Five-Star Collection... The Concert Jazz Band (III)

The Concert Jazz Band

Gerry Mulligan '63

The most exciting news and, later, reality in the jazz world in 1960 was the formation in March of that year of The Concert Jazz Band. It seemed such a right thing for perennial poll-winner Gerry Mulligan to do. And the response from critics and audiences the world over has borne out Gerry's efforts.

In scoring the band's first album a full five stars, Down Beat reviewer Don DeMicheal noted, "It is an extension and expansion of Mulligan's concept as we've come to know it through his quartet and sextet: the combination of extremes - simplicity with complexity, cool intellectualism with hot-blooded emotion, sophistication with guts.

"Because of these many facets and of the variety of emotional experience the band offers, I feel this is the most important big band in jazz today."

In person and on records the band bore out DeMicheal's belief. The Concert Jazz Band played jazz superbly. It played arrangements by Gerry, Bob Brookmeyer, Johnny Carisi, John Mandel, Bill Holman, George Russell, and, best of all, it uncovered and encouraged new writing talents. (...)

This collection of material by The Concert Jazz Band has a decidedly Ellington-ish flavor to it. This is due, perhaps, to the wealth of soloing and the interesting colors the band creates behind the solos. Such sounds have come to be identified as Dukish, regardless of their source. The similarity ends there, however, because the band is unmistakeably Mulligan. His personality and his sound permeate the entire album. (...)

The originals were written by Bob Brookmeyer ("Big City Blues" and "Big City Life"), Gary McFarland ("Bridgehampton Strut", "Bridgehampton South", and "Pretty Little Gypsy"), and Gerry ("Ballad"). Gerry, of course, is the baritone sax soloist, and is heard in one of his rare recorded appearances on clarinet in "Big City Blues" and "Pretty Little Gypsy". Bob Brookmeyer is heard on piano in "Big City Life" and "Big City Blues". Clark Terry's trumpet is spotted throughout the album. And another instrument debuts on this Concert Jazz Band album : the guitar of Jim Hall.

Although the selections were recorded in 1962, they were at a year-end session and certainly indicated what the sound of Gerry Mulligan '63 would be... and is.

*Dom Cerulli (from the liner notes)*

It's another of the unfortunate conditions in jazz that a band of this caliber cannot exist on a full-time basis. In 1963 it hasn’t even been together on a part-time basis, but in December 1962, this album was taped in four consecutive dates.

Its great appeal comes from the variety of original material, the way it is programmed and, most importantly, played. The band breathes as one in a convincing demonstration of rapport and esprit de corps. Mulligan's clarinet debut is a welcome bonus.

The bulk of the arrangements are by Brookmeyer (Life, Blues) and Gary McFarland (Gypsy, South, Strut). No arranger credits are given for Love, a lazy-like rendition that contains a warm Mulligan-Brookmeyer duet; Joe Sullivan's Getaway; or Mulligan's Ballad. It is safe to assume that the leader did the arrangement for the last named, a touching piece with a Claude Thornhillish sound in places. When originally done in Mulligan's tentet album on Capitol, it was called A Ballad.

On his own arrangements, Brookmeyer is effectively featured at the piano. (Mulligan is listed as pianist in the liner notes but does not appear in this role.) On Life he states the moody theme with the help of Caine's flute and gets into a short, bluesy section in his solo; on Blues he and Hall set a mood for Mulligan's Presstyled clarinet before the theme enters. There are some Jimmie Lunceford touches before Hall's typically earthy solo. After a lusty ensemble passage, Terry really heats things up a la Roy Eldridge.

Mulligan's other clarinet appearance is on Gypsy, on which he gets a drier, classical sound, evoking a pastoral feeling. McFarland has written a short, effective brassy climax that prefaces Mulligan's final exposition of the beautiful melody.

South is Dukish in places, with solos by a sweet-toned Terry and a solid, direct Mulligan.

There are also some Ellingtonlike brass figures before Terry's solo on Getaway, which also includes a Reider solo that sounds very much like one by Zoot Sims. This is both good and bad.

Strut is an intriguing theme, featuring rough-and-ready Dennis and brilliant, driving Quill clarinet, much like his alto in style but with a sound all its own.

Credit Crow and Johnson with excellent support. It's not hard to hear why Count Basie hasn't sounded quite the same since Gus left. *Ira Gitler (Down Beat, June 20, 1963 [5 stars])*

Side 1

1 - Little Rock Getaway

(Carl Sigman, Joe Sullivan)

2 - Ballad

(Gerry Mulligan)

3 - Big City Life

(Bob Brookmeyer)

4 - Big City Blues

(Bob Brookmeyer)

Side 2

5 - My Kind Of Love

(Jo Trent, Louis Alter)

6 - Pretty Little Gypsy

(Gary McFarland)

7 - Bridgehampton South

(Gary McFarland)

8 - Bridgehampton Strut

(Gary McFarland)

Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax, clarinet [#4, #6];

Clark Terry, Nick Travis, Don Ferrara, Doc Severinsen (trumpets);

Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone, piano [#3,#4]); Willie Dennis (trombone);

Tony Studd (bass trombone); Gene Quill (alto sax, clarinet);

Eddie Caine (alto sax, flute); Jim Reider (tenor sax); Gene Allen (baritone sax);

Jim Hall (guitar); Bill Crow (bass); Gus Johnson (drums).

Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City, December 18, 19, 20 and 21, 1962

✤✤✤✤

And now... a brief pause to step back, catch my breath, and reset.

Outlet will be back in August...

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

Rare And Obscure Argo Recordings (XXIV)

Zoot Sims Quartet

Zoot 

Owner of a badge of distinction only worn in the lapels of three other men (Stan Getz, Herbie Seward, and Serge Charloff), until late '50s "Zoot" Sims was mostly known as one of the original member of the "Four Brothers" (the saxophone section for the Woody Herman orchestra back in 1947) and for his later prolific collaboration with Al Cohn. Recorded in Chicago in 1956, and originally issued on the Argo label, Zoot is the first of his works to give him sufficient blowing room to show his qualities and merits the full rating as one of the more sustained examples of hot jazz improvisation. *forcedexposure.com*

An obscure session for Zoot Sims — but a nice one! The group's a quartet — with Johnny Williams on piano, Gus Johnson on drums, and Knobby Totah on bass — and Zoot's blowing in an unfettered setting that reminds us a bit of Sonny Stitt in similar settings at the same time! Tracks are shortish, but there's still plenty of room for Zoot to work in a style that's up there with his best bop recordings of the 50s — and at some level, the record's got the same sharp edge as Sims' best early sides for Prestige — but perhaps goes them one better with an added sense of tightness and maturity. The titles are pretty fresh too — and include "55th And State", "9:20 Special", "Gus's Blues", and "Bohemia After Dark".  *Dusty Groove, Inc.*

Zoot Sims is the country boy move to the city, one who has let enough sophistication stick to him so that he can get along with the urbanites.

Though he has firm control of his horn, he shrugs off any unnecessary technical bric-a-brac to dig deeply into the blues-based roots of jazz. His  playing is piercingly honest and revealing, and though he, too, is of the many who have been influenced by Lester Young, his  sound is thicker and fuller, and the beat he evokes is more akin to a heart-beat than a pulse. 

Zoot is a swinger planted ankle-deep in loam.

(This is) quite a remarkable album, one which turns a bright bulb on Zoot Sims, tenor saxophonist.

He does not blink. *Jack Tracy (liner notes)*

1 - 9:20 Special

(E. Warren)

2 - The Man I Love

(G. and I. Gershwin)

3 - 55th And State

(Z. Sims)

4 - Blue Room

(Rogers, Hart)

5 - Gus's Blues

(G.  Johnson)

6 - That Old Feeling

(L. Brown, S. Fain)

7 - Bohemia After Dark

(O. Pettiford)

8 - Woody'n You

(D. Gillespie)

Zoot Sims (tenor sax, alto sax), John Williams (piano),

Knobby Totah (bass), Gus Johnson (drums).

Recorded at Capitol Studios, New York City, October 12, 1956

Rare And Obscure Argo Recordings (XV)

Vito Price

Swingin' The Loop

Born in New York in 1929, Vito Price, née Vito Pizzo, began playing tenor sax at the age of fourteen. After high school, he apprenticed on the road with various bands, as well as with Chubby Jackson's small group. He finally settled in Chicago in 1955, and went on to become one of the Windy City's top tenormen. In essence, Price has always been an exceptionally smooth swinger with a warm-toned horn, somewhat in the Al Cohn tradition. Swingin' The Loop was his first album, and a promising start. Price himself said at the time that he was "not trying to blaze new paths". So while no new trails were blazed and no frontiers were opened, Price emerged from the recording session with a valuable set of originals and standards that swing loose and easy. Five of the tracks feature a 10-piece band with a big, bold tone that was surely enhanced by the writing of Bill McRae. The other five are elevated by the incomparable guitar of Freddie Green, who joined in to make the quintet tracks that much more of a delight. *Jordi Pujol*

Rare work from obscure Chicago tenor player Vito Price — recorded back in the days when there actually used to be a jazz scene in the city's center – also known as The Loop! Price was a New Yorker by birth, but worked in Chicago clubs, TV, and radio in the 50s — and was most likely brought to Argo for this session by Chubby Jackson – with whom he'd worked on a previous date for the label. Price has a strong, bold tone in his horn – swing-based, but with a fluid sense of movement that's absorbed plenty of bop — and on the album, he's playing in two different settings. Side one features a largeish group with two more trumpets and two trombones, and side two features a quintet with a slightly more intimate sound. Lou Levy plays piano in both groups, and titles include "Credo", "Eye Strain", "Swingin The Loop", "Mousey's Tune", and "Duddy".  *Dusty Groove, Inc.*

1 - Swinging The Loop

(Vito Price)

2 - Mousey's Tune

(Vito Pizzo)

3 - Why Was I Born

(Kern, Hammerstein II)

4 - Duddy

(Vito Price)

5 - In A Mellow Tone

(Duke Ellington)

6 - Eye Strain

(Vito Price)

7 - Time After Time

(J. Styne, S. Cahn)

8 - Beautiful Love

(Young, Van Alstyne, King, Gillespie)

9 - Credo

(Vito Pizzo)

10 - As Long As I Live

(H. Arlen, T. Koehler)

#1 to #5

Vito Price (tenor sax, alto sax [#5]); Bill Hanley, John Howell (trumpets);

Paul Crumbagh (trombone); Barrett O'Hara (bass tombone); Bill Calkins (baritone sax);

Lou Levy (piano); Max Bennett (bass); Remo Biondi (guitar); Marty Clausen (drums).

Recorded in Chicago, Illinois, January 25, 1958

#6 to #10

Vito Price (tenor sax), Lou Levy (piano), Freddie Green (guitar),

Max Bennett (bass), Gus Johnson (drums).

Recorded in Chicago, Illinois, January 20, 1958

Herbie Mann - Flute Mann • Salute To The Flute

The flute, an honorable pastoral spirit in the classical orchestra and chamber groups, is only beginning to be more than glancingly accepted by jazz critics. The jazz musicians, always more hospitable and curious than the critics, have, with rare exceptions, not objected to its increasing inclusion in jazz record sessions and regular combos and orchestra. There have been, however, several dourly skeptical writers, most notably in England, who feel the flute is not capable of projecting all the heat and urgency of elemental jazz. 

It is absurd (it seems instantly axiomatic to me) to proscribe any instrument as being inherently alien to jazz. It is the player, after all, who is transmitting the message; the instrument is his means, and if his message is heated and urgent, it will get through. In any case, an increasing number of jazz musicians, especially within the past four and five years, have become intrigued with and soon assured on the instrument; and it is not at all outré to bring a flute to a jam session on an average gig. 

A majority of the jazz flutists, however, utilize the instrument secondarily. Frank Wess of the Basie and Jerome Richardson, for example, are primarily tenors although their transformation of the flute into a vessel afire may eventually make the flute their first instrument. Buddy Collette distributes his calm skills about equally among the clarinet, alto, tenor and flute. Bud Shank is still an altoist first and Sam Most continues to concentrate on the clarinet although both have become flute-facile too. Bobby Jaspar of the J. J. Johnson quintet is regarded by his colleagues as a tenor who, on the side, plays warm, singing flute.

Mann, on the other hand, although a professional tenor saxophonist and clarinetist, can be considered the first of the younger jazzmen to regard the flute as his major instrument. Born in Brooklyn on March 16, 1930, he gained experience during three years with an Army band in Trieste and first became known on the jazz scene through his work with the Mat Mathews combo in 1953 and 1954. He started playing flute as well as other reeds with Mat, and as he explains the context at the time, "it was impossible for me to be influenced by any other flute player then, because there were hardly any. I had that advantage. I had heard and been impressed by Harry Klee's flute on a Mary Ann McCall album in the early '50's, but it has been a trumpet player, Miles Davis, who has actually been my one major influence on flute". *Nat Hentoff (liner notes)*

This Columbia LP (a 1981 reissue of an Epic album titled Salute to the Flute) found flutist Herbie Mann accompanied for the first time by a big band on five of the nine selections. Prior to 1959, virtually all of Mann's recordings were bop-oriented, and this one is no exception. Whether it be "Little Niles", "When Lights Are Low", "Beautiful Love" or even "Old Honky Tonk Piano Roll Blues", Mann proves to be an excellent bop soloist; other important players on this date include trumpeter Joe Wilder, altoist Anthony Ortega, pianist Hank Jones, guitarist Joe Puma and bassist Oscar Pettiford. This LP will be a difficult one to find. *Scott Yanow*

The best of the plethora of Mann sets that have hit the market recently. With the aid of excellent musicians, in example, Hank Jones, Anthony Ortega, Joe Puma, Oscar Pettiford, Joe Wilder, Urbie Green, etc., and arrangements by A. K. Salim and Gigi Gryce, the flutist is heard in big, medium-sized and small band contexts, and the music is at once pleasant, interesting, and provides adequate blowing space. Set should be appealing to jazz coterie, and those not so heavily oriented as well. Try "Little Niles" and "A Ritual" as demo bands. *Billboard, October 28, 1957*

Side 1

1 - When The Lights Are Low

(Benny Carter)

2 - Little Niles

(Randy Weston)

3 - Old Honkie Tonk Piano Roll Blues

(Herbie Mann)

4 - Pretty Baby

(A. K. Salim)

Side 2

5 - Beautiful Love

(Victor Young, Wayne King, Egbert Van Alstyne)

6 - Hip Scotch

(Joe Puma)

7 - Song For Ruth

(Herbie Mann)

8 - Noga's Nuggets

(Oscar Pettiford)

9 - A Ritual

(Herbie Mann)

Herbie Mann (flute, alto flute); Bernie Glow, Don Stratton, Joe Wilder (trumpets); Urbie Green, Chauncey Welsch (trombones); Anthony Ortega (alto sax); Dick Hafer (alto and tenor sax); Dave Kurtzer (tenor sax); Sol Schlinger (baritone sax); Joe Puma (guitar); Hank Jones (piano); Oscar Pettiford (bass); Gus Johnson [#1, #3, #5, #6, #8, #9]), Philly Joe Jones [#2, #4, #7] (drums).

Recorded in New York City, April 18 (#2, #4, #7) and April 29 (#1, #3, #5, #6, #8, #9), 1957. 

Seldon Powell - Sextet • Featuring Jimmy Cleveland

Seldon Powell (1928-1997) was not an adventurer in either conception or sound. He was a solid, consolidated modern tenorist with a big, full tone, a superb beat, and largely interesting logically structured ideas. Powell plays with invigorating straight forwardness. He has the ability to take you with him all the way, in all tempos, and on all registers of his horn. On ballads, he combines lyricism with guts, and on the up tempos, he really digs in. Barry Ulanov mentioned in his excellent notes, that Powell had a ceaseless flow of melodic inspiration, a very precise description of what is so attractive, both in his playing and in these recordings. *Jordi Pujol*

When I first heard Seldon Powell, I enthused, because the boy from Brooklyn was such a happy throwback to the great days of the tenor saxophone. Tone and taste and a consummate ease on his horn, these were his virtues — and they stili are. The ability to make everything swing, that too. And no particular school ties, but just a fine blowing tenorman with a simple, smooth, and compelling modern style of his own. 

The Powell Style? A new school, maybe? A new sound that everybody will have to pick up on to stay au courant in jazz? No, schools are not made this way, only individuals. For the components of the Seldon Powell style are gifts, not gimmicks. They cannot be bought or sold, picked up or put down, and though perhaps they can be imitated, it will only be by a similarly well endowed musician. 

Most notable of the Powell talents, it seems to me, is the ceaseless flow of melodic inspiration. Simple enough stuff, I suppose, but so felicitously put together that one’s attention stays riveted to his lines, bar after bar. Sometimes it’s a countermelody. Sometimes it’s the tune itself, superlatively re-accented or de-accented to give it a sinuous new shape. Sometimes it’s a fill-in, a cadenza. Sometimes it’s a brief introduction to a solo, sometimes the wispiest of codas. But in every case, there is no doubt about the defining element: it’s the melodic line. Seldon thinks and plays that way, consecutively, note after note, in forward melodic motion, and that’s the way one hears him. *Larry Ulanov (liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - Woodyn' You

(D. Gillespie)

2 - She's Funny That Way

(Moret, Whiting)

3 - Lolly Gag

(S. Powell)

4 - Missy's Melody

(M. Gold)

5 - I'll Close My Eyes

(Reid, Kaye)

6 - 11th Hour Blues

(S. Powell)

Side 2

7 - Undecided

(Robins, Shavers)

8 - A Flower Is A Lonesome Thing

(B. Strayhorn)

9 - It's A Cryin' Shame

(Hoffman, Blake)

10 - Sleepy Time Down South

(L. & O. Rene, Muse)

11 - Button Nose

(S. Powell)

12 - Biscuit For Duncan

(S. Powell)

Seldon Powell (tenor sax); Jimmy Cleveland (trombone); Freddie Green (guitar); Roland "Hac" Hanna (piano); Aaron Bell (bass); Osie Johnson [#1, #2, #4, #5, #6, #8, #9, #11], Gus Johnson [#3, #7, #10, #12] (drums).

Recorded in New York City, 1956.