Jazz For The Screen & Five-Star Collection ★ Sonny Rollins

Sonny Rollins

Original Music From The Score

Alfie

About the film:

Alfie tells the story of an egocentric womanizer in 1960s London who lives entirely devoted to hedonism and emotional detachment. Starring Michael Caine in his iconic, star-making role, the film features a notable supporting cast including Shelley Winters, Millicent Martin, Jane Asher, and Julia Foster. Speaking directly to the camera and breaking the fourth wall, Caine's character endlessly justifies his promiscuous lifestyle and his utilitarian approach toward women.

However, after a series of unforeseen events—including an unacknowledged fatherhood, an illness, and the painful impact of his actions on those around him—his façade of carefree indifference unravels, confronting him with a profound crisis of loneliness and existential emptiness. Interestingly, the role was turned down by several leading British actors of the era—including Terence Stamp and Anthony Newley—who hesitated to play a character involved in taboo subjects like illegal abortion. Caine stepped in, delivering a performance that earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and cemented the film as a cultural touchstone of Swinging London.

About the music:

The Score... Movie vs. Impulse! album

The story behind the music of Alfie is a fascinating tale of spontaneous creation and two distinctly different recordings. It all began when director Lewis Gilbert commissioned Sonny Rollins to compose the score. In October 1965, Rollins gathered at London's Twickenham Studios with a stellar group of British jazz musicians, including Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Keith Christie, Phil Seaman, and pianist Stan Tracey—who is credited with composing the track "Little Malcolm Loves His Dad". As bassist Rick Laird later recalled, there were no written charts for these sessions; the musicians played blind, improvising live to the scenes projected on the studio screen based on a few core themes provided by Rollins. These original cues, which amounted to a mere 11 minutes of music in the final film cut, were never officially released on record.

Three months later, in January 1966, Rollins decided to expand upon that initial experiment and craft a standalone work. He entered Rudy Van Gelder's studio in New Jersey alongside producer Bob Thiele and a formidable American nonet featuring Phil Woods, J.J. Johnson, and Kenny Burrell. Enhanced by Oliver Nelson's sleek orchestral arrangements, Rollins transformed those London sketches into a half-hour suite, giving life to the acclaimed album released on Impulse! that ultimately defined the music of the film.

◈◈◈

This is Sonny Rollins' first score for a motion picture, and as you'll hear, there are bound to be many more because Sonny's acutely relevant sense of the dramatic—always evident in his improvising—has been transferred to the challenge of film scoring with commanding ease and warmth. 

In January, 1965, while appearing at Ronnie Scott's club in London, Sonny was approached to write the music for Alfie, a picture starring Michael Caine (of The Ipcress File) and featuring Shelley Winters. The idea intrigued him. He had always wanted to try a film score, and the picture itself was provocative. 

"It's the story", says Sonny, "of a playboy sort of guy who has no respect for conventional married life and that sort of thing. As he grows older, however, his girl friends begin to leave him for younger men, and at the end of the picture, he's no longer nearly so sure that his is as fulfilling a way of life as he had thought". In a sense, Alfie is about the involuntary education of a hipster. 

Sonny worked closely with producer-director Lewis Gilbert, a man he describes as having "a very good understanding of music without knowing all the technical aspects of it. If the score is a success, he deserves a large share of the credit". For the soundtrack, Sonny arranged his music for a nine-piece group and he too is heard throughout the picture. Oliver Nelson's arrangements for this recording of the score are based on Sonny's original charts. 

"Oliver", says Sonny, "kept pretty close to those, adding a little here and there and editing. But this is basically the sound we got in the picture. Working with Oliver, incidentally, is enlightening. He's not only thoroughly qualified musically, but personally he is so easy to work with that he got the best out of all of us". (...) 

The film, Alfie, has been chosen, Sonny relates with pleasure, as England's entry in the Cannes Film Festival. Whether Sonny's score for it wins any official prizes in any competition, I expect that it will attract other movie producers who are weary of conventional lush music backgrounds or of the more recent but already hackneyed melodramatically pounding scores. As films themselves become increasingly scoured of superfluity and rhetoric (both visual and written), the music for them will be more accurately reflective of the rhythms and textures of life as it is now lived. And, as has been evident to jazz listeners for a long time, jazz does indeed tell where it's at, where we're at. 

"I hope to compose for more films", says Sonny, "because I've been wanting to work in explicitly dramatic areas for a long time. Not only motion pictures, but the theatre too. After all, it's all part of the same thing—finding and expressing yourself through music and finding links to yourself in the experiences of others".

Finally, it seems to me that unlike most albums of film scores, this one will not fade into limbo after the picture has had its run. The reason is that although Sonny was faithful to the spirit and thematic patterns of the picture, he was also faithful to himself. And therefore this music can—and does—stand on its own. *Nat Hentoff (from the liner notes)*

Sonny Rollins is a genius!

He squeezes every last drop out of a melody. There is nothing left to be done with it when he is through. He can turn it around this way and that way and turn it upside down and stretch it out. He is endlessly inventive. I could listen to him forever.

When he splits notes or honks, he doesn't sound as if he's trying to prove something philosophically or socially or racially. It is only artistic, a part of him—like a sneeze.

He wrote the score to this picture, and it is beautiful, although nobody else could play it—it is scored for a solo Sonnyphone.

There is nothing wrong with what he does, and he does everything: hard, sweet, loud, soft, fast, slow. A complete experience.

The film Alfie received only mediocre reviews, but the score is so much better than mediocre that I suspect any director hip enough to use it would have to make a product a lot superior to mediocre.

Frankie Dunlop is an underestimated drummer, and it would be difficult to overestimate his swing on this. Walter Booker too. Phil Woods' lead alto is impeccable. There is nothing peccable on Impulse 9111. *Michael Zwerin (Down Beat, November 3, 1966 [5 stars])*

Side 1

1 - Alfie's Theme

2 - He's Younger Than You

Side 2

3 - Street Runner With Child

4 - Transition Theme For Minor Blues Or Little Malcolm Loves His Dad

5 - On Impulse

6 - Alfie's Theme Differently

(All compositions by Sonny Rollins)

Sonny Rollins (tenor sax); J.J. Johnson [#1, #2], Jimmy Cleveland [#3 to #6] (trombones);

Phil Woods (alto sax); Robert Ashton (tenor sax); Danny Bank (baritone sax);

Roger Kellaway (piano); Kenny Burrell (guitar); Walter Booker (bass);

Frankie Dunlop (drums); Oliver Nelson (arranger, conductor).

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, January 26, 1966

Five-Star Collection... Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane

Kenny Burrell With John Coltrane

Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane

These selections were recorded in 1958 and present Coltrane and Burrell in very good form. The emphasis is on improvisation and not on writing or ensemble blend, though Flanagan's original Trane and Burrell's Lyresto are attractive lines that are enhanced by the guitar-tenor combination.

There is an abundance of fine soloing, but it is best to start with Coltrane's performance.

He was gaining prominence in 1958 but was the subject of much adverse criticism. Listening to him on the first three tracks, we can hear that his ideas are well resolved and his solos have good continuity. On all tracks he gets a groove and swings infectiously. His playing on I Never Knew is quite relaxed.

Why Was I Born?, a Burrell-Coltrane duet, demonstrates that Coltrane has one of the finest tenor saxophone tones — pure and hauntingly beautiful — and can control it superbly. Big Paul, which takes up most of the second side, has an extremely intense Coltrane solo, but despite its length, the tenorist is never at a loss for ideas. That he is able to sustain such a high degree of emotional excitement for chorus after chorus is remarkable.

Flanagan, too, is brilliant. Though his playing has often been praised, he often is taken for granted. This may be because he has recorded with a variety of groups and is not thought of as a member of a particular clique. He probably would have rated much higher in the polls, for instance, if he’d been Miles Davis' regular pianist over the last few years. At any rate, here there are some examples of his lovely playing. He is unceasingly inventive, exhibits a beautiful touch, organizes his solos intelligently—and his rhythm section work is superb.

Burrell offers imaginative and well-sustained solos, his lines clean and flowing, and he gets a pretty sound from his instrument. On Born he accompanies Coltrane nicely.

The rhythm section performs well. Chambers pushes the soloists relentlessly, and his soloing on Big Paul exhibits continuous forcefulness.

All in all, one of the best examples of jazz in the late '50s.

*Harvey Pekar (Down Beat, July 4, 1963 [5 stars])*

For his final Prestige-related session as a sideman, John Coltrane (tenor sax) and Kenny Burrell (guitar) are supported by an all-star cast of Paul Chambers (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums), and Tommy Flanagan (piano). This short but sweet gathering cut their teeth on two Flanagan compositions, another two lifted from the Great American Songbook, and a Kenny Burrell original. Flanagan's tunes open and close the album, with the spirited "Freight Trane" getting the platter underway. While not one of Coltrane's most assured performances, he chases the groove right into the hands of Burrell. The guitarist spins sonic gold and seems to inspire similar contributions from Chambers' bowed bass and Coltrane alike. Especially as the participants pass fours (read: four bars) between them at the song's conclusion. The Gus Kahn/Ted Fio Rito standard "I Never Knew" frolics beneath Burrell's nimble fretwork. Once he passes the reins to Coltrane, the differences in their styles are more readily apparent, with Burrell organically emerging while Coltrane sounds comparatively farther out structurally. Much of the same can likewise be associated to Burrell's own "Lyresto", with the two co-leads gracefully trading and incorporating spontaneous ideas. While not as pronounced, the disparity in the way the performance is approached is a study in unifying and complementary contrasts. The delicate "Why Was I Born" is one for the ages as Burrell and Coltrane are captured in a once-in-a-lifetime duet. Together they weave an uncanny and revealing sonic tapestry that captures a pure and focused intimacy. This, thanks in part to the complete restraint of the ensemble, who take the proverbial "pause for the cause" and sit out. What remains is the best argument for the meeting of these two jazz giants. The performance can likewise be located on the various-artists Original Jazz Classics: The Prestige Sampler (1988) and Playboy Jazz After Dark (2002) and is worth checking out, regardless of where one might find it. In many ways the showpiece of the project is Flanagan's nearly quarter-hour "Big Paul." The pianist's lengthy intro establishes a laid-back bop-centric melody with his trademark stylish keyboards perfectly balancing Chambers and Cobb's rock-solid timekeeping. Coltrane's restraint is palpable as he traverses and examines his options with insightful double-time flurries that assert themselves then retreat into the larger extent of his solo. Those interested in charting the saxophonist's progression should make specific note of his work here. *Lindsay Planer*

1 - Freight Trane

(Tommy Flanagan)

2 - I Never Knew

(Fiorito, Kahn)

3 - Lyresto

(Kenny Burrell)

4 - Why Was I Born

(Kern, Hammerstein)

5 - Big Paul

(Tommy Flanagan)

Kenny Burrell (guitar), John Coltrane (tenor sax),

Tommy Flanagan (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums).

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, March 7, 1958

Leonard Feather Presents… ★1959★

Leonard Feather Presents

One World Jazz

Through the miracles of modern recording science, fifteen of the world's leading jazzmen meet for the first time in this unique and exciting intercontinental jam session. Seven musicians in New York, four in Paris, three in London and one in Stockholm play together to make not only a scientific, but a musical point: Jazz Is An International Language.

⁂

Although there has never before been an album of this kind, its motivation and objective were logical and desirabie. For the first time in recording history, a group of leading American musicians has joined forces with some of the top artists in other countries for an international jam session, for release in monophonic and stereophonic sound.

The idea sprang from a conversation in the spring of 1959 with Irving Townsend. When I mentioned a projected business trip to Europe and suggested that there were several fine musicians in England and France who had been heard too rarely on records in the United States, we first discussed a plan to record a separate session in each country. Suddenly a more provocative concept emerged: why not, said Irving, record them together? 

Though obviously feasible, the suggestion ealled tor long-range planning. Nat Shapiro of Columbia’s international division started setting up contacts in London and Paris. Then the plan was extended when I suggested that the musicians would be offered a stimulating challenge if they could work in the company of Americans. For geographical or technical reasons, this had never before been possible. 

The device employed was simple. A seven-piece group was assembled in New York, and on the evening of May 19, 1959, we recorded the six tracks you hear in this album. But on that evening they sounded curiously different. There were long passages left open in which only the rhythm section played. Thus there would be no need for any awkward attempts to splice conflicting ideas, match tempos, coordinate rhythm sections at home and abroad; on the contrary, the foreign musicians would have the unprecedented opportunity to be supported by the kind of American rhythmic background with which they had often expressed a desire to work.

The musicians chosen for the New York session are all well known to the Europeans who were later to enjoy their company.

⁂

It may be apt to conclude with a remark made by Jo Jones when, after I had returned from Europe with the results of this undertaking safely boxed in, he listened to the tapes and heard the startling additions that had so radically aitered the original session.

"You know what you should do?" he said. "You should send a copy of this record to the United Nations. Why, this says more about people getting together, listening to each other and understanding one another, than all of eg over at the U.N. building could ever say!"

I hope Jo was right. *Leonard Feather (from liner notes)*

Years before Frank Sinatra sang his "over the phone" set of Duets in the mid 90s, Columbia tried a similar "not all there in the studio" approach with this album of jazz played by American and international artists selected for the project. Tapes were made in New York with a lot of space in between the main soloists. These tapes were then flown overseas, where players in three cities played on top of the tapes, dubbing in solos that sound like they were part of the group. A decent enough idea technologically, we guess — but why would anyone want to subject jazz to such conditions? European players include Ronnie Ross, Roger Guerin, Stephane Grappelly, Åke Persson and Roy East — and the tunes include "Big Ben's Blues", "International Blues", "Nuages", and "Cotton Tail". *Dusty Groove, Inc.*

Side 1

1 - Cotton Tail

(Duke Ellington)

2 - Misty

(Burke, Garner)

3 - Big Ben's Blues

(Model)

Side 2

4 - International Blues

(Leonard Feather)

5 - Nuages

(Django Reinhardt)

6 - In A Mellow Tone

(Duke Ellington)

First session, (basic tape with spaces for additional sessions):

Clark Terry (trumpet), J.J. Johnson (trombone), Ben Webster (tenor sax),

Hank Jones (piano), Kenny Burrell (guitar), George Duvivier (bass), Jo Jones (drums).

Recorded in New York City, May 19, 1959

Second session, (additions to first session):

Roy East [#1, #3, #4, #6] (alto sax), George Chisholm (trombone),

Ronnie Ross [#3, #4, #6] (baritone sax).

Recorded in London, England, June 22, 1959

Third session, added:

Åke Persson [#4](trombone).

Recorded in Stockholm, Sweden, June 30, 1959

Final session, (additions to the tape):

Roger Guerin (trumpet), Bob Garcia [#1] (tenor sax),

Martial Solal [#3, #4] (piano), / Stéphane Grappelli [#2, #4, #5] (violin).

Recorded in Paris, France, July 3, 1959

Rare And Obscure Argo Recordings (XIII)

Hank Jones

Here's Love

"Here's love", a musical version of the great film "Miracle on 34th Street" says "down with Scrooge and up with Tiny Tim" and in general, you don't have to be a screwball to believe in love or...Santa Claus.

The Hank Jones Quartet interpretation will become the definitive jazz presentation of Meredith Wilson's great score to "Miracle on 34th Street." Hank Jones has captured in the jazz idiom the flavor of Wilson's musical menu for Here's Love."

The artistry of Milt Hilton on bass, Elvin Jones on drums, and Kenny Burrell on guitar, welded cohesively by the remarkable ingenuity of Hank Jones, makes for many minutes of easy listening.

For good music aficionados, this will be Christmas all year round with the musicality of the Hank Jones Quartet a perennial gift from St. Nicholas himself.

I have said a lot of things about this album, but there's one thing you may have noticed we did not say and that would be to refer to this album as...square. So here's color, here's rhythm, here's enjoyment... HERE'S LOVE! *(From liner notes)*

Highlight is the interplay between Hank Jones and Kenny Burrell;

excellent music and arranging (5 stars):

I've owned this album for quite some time and decided to pull it out and listen with fresh ears. While this is not exactly a 'must-have' album, the musicianship is uniformly excellent and the arranging is masterful. Every track is based on a musical titled Here's Love, all of which were originally composed by Meredith Willson. There is where the arrangements shine because orchestral pieces have been distilled down into jazz quartet format and they sound rich and full.

The sound samples on this page will provide enough information to get a good sense of the music. The center of the music is Hank Jones' piano and Kenny Burrell's guitar. Both take turns with melody and harmony, and create some real studio magic (hence, the five stars.) Milt Hinton on bass and Hank's brother Elvin on drums are the perfect rhythm section. If you are a bassist focus on Hinton. He makes it sound simple and easy, but he is doing some incredible things that make the piano and guitar stand out. Elvin is masterful, especially on brushes, but he does have a few moments when he seems to over play. It does not detract from the music, and after a few listens I cannot imagine a more perfect drummer for this album.

This was recorded for the Argo label at Rudy van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs, NJ studio in a single session on October 19, 1963. While musicians will find this album to be rich in ideas, especially the interplay between piano and guitar, anyone who loves jazz quartets will probably love this album. *Mike Tarrani (amazon reviewer)*

1 - Here's Love

2 - My Wish

3 - You Don't Know

4 - Dear Mister Santa Claus

5 - That Man Over There

6 - Arm In Arm

7 - The Big Clown Balloons

8 - Love, Come Take Me Again

9 - Pine Cones And Holly Berries

10 - My State, My Kansas, My Home

(All compositions by Meredith Wilson)

Hank Jones (piano), Kenny Burrell (guitar), Milt Hinton (bass), Elvin Jones (drums).

Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, October 19, 1963.

Howard McGhee And Phil Porter - Two Rare And Unique Recordings

Howard McGhee (1918 – 1987), among young jazz adepts unjustly almost forgotten today, was a reliable man if you're following his steadily flowing recorded output between 1942 & 1948, which were the heydays of the bebop era. And "Maggie", so his nickname in musicians’ circles, was in the middle of it all. He was not phrasing as "mathematically" like his great successor and friend Theodore "Fats" Navarro, or the next in the line, Clifford Brown, affectionately called "Brownie" by his friends and fans, but he could express his ideas as fast, and as eloquently as the two other trumpet geniuses.

During 1945-1949, Howard McGhee was one of the finest trumpeters in jazz, an exciting performer with a sound of his own, who among the young bop players, ranked at the top with Dizzy Gillespie and Fats Navarro. The "missing link" between Roy Eldridge and Fats Navarro (Navarro influenced Clifford Brown who influenced most of the post-1955 trumpeters), McGhee originally played clarinet and tenor, not taking up trumpet until he was 17. He worked in territory bands, was with Lionel Hampton in 1941, and then joined Andy Kirk (1941-1942), being featured on McGhee Special. McGhee participated in the fabled bop sessions at Minton's Playhouse and Monroe's Uptown House, modernizing his style away from Roy Eldridge and towards Dizzy Gillespie. He was with Charlie Barnet (1942-1943), returned to Kirk (where he sat next to Fats Navarro in the trumpet section), and had brief stints with Georgie Auld and Count Basie before traveling to California with Coleman Hawkins in 1945; their concise recordings of swing-to-bop transitional music (including "Stuffy," "Rifftide," and "Hollywood Stampede") are classic. McGhee stayed in California into 1947, playing with Jazz at the Philharmonic, recording and gigging with Charlie Parker (including the ill-fated "Lover Man" date) and having an influence on young players out on the Coast. His Dial sessions were among the most exciting recordings of his career, and back in New York he recorded for Savoy and had a historic meeting on record with Navarro in 1948 on Blue Note.

Eventually, drugs began to affect McGhee's career. He traveled on a USO tour during the Korean War, recording in Guam. McGhee also had sessions for Bethlehem (1955-1956) but was inactive during much of the '50s. He recorded some strong dates for Felsted, Bethlehem, Contemporary, and Black Lion during 1960-1961, and on a quartet outing for United Artists (1962), but (with the exception of a Hep big band date in 1966) was largely off records again until 1976. He had a final burst of activity during 1976-1979 for Sonet, SteepleChase, Jazzcraft, Zim, and Storyville, but by then, McGhee was largely forgotten and few knew about his link to Fats Navarro and Clifford Brown.

Phil Porter (1944 – 2015) born in Boston and raised in Charlton and Somerville. He graduated Somerville High School with the Class of 1961 and attended Boston University.

Phil began his music career in Boston at the age of 16 as a professional pianist and organist. By the age of 19 he had recorded his first two jazz album and had performed at the Newport Jazz Festival. 

In 1971, Phil started rehearsing with the jazz-rock band, Chase. Within a few months, the band signed a record deal and moved to Chicago to record Chase, their first album on the Epic label. As a member of the band Chase, he earned a gold record, received a Grammy nomination, and performed on the Johnny Carson Show and at Carnegie Hall. After many years of performing throughout the U.S. and worldwide, he returned to the Boston area and continued his music career locally, including as the organist for the Bruins and Celtics at the Boston Garden. He was a member of Local 535 of the Boston Chapter of the American Federation of Musicians. He settled in Lynn to raise his family and lived in Andover prior to moving to Haverhill where he served as a volunteer for Merrimack Valley Hospice.

When Howard McGhee reappeared in 1962, after being away from the stage for 10 years due to narcotic use, Paul Wimley offered him the opportunity to record four titles for the Argo label with Gene Ammons (House Warmin'! by Howard McGhee and The Blazers). Confidential. But in the process, George Wein produced two quartet sessions in the fall of 1962 for United Artists, the first with piano, the second with organ. 

That's when the meeting between McGhee and Porter took place. Howard McGhee appears there in full possession of his means, with a warm and coppery timbre that is very personal and atypical of a time when trumpets were more willingly "distorted". 

Howard and Phil met only twice and those recordings, already considered rare and obscure today, are the reason for this post.

Howard McGhee

Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out

&

House Warmin'!

A contemporary of Dizzy Gillespie, Howard McGhee was one of the most stimulating trumpeters of the bop era. Although personal problems sidelined him for part of the 50s, his great experience compensated for much of the time lost when he made his comeback in the early 60s. In fact, on Nobody Knows You When Youre Down and Out, recorded in 1962, McGhee sounds even better than before - engaging and emotional without compromising his strength while supported by two excellent rhythm sections, one with pianist Jimmy Jones, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Art Taylor, and the other with organist Phil Porter, bassist Larry Ridley and drummer Dave Bailey.

On the second album included here, House Warmin'!, recorded a few months earlier. McGhee shares the front line with tenorman Gene Ammons. The rhythm section includes the quasi-urbane sound of guitarist Jake Fisher, bassist Barney Richmond and drummer Willie Mashburn, who have an essential role in building a program reflecting the infinite variety to be found in the rhythm-and-blues field. *Jordi Pujol*

You may not have ever heard of Howard McGhee, but at one time he was one of the top notch bebop trumpeters, up there with Dizzy Gillespie and Fats Navarro. He’s on Charlie Parker’s notorious “Lover Man” date, and actually had a bebop hit (is that an oxymoron?) with Coleman Hawkins with "Stuffy" in the mid 40s. He lived the life of a bebopper in more ways than one, as drugs caught up with him and sidelined him for awhile. The two recording sessions on this disc find him working on his comeback, and the music is surprisingly good.

Nobody Knows When You're Down And Out is a '62 session featuring McGhee with a trio backing, either with piano or organ, and includes Art Taylor/dr, and Ron Carter/b. The B3 band has McGhee in a bluesy mood with a desultory title track and version of  "Lonely Town" that will make you want to keep away from sharp objects. He alternates between agonizing Harmon mutes and sleek open horn, actually mixing it up in the same song as in the fascinating "Canadian Sunset". He's quite lyrical on "Tenderly" and "Fly Me To The Moon" and his tone holds up well. The House Warmin’! session is a hot jam with Gene Ammonts/ts, Jake Fisher/g, Barney Richmond/b, Willie Mashburn/d and a guy named Waco on bongos. Hey, it’s the 60s! Ammons smokes like a Romeo e Juliet on "Jazz with a Beat" and McGhee revives his old charms on "Muggin' McGhee" and the title tune. If you want to hear a rhythm team that is in sync, just give an ear to "Jivin' Around". That'll keep you going for awhile. *George W. Harris*

1 - Nobody Knows When You're Down And Out

(Cox)

2 - Lonely Town

(Bernstein)

3 - Secret Love

(Fain, Webster)

4 - Why Run Away

(Spencer)

5 - Canadian Sunset

(Heywood)

6 - Blue Bell

(McGhee)

7 - Tenderly

(Gross, Laurence)

8 - Fly Me To The Moon

(Howard)

9 - Satin Doll

(Ellington, Strayhorn)

10 - Blue Duende

(McGhee)

11 - Jazz With A Beat

(Winley, Paul)

12 - Muggin' McGhee

(Winley, Paul)

13 - House Warmin'

(Winley, Paul)

14 - Jivin' Around

(Winley, Paul)

#1 to #10: from Nobody Knows You When Youre Down and Out

(United Artists Records UAJS 15028)

#4, #5, #7, #10

Howard McGhee (trumpet), Jimmy Jones (piano), Ron Carter (bass), Art Taylor (drums).

Recorded in New York City, September, 1962.

#1, #2,  #3, #6, #8, #9

Howard McGhee (trumpet), Phil Porter (organ Hammond B3), Larry Ridley (bass), Dave Bailey (drums).

Recorded in New York City, October, 1962.

#11 to #14: from Howard McGhee and The Blazers - House Warmin'! (Argo LPS 4020)

Howard McGhee (trumpet), Gene Ammons (tenor sax), Jake Fisher (guitar), Barney Richmond (bass), Willie Mashburn(drums), Waco (bongos).

Recorded at Bell Sound Studio, New York City, probably May 1962.

***

Phil Porter

Introducing Phil Porter And His Organ

It was a snowy night in February, 1963, when jazz trumpeter Howard McGhee, jazz producer George Wein, a German Shephard dog named Sage and I climbed into Wein's car in New York. Our destination was the little town of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, 200 miles from New York and 30 miles west of Boston. 

Our purpose was to hear a 19 year old organ player named Phil Porter, and we were going on the strength of a one night stand McGhee had played with Porter in Boston nine months earlier.

To go back to the beginning, I had just brought McGhee and Wein together to make the trumpeter's first LP under his own name in several years. Both men, it turned out, had the same idea — find a good swinging jazz organist and utilize him to showcase McGhee's virtuosity. At this point Howard remembered the boy who had left such a strong impression. "He's only a kid but he can play the hell out of an organ, especially on blues!" 

That was enough to set me hunting and, through two Boston organ afficionados, John Sdoucos and Fred Taylor, Porter was located a couple of days later and we set off in the snow to hear him. What should have been a four hour trip turned into more than five and we finally walked into the club about midnight. 

We were almost crushed to find a rock and roll band at work, with about five bored customers sitting around looking like anything was better than going home. However, smiling at us from behind the Hammond was a good-looking young blonde boy complete with crew cut, and Howard confirmed that this was, indeed, Phil Porter. 

After about ten minutes, Wein managed to shoo the rest of the band off the floor and told him to play some. Two or three pieces later and we felt he had what Howard wanted, but there was one more test. He had already chosen some of the material for the date and one of the pieces was the old Bessie Smith blues "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out". At this point he dropped the tune on the music rack in front of Porter and asked him if he knew the tune. He didn't but we told him to sight read it and away he went. Half a dozen choruses of blues later we had ourselves an organist. 

Within two weeks the album was completed, but even before it was through, United Artists Records president Art Talmadge had attended the sessions, heard Phil Porter and he was under contract to make his own recordings as well. This is the first of his efforts, and he is ably guided throughout by his mentor, McGhee. In fact, his rock and roll days ended shortly after the first McGhee date when he joined McGhee's combo with which he is still on tour.

For this album, producer Wein worked very closely with Phil in the selection of material, but he allowed him: the real delight of selecting his own musicians for the dates. It was decided to use two slightly different groups, with Kenny Burrell added on guitar for several numbers. On trumpet, naturally, he chose McGhee, who also did all the arrangements. He chose tenor saxist Harold Ousley "because he has that big bluesy sound I like", plus what he calls the "All-American rhythm section", Paul Chambers on bass and Arthur Taylor on drums. 

At this point in his young life, everything is green lights and straight ahead for Phil Porter, but he is already developing into something of a philosopher. As we sat listening to the playback on this album in George Wein's office one day, Phil turned to us with a sly grin and said: "Do you remember the name of that club where you first heard me with the rock and roll group? It was called The Escape — and it sure turned out that way!". *Bob Messinger (liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - C Jam Blues

(Duke Ellington)

2 - Hard Times

(Phil Porter)

3 - Moonlight In Vermont

(K. Suessdorf, J. Blackburn)

4 - There Will Never Be Another You

(M. Gordon, H. Warren)

5 - What Did I Do To Be So Black And Blue

(T. F. Waller, H. Brooks, A. Razaff)

6 - Blue Dilemma

(Phil Porter)

Side 2

7 - Molly Belle

(Phil Porter)

8 - That's All

(Brandt, Haymes)

9 - Conversation

(Phil Porter)

10 - Candlelight

(Phil Porter)

11 - Diane

(E. Paree, L. Pollack)

Phil Porter (organ Hammond B3), Howard McGhee (trumpet), Harold Ousley (tenor sax), Kenny Burrell (guitar), Paul Chambers (bass), Art Taylor (drums).

Recorded in New York City, probably April 1963.