Five-Star Collection... John Mehegan

John Mehegan

The First Mehegan

In this album Savoy is proud to present to the Jazz listening audience, another recital by one of the finest of contemporary pianists, Johnny Mehegan. This is volume one of what we respectfully title "The First Mehegan", also noting that Johnny is a teacher of improvisation at Juilliard Conservatory in New York City where he has taught the ageless beauty of classical music and the new vitality of Jazz. As the expressive medium in this session, we choose the trio and quartet, presenting other modern Jazz giants to support Johnny's ideas. The quartet sides feature Chuck Wayne, an extremely swinging and authoritative guitarist, and Vinnie Burke on bass, plus the new drum star Joe Morello. Trio-wise we have Charles Mingus, a great bassist and personality in modern Jazz, and also a legitimate composer in his own right, plus Kenny Clarke, the "daddy" of modern drummers. Throughout, they all support the mood and add a swinging presence to the performance.

(...)

I feel that the outstanding characteristic of Mehegan's musical invention is in its simplicity, and in the exhaustive depth and subtlety of his expression. However, by simplicity, this is definitely not the connotation of "easy" or "uninspired", rather, as an artist friend has expressed, "his is a studied simplicity". That is the application of artistic restraint, wherein the musician selects with delicate skill the concise figure, offering the light stroke as opposed to the grandiose flourish or the contrived statement. (...) It has been my pleasure to know Johnny but a few months, but in that time he has earned a professional and personal respect of no small import. I suggest a similar realization of his magnitude and scope would surely benefit our Jazz-art.  *Jack McKinney (from the liner notes)*

Here is a real talent, one who has a gleaming jazz future. There is confidence in Mehegan's attack, and knowledge in his notes, and he swings. John has absorbed many influences, from Teddy Wilson and Nat Cole to Bud Powell and Lennie Tristano, but he has welded them all into an expression of his own beliefs and personality. He has a message.

First four sides have Charlie Mingus on bass and Kenny Clarke, drums. Last four spot guitarist Chuck Wayne, bassist Vinnie Burke, and drummer Joe Morello.

Aside from Mehegan, who plays superbly on all the bands, you may be as impressed as I was by Mingus on Thou Swell, Chuck Wayne on Stella, on which he and Mehegan play like Siamese twins, and by the drumming of both Clarke and Morello — always pulsating, always helpful, always tasteful.

This one Savoy calls The First Mehegan. The second is already being eagerly awaited by at least one person. *Jack Tracy (Down Beat, August 10, 1955 [5 stars])*

Side 1

1 - Cherokee

(Noble, Shapiro)

2 - The Boy Next Door

 (Martin, Blane)

3 - Blue's Too Much

(David)

4 - Thou Swell

(Rodgers, Hart)

Side 2

5 - Taking A Chance On Love

(Duke, Fetter, Latouche)

6 - Uncus

(Mehegan)

7 - Sirod

(Mehegan, Miles)

8 - Stella By Starlight

(Washington, Young) 

#1 to #4:

John "Johnny" Mehegan (piano), Charles Mingus (bass), Kenny Clarke (drums).

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, January 30, 1955

#5 to #8:

John "Johnny" Mehegan (piano), Chuck Wayne (guitar),

Vinnie Burke (bass), Joe Morello (drums).

Recorded in New York City, June 10, 1954

Zoot Sims on Prestige (IV)

In the following collection from the Blue Moon label (not all of them are released for the Prestige label, as is the intention of this series), we find the two albums that complete Zoot Sims' Prestige recordings as a leader. Although the sound quality, unfortunately, is not as good, this is an interesting collection of Zoot Sims recordings from the early 1950s.  Sims was at his peak, and here he is in exceptional company, especially with guitarists Johnny Smith and Chuck Wayne.The CD contains only the master takes of the originally issued records, and therefore all alternate takes have not been included in order to offer the collector those that were considered to be the definitive performances.

The sessions that make up this CD cover a little more than a year's activity and show yet again Zoot's tremendous versatility. In all, he made six visits into the recording studios, two of them leading his own group and the other four as the only horn soloist in quintets all led, curiously enough, by guitarists. 

With Johnny Smith, who in that same era also recorded with Stan Getz, our saxophonist once more demonstrates his ever-increasing ability to exquisitely express a profound and reflective lyricism which reaches its maximum intensity in the ballads "Ghost Of A Chance" (Lester Young again!) and "My Funny Valentine". With Chuck Wayne (another ex-Hermanite and, a little while before this date, a member of the George Shearing Quintet), the atmosphere is much more lively, and they also interpret a rhumba made famous in 1946 by Woody’s Second Herd, plus the "obligatory" ballad, "While My Lady Sleeps". 

Of the two sessions under his own name, the first (Zoot Sims All Stars) constitutes an early intimation of what would later become a duo Zoot would form with Al Cohn from 1957 onwards. Backed by a splendid rhythm section, both tenors improvise at leisure in "Zootcase", the only theme in which Kai Winding does not appear. Note that in the four titles (except "The Red Door") Zoot is the first soloist. In the original liner notes, Ira Gitler indicated:

The stars of this LP are Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, two tenormen who have very few peers in jazz today. They have often been allied before: in Woody Herman's great "Four Brothers" band, briefly with Artie Shaw, a stint in a short lived three tenor group with Stan Getz, the memorable "Five Brothers" recording date and numerous private sessions. During this long association, an enjoyment of, and respect for each other's playing was engendered. Therefore, it was not surprising that this session, with the two complementing and inspiring one another brought forth music of multi-faceted merit.

Both Al and Zoot play in the tradition of the already inmortal Lester Young, but rather than producing carbons of Pres, they show they have learned from him and integrated the qualities they heard into their playing without subverting their individual personalities. Zoot is the free wheeler. His short, booting, momentum gathering phrases are joined adroitly by longer lines. Al possesses a wonderful change of pace. His swing comes up from behind the beat. The solos have marvelous structure. Occasionally he will punctuate with long plaintive note. This characteristic led one observer, "on" the jazz scene, to state "no one can moan like Al Cohn".

The "magic" sound belongs to Zoot. His solos have a consistency of textura. Al's sound voices his ideas with a finish. At times, it becomes so large that it seems to go though and envelop you all at once.

Rhythm sections are sometimes taken for granted. This one swings so insistently that there is no danger of this happening. Art Blakey's infectious drumming, George Wallington's booting chords and Percy Heath's persuasion of swing are blended into a dynamic base that contributes tremendously to the excellence of these sides.

The session of the 23rd of January 1953 is a genuine rarity. In the first place, for the obscure quartet which backs Zoot on this occasion, beginning with an unknown organist in what could be said was an anticipation of the kind of groups with organ that Jimmy Smith would make all the rage a couple of years later. But above all because the four themes recorded that day were put out originally on a 7" EP disc, and have never been reissued until 1995.

Zoot Sims

The Complete 1944 -1954 Small Group Sessions

Volume 3 • 1952 - 1953

1- A Ghost Of A Chance

(Crosby, Washington, Young)

2 - Vilia

(Franz Lehar)

3 - Tangerine

(Schertzinger, Mercer)

4 - Zootcase

(Zoot Sims)

5 - The Red Door

(Zoot Sims)

6 - Morning Fun

(Sims, Cohn)

7 - There, I've Said It Again

(Evans, Mann)

8 - Jaguar

(Johnny Smith)

9 - Dream

(J. Mercer)

10 - Baby Won't You Please Come Home

(Clarence Williams)

11 - Sidewalks Of Cuba

(Oakland, Parish, Mills)

12 - Prospecting

(Chuck Wayne)

13 - Tasty Puddin

(Al Cohn)

14 - While My Lady Sleeps

(Bronislaw Kaper)

15 - My Funny Valentine

(Rodgers, Hart)

16 - Cavu

(Johnny Smith)

17 - I'll Be Around

(Alec Wilder)

#1, #2: Johnny Smith Quintet

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Sanford Gold (piano),

Johnny Smith (guitar), Eddie Safranski (bass), Don Lamond (drums).

Recorded in New York City, April, 1952

#3 to #6: Zoot Sims Sextet

Zoot Sims, Al Cohn (tenor saxes); Kai Winding (trombone);

George Wallington (piano); Percy Heath (bass); Art Blakey (drums).

Recorded in New York City,September 8, 1952

#7 to #10: Zoot Sims Quintet

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Chester Slater (organ),

Chauncey "Lord" Westbrook (guitar), Peck Morrison (bass), Tim Kennedy (drums).

Recorded in New York City, January 23, 1953

#11 to #14: Chuck Wayne Quintet

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Harvey Leonard (piano),

Chuck Wayne (guitar), George Duvivier (bass), Ed Shaughnessy (drums).

Recorded in New York City, April 13, 1953

#15: Johnny Smith Quintet

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Sanford Gold (piano),

Johnny Smith (guitar), Eddie Safranski (bass), Don Lamond (drums).

Recorded in New York City, June 6, 1953

#16, #17: Johnny Smith Quintet

Johnny Smith (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Don Lamond (drums).

Recorded in New York City, July, 1953

Sam Most... ★1952 • 1954★

 Sam Most (1930-2003) was born in Atlantic City, NJ, and began making a name for himself in nearby New York City, where his family moved when he was four years old. Sam played several instruments, including piano, saxophone, clarinet, and flute. It was with the last two that he earned a reputation as a trendsetter among modern jazz musicians, and it is these two instruments that are featured here.

Sam's earliest influence and inspiration came from his brother Abe, ten years his senior, who was the star clarinetist in the bands of Les Brown and Tommy Dorsey. At 20, Sam briefly played also with Dorsey, and later with the bands of Shep Fields, Boyd Raeburn, and Don Redman. However, his main claim to fame was the stellar work he did with his own modern groups, where his distinctive clarinet style (notably focusing on the instrument's higher register) and his remarkable agility on the flute blended so superbly.

In the summer of 1952, Sam truly came into his own when he recorded the flute feature "Undercurrent Blues". At the time, jazz flute was little more than a novelty, rarely featured in recordings or performances in the modern bebop style. "Undercurrent Blues" showcased the instrument's potential in a fresh way and, while not a major hit, it caught the attention of many musicians, establishing Sam as the first modern jazz flutist.

Herbie Mann, the first jazz flutist to achieve widespread popularity, once said, "When I started playing jazz on flute, there was only one record out: Sam Most's Undercurrent Blues".

Sam's emergence on the jazz scene was further recognized in 1954 when he won the New Star clarinet division in the Down Beat Critics' Poll.

This CD set brings together, for the first time, Sam Most's earliest recordings as the leader of his sextets from 1952 to 1954. *Jordi Pujol*

Sam Most Sextettes 

Undercurrent Blues

Prestige, Debut And Vanguard Sessions

When LA was truly "La La Land"

Jazz musicians had it nice in LA in the 1950s and 60s, making good money playing in the studios for movies and TV shows and then hitting the clubs at night for hip gigs. And they could all afford to buy a house in the suburbs! What could go wrong?!?

Here is a Fresh Sound Records reissue that prove jazzers didn't have to suffer to be creative.

Playing flute and clarinet, Sam Most made a nice career as a studio stud, still finding time to put out an impressive number of his own albums. These sessions from 1952-54 (ironically recorded in NYC) start with Most with Doug Mttone/tp, Chuck Wayne/g, Dick Hyman/p, Clyde Lombardi/b and Jackie Moffett/dr with the leader's flute sublime on "Undercurrent Blues" and his clarinet bouncy on "Taking A Chance On Love". A larger band brings in Urbie Green/tb, Bob Dorough/p, Percy Heath/b, Mettome/tp and L ouie Bellson/dr for a classy take of "Scroobydoo" and classical "I Hear A Rhapsody". The band further expand with some charts by Quincy Jones on a hip "Skippy" and suave "Open House" with Jones' own "Blues Junction" a nice showcase for Most's licorice stick. Woodwind wonders.

When it was hep to be hip! *George W. Harris*

1 - Undercurrent Blues

(Sam Most)

2 - First With The Most

(Sam Most)

3 - Sometimes I’m Happy

(Youmans, Caesar, Grey)

4 - Takin' A Chance On Love

(V.Duke, J. La Touche)

5 - Scrooby Doo

(Bob Dorough)

6 - I Hear A Rhapsody

(Fragos, Baker, Gasparre)

7 - The Night, We Called It A Day

(M. Dennis, T. Adair)

8 - A Cuss Called Coss

(Sam Most)

9 - Eullalia

(Bob Dorough)

10 - There Will Never Be Another You

(Carl O. Begner)

11 - Notes To You

(Sam Most)

12 - Skippy

(Ronnie Woellmer)

13 - Blues Junction

(Quincy Jones)

14 - Just Tutshen

(Sam Most)

15 - My OId Flame

(Johnson, Coslow)

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

(Cole Porter)

17 - Open House

(Ronnie Woellmer)

18 - Give Me The Simply Live

(R. Bloom, H. Ruby)

19 - Everything Happens To Me

(M. Dennis, T. Adair)

#1 to #4: from the album Introducing a New Star: Sam Most (Prestige EP-1322)

Doug Mettome (trumpet), Sam Most (flute, clarinet), Chuck Wayne (guitar),

Dick Hyman (piano), Clyde Lombardi (bass), Jackie Moffett (drums).

Recorded in New York City, June 10, 1952

#5 to #10: from the album Sam Most Quartet Plus Two (Debut DLP-11)

#11: from album Hall of Fame (Design DLP 29)

Doug Mettome (trumpet), Urbie Green (trombone), Sam Most (flute, clarinet), 

Bob Dorough (piano), Percy Heath (bass), Louie Bellson (drums).

Recorded in New York City, December 29, 1953

#12 to #19: from the album Sam Most Sextet (Vanguard VRS-8014)

Sam Most (flute, clarinet), Marty Flax(baritone sax), Bill Triglia (piano), 

Barry Galbraith (guitar), Aaron Bell (bass), Bobby Donaldson (drums).

Recorded in New York City, December 3, 1954

• The Fourmost Guitars •

Jimmy Raney • Chuck Wayne • Joe Puma • Dick Garcia 

The Fourmost Guitars

The Fourmost Guitars, was a 1956, 12-inch release from ABC-Paramount that featured four different top jazz guitarists of the period.

At first glance, I thought it was akin to one of those Savoy samplers featuring a range of different artists who recorded for the label. But on closer inspection and a bit of research, it seems to be a more sophisticated package. Here's how I believe this album came to be:

In 1956, when producer Creed Taylor left Bethlehem to join ABC-Paramount as head producer of the jazz division, he must have been given tape from recording sessions held the previous year. In all likelihood they were recordings from initial sessions to be held over multiple days but never completed. Perhaps they were done for singles or 10-inch LPs just as the record industry was switching to the 12-inch format.

Somewhat puzzling is the timing. Several of these sessions were held prior to ABC-Paramount forming in September 1955. Either way, the material was shelved or put on hold until the artists could be rounded up again to finish what was started.

I'm guessing that when Creed gave a listen, he realized many were quite good. Included in the stack of tape reels were three different sessions led by different guitarists — Jimmy Raney, Chuck Wayne, and Dick Garcia and Joe Puma.

As he listened, Creed probably leaned back in his chair and concluded there were two ways to go. Bring in the different artists to complete enough tracks for three different 12-inch albums, which wouldn't be easy given the schedule of musicians at this level back then. Or simply take the tracks that existed and create a guitar album. Creed chose the latter. The result was The Fourmost Guitars.

The cover featured an image of four guitars ablaze at night on a sandy beach, an eye-catching allegory signaling to the buyer that the guitarists playing inside were red hot. The back cover is telling. For one, while Creed was given credit in the bottom right-hand corner as the album's producer, his famed oversized signature hadn't yet begun to be used.

Also interesting is that the cover design was credited to Fran Scott, who was Tony Scott's wife at the time. She was an ABC-Paramount art director and would work closely with Creed on the covers at the label until 1960, when he founded the Impulse label for ABC.

As for the music, what we have here are fascinating examples of superb mid-1950s jazz guitarists backed by different instrumental configurations.

The swinging guitarists' tasteful chords and lines are impossibly great. I'm always astonished at how many terrific jazz guitarists there were on both coasts in the 1950s. Clearly there was plenty of work to go around. On this album, we have the roundness and lyrical wanderings of Wayne, the plucky determination of Raney and the low-register togetherness of Garcia and Puma, especially on "Time Was". *Marc Myers*

Since approximately the end of World War II, the guitar has increasingly come into its own as a solo instrument of stature in the world of jazz. The late Charlie Christian is credited with opening the way during the Thirties and early 'Forties. The tradition has since been carried on by such people as Billy Bauer, Jimmy Raney, Bill DeArrango, Chuck Wayne, Barney Kessel, and more recently, Tal Farlow, Joe Puma, Sal Salvadore, Herb Ellis, Dick Garcia, etc. Toward this álbum.

The Fourmost Guitars, four of the best practitioners of guitar jazz have contributed.

Jimmy Raney is one of the most widely known and influential of the modern jazz guitarists. Jimmy has played under such leaders as Woody Herman, Artie Shaw, Terry Gibbs, Buddy De Franco, Stan Getz and Red Norvo. For the past year or so he has been a member of Jimmy Lyon’s Blue Angel house trio. His guitar can be heard on numerous recordings.

Although he has been employed for the past couple of years as accompanist to singer Tony Bennett, Chuck Wayne can be remembered from the Fifty-Second Street days following World War II. Chuck has played with numerous jazz groups in addition to his own. He is an alumnus of the early George Shearing Quintet and the great Woody Herman band of the late Forties which recorded the "Sequence In Jazz" album.

Joe Puma is thirty years old and a native of The Bronx. A family man (Joe has a wife and two daughters), he has stayed as close to New York as possible. His experience includes tenures with Joe Roland, Artie Shaw, Louis Bellson, Don Elliott and Herbie Mann, among others. In the past couple of years Joe has done considerable recording work and has moved steadily toward wider recognition. 

Dick Garcia is the youngest of the four guitarists in age (he is twenty-five), but by no means the youngest as far as talent is concerned. Dick has played with George Shearing, Tony Scott, Joe Roland, and is currently touring with Ray McKinley’s band. He is a prolific composer and has broad tastes in music (and a particular fondness for Spanish folk music). *Tom Stewart (liner notes)*

The Fourmost Guitars is actually a compilation of three separate groups recorded especially for this Paramount LP from the mid-'50s. The first guitarist, Jimmy Raney, is heard on four tracks with trumpeter John Wilson, pianist Hall Overton, bassist Teddy Kotick, and drummer Nick Stabulas. Raney composed two originals, including the snappy bop vehicles "Two Drams of Soma" and "Scholar's Mate" (the latter referring to being checkmated in chess in just four moves), along with intricate arrangements of the standards "Gone with the Wind" and "Yesterdays". Guitarists Dick Garcia and Joe Puma play together on four tracks with bassist Dante Martucci and drummer Al Levitt. Without a pianist or horn, their collaboration is a more easygoing affair, though no less enjoyable. Finally, Chuck Wayne is accompanied by pianist Dave McKenna, bassist Oscar Pettiford, altoist Dave Schildkraut, and drummer Sonny Igoe on three songs. The interplay between Wayne and Schildkraut is delightful in the uptempo setting of "If I Ever Love Again". Like many Paramount albums, this LP has long been a collectible and seems to be an unlikely candidate for reissue.

*Ken Dryden*

Side 1

1 - Two Dreams Of Soma

(Raney)

2 - I'm Old Fashioned

(Kern, Mercer)

3 - You Stepped Out Of A Dream

(Brown, Kahn)

4 - Time Was

(Prado, Luna)

5 - Scholar's Mate

(Raney)

6 - Easy Living

(Robin, Rainger)

Side 2

7 - Ain't Misbehavin'

(Waller, Brooks)

8 - Gone With The Wind

(Ahlert, Young)

9 - Li'l Basses

(Garcia)

10 - If I Love You Again

(Oakland, Murray)

11 - Yesterdays

(Kern, Harbach)

#1, #5, #8, #11: 

Jimmy Raney Quintet

Jimmy Raney (guitar), John Wilson (trumpet), Hall Overton (piano), Teddy Kotick (bass), Nick Stabulas, drums. 

Recorded in New york City, February 23, 1956.

#2, #4, #7, #9:

Joe Puma - Dick Garcia Quartet

Joe Puma, Dick Garcia (guitars), Dante Martucci (bass), Al Levitt (drums).

Recorded in New York City, December 18, 1955.

#3, #6, #10:

Chuck Wayne Quintet

Chuck Wayne (guitar), Dave Shildkraut (alto sax), Dave McKenna (piano), Oscar Pettiford (bass), Sonny Igoe (drums).

Recorded in New York City, February 17, 1956.