Tenor saxophonist and composer Jack Montrose was a premier exponent of the West Coast jazz movement. His terse phrasing and smooth tone remain the quintessence of California cool. Born December 30, 1928, in Detroit, Montrose spent the first several years of the Depression in Chicago until poverty forced his family to relocate to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Upon teaching himself saxophone he joined a local dance band at the age of 14, and after several tours of the South he relocated to Southern California, where in 1947 he joined the John Kirby Sextet, beginning a long and fertile collaboration with Kirby's baritone saxophonist, Bob Gordon. Montrose continued working with Kirby while studying at Los Angeles State College, and after the bandleader's 1952 death he supported Shorty Rogers and Art Pepper. Upon graduating in 1953, Montrose earned notoriety as a session musician and arranger, contributing to dates headlined by Chet Baker, Clifford Brown, and Dave Pell. After returning from a six-month tour with Stan Kenton in mid-1954, Montrose reunited with Gordon for the Pacific Jazz LP Meet Mr. Gordon.
In 1955, the saxophonists convened for an acclaimed Atlantic date, Arranged/Played/Composed by Jack Montrose, followed by a Pacific Jazz session headlined by the former. But by the time of both albums' commercial release, Gordon was dead, killed in a fatal auto accident on August 28, 1955, at the age of only 27.
Montrose resurfaced in 1957 with a pair of RCA releases, Blues and Vanilla and The Horn's Full.
Reviewing Jack Montrose's albums posted here, it can be seen that only these last two albums are missing to complete his main recordings as a leader between the mid-1950s. Let's make the completists happy...
Jack Montrose
Blues and Vanilla
And
The Horn's Full
The two LPs compiled here are among the best works by the late Jack Montrose (1926-2006), a fine tenor sax player, remarkable jazz composer and arranger, and a key figure in the 1950s West Coast jazz movement. The first includes Montrose's extended work Concertino da Camera (subtitled Blues and Vanilla), his most ambitious project, devised within an essentially contrapuntal structure. The quintet sides prove the cleverly conceived aspects of his compositional concepts, with their sense of symmetry in the use thematic material. Montrose is accompanied here by some strong voices with a high level of individual performance such as Joe Maini, Shelly Manne, Jim Hall, Barney Kessel, and Red Norvo. The interplay, sympathy and good feeling between them are something to hear and one that doesn’t pall with repeated hearings.
Blues and Vanilla
Jack Montrose's first LP for RCA is a long-out-of-print collectable that is fairly obscure due to the paucity of jazz recordings that he made in the decades that followed this 1957 release. The cool-toned nature of the tenor saxophonist's compositions and arrangements fits in with the so-called West Coast jazz genre, though like many of the musicians labeled as such, Montrose is not a native of the region. The first section of his extended piece "Concertino da Camera (Blues and Vanilla)" is built upon a swinging blues theme that utilizes a call-and-response between the rhythm section (anchored by vibraphonist Red Norvo) and the saxophonists (Montrose is joined by alto saxophonist Joe Maini); the second part gradually integrates three separate themes with some wild counterpoint. The second side of the disc includes a quintet with guitarist Jim Hall, bassist Max Bennett, and drummer Bill Dolney joining Montrose and Norvo for several more originals by the leader and an inventive arrangement of Duke Ellington's "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" that incorporates a counter-melody against the main theme. Montrose's approach to "Bernie's Tune" also adds new depth to this favorite of '50s-era jam sessions. *Ken Dryden -All Music Guide*
The Horn's Full
Although a somewhat obscure set which has not yet been reissued on CD, this outing by tenor saxophonist Jack Montrose was put out by Fresh Sound Records in the 1980s. Montrose, an excellent improviser who was also a talented arranger, teams up with vibraphonist Red Norvo, either Barney Kessel or Jim Hall on guitar, Lawrence Wooten or Max Bennett on bass and Mel Lewis or Bill Dolney on drums to perform six of his originals and five swing-era standards. The music is greatly uplifted by Montrose's inventive arrangements and has many concise solos. Despite the quality, Montrose would not have his next opportunity to lead a record date for 28 years.
*Scott Yanow -All Music Guide*
1 - Concertino Da Camera (Blues and Vanilla)
(Jack Montrose)
2 - Bockhanal
(Jack Montrose)
3 - Don't Get Around Much Anymore
(Ellington, Russell)
4 - A Dandy Line
(Jack Montrose)
5 - For The Fairest
(Jack Montrose)
6 - Crazy She Calls Me
(Sigman, Russell)
7 - Dark Angel
(Jack Montrose)
8 - Bernie's Tune
(Bernie Miller)
9 - Headline
(Jack Montrose)
10 - Rosanne
(Osser-Osser)
11 - Polka Dots And Moonbeams
(Burke, Van Heusen)
12 - The Little House
(Jack Montrose)
13 - Solid Citizen
(Jack Montrose)
14 - Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
(Duke Ellington)
15 - True Blue
(Jack Montrose)
16 - The Horn's Full
(Jack Montrose)
17 - Goody Goody
(Malneck, Mercer)
#1 to #5 and #8 from the album Blues and Vanilla (RCA LPM-1451)
#6, #7 and #9 to #17 from the album The Horn's Full (RCA LPM-1572)
#1:
Jack Montrose (tenor sax), Joe Maini (alto sax),
Red Norvo (vibes), Buddy Clark (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).
Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California, November 13, 1956
#2 to #9:
Jack Montrose (tenor sax), Red Norvo (vibes),
Jim Hall (guitar), Max Bennett (bass), Bill Dolney (drums).
Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California,
December 24 (#2 to #5), and 26 (#6 to #9), 1956
#10 to #17:
Jack Montrose (tenor sax), Red Norvo (vibes),
Barney Kessel (guiotar), Lawrence "Red" Wooten (bass), Mel Lewis (drums).
Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California,
September 10 (#10 to #13), and 11 (#14 to #17), 1957
