 1951.

#3:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Arne Domnérus (alto sax), Carl-Henrik Norin (tenor sax), Lars Gullin (baritone sax), Bengt Hallberg (piano), Simon Brehm (bass), Jack Noren (drums).

#4:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Arne Domnérus (alto sax), Lars Gullin (baritone sax), Toots Thielemans (harmonica), Bengt Hallberg (piano), Simon Brehm (bass), Jack Noren (drums).

#7:

Åke Persson (trombone), Carl-Henrik Norin (tenor sax), Bengt Hallberg (piano), Simon Brehm (bass), Jack Noren (drums).

#8:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Åke Persson (trombone), Arne Domnérus (alto sax), Lars Gullin (baritone sax), Bengt Hallberg (piano), Simon Brehm (bass), Jack Noren (drums).

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, July 4, 1951.