Five-Star Collection... Hampton, Tatum and Rich

Lionel Hampton • Art Tatum • Buddy Rich

The Lionel Hampton • Art Tatum • Buddy Rich Trio

Offhand, it would seem a somewhat unlikely threesome to find together as a trio — Art Tatum, the brilliantly fluid pianist; Lionel Hampton, the energetic and hard-hitting vibraharpist, and drummer Buddy Rich, the phenomenally gifted percussionist-showman. The reasons are obvious enough. Tatum, for one thing, customarily finds himself in more tranquil surroundings as the soloist with a trio for which he, Tatum, sets the pace. Although both Hampton and Rich have made numerous recordings with smaller units, they are generally thought of as big-band men — and men of big sound. 

Put the three together, Hamp, Tatum and Buddy, and the result is bound to be musically interesting. In this case what emerges is an album in which mutual respect plays a dominant role — the aim, clearly, was in the direction of unity rather than individual glory by any one artist. From this comes a happy sort of teamwork as well as first-rate work by each member of the trio, both in solos — and this album has them in abundance — and in background for the solos.

*Norman Granz (from the liner notes)*

A superbly relaxed and tasteful set of conversations by Lionel, Art, and Buddy. Hampton — eschewing all the tawdry noisemaking he indulges in with his own band — plays here some of his best, most consistently inventive vibes in years. I would, however, have liked more Tatum solo work. Tatum is exhilarating, and seems freer in this trio context than he usually is when not by himself.

Rich is flawless. Except for the few where assertiveness is called for, Buddy's drumming is light though firm and marvelously unobtrusive. Drummers who act as though all is lost without an overriding cymbal should listen to Buddy in several places here with care. Recorded sound is good. This is the kind of trialogue that is not likely ever to lose its glow, a glow born of the many years of maturating experience collected in these three careers. As for swinging, this, gentlemen, is time. *Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, August 8, 1956 [5 stars])*

1 - Perdido

(Juan Tizol, Hans Lengsfelder, Ervin Drake)

2 - Hallelujah

(Vincent Youmans, Leo Robin, Clifford Grey)

3 - I'll Never Be The Same

(Frank Signorelli, Matty Malneck, Gus Kahn)

4 - How High The Moon

(Nancy Hamilton, Morgan Lewis)

5 - What Is This Thing Called Love

(Cole Porter)

6 - More Than You Know

(Vincent Youmans, Billy Rose, Edward Eliscu)

7 - Makin' Whoopee

(Walter Donaldson, Gus Kahn)

Lionel Hampton (vibes), Art Tatum (piano), Buddy Rich (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Los Angeles, California, August 1, 1955

Five-Star Collection... Art Pepper

Art Pepper

Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section

One of the great advantages of the disc or tape recording is the special performance by jazzmen who ordinarily could not be heard together. And as one of the most absorbing aspects of jazz itself is individual expression, it can be fascinating to hear the impact of personality upon personality, and to capture permanently, by recording, the result of the impact. That happened Saturday afternoon, January 19, 1957, when altoist Art Pepper met pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Philly Joe Jones, hereinafter (as the lawyers say) referred to as The Rhythm Section.

Pepper, one of the most exciting jazzmen of the 1950s, was known only in what might, for want of a better term, be called a "West Coast context". And The Rhythm Section, Easterners all, had been playing together for the past year and a half with the Miles Davis group. It seemed a provocative and challenging project to bring the two elements together. After the first chorus of the first rehearsal of You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To, there was no doubt in anyone's mind the interaction was going to result in some unusually exciting jazz. Things happened fast after that, with everyone coming up with ideas, two new tunes (Waltz Me Blues and Red Pepper Blues) composed and worked out on the spot, and just five hours later this album had been recorded. It is a one shot, unique jazz experience, giving the jazz fan and critic a ringside seat at a completely spontaneous and uninhibited blowing session. (...)

The session itself started off in the worst possible way. Art didn't know about it until the morning of the date. Arrangements were made by Art's wife, Diane, who didn't want him to become tense worrying about it. He hadn't been playing for a couple of weeks; his horn was dried out and the cork in the neck was broken; and he had no idea of what he'd record. To top it all, everyone had been up late the night before and were late in getting started. but after the first rehearsal of You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To, everything jelled. As Art says, "I was so inspired by the rhythm section, I forgot the 'adverse' conditions. I'd never played most of the tunes before, and I fell back on the time I spent before the war on the Avenue playing by ear. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to make it".

About his own playing, Art feels, "In some spots I may sound rough, like I'm squawking, but I finally realized that in playing I've got to play exactly as I feel it. I want the emotion to come out rather than try to make everything perfect. You can’t express your emotions in that way. I believe I'm coming closer to that kind of honest emotion in this album. It's hard to drop all the inhibitions built up over the years, but I’m gradually beginning to free myself".

*Lester Koenig,  April 2, 1957 (from the liner notes)*

At time of writing, this album is exactly one year in release. Why it has not been reviewed until now is quite unfathomable, for it certainly was one of the best jazz albums of last year and probably Pepper's most mature recording to date. The session was held Jan 19, 1957, when Lester Koenig availed himself of the Miles Davis rhythm section, then in Hollywood with the trumpeter to play a local night club.

The altoist and rhythm section are indeed well met in this balanced set of eight tunes ranging from a purely played Imagination to some intriguing three-quarter jazz in Waltz Me. The solos of all concerned are of consistent interest, with Pepper at times reaching heights he’s seldom attained even under most congenial conditions in a club. In Red Pepper, a down-homey blues, Art's Lester Young-like phrasing in his opening chorus clearly shows where the roots lie.

As soloist and comper, Garland is authoritative and original. He can be alternatively strong and delicate, sparely laconic, and rippingly virtuosic. The bass-drums team here is peerless, with Chambers getting off some well-conceived pizzicato and arco solos. Jones' brush chorus in Waltz Me bears endless replaying for its taste and humor.

This memorable meeting deserves a favored place in anybody's collection.

*John A. Tynan (Down Beat, June 12, 1958 [5 stars])*

1 - You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To

(Cole Porter)

2 - Red Pepper Blues

(Red Garland)

3 - Imagination

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

4 - Waltz Me Blues

(Art Pepper, Paul Chambers)

5 - Straight Life

(Art Pepper)

6 - Jazz Me Blues

(Tom Delaney)

7 - Tin Tin Deo

(Chano Pozo)

8 - Star Eyes

(Gene De Paul, Don Raye)

9 - Birks Works

(Dizzy Gillespie)

10 - The Man I Love

(George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)

Art Pepper (alto sax), Red Garland (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums).

Recorded at Contemporary's Studios, Los Angeles, California, January 19, 1957

Five-Star Collection... Hampton Hawes

As a group, the three albums and sixteen selections comprising All Night Session! ["Blues of a Sort" wasn't at first issued as part of the original LPs] represent a most unusual achievement in the annals of jazz recording. The almost two hours of music were recorded at a single, continuous session, in the order in which you hear the numbers, and without editing of any kind. This seems like an impossible feat. Playing steadily for several hours is a taxing physical experience at best, but improvising continually for that length of time is an exhausting one, mentally and emotionally. Yet the later selections in All Night Session! reveal no flagging of vitality, spontaneity, or inventiveness. "The feeling wasn't like recording", Hampton Hawes has said in commenting on the session. "We felt like we went somewhere to play for our own pleasure. After we got started, I didn't even think I was making records. In fact, we didn't even listen to playbacks. We didn't tighten up as musicians often do in recording studios — we just played because we love to play". Considering the buoyant beat, skillful pacing, variety of material, spontaneous jazz feeling and the richness of invention, All Night Session! is a testimonial of the highest order to the musicianship of jazzman Hawes and his associates.

As a pianist, Hawes possesses a remarkably robust and vigorous style. The sixteen selections in All Night Session! teem with a pulsating energy and are marked by a seemingly inexhaustible stream of ideas. Although he can create chord patterns of great beauty as in I’ll Remember April and April in Paris, and he can command a singing, lyrical tone, he is more attracted at this stage of his career to expressions of a dynamic character. His touch is firm and authoritative and he possesses a split second sense of timing. His technical mastery is so great that there is not a single blurred run, tangled triplet or ragged arpeggio, no matter how fast the tempo.

Included among the sixteen selections are four original compositions by Hawes. They are of interest for two reasons. In the first instance, it is to be noted that they were composed at the record date itself and not written down beforehand. This gives them a spontaneous, ebullient quality, which is in a sense, their strongest characteristic. I was interested to learn that virtually all of Hawes' originals have been composed in this way. Instead of being written down, they are transcribed from his live performance, emphasizing the fact that his creative activity is the result of his role of an improviser. The second fact to be noted is that all four selections are blues — fast, vigorous blues, but blues nonetheless. Like Charlie Parker, whom Hampton credits with being the strongest influence on his playing, Hawes believes that blues are the basic foundation of jazz and that all jazzmen, modern as well as traditional, must begin by mastering the blues.

*Arnold Shaw (from the liner notes for the three albums [March 26, 1958])*

Here, at last, is the definitive Hamp Hawes. Spread out over three 12 inch LP's as is this collection, there is ample opportunity fully to assess the sometime disputed prowess of the 29-year-old west coast pianist.

As the album title indicates, these sides were recorded in one all night record date on November 12, 1956. The four musicians began recording and, as the groove wore smoother, just kept right on going.

All four were in optimum playing spirit. Hawes has never sounded so good on record and now emerges as one of the foremost jazz piano talents of our generation. His roots undeniably lie anchored in the blues and he seldom strays very far from that influence. As a modern blues pianist he remains superb. His ballad interpretations (I Should Care is a good example) tend still to show a little too much extraneous embellishment.

Hall's playing throughout is sheer, funky joy. Both as soloist and comper he fully rounds out the group, adding necessary variety of feeling and color to the trio context in which Hawes previously chose to express himself. As for Mitchell, he always is a paragon of jazz bass playing. Freeman's drums swing unrestrainedly all the way. *John A. Tynan (Down Beat, August 21, 1958 [5 satars])*

Hampton Hawes

All Night Session! • Volume 1

In the night of November 12 and into the morning of November 13, 1956, a quartet led by pianist Hampton Hawes recorded enough material to fill three long-playing phonograph record albums. This studio session contained many elements associated with a live gig: the work took place during regular nightclub performing hours, the improvisations were mostly extended, and there were no alternate takes. A remarkable freshness and spontaneity prevailed throughout the session. Although controversy continues regarding the original sequence of titles, Duke Jordan's "Jordu" and Dizzy Gillespie's "Groovin' High" are superb openers for this first of three volumes. In addition to an invigorating run down "Broadway," Hawes improvised two original themes: "Takin' Care" and a bluesy walk entitled "Hampton's Pulpit" that stretched out for more than 11 minutes, making it the longest track of the entire all-night session. Collaborating with the pianist on this historic date were guitarist Jim Hall, bassist Red Mitchell, and drummer Eldridge "Bruz" Freeman. The interplay between these four men is marvelous, particularly when heard with headphones or through a sound system allowing for a full appreciation of the stereophonic balance achieved by the recording engineers. *arwulf arwulf (www.allmusic.com)*

1 - Jordu

(Duke Jordan)

2 - Groovin' High

(Dizzy Gillespie)

3 - Takin' Care

(Hampton Hawes)

4 - Broadway

(Woode, McRae, Bird)

5 - Hampton's Pulpit

(Hampton Hawes)

Hampton Hawes (piano), Jim Hall (guitar), Red Mitchell (bass), Bruz Freeman (drums).

Recorded at Contemporary's Studio, Los Angeles, California,

the night of November 12, 1956

✳✳✳

Hampton Hawes

All Night Session! • Volume 2

This is the second of three albums that came about as the result of an all-night recording session that took place in Los Angeles on November 12 and 13, 1956. Although Hampton Hawes spontaneously created five original tunes at this extraordinarily inspired date, everything on Vol. 2 comes directly out of the standard bop musician's working repertoire. The quartet, with bassist Red Mitchell, guitarist Jim Hall, and drummer Eldridge "Bruz" Freeman, collectively improvise their way through four attractive standards ("I Should Care" turned out to be the only slow ballad of the entire session) and three of Dizzy Gillespie's most refreshing creations. In 1958 Hawes was quoted as saying "It's hard to put into words how good it feels to play jazz when it's really swinging...I've reached a point where the music fills you up so much emotionally that you feel like shouting hallelujah -- like people do in church when they're converted to God. That's the way I was feeling the night we recorded All Night Session!" *arwulf arwulf (www.allmusic.com)*

1 - I'll Remember April

(Raye, dePaul, Johnston)

2 - I Should Care

(Stordahl, Weston, Cahn)

3 - Woody'n You

(Dizzy Gillespie)

4 - Two Bass Hit

(Gillespie, Lewis)

5 - Will You Still Be Mine

(Dennis, Adair)

6 - April In Paris

(Duke, Harburg)

7 - Blue 'N' Boogie

(Gillespie, Paparelli)

Hampton Hawes (piano), Jim Hall (guitar), Red Mitchell (bass), Bruz Freeman (drums).

Recorded at Contemporary's Studio, Los Angeles, California,

the night of November 12 and morning of November 13, 1956

✳✳✳

Hampton Hawes

All Night Session! • Volume 3

Vol. 3 of the Hampton Hawes Quartet's All Night Session contains three spontaneously improvised variations on the blues, one very cool extended rendition of Duke Ellington's "Do Nothin' 'Till You Hear from Me" and a strikingly handsome treatment of Harold Arlen's "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea." The briskly paced "Blues #4" is especially progressive and exciting. Apparently "Blues of a Sort" was a warm-up performance, as voices are audible (discussing a football game!) in the background during the bass solo. For this one-take marathon late-night session of November 12 and 13, 1956, Hawes chose to share the studio with guitarist Jim Hall, bassist Red Mitchell and drummer Eldridge "Bruz" Freeman, who had replaced Chuck Thompson following that musician's sudden inability to continue touring with the group earlier that year. "We gave Chuck what money we could and left him sitting on a hospital cot in a white bathrobe." This grim image, like much of Hawes' autobiography Raise Up Off Me, paints a stark picture of the narcotics epidemic among jazz musicians during the '50s. Although this was the first peak of his career, Hawes later admitted that "during the fall of 1956 I was messing up consistently -- showing late on gigs or missing them altogether." He had lots of offers for work, including the possibility of providing music for a film soundtrack: "Wanted to do it, would have paid good, but at the time I didn't even have the bread to get high enough to get to the studio to see what they had in mind." One of the great incongruities of bop is the fact that Charlie Parker and the musicians who were most directly influenced by him were able to be so creative and prolific while grappling with addictions that confounded, immobilized, and eventually slew them. All of these insights quietly swarm beneath the surface of what added up to more than two hours of exceptionally fine quartet jazz. *arwulf arwulf (www.allmusic.com)*

1 - Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

(Ellington, Russell)

2 - Blues #3

(Hampton Hawes)

3 - Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

(Arlen, Koehler)

4 - Blues #4

(Hampton Hawes)

5 - Blues Of A Sort

(Hampton Hawes)

Hampton Hawes (piano), Jim Hall (guitar), Red Mitchell (bass), Bruz Freeman (drums).

Recorded at Contemporary's Studio, Los Angeles, California,

the morning of November 13, 1956

Five-Star Collection... The Modest Jazz Trio

The Modest Jazz Trio

Good Friday Blues

INTUITION: The power of knowing, or the knowledge obtained, without recourse to inference or reasoning; innate or instinctive knowledge — Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary.

Gerry Mulligan had a way of expressing this phenomenon: "I know, don't know how". His statement contains a qualification which is tantamount to an admission that this is purely instinctive knowledge. He doesn't know how, but does know. To know collectively is a phenomenon which occurs with a fair degree of regularity among jazz musicians whose empathy towards each other is highly developed.

Here are three men, each a distinct talent, none, under ordinary circumstances interdependent upon the others for inspiration; playing together on a level of emotional and mental cohesion that is born of collective intuition. They know with such intensity, what the others are doing or are about to do, that the collective result is a marvelous example of form, of continuity of thought, and of completeness. *Woody Woodward (from the liner notes)*

In this day of trends and fads, where the jazz we hear is contrived in many instances, this is a revelation. Perhaps it is all the more warming because it is accomplished within the context of a trio. The piano-bass-drums trio often seems to be a vehicle for slickness and all other similar faults attributable to the conscious attempt to "sell".

Here the music just flows out a stream of genuine emotion from three artists who obviously enjoy playing for the sake of playing. They are grooving themselves but not in a way that excludes the audience. This surrounds the album with a feeling that defies rating by stars. It exemplifies the best kind of honest jazz expression. Hall, Mitchell, and Kelly are en rapport all the way. The "fours" between guitar and piano on Bill, Not Phil and, especially, I Remember You build beautifully as they unfold.

This is the first time Hall has really stretched out on record, and it is his best work to date. He gets a pure, natural sound that has none of the drawbacks of an amplified instrument.

On Good Friday and Willow he is appropriately more earthy but not so much as to distort his basic personality. You may find a similarity between Hall and Jimmy Raney on Mitchell's lovely When I Have You. In the main, however, his spinning out of singing, single lines shows him off as an individual and one of the important jazz guitarists.

Mitchell is one of the great bassists. He is also a very fine piano player, who not only thinks melodically but economically. Knowing when and when not to play is a Mitchell attribute. His rhythmic sense, and the way he incorporates his personal touch with this accenting, leads to a unique swing.

Kelly has the strength of a benevolent genie. He does everything asked of him as rhythmic complement and contributes some good solos, too.

The Modest Jazz Trio is an apt name for these three. When you play this, the music does all the talking that is necessary and then some. *Ira Gitler (Down Beat, February 16, 1961 [5 stars])*

1 - Good Friday Blues

(Red Mitchell)

2 - Willow Weep For Me

(Ann Ronell)

3 - I Remember You

(Johnny Mercer, Victor Schertzinger)

4 - Bill Not Phil

(Bill Harris)

5 - When I Have You

(Red Mitchell)

6 - I Was Doing All Right

(George and Ira Gershwin)

Jim Hall (guitar), Red Mitchell (piano), Red Kelly (bass).

Recorded in Los Angeles, California, April 8, 1960

Five-Star Collection... John Lewis

John Lewis

Grand Encounter:

2° East – 3° West

Grand Encounter is perfect as the title of this album, featuring as it does three grand and eloquent soloists playing together for the first time.

The combination of John Lewis, Bill Perkins, and Jim Hall is absolutely inspired, as they are three of the most lyrical soloists in jazz. In addition to eloquence and lyricism, they share other attributes and similarities. All three have a sound on their instruments that is personal and immediately recognizable, Lewis with his dry, kittenish attack, Perkins with a tone richer than the richest velvet, and Hall with a sound that is clear and bell-like. They all approach improvisation with a seeming trepidation, perhaps an extension of the genuine modesty they manifest as human beings. The three express themselves instrumentally in a spare, pared-down manner; thus, they seem such reflective and unpretentious soloists, as if they had weighed all the possibilities for this specific solo long before and this is precisely what they want to say about this composition at this particular time, and that to say anything more would be excessive. And, lastly, all three are possessors of a romantic bent that makes their lyricism all the more poignant.

Another attribute they share is sensitivity, for this is principally what makes this recording so pleasurable — because everyone listens so well. There is a group feel and interplay that is absent from many other all-star groups assembled for recording purposes only.

This "grand encounter" took place on February 10, 1956. For a pick-up recording, it is unusual in that it contains several firsts and a near-first. It marks John Lewis' first recording as a leader and his first trio recording (on I Can't Get Started), and Hall's first trio recording (on Skylark); Bill Perkins' first record date as a leader took place the day before.

Don't look for 2 Degrees East, 3 Degrees West on the map. It denotes the geographic composition of the quintet — two Easterners and three Westerners. (Hall is from New York and Heath from Pennsylvania; Lewis is from New Mexico and Perkins and Hamilton are from California. However, considering that Lewis and Heath were based in New York with the MJQ at the time, it is likely that Lewis regarded himself and Heath as the two Easterners when he titled his original blues.) Today, all are based in New York City except Perkins, who may be seen on television with the Tonight Show orchestra and in jazz clubs with Shorty Rogers’ quintet.

*Todd  Seibert (from the liner notes of the 2016 reissue)*

Simplicity is deceptive. On the one hand it can mean the artist is limited, and at its best this can be folk art of a high order. On the other, it can mean that the artist, having at his disposal the full range of materials, chose simplicity to best serve his needs. And this is conscious art at its creative best, as in this LP.

Simplicity is the keynote to this album. It is simple, direct, and overwhelmingly effective without ever once shouting at you or waving a flag. Not only are all the soloists at their best here, but perhaps they are at their best because of the high degree of empathy which surrounds the date. Few sessions in recent years — some Vanguards and the first Columbia Buck Clayton come to mind — have had the mark of the era of good feeling to the degree this album has. That is one of its charms.

Another is the rhythm section, in which Percy Heath and Chico Hamilton merge together to produce a compelling beat that is felt on every track. Still another is the way the solo horns — Perkins, Jim Hall and Lewis — pick up the phrases, the nuances, the shadings of the compositions, turn them over carefully and examine them, and then replace them in a different setting.

There is really no high spot to this album, because the performances on all tracks are on a plateau of excellence such as to make further comparison superfluous. It might be worthwhile to credit Perkins with some moving Lesterian moments in which he adds his own touch of individuality to a wailing solo on Love Me, or his Easy Living solo all the way which sets the tune running in your mind for days.

Perhaps John Lewis' majestic I Can’t Get Started or his blue-tinted solo on Three Degrees should be stressed, or Jim Hall's romantic mood on Skylark.

It seems enough to say, however, that this is the sort of album you hope for and seldom get. In common with the Mulligan quartet and the MJQ, this album contains the kind of performances you are forced to think of for hours. You can't help yourself. Is there any stronger praise?

The liner notes by Whitney Balliett are five-star, too.

*Ralph J. Gleason (Down Beat, November 14, 1956 [5 stars])*

1 - Love Me Or Leave Me

(Gus Kahn, Walter Donaldson)

2 - I Can't Get Started

(Ira Gershwin, Vernon Duke)

3 - Easy Living

(Leo Robin, Ralph Rainger)

4 - 2 Degrees East – 3 Degrees West

(John Lewis)

5 - Skylark

(Johnny Mercer, Hoagy Carmichael)

6 - Almost Like Being In Love

(Alan Jay Lerner, Federick Loewe)

John Lewis (piano), Bill Perkins (tenor sax),

Jim Hall (guitar), Percy Heath (bass), Chico Hamilton (drums).

Recorded in Los Angeles, California, February 10, 1956

Five-Star Collection... Count Basie (December 1953 on Clef Records)

In the waning days of 1953, Count Basie walked into Fine Sound Studios in New York with a renewed sense of purpose. His orchestra had been reshaped, his sound modernized, and his partnership with Norman Granz was about to yield some of the most vital recordings of his postwar career. The sessions Basie led for Clef Records that December —one with his full orchestra, another with a stripped-down sextet— captured the perfect balance between swing tradition and the modern jazz vocabulary of the 1950s.

On December 12, 1953, Basie recorded the material that would later appear on the 12-inch LP Dance Session (Clef MG C-626). The orchestra featured what would soon become known as the "New Testament Band": Wendell Culley, Reunald Jones, Joe Newman, and Joe Wilder on trumpets; Henderson Chambers, Henry Coker, and Benny Powell on trombones; Marshall Royal (alto sax/clarinet), Frank Wess and Frank Foster (tenor saxes), Charlie Fowlkes (baritone), Freddie Green (guitar), Eddie Jones (bass), and Gus Johnson (drums). Basie alternated between piano and organ, bringing a fresh timbre to his already unmistakable swing.

The New York session yielded titles such as "Straight Life", "Basie Goes Wess", "Softly, With Feeling", "Peace Pipe", "Bubbles", "Right On", and "The Blues Done Come Back", with arrangements by Johnny Mandel, Frank Wess, Neal Hefti, and Ernie Wilkins.

Two additional tracks associated with Dance Session —"Blues Go Away!" and "Plymouth Rock"— had actually been recorded earlier that year, on August 13, 1953, in Los Angeles. These sessions, also produced by Granz, reveal the transitional phase of Basie's band just before it fully coalesced into the streamlined ensemble that would dominate his mid-1950s recordings.

Around the same time as the New York orchestra date, Basie also convened a sextet session for Clef, a relaxed and intimate date released on the 10-inch LP Count Basie Sextet (Clef MG C-146). With Joe Newman (trumpet), Paul Quinichette (tenor sax), Freddie Green (guitar), Gene Ramey (bass), and Buddy Rich (drums), the group tackled tunes such as "Basie Beat", "K.C. Organ Blues", "Blue and Sentimental" and "Count’s Organ Blues".

Taken together, these 1953 Clef sessions document a pivotal moment in Basie's evolution. His music regained the rhythmic drive and collective swing of the 1930s while embracing the cleaner, more sophisticated textures of the modern era. Dance Session and Count Basie Sextet stand as complementary portraits of a bandleader in transition —bridging tradition and innovation, reaffirming his roots while setting the course for the Basie sound that would define the following decade.

Down Beat reviewed these records as follows:

Count Basie

Dance Session

Every so often, like a dormant volcano, there will be an eruption on the jazz scene, during which one of the protagonists will insist (usually quite pedantically) that jazz was made to listen to and not to dance to. Like the volcanic eruptions which consist primarily of hot air and other gasses, these things subside, and we get back to normalcy and the clear, sweet air of swing, and we discover that it is quite simple to dance as well as listen to good jazz, because definitively jazz claims rhythm more as an ingredient of its composition than any other kind of music. 

Today, if anyone were asked who swings more than anyone else, the chances are nine out of nine would reply Count Basie. They would mean either Basie individually, Basie with a small group of musicians, or Basie with his big band. Slice it any way you like, look at it upside down or standing on  your head — Basie is still THE man of swing. It used to be in the olden days, various titles were handed to band leaders, such as "Mr. Rhythm", "Mr. Swing" and so on. Were that doubtful practice to be revived today, Basie would probably garner more crowns than any other leader playing jazz at this time.

That was reason then, for us to produce an album by the dance master of them all; but at the same time a man who preserves the identity of the soloists within his organization by giving them full rein to play as they choose when it comes their turn to stand up.

Basie also, years ago, and he has persisted today in that practice, saw the need for giving young, free-thinking arrangers full play to write as they thought the band should play. The best of these arrangers for Basie, and composers too, for they have written these pieces, are included in this album. They are: Johnny Mandel, Neal Hefti, Ernie Wilkins and Frank Wess. Johnny Mandel’s "Straight Life" is quite possibly, at least it is my nominee, the prettiest thing Basie has done in a decade. However, pressing it closely for second place beauty honors is the Hefti "Softly, With Feeling". There are the swinging, jumping, rollicking, happy tunes by Wilkins, Wess and some more by Hefti, but all in all it is the band that plays not only the blues, but plays with feeling, to paraphrase Neal Hefti, softly and/or loudly, but always tastefully. *Norman Granz (liner notes)* 

Most of these have already been reviewed as singles and have received ratings ranging from three to five stars. Gathered together in one well-recorded 12'' LP, the cumulative impact of thgis, the greatest big band in jazz, is too much!

Here is that rare combimnation of section precision and relaxation, of functional simplicity and continuous freshness of feeling. It's also about time someone gave credit to the man largely responsible for the aforementioned prfecision — concert master Marshall Royal. At base, of course, this is a triumph belonging to everyone in this exultant band and to the swingingest bandbuilder of them all, William Basie. This is called, by the way, Count Basie Dance Session and it's a powerful reminder of what jazz began as in Storyville — music to dance and live with. This is one band you can't listen to as a detached observer; when you dig Basie, you become part of the beat. 

*Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, September 8, 1954 [5 stars])*

1 - Straight Life

(Johnny Mandel)

2 - Basie Goes Wess

(Frank Wess)

3 - Softly, With Feeling

(Neal Hefti)

4 - Peace Pipe

(Ernie Wilkins)

5 - Blues Go Away!

(Ernie Wilkins)

6 - Cherry Point

(Neal Hefti)

7 - Bubbles

(Neal Hefti)

8 - Right On

(Freddie Green)

9 - The Blues Done Come Back

(Ernie Wilkins)

10 - Plymouth Rock

(Neal Hefti)

#1, #4, #5, #10:

Reunald Jones, Paul Campbell, Wendell Culley, Joe Newman (trumpets);

Johnny Mandel (bass trumpet [#5, #10]), Henry Coker, Benny Powell (trombones);

Marshall Royal (clarinet, alto sax); Ernie Wilkins (alto sax, tenor sax);

Frank Wess, Frank Foster (tenor saxes); Charlie Fowlkes (baritone sax);

Count Basie (piano); Freddie Green (guitar); Eddie Jones (bass); Gus Johnson (drums);

Neal Hefti (arrangements).

Recorded in Los Angeles, California, August 13 (#5, #10),

and at Fine Studio, New York City, December 12 (#1, #4), 1953

#2, #3, #6, #7, #8, #9: 

Reunald Jones, Joe Wilder, Wendell Culley, Joe Newman (trumpets);

Henderson Chambers, Henry Coker, Benny Powell (trombones);

Marshall Royal (clarinet, alto sax);Ernie Wilkins (alto sax, tenor sax);

Frank Wess, Frank Foster (tenor saxes); Charlie Fowlkes (baritone sax);

Count Basie (piano, organ [#3]); Freddie Green (guitar); Eddie Jones (bass); Gus Johnson (drums);

Neal Hefti (arrangements).

Recorded at Fine Studio, New York City, December 12, 1953

✳✳✳

Count Basie

The Count Basie Sextet

I never seem to be able to make up my mind as to what musical setting I prefer Count Basie in — the big band or the small band. It seems that it is usually the last record that I hear that converts me to its cause. I think the reason, of course, is that Basie is equally adept and equally pleasing in both combinations. In the one you get the power and the drive that the big band gives you, and in the other you get all of the subtlety and relaxed swing that the small combination affords. In either case, though, Basie is always the motivation rhythmically for each group.

This latest album by Count Basie is a Sextet culled from members of his band, and a musician who happens to be Basie's closest musical friend. This "friend" is Buddy Rich. The other members of the band were: Gene Ramey, Freddie Greene, Joe Newman, and Paul Quinichette.

As with most of Basie's records, the tunes are originals penned by Basie or members of his band, and the blues predominate.

For a most swinging (or as the hipsters would probably say "swinging the most") evening, here is the Count and his Sextet. *Norman Granz (liner notes)*

If you put this on a hi-fi set at full room volume, it'll swing you through the window if you don't watch out. This is jazz at its most basic — direct, powerful, unpretentious. Paul Quinichette and Joe Newman are in the front line and ride on top of the rhythm section like it was a jet-engined carpet. With Count is the invaluable Freddie Greene together with Gene Ramey and Buddy Rich.

Basie is on organ on four sides and no one since Fats Waller comes close to Count in jazz organ touch. There's little point in selecting favorite bands — it all moves from Paul's simply expressive Blue and Sentimental to the rocking Royal Garden. One thing only — and this will probably get me read out of the Critics' Circle. There are times when Buddy Rich is somewhat too heavy, as on Count's Organ Blues. But why cavil in the face of a Basie tornado?

*Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, February 24, 1954 [5 stars])*

1 - Basie Beat

(Count Basie, Joe Newman)

2 - K.C. Organ Blues

(Count Basie, Joe Newman)

3 - She's Funny That Way

(Richard Whiting, Neil Moret)

4 - Royal Garden Blues

(Clarence Williams, Spencer Williams) 

5 - Stan Shorthair

(Count Basie, Joe Newman)

6 - Blue And Sentimental

(Count Basie, Jerry Livingston, Mack David) 

7 - Count's Organ Blues

(Count Basie, Joe Newman)

8 - As Long As I Live

 (Ted Koehler, Harold Arlen)

Count Basie (piano, organ), Joe Newman (trumpet), Paul Quinichette (tenor sax),

Freddy Green (guitar), Gene Ramey (bass), Buddy Rich (drums).  

Recorded at Fine Studio, New York City, December 15, 1953

Five-Star Collection... Stan Kenton

Stan Kenton And His Orchestra

New Concepts Of Artistry In Rhythm

The format for this album was sketched by Kenton himself, and his staff arrangers have developed and interpreted his ideas with rare skill and understanding. New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm is a tribute to these men of the modern school whose stature is ever increasing. It is their ingenuity and creative ability that is directing the course of tomorrow's music.

The intense imagination of Stan Kenton gave pulsing life to Artistry in Rhythm more than ten years ago, and today the freshest and most stimulating ideas of modern music are still in his work — in his New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm.

Throughout the ten years of the Kenton Orchestra's life its music has gradually changed — with accumulated knowledge, experimentation, and association — to bring the listener an ever fresh approach.

This album discloses even more exciting developments in the orchestra's brilliant sound. Masterful musicians like first trumpeter Buddy Childers, first trombonist Bob Burgess, first saxophonist Vinnie Dean, and drummer Stan Levey give it the mark of their personalities; and above all stands the dynamic quality of Stan Kenton, inspiring his orchestra and, indeed, a whole profession — carrying the vibrant message of his music to hosts of eager listeners everywhere. *(from the liner notes)*

This is the New Concepts LP, and it might well have been called Artistry in Russo, for Bill wrote five of these seven originals. First title, which your atlas will show you means Havana, starts with a startling and highly entertaining piece of writing for the trombones, with the Latin rhythm and the unison reeds easing in, followed by unison trumpets. Blood, the swingingest side of the whole set, was penned by Gerry Mulligan, indicates that Stan needs bigger doses of Mulligan in his books.

The Count (Conte Candoli) is well framed in his portrait; the Invention for Sal Salvador and Maynard Ferguson was written by tenor man Bill Holman. Improvisation, the longest and most ambitious number of the set, has some of the most brilliant Russo writing as he used it is the one we enjoyed the least, for its qualities are neurotic and depressing.

The Frank who speaks is trombonist Rosolino, and although he doesn't speak as freely and happily as he used to with Georgie Auld's quintet, this is an effective jazz horn concerto and swings more than the other Russo items. My Lady is addressed by Lee Konitz' alto in attractively melancholy tones. *(Down Beat, Chicago, May 6, 1953 [5 stars])*

1 - 23° N — 82° W

(Bill Russo)

2 - Portait Of A Count

(Bill Russo)

3 - Improvisation

(Bill Russo)

4 - Invention For Guitar And Trumpet

(Bill Holman)

5 - My Lady

(Bill Russo)

6 - Young Blood

(Gerry Mulligan)

7 - Frank Speaking

(Bill Russo)

Buddy Childers, Maynard Ferguson, Conte Candoli, Don Dennis, Ruben McFall (trumpets); 

Bob Burgess, Frank Rosolino, Keith Moon, Bill Russo (trombones); 

George Roberts (bass trombone); Vinnie Dean, Lee Konitz (alto saxes); 

Richie Kamuca, Bill Holman (tenor saxes); Bob Gioga (baritone sax);

Sal Salvador (guitar); Stan Kenton (piano);  Don Bagley (bass); 

Stan Levey (drums), Denon Kenneth Walton (bongos [#1]).

Recorded at Universal Studios "A", Chicago, Illinois, September 10 (#2, #6, #7),

September 11 (#1), September 15 (#4, #5) and September 16 (#3), 1952

Five-Star Collection... Charles Bell

Charles Bell

The Charles Bell Contemporary Jazz Quartet

In recent months the phrase "Third Stream" has been coined to describe an intellectualized form of jazz which springs as much from classical training as from the traditions of popular dance music. John Lewis' Modern Jazz Quartet has made an enormous commercial success in combining severe formal discipline with free-swinging improvisation.

Charles Bell takes his jazz very seriously, as listeners will find out from this extraordinary long-playing record. He is of the firm belief that there can be a legitimate fusion between jazz and the most serious approach to classical music. As a pupil of Nicholai Lopatnikoff, he was first immersed in the Romantic composers, but his interest soon branched out to the early composers of church music as well as the most contemporary writers. As an undergraduate at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, he was first known for his works for chamber orchestra and string quartet, and his present jazz group was formed in 1958 when it made its debut at the "Copa Club". (...)

There are more than a few parallels between Charles Bell and the previously mentioned John Lewis. Both are essentially serious composers, although Bell makes less use of improvisation than does Lewis. Both are dedicated, abstemious souls who are striving to raise the level of public taste as well as to entertain. Even the musical balance of the group is not dissimilar. In the CJQ, the guitar replaces the vibes, but in the drummer, Allen Blairman, there is a real counterpart to the ebullient Milt Jackson of the MJQ. However, there is one significant difference between the two groups: Bell is far less blues-oriented than is John Lewis, and he approaches music even more from the classical side than does the more experienced Lewis.

In the few months that have passed since the award-winning at Georgetown University, the Contemporary Jazz Quartet has had a successful engagement at New York's "Birdland" and worked around Pittsburgh. The CJQ deserves the much broader audience that only records can bring.

*John Hammond (from the liner notes)*

One of the most fascinating things about writing of jazz and jazzmen is the similarity that exists between that specialized branch of journalism and general-assignment reporting of everything under the sun. The similarity is evident in that the unexpected and the new are constant factors and hence constant challenges to the writer.

Bell and company are something new under the jazz sun. This is their first recording (so far as can be ascertained), and their treatment of theme, variation, and rhythmic pulse is, as well, something different. They are not alone in their experimental probings, heaven knows, for the continuous seeking of fresh avenues of expression within the jazz context seems to be synonymous with the music itself.

Bell, an undergraduate of the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pa., has written works for chamber orchestra and string quartet. He formed this group in 1958 and made a large critical impression with it in 1960 at Georgetown University Intercollegiate Jazz Festival, at which it was judged the winner by a panel consisting of Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Jack Pleis, and John Hammond. Hammond contributed the liner commentary for this set.

He is constrained to draw parallels between the CJQ and the MJQ. Personally, I'm more inclined to feel a parallel between Bell's combo and the Lennie Tristano-Billy Bauer-Lee Konitz group of the late 1940s. Certainly, the cerebral rather than the emotional dominates Bell's music, much of which shares more in common with contemporary "classical" concepts than it does with what we have become accustomed to regard as jazz.

Most reminiscent of the Tristano approach is Happy Funky, which is devoted mostly to piano and guitar having some fun with a boppish line that is actually a departure in thematic concept from the balance of the album.

The set is rich in professional competency — all know their axes and exploit their potentialities to the limit. Bell is classically trained; Smith is a guitarist of considerable technical prowess; Traficante is an adequate time bassist and a soloist whose abilities are well displayed in the opening Festival; Blairman is an excellent drummer, equipped with the taste and intelligence to participate integrally in the complex and constantly altering figurations that stamp the group with its mark of individuality.

If one were to tie down a single characteristic or trademark of this group, it would have to be the singular contrapuntal interplay between piano and guitar. Their relationship — the sensitive and lightning-like rapport between them — is basic to the quartet's music. It is futile to single out any one example of this twin-thinking; the set is replete with it. This is not to understate the drummer's role. Blairman is accenting the developing lines with subtlety and imagination when he is not laying down firm time on the top cymbal or hi-hat.

As to the individual tracks, The Gospel is not according to Ray Charles, Bobby Timmons, or Les McCann; it's a delicate mood piece at the outset that evolves into blues-flavored jazz improvisation, grooving along at medium tempo. Blairman erupts with very fast-tempoed cymbal work, an interlude of passion before piano and guitar return to re-establish the opening mood of contemplation.

Neither is The Last Sermon fashionable funk. It begins with more contemplation, even introspection, until it is suddenly transformed into uninhibited up-tempo cooking.

Study No. 2 is mainly dialog between piano and guitar, while Variation 3 is taken fast and jazz-spirited with individual contributions tossed back and forth while the drummer is ever aware of meter, pulse, and changing ideas.

Perhaps this group will not catch on with the fashionably hip; perhaps it is too experimental for the Cannonball Adderley fans. I don't think so for one reason—Bell's music avoids the coldness that condemned the offerings of Tristano. It's intellectual, but it's got heart.

*John A. Tynan (Down Beat, June 22, 1961 [5 stars])*

Side 1

1 - Latin Festival

2 - The Gospel

3 - Stage 13

Side 2

4 - The Last Sermon

5 - Counterpoint Study #2

6 - Variation 3

7 - Happy Funky

(All compositions by Charles Bell)

Charles Bell (piano), Bill Smith (guitar), Frank Traficante (bass), Allen Blairman (drums).

Recorded in New York City, July 8, 1960

Five-Star Collection... Johnny Hodges

Johnny Hodges

Collates

You know, we've never been sure what they mean by "collates" in the title of this one — but we're guessing the title was chosen because of the way Johnny blows sheets and sheets of sweet sound together on alto sax! The recordings are in an Ellington mode, but taken to a small group setting — where the sound is a bit more relaxed and open-ended — and where Hodges' sublime alto sax gets even more room to blow us away. Players include Al Sears on tenor, Lawrence Brown on trombone, Emmett Berry on trumpet, and Billy Strayhorn on piano — on titles that include "Castle Rock", "A Pound of the Blues", "Sideways", and "Globetrotter". *Dusty Groove, Inc.*

This is a collection of some of the better sides recorded by Johnny and his orchestra. These recordings, varied as they are, present Hodges as one of the greatest altoists to have ever appeared on the Jazz Scene. Though his forte be the pretty ballad, Hodges can also swing wonderfully and excitingly when he has to, as evidenced in this album. There isn't much more that need be said about this album, except that it's listenable and danceable jazz; in short, good jazz.

As a Hodges admirer from way back, I found this album to be completely gratifying, as a portrayal of his artistry; and I trust you'll get equal satisfaction from it. *Norman Granz (liner notes)*

With the exception of Blue Fantasia, which we don't remember hearing on 78, this is a bunch of impressive reissues showing a few of Johnny's ventures during his first 18 months as a bandleader.

The other soloists — Emmett Berry, Lawrence Brown, Sonny Greer, et al. — are all first-class men, of course; but it's virtually a one-man triumph, with Johnny's alto as exciting on the jump numbers as it is pretty on the slower items. Sears, of course, has his day on the best-selling Castle Rock, which in retrospect remains by far the best version of his own tune.

*Down Beat, Chicago, October 22, 1952 [5 stars]*

1 - Castle Rock

(Al Sears)

2 - Who's Excited

(Vernon Duke)

3 - You Blew Out The Flames In My Heart

(Johnny Hodges)

4 - Globetrotter

(Johnny Hodges)

5 - Pound Of Blues

(Leroy Lovett)

6 - Sideways

(Leroy Lovett)

7 - Blue Fantasia

(Johnny Hodges)

8 - Sweepin' The Blues Away

(Johnny Hodges)

#1, #4:

Johnny Hodges (alto sax), Emmett Berry (trumpet), Lawrence Brown (trombone),

Al Sears (tenor sax), Leroy Lovett (piano [#1]), Billy Strayhorn (piano [#4]),

Lloyd Trotman (bass), Sonny Greer (drums).

Recorded in New York City, March 3, 1951

#3, #7:

Johnny Hodges (alto sax), Nelson Williams (trumpet), Lawrence Brown (trombone),

Al Sears (tenor sax), Leroy Lovett (piano), Al McKibbon (bass), Sonny Greer (drums).

Recorded in New York City, January 15, 1951

#2, #5, #6, #8:

Johnny Hodges (alto sax), Emmett Berry (trumpet), Lawrence Brown (trombone),

Al Sears (tenor sax), Leroy Lovett (piano), Lloyd Trotman (bass), Joe Marshall (drums).

Recorded in New York City, January 13 (#2, #5, #6) and January 17 (#8), 1952