Liberty Records • Jazz in Hollywood Series (IX)

Buddy Childers

Sam's Songs

✤Liberty LJH 6009✤

When nominating the top trumpet men in the business, Buddy Childers has been consistently among the leaders. For the past thirteen years, his stiff upper lip has been winning the plaudits of discriminating musicians and fans alike while a member of the bands of Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Benny Carter, Tommy Dorsey and Charlie Barnet. Except for his stint with Herman in late 1949, however, Buddy has been tied to the lead trumpet chair throughout his career.

"Not that I didn't enjoy blowing lead", he remarked in his rapid, positive manner, "but the fact is I always wanted to play jazz, and the lead book really gets monotonous at times".

Buddy is one of those wonder children of the trumpet who never had musical schooling. He is largely self-taught. Born in St. Louis, Missouri February 12, 1926, he inherited his first horn originally intended for his father "‘who just kept it around the house; he never got around to studying it". Childers played with the high school band in Belleville, Illinois, and at sixteen was auditioning for Stan Kenton in December of '42, an association which continued over an eleven year period. In fact, Buddy's first date was on Kenton's Artistry In Rhythm.

Although Buddy made many records with various bands in small groups during these years, the desire to cut records under his own name, and in his own style, persisted. For eighteen months Buddy worked in the pit band at Hollywood's famous Moulin Rouge. The nightly routine, however, proved too confining and Buddy decided to form his own group so that he "could begin to enjoy playing again!" *John Tynan (liner notes)*

⁂

My reasons for choosing these men [Herbie Steward, Bob Harrington, Harry Babasin and Milt Holland] are twofold. First, they're extremely capable musicians; secondly, they're all close personal friends of mine. Though their names may not be too well known to relative newcomers to jazz music, they’ve all been on the scene for years. Although they all are not now in the so-called main-stream of jazz, I believe they are consistently great performers. After listening to the results, I'm sure you'll agree that they are. *Buddy Childers (liner notes)*

Sam Songs is the first LP by 30-yearold trumpeter Childers, who played lead with Kenton, Woody Herman, T. Dorsey, Carter, and Barnet and jazz horn with Herman in 1949. His sympathetic associates are Herb Steward on tenor instead of his usual lead alto of recent years; pianist Bob Harrington; bassist Harry Babasin; studio drummer Milt Holland, who came out for some air. Unfortunately, due to Liberty's insistence on damaging their squeezing 12 tracks into this one isn't the success been.

The writing (seven by Childers and five by Harrington) is pleasant, with some of the themes quite attractive, but there is no space to develop them, and as a result, a shortened sameness is a post-listening impression. Half as many tunes and some extended blowing and/or more extensive structuring would have made for a higher rating. As it is, Childers blows well and while no giant of jazz trumpet, has taste and a good beat.

It's good to hear Herb, a distinguished ex-Hermanite again. There is some degree of inhibition in Steward's blowing here, perhaps because of his length of time away from the tenor, but his flowing sense of time, good sound, and conception are still evident. Harrington is a swinging, economical pianist and his rhythm section colleagues are effective. The sam-titling is a too extended joke without a punch line. *Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, May 30, 1956)*

Side 1

1 - Honeysuckle Sam

(Buddy Childers)

2 - Sam Metrically

(Buddy Childers)

3 - My Wild Irish Sam

(Buddy Childers)

4 - Sentimental Sam

(Bob Harrington)

5 - Ding Dong, Sam Is Dead

(Buddy Childers)

6 - Sam 'N' Eggs

(Bob Harrington)

Side 2

7 - Deviled Sam

(Bob Harrington)

8 - Wham Sam!

(Buddy Childers)

9 - Thank You, Sam

(Buddy Childers)

10 - Sam's Serenade

(Bob Harrington)

11 - Three Sam's In A Fountain

(Buddy Childers)

12 - Canned Sam

(Bob Harrington)

Buddy Childers (trumpet), Herbie Steward (tenor sax),

Bob Harrington (piano), Harry Babasin (bass), Milt Holland (drums).

Recorded at Western Recorders, Hollywood, California,

November 29 (#2, #3, #4, #8, #9, #12) and December 6 (#1, #5, #6, #7, #10, #11), 1955

Jack Costanzo - Afro Cuban Jazz North-Of-The-Border

Jack James Costanzo was born in Chicago (September 24, 1919), to Matteo and Virginia Sances Costanzo, both immigrants from Italy. A composer and drummer, Costanzo is best known for having been a bongo player, and was nicknamed "Mr. Bongo". He visited Havana three times in the 1940s and learned to play Afro-Cuban rhythms on the bongos and congas.

Costanzo started as a dancer, touring as a team with his wife before World War II. After his discharge from the Navy, he worked as a dance instructor at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where Latin band leader Bobby Ramos heard Costanzo playing bongos in a jam session and offered him a job. Throughout the 1940s, Costanzo worked with several Latin bands, including a revived version of the Lecuona Cuban Boys, Desi Arnaz, and Rene Touzet.

Costanzo toured with Stan Kenton from 1947 to 1948 and occasionally in the 1950s, and played with Nat King Cole from 1949 to 1953. He also played with the Billy May Orchestra, Peggy Lee, Danny Kaye, Perez Prado, Charlie Barnet, Pete Rugolo, Betty Grable, Harry James, Judy Garland, Patti Page, Jane Powell, Ray Anthony, Martin & Lewis, Frances Faye, Dinah Shore, Xavier Cugat, Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, and Eddie Fisher.

Costanzo formed his own band in the 1950s which recorded and toured internationally. Many Hollywood stars studied bongos with him, including Marlon Brando, Rita Moreno, Carolyn Jones, Hugh O'Brian, Keenan Wynn, Van Johnson, Tony Curtis, Betty Grable, Vic Damone, James Dean, and Gary Cooper.

Costanzo was in retirement until 1998 when he decided to make a comeback and in 2001 recorded Back From Havana under the Ubiquity Records umbrella. This album featured the likes of Black Note's Gilbert Castellanos, Steve Firerobing and the Panamanian singer Marilu. In 2002 he released another album with the same cast called Scorching The Skins this time he also added Quino from Big Mountain. Costanzo has continued to tour and perform in California and abroad.

Costanzo died of complications from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm at his home in Lakeside, California, on August 18, 2018, aged 98.

***

This album represents a milestone for me. Since my days with Stan Kenton and Nat King Cole my aim has been to make acceptable the Conga and Bongo Drums as percussion instruments for all types of music.

To think as a Jazz musician, after having worked exclusively with Latin type orchestras previous to the Kenton crew, and to curb the natural instinct to exploit the instruments so they fit in with all the different types of music and rhythms, and still not interfere with the already established format of a Jazz rhythm section were two of the most important adjustments.

I think on most of these records an example is made, whereby a Conga Drum is used for Jazz and still does not make the listener think in terms of Latin music. We do have a Mambo in the album, however, because I still love to play Latin style arrangements.

Having been the first Bongo man to join a Jazz group was thrilling, but the drawback was in having no idea what to play that would fit the so-called swing or Jazz Bands. Fortunately, I was given complete freedom in the Kenton organization and was able to experiment. At first I used Bongos only for effects — then gradually felt my way thru to a position where I was noticeably helping to change the sound of the rhythm section without getting in the way.

On the solo Drum number, which is titled "Mambo Costanzo", I took the liberty of playing what I felt. These are the sounds I hear when I play, influenced, of course, by what I’ve heard and know of Cuban and African music.

The record is simply a Drum-vocal expression — a one man jam session for my own pleasure.

This is my first recorded efforts with my own group and I think the spirit of how the tunes are played represents the attitude of musicians playing for the sheer love of playing.

*Jack Costanzo (liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - Bottlabud

(Holman)

2 - Satin Doll

(Ellington)

3 - Mambo Costanzo

(Costanzo)

Side 2

4 - Yukon Mambo

(Costanzo)

5 - Maggie

(P.D.)

6 - G & J Blues

(Wiggins, Costanzo)

Jack Costanzo (bongos) with

#1, #2:

Rolf Ericson (trumpet), Herbie Steward (alto sax), Bill Holman (tenor sax), Gerald Wiggins (piano), Joe Comfort (bass), Lawrence Marable (drums).

#4. #5, #6:

John Anderson (trumpet); Herbie Steward (alto sax); Tom Brown (tenor sax); Gerald Wiggins (piano); Jack Coughlan (bass); Al Bartee [#4. #5], Jackie Mills [#6] (drums).

Recorded in Los Angeles, California, December 17, 1954.

 

The Four Brothers - Together Again!

What does the term "Four Brothers"? mean to you? If you are under twenty-one, its significance may be a little vague, though you must be aware that the phrase has some magic connotation as a part of jazz history. If you are in your late twenties or over, you can hardly be unaware of the particular style of saxophone voicing that earned this nickname in the Woody Herman band of the late 1940s. 

In either event, there are some facts about the "Four Brothers" style that have been buried with the rapid evolution of jazz — facts that nobody bothered to point out at the time because the value of this style to jazz could not then be clearly projected. 

In their first incarnation, the brothers were Herbie Steward, Zoot Sims, Jimmy Giuffre and Stan Getz, all playing tenor saxophones.

The idea of reuniting the four original Brothers, of recreating the much imitated sound in its original form, arose in a conversation between Elliot Lawrence and Vik’s Bob Rolontz. Zoot and Al were in town; Herbie was flown in from the West Coast to make the session and Serge, still in a wheel chair after a serious operation, took a plane from Boston. For the rhythm section, Elliot’s piano was flanked by the Brothers’ original Herman Herd colleague, Don Lamond, and by the fine bass of Burgher (Buddy) Jones from Hope, Arkansas, an associate of Elliot’s for several years.

The date began at three in the afternoon on February 11, and except for a two-hour dinner break, continued until one A. M. the same night. 

The Four Brothers - Together Again! perhaps more than any of these remembrances of things past, offers swinging testimony that nostalgia, sometimes a merely narcissistic emotion, can indeed be a wonderfully vital factor in the creation and preservation of great music. *Leonard Feather (Liner notes)*

The original "Four Brothers" as heard in the 1947-48 Woody Herman Orchestra were tenors Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and Herbie Steward and baritonist Serge Chaloff. In 1948 Al Cohn replaced Steward. In 1957 for this "reunion" session Getz was not available so instead Sims, Steward, Cohn and Chaloff were contacted. Accompanied by a rhythm section that includes pianist Elliott Lawrence, they naturally revived "Four Brothers" but otherwise mostly played newer songs by Gerry Mulligan, Manny Albam (who provided the date's arrangements), Lawrence, Cohn and Sims. Due to his bad health, Chaloff did not play many of the ensemble passages (Charlie O' Kane filled in) but he did take all of the solos; this would be his final recording. The music overall is quite enjoyable and Sims, Cohn and Steward show how much they had grown during the previous decade. *Scott Yanow*

Side 1

1 - Four And One Moore

(Gerry Mulligan)

2 - So Blue

(Al Cohn)

3 - The Swinging Door

(Zoot Sims, Gerry Mulligan)

4 - Four In Hand

(Manny Albam)

5 - A Quick One

(Al Cohn)

Side 2

6 - Four Brothers

(Jimmy Giuffre)

7 - Ten Years Later

(Al Cohn)

8 - The Pretty One

(Elliot Lawrence)

9 - Aged In Wood

(Al Cohn)

10 - Here We Go Again

(Manny Albam)

Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Herbie Steward (tenor saxes); Serge Chaloff, Charlie O' Kane (baritone saxes); Elliot Lawrence (piano); Burgher Jones (bass); Don Lamond (drums).

Recorded in New York City, February 11, 1957.