Five-Star Collection... Lem Winchester

Lem Winchester

Another Opus

The title of the tune which give this recird its name, Another Opus, is a deep bow in the direction of an LP released on the recording equivalent of what radio stations are in the habit of calling "another network". There are several reasons for this. One of them is that three contributors to the earlier LP appear here — Hank Jones, Eddie Jones, and Frank Wess. Kenny Clarke played drums then, Gus Johnson plays them now. The featured soloist on the other record was the great vibraphonist Milt Jackson, this time it is Lem Winchester. That Lem, who you probably do not need to be told also plays vibes, would wish to pay his respects to Jackson in this manner, is readily understandable. Once Chris Albertson, who wrote the liner notes to an earlier Winchester album asked Lem who his favorite musicians were. "I have three of them", Lem answered. "Bags, Milt and Milt Jackson".

Now, let us consider that for a moment. One of the most overworked terms in the lexicon of everyone connected with jazz-musicians, critics, and fans — is "influence". In an atmosphere where the put-down is considered the ultimate in hipness, is the very easy to dismiss a man with "Oh, yeah, he plays like..." But "influence and "imitation" are two different things, and which of two words really applies to a musician is the determining factor in how important that musician will be. Half of any artist is who he chooses as his model before he is ready to step forth with an original statement. If man is forever content to play like his model, then he will always be a second-rate musician. But if, on the other hand, he uses his model only as a model, a signpost from which to progress, then there is no limit to how far he can go once use of that model has helped him to find his own voice.

So, with that idea as a reference, we find that the title Another Opus has further, more important, significance. It is another Lem Winchester opus, Opus 2, to be exact, for with this record Lem steps out of the Milt Jackson shadow (and admittedly, it is an enormous shadow) to speak with his own voice. That he has chosen to make his first statement within the same framework as an earlier recording by Jackson has two meanings. First, it is a tribute, and a deserved one. Secondly, and more important, it is a challenge. Not to compete with Milt, who is perhaps beyond competition, but to duplicate the original experiment under what scientists call original control conditions, and see what conclusions can be reached.

It has been, you will find, a highly successful experiment, and you can check the results step by step. *Joe Goldberg (from the liner notes)*

Winchester's playing on this album makes his untimely death seem all the more tragic. The rating is not one of those posthumous gifts — this LP is the best the vibist produced in his short career. I don't know if Prestige has any more tapes of sessions like this one, but I hope there is more of Winchester's latter-day playing to be issued. His work on this album indicates that he finally had his Milt Jackson-derived style shaped to his own measurements.

In Winchester's playing, there were qualities of jazz excellence: originality, power, and passion. He employed devices most other vibraharpists rarely, if evel, used: parallel fourths and fifths, played in swooping phrases; octaves and rolls, but not in the way Red Norvo uses octaves and rolls — Winchester used them earthily, more as a blues pianist would than in the xylophone-technique-applied-to-vibes manner of Norvo. Winchester's use of octaves, fourths, and fifths puts me in mind Wes Montgomery's guitar playing — both have used similar devices to get their blues-rooted messages across. Besides the devices, there is another strong parallel that can be drawn between Winchester and Montgomery: Lem stood in relation to Milt Jackson as Montgomery stands in relation to Charlie Christian. Each is an extension of his instrumental predecessor. It's regrettable that Montgomery and Winchester never recorded together.

The other opus implied by the album title is Opus de Jazz, recorded by Jackson a few years ago on Savoy. The tenor of the two albums is the same — unpretentious blues-based playing. Both albums have a good standard ballad (in this case, Like Someone; in Jackson's album the ballad was a breathtaking You Leave Me Breathless). The personnel overlaps between the two Opuses also: Wess and the two Joneses play on both. But the greatest similarity between the two LPs is that both contain some of the best results produced at blowing sessions. 

The outstanding track is the extremely mournful Blues Prayer. It is one of those slow blues that a lot of musicians attempt but few carry off. Winchester and colleagues not only carry it off but have given us one of the bluest performances recorded in the last few years. Winchester's blues playing is on a high level—as high as Jackson's heralded blues feats. Wess' flute seems to weep in an intensely emotional solo following Winchester's. There is no double timing on the track, giving the performance a continuity it might not have had had there been ex tensive doubling up. 

The other blues track is the title tune. It is faster than Prayer, but the essentially blue characteristic of the slower-paced track is retained, although the feeling is lighter. Winchester, Wess, and Hank Jones all seem to dance through their solos — Winchester tumbles and cascades, Wess whirls like an evil spirit, and Hank bobs and weaves. There is a novel interlude on this track when the vibist plays rhythm vibes—if there is such an animal—for 24 bars of Eddie Jones' solo: four-mallet chording on each beat, as rhythm guitar is played. Eddie and Johnson provide firm support for all the soloists throughout the album but especially on this track. The album is an utterly satisfying emotional experience. By all means, get it. *Don DeMichael (Down Beat, June 8, 1961 [5 stars])*

1 - Another Opus

(Lem Winchester)

2 - Blues Prayer

(Lem Winchester)

3 - The Meetin'

(Oliver Nelson)

4 - Like Someone In Love

(Burke, Van Heusen)

5 - Both Barrels

(Lem Winchester)

6 - Lid Flippin'

 (Johnny Smith)

#1 to #5:

Lem Winchester (vibes), Frank Wess (flute),

Hank Jones (piano), Eddie Jones, (bass), Gus Johnson (drums)

#6:

Lem Winchester (vibes), Johnny "Hammond" Smith (Hammond organ),

Eddie McFadden (guitar), Wendell Marshall (bass), Bill Erskine (drums).

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 

June 4 (#1 to #5) and October 14 (#6), 1960

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

Coleman Hawkins And The Big Sax Section

For much of Coleman Hawkins' post-1940 career, the tenor saxophonist fronted quartets, quintets and other small groups. When he did play with full-size orchestras, Hawk was typically the featured soloist, not a sit-down, chart-reading member of the reed section. So unfortunately you don't often get to hear how the flavor of a superb reed section might change with Hawk's mighty tenor as part of the mix.

Hawk also didn't play much with Count Basie's band. Which makes perfect sense, since Hawk and Lester Young, Basie's star tenor saxophonist, were intense rivals. Hawk recorded with Basie on only a few occasions — in January 1941 as poll-winning members of the Metronome All Stars; with Basie's big band in April 1941 (Young was fronting his own band and working with Billie Holiday at the time); and in December 1957 for CBS' The Sound of Jazz, the noir TV jam session.

Long curious to know how Hawk's confident, cutting tone would sound within Basie's bluesy sax section, Savoy Records' producer Ozzie Cadena proposed a recording summit in early 1958. Hawk agreed, and Basie gave his blessing. So on April 24, right after Basie's band returned from a Canadian tour and just before Hawk left for Europe with Jazz at the Philharmonic, nine musicians converged on Rudy Van Gelder's recording studio in New Jersey. Cadena oversaw the session for World Wide Records.

For the date, Marshall Royal and Frank Wess were on alto saxes; Frank Foster and Hawk were on tenors; and Charlie Fowlkes was on baritone sax. The only reed player missing was Billy Mitchell, who had just joined Basie months earlier on tenor and was the sax player dropped to make room for Hawk. The rhythm section featured guitarist Freddie Green and bassist Eddie Jones, both Basie-ites, and Bobby Donaldson on drums and Nat Pierce on piano.

To ensure that the session went off without a scoring hitch, Cadena turned to rock-solid Billy Ver Planck for the swinging arrangements. Ver Planck, a trombonist, had written for the Jimmy Dorsey and Claude Thornhill bands, and in 1958 was recording for Savoy.

The result was Coleman Hawkins Meets the Saxophone Section, which was first released on World Wide to show off the label's newfound stereo capability. Recorded only in stereo (rather than mono and stereo), many jazz listeners passed on the LP, since the more expensive stereo format was relatively new technology and most people had only mono equipment. Ultimately, the recording also was released on Savoy as Coleman Hawkins Meets the Big Sax Section.

The five tracks recorded that day included three blues and two show tunes —"I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face" and "There Is Nothing Like a Dame". The first track on the album, "Ooga Dooga", is particularly fascinating given that Hawk does not solo. Instead, you get to hear how the section sounds with Hawk as one of two tenors reading down Ver Planck's charts. The standards also are stunning swingers, with Hawk tearing in and out of Frederick Lowe's loping Face and Richard Rodgers' charging "Dame".

For my money, Coleman Hawkins Meets the Saxophone Section may be one of the best and most robust reed-themed albums ever recorded. Every track lives up to the album's title, and you get everything you expect, from the sauciest blues to street-smart standards. There isn't a bad note on the album. It's just a shame that another five tracks weren't captured that day. *Marc Myers*

This studio session for Savoy finds the great Hawkins playing as part of a five-piece sax section. Actually the other saxophonists and part of the rhythm section were taken from the Count Basie Orchestra and outfitted with arrangements by Billy Ver Planck. They play a variety of little-known but swinging material; the logical charts and high-quality solos make this LP well worth acquiring. *Scott Yanow*

A thoroughly swinging and wonderfully arranged session. There is the essence of swinging the blues all through the set. The Basie sax and rhythm section (with Nat Pierce siting in for Basie) are absolutely wonderful! A must have performance! *David M. Robinson*

1 - Ooga Dooga

(Coleman Hawkins)

2 - I've Grown Accustomed To Your Face

 (Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner)

3 - Thanks For The Misery (master take)

 (Billy Ver Planck)

4 - An Evening At Papa Joe's

 (Frank Foster)

5 - There Is Nothin' Like A Dame

(Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II)

6 - Thanks For The Misery

(Billy Ver Planck)

Coleman Hawkins, Frank Foster (tenor saxes); Frank Wess, Marshall Royal (alto saxes); Charlie Fowlkes (baritone sax); Nat Pierce (piano); Freddie Greene (guitar); Eddie Jones (bass); Bobby Donaldson (drums).

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, April 24, 1958.

Joe Newman - Swinging Octets

Joe Newman Octet

All I Wanna Do Is Swing

The band Joe has assembled here is remarkable not merely for its cohesive unity, but for the individual brilliance wich each one of its members demostrates in his solo work —solo work wich is, happily, given to them at frecuent intervals.

Arrangements for this session are the work of Manny Albam, Al Cohn and Ernie Wilkins, all of whom have turned out scores in a great variety of tempos wich serve to showcase the multitudinous talents of Joe and each one of his colleagues.

Whether on mute or open horn, Joe's work is a delight to the ears —not merely because it is sane jazz in the midst of much that today is either overwritten or vacuous, but because it is always swinging, always blown from the top-drawer of inspirations. And it is remarkable tribute to all involved that this session, which ran from midnight to 10 A.M., produced jazz of this highly infectious sort. But in reality, it is undoubtedly true that regardless of the time of day or night, these men, in the midst of such telling arrangements, could not but blow wonderfully —and in these recordings, led and sparked by Joe Newman, they have all obviously engraved some of their most sincere, and jazzdom's most sparkling, efforts. *Jack Lewis and Bill Zeitung (liner notes)*

Newman is an excellent lyrical trumpeter with Count Basie band, and this set shows him off in a comfortable, Basie-inspired setting. The arramgements, by Mannie Albam, Al Cohn and Ernie Wilkins, are all in the Basie idiom — relaxed and swinging. Basie-ites Wilkins and Greene are present, along with bassist Milt Hinton, Cohn on tenor and Nat pierce —a Basie follower— on piano. The style is modern, not "progressive", swing. Solos are extremely tastly all around, and the ensembles are very smooth, and very easy on the ears. Should do okay if demonstrated.

*Billboard, July 30, 1955*

Side 1

1 - Soon

(George and Ira Gershwin)

2 - Limehouse Blues

(Braham, Furber)

3 - Dream A Little Dream Of Me

(Andre, Kahn, Schwandt)

4 - Corner Pocket

(Freddie Green)

5 - If I Could Be With You

(James P. Johnson, Henry Creamer)

6 - It's A Thing Of The Past

(Manny Albam)

Side 2

7 - Pretty Skinny Bunny

(Ernie Wilkins)

8 - Leonice

(Joe Newman)

9 - Jack's Wax

(Al Cohn)

10 - Topsy

(Eddie Durham, Edgar William Battle)

11 - Captain Spaulding

(Al Cohn)

12 - I Could Have Told You

(Arthur Williams, Carl Sigman)

Joe Newman (trumpet), Frank Rehak (trombone), Ernie Wilkins (alto sax), Al Cohn (tenor sax), Nat Pierce (piano), Freddie Green (guitar), Milt Hinton (bass), Shadow Wilson (drums). 

Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City, February 8, 1955.

⁂

Joe Newman Octet

I'm Still Swinging

A compelling octet recording – with arrangements by Ernie Wilkins, Al Cohn, and Manny Albam – with a lineup that includes Cohn on tenor, Gene Quill on alto, Urbie Green on trombone, and Freddie Green on guitar! Nice Andy Warhol cover, too! Titles include "Top Hat, White Tie, And Tails", "You Can Depend On Me", "We'll Be Together Again", "It's Bad For Me", "Daughter Of Miss Thing", "Sometimes I'm Happy", "Sweethearts On Parade", and "Slats". *dustygroove.com* 

A label or a catch phrase can be a convenient thing, but it rarely tells a rounded story. In the Thirties, in the Swing Era, Benny Goodman was called "King of Swing". As pat labels go, this one was pretty accurate, for it was Goodman who brought on the Swing Era and it was Goodman who, to the general public, was the pre-eminent figure of that era. But Goodman, at that time, was a mover and shaker, not a polisher. It was Count Basie's band, riding onto the scene in the wake of Goodman (and with Goodman's ardent support), which became the epitome of the swing band and turned out ro be the most influential band of the period.

The strength of Basie's influence, after two decades, is widely evident in the playing of numerous small groups today, particularly in recording-groups which have access to genuine, Grade A Basie sidemen. One reason —and a rather basic reason— for the continuing appeal of the Basie manner was aptly summed up by Joe Newman when he was considering the approach to be taken on these numbers.

"I want them to have a swing to them", he said, "to be easy, to be good listening. I want to try to reach the mass of people, and I think the way to do it is with things I'd want to listen to if I were a listener".

There can be little question of what Joe Newman would listen to if he were a listener. For many years he has been an outstanding member of Count Basie's band. He is steeped in the Basie tradition and so are most of the men in his octet.

Freddie Green, a member of the original Basie band who was of enormous importance in creating what has come to be recognized as the typical Basie attack, is generally considered the greatest rhythm guitarist working today. Shadow Wilson has served two stints as Basic's drummer, while Eddie Jones is Basic's current bassist. Al Cohn, though a man of parts of the jazz world, has never achieved Basiedom, but his approach to the tenor sax is patterned to a large degree on that of Basie's Lester Young.

The octet's recruits from the non-Basie world are Urbie Green, a trombonist of such versatility that he has played successfully with Frankie Carle, Jan Savitt and, most notably, Woody Herman; Gene Quill, a rising young alto star who has worked with Claude Thornhill and Charlie Barnet; and Dick Katz, a pianist closely associated with Tony Scott, who effects a remarkable adaptation of his normal, sharply modern style to fit the mood of these performances.

There are other influences besides that of Basie at work here. Joe Newman has a pungent personality of his own which constantly makes itself felt. There are lines reaching out to Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Mildred Bailey. There is even, as we shall see, a badly shredded skein attached to S. J. Perelman. *John S. Wilson (liner notes)*

Side 1

01 - Top Hat, White Tie, And Tails

(Irving Berlin)

02 - You Can Depend On Me

(Hines, Carpenter, Dunlap)

03 - We'll Be Together Again

(Laine, Fisher)

04 - It's Bad For Me

(Cole Porter)

05 - Exactly Like You

(McHugh, Fields)

06 - Shameful Roger

(Manny Albam)

Side 2

07 - The Daughter Of Miss Thing

(Wilkins)

08 - Sometimes I'm Happy

(Youmans, Caesar, Grey)

09 - Sweethearts On Parade

(Newman, Lombardo)

10 - Slats

(Joe Newman, Ernie Wilkins)

11 - Lament For A Lost Love

(Ellington, Bigard, Mills)

12 - Perfidia

(Dominguez, Leeds)

Joe Newman (trumpet), Urbie Green (trombone), Gene Quill (alto sax), Al Cohn (tenor sax), Dick Katz (piano), Freddie Green (guitar), Eddie Jones (bass), Shadow Wilson (drums).

Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City, October 3 (#1, #2, #6, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12), and 4 (#3, #4, #5, #7), 1955.

Ernie Wilkins - Flutes & Reeds

When popular music's 12-inch album era began in 1955, jazz record labels scrambled for artists who could fill up the longer sides cohesively. Many labels looked for musicians who could arrange, bring in top artists for sessions and rehearse them in advance. In effect, they needed managers of highly creative artists who could deliver results quickly.

At Savoy, producer Ozzie Cadena was in a good spot. The label was based in Newark, N.J., and Rudy Van Gelder's studio, in his parents' home, was in Hackensack. In '55, Cadena produced several superb albums by tapping into the Basie band. One of these albums was Ernie Wilkins's Flutes & Reeds. 

Recorded in August 1955, the album featured Jerome Richardson and Frank Wess (fl,ts), Ernie Wilkins (as, arr, dir), Hank Jones (p), Eddie Jones and (b) Kenny Clarke (d). Of the sextet, Wess, Wilkins and Eddie Jones were associated with the Basie band. Richardson, Hank Jones and Clarke were standout musicians in their own right.

The songs were Basie's "Shorty George", Wilkins's "Bouncin'With Boots", "Blues in a Cold Water Flat" and "Stereophonic", Frank Foster's "Doin' the Thing" and Marcel Daniels's "That's a Woman". Here's the solo lineup:

Shorty George: Wess solos on flute first and then Richardson

Bouncin' With Boots: Richardson, Wilkins and Wess

That's a Woman: Wilkins, with Wess and Richardson in the background

Doin' the Thing: Wess on flute, Richardson on tenor saxophone

Blues in a Cold Water Flat: Wess, Wilkins and Richardson

Stereophonic: Wess on flute and Richardson on tenor saxophone.

Especially interesting on this album is the opportunity to hear Ernie Wilkins on alto saxophone. On most albums, he turns up in the credits as the arranger. Here, we get to hear him play beautifully in a small-group setting. In addition, the jazz flute was just emerging during this period. Wess and Richardson were pioneers of the instrument in a jazz setting along with Buddy Collette, Herbie Mann, Sam Most and a handful of others. *Marc Myers*

Side 1

1 - Shorty George

(Count Basie, Andy Gibson)

2 - Bouncin’ With Boots

(Ernie Wilkins)

3 - That’s A Woman

(Marcel Daniels)

Side 2

4 - Doin’ The Thing

(Frank Foster)

5 - Blues In A Cold Water Flat

(Ernie Wilkins)

6 - Stereophonic

(Ernie Wilkins)

Ernie Wilkins (alto sax), Jerome Richardson (flute, tenor sax), Frank Wess (flute, tenor sax), Hank Jones (piano), Eddie Jones (bass), Kenny Clarke (drums).

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, August 1955.