Zoot Sims on Prestige (II)

Originally issued for Prestige on two 10" LPs, the following CD covers two sessions from the early 1950s. Tracks 1 to 5, 10 and the previously unissued alternate cuts of "Trotting", are from an August 1951 date with Harry Biss on piano, Clyde Lombardi on bass and the great Art Blakey on drums. This material is the star of the show, especially when the quartet stretches out on the eight-and-a-half minute take of "Zoot Swings the Blues" and the eleven minute "East of the Sun (West of the Moon)". The sound here is incredible for the late mono era, and the playing is special too, making it feel like a recording from the early 60s, even though it is from a decade earlier. Tracks 6 to 9 from the previous year (September 1950), by contrast don't sound as good, with Zoot's sax frequently distorting and a noticeable tape hiss throughout. Though drummer Don Lamond is no Blakey, the other musicians are of a higher quality — John Lewis on piano and Curly Russell on bass — so it's not a total loss. Though Zoot's recording career lasted until the mid 80s, the number of quality albums he made as a leader aren't that plentiful in my opinion. However this disc and Zoot from the OJC catalog, along with his collaborations with Al Cohn, should be in all serious jazz collections.

Zoot Sims

Zoot Sims Quartets

A full length album that brings together some excellent early 50s sides by Zoot — originally issued on 10" LPs, Swingin' with Zoot Sims and Tenor Sax Favorites, but expanded here with better notes and more space. Half the set features a group with Harry Biss on piano, Clyde Lombardi on bass, and Art Blakey on drums — and the rest features John Lewis, Curley Russell, and Don Lamond. Titles include the two part number "Zoot Swings The Blues", plus "Trotting", "I Wonder Who", "It Had To Be You", "Jane-O", and "East Of The Sun".  *Dusty Groove, Inc.*

These early Fifties sessions are reminders that although Zoot Sims continued to deepen and expand during the next 30 years, he was already a vital force of great melodic sense and relenting swing. The first date, from 1950, with John Lewis on piano, features "Memories of You", the theme song of one of Zoot’s former big band leaders, Sonny Dunham. The second session, from 1951, is particularly notable because it contains "Zoot Swings the Blues" and "East of the Sun", in which Zoot, spurred by the drumming of Art Blakey, stretches out in the first time the LP format was utilized for extended performances in the studio.

This CD reissue features the great tenor-saxophonist Zoot Sims (who was then 25) leading his first American recording dates. He is heard with two quartets, the team of pianist John Lewis, bassist Curly Russell and drummer Don Lamond and with pianist Harry Biss, bassist Clyde Lombardi and drummer Art Blakey. All but two numbers clock in around the three-minute mark: an over eight-minute alternate version of "Zoot Swings the Blues" and an 11-minute "East of the Sun". Sims is in fine form throughout these cool-toned but hard-swinging sets. *Scott Yanow*

1 - Zoot Swings The Blues (take 1)

(Zoot Sims)

2 - Zoot Swings The Blues (take 2)

(Zoot Sims)

3 - Trotting

(Zoot Sims)

4 - I Wonder Who

(Zoot Sims)

5 - It Had To Be You

(Jones, Kahn)

6 - My Silent Love

(Suesse, Heyman)

7 - Jane-O

(Zoot Sims)

8 - Dancing In The Dark

(Dietz, Schwartz)

9 - Memories Of You

(Blake, Razaf)

10 - East Of The Sun (West Of The Moon)

(Brooks Bowman)

11 - Trotting (alternate 1)

(Zoot Sims)

12 - Trotting (alternate 2)

(Zoot Sims)

#1 to #5 and #10 to #12:

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Harry Biss (piano), Clyde Lombardi (bass), Art Blakey (drums)

Recorded in New York City, August 14, 1951

#6 to #9:

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), John Lewis (piano), Curley Russell (bass), Don Lamond (drums)

Recorded in New York City, September 16, 1950

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

Specs Powell & Co. - Movin' In

Drummer Gordon "Specs" Powell born in New York on June 5, 1922, and died in San Marcos, California, on September 15, 2007. He traveled the jazz world discreetly, spending most of his career in CBS radio and television studios, notably for the famous Ed Sullivan Show, as part of Raymond Scott's house band. He was also the first black musician hired by a radio orchestra, in 1943. His flexibility, due to the fact that he also played castanets, bongos and the whole range of small percussion instruments, also contributed to his longevity. He left CBS in 1972 to retire to the Virgin Islands, then to the San Diego area.

Specs Powell had begun his professional career in the late 1930s with Edgar Hayes, in the middle of the swing era, and continued it with Benny Carter and Ben Webster. After recording on a number of V-Discs, he found himself in the whirlwind of Manhattan's 52nd Street nightlife, sometimes playing four different gigs a night to accompany legends such as Billie Holiday, John Kirby, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins and Red Norvo.

It was in 1957 that he recorded Movin' In, his first and only album as a leader. At the time of the infancy of bebop, he had been one of the very first drummers to accompany the emergence of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Hence the affection shown by the latter in his presentation text on the back of the album cover. He laments that most "modern" drummers have missed the dimension and mastery of this drummer and percussionist that he adores. The album, a condensed swing with a team of familiar faces from Count Basie's orchestra, does him full justice in this regard. It should be noted that it was released on the Roulette label, at a time when Basie himself was signing a few masterpieces there. *Alex Dutilh*

A neglected gem from Specs Powell & Co. in 1957. The versatile but little-known drummer Gordon "Specs" Powell (1922-2007) was active in the 1930s and 40s and worked with Errol Garner during the 1950s.This excellent album was his only session as leader recorded for ROULETTE in 1957.

With Powell (drums) were Sahib Shihab (alto & baritone sax); Aaron Sachs (tenor sax & clarinet); Pritchard Cheeseman (baritone sax); George Dorsey (alto sax & flute); Ray Copeland, Leon Merian (trumpets); Jimmy Cleveland, Jimmie Dahl (trombones); Hank Jones, Nat Pierce (piano); Clyde Lombardi (bass).

The 12 memorable tracks are a mix of Powell originals and standards with arrangements by Ray Copeland. There are plenty of fine solos and this swinging modern-mainstream jazz deserves to be more widely known.

Dizzy Gillespie's enthusiastic liner notes require the eyes of a hawk or a very strong pair of "specs". *Jazzrook (from Amazon review)*

1- Undecided

(Robin, Shavers)

2 - All Or Nothing At All

(Lawrence, Altman)

3- It's a Pitty To Say Goodnight

(B. Reid)

4 - You Don't Know What Love Is

(Raye, DePaul)

5 - Spider Blues

(Specs Powell)

6 - Rat Race

(Specs Powell)

7 - Suspicion

(Specs Powell)

8 - Locked Out

(Specs Powell)

9 - He's My Guy

(Raye, DePaul)

10 - I'll Remember April

(Raye, DePaul, Johnston)

11 - Dispossessed

(Specs Powell)

12 - Movin' In

(Specs Powell)

 

Ray Copeland, Leon Merian (trumpets); Jimmie Dahl, Jimmy Cleveland (trombones); George Dorsey (alto sax, flute); Sahib Shihab (alto sax, baritone sax); Aaron Schs (tenor sax, clarinet); Pritchard Cheeseman (baritone sax); Clyde Lombardi (bass); Hank Jones, Nat Pierce [#11] (pianos); Specs Powell (drums).

Recorded in New York City, February 13 and 20, 1957