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

Gerry Mulligan And The Concert Jazz Band

At The Village Vanguard

This is the first "live" recording of the Gerry Mulligan big band, and was taped at the Village Vanguard in New York in December, 1960. Although several nights of music were recorded, Mulligan decided to select the album's final takes from one Sunday afternoon in order to maintain a consistency of mood. Mulligan's decision to record on location was taken with full realization of the hazards as well as the advantages of "in person" recording. "There are times", he explains, "when a few things may go wrong in such a performance but when conditions are right, the band can achieve more vivid presence and can create more spontaneous excitement than in a studio. In that extended piano blues, for example, that closes the second side, we did many things on the spur of the moment that we'll never do again in quite that way. We fell into a rocking, romping 'head' arrangement that we all enjoyed enormously, and that feeling is captured here".

"Working in front of an audience", Mulligan continues, "has a markedly different effect on a band. It can—as it has with us—result in a confidence as a unit that's a marvel to see, hear and feel".

Mulligan feels that his band is enjoying a steadily growing realization of its own identity. In this regard, Mulligan was asked his reaction to comments that this writer has made in magazine articles which questioned whether the band's arrangements were "adventurous" enough. "First of all", Mulligan answered, "I want the band to find itself, to find its own meaning within existing forms. Many of the guys looking for 'new forms' don’t understand the old ones. Secondly, my conception of a band is that of a group which can communicate an emotion that comes from the interaction between its members as a unit. A band can do that only if it enjoys what it's playing. And we do. We have fun as we work, and when things are really going well, we get a spirit going like 'let the good times roll'. That is what I want".

"Too many 'avant-garde' composers", Mulligan went on, "write for each other, not for the players. By contrast, I want material which the men take pleasure in playing. This band is developing both as a framework for soloists and as a vehicle for writers, but not 'far out' writers. So far as my own participation is concerned, my stamp is on the band and I'm the featured soloist, but up to now I've been more of a supervisor of the writing than a very active contributor. But all of what we do is based on my conviction that music is to be enjoyed, by the player as well as the listener". (...)

Drummer Mel Lewis—a musician of consistent taste who propels the Mulligan ensemble with a rare combination of lightness and strength—has summarized the reason the musicians in this band are so enthusiastic about the Mulligan orchestra. "Every time we play something", says Lewis, "it's different from the last time we've played the number. That's the way it's supposed to be. This is a real jazz band".

And so it is. Its virtues are much more apparent in this second album, partly because of the stimulation provided by the audience and also because by this point the band had been together for some time and had, in Mulligan’s phrase, been finding its own identity.

*Nat Hentoff (from the liner notes)*

The star system of rating records has both advantages and disadvantages, the former tending to outweigh the latter, and the most important advantage being, to my mind, that the decision on the number of Stars to assign tends to clarify the writer’s own thinking, minimizing the possibility of a noncommittal review.

But it can be frustrating. The Mulligan band's first LP was given five stars late last year. And it fully deserved them. Only... this is a better record than that first one!

It was recorded "live" at New York's Village Vanguard. (Of the several locations where I've heard the band, the Vanguard is the best for sound.) The disc has the vitality and fervor that one expects in a live performance, yet is free of that thin, unbalanced sound that non-studio sessions so often produce. I have never heard an on-the-spot recording with sound equal to this. It is excellent.

Musically, the disc has everything, including superb ensemble playing and solos of consistently high quality. Most solos are by Mulligan, Brookmeyer, and Terry.

I sometimes think that taste is a function of wit. An artist needs the wit to keep his work always in perspective. Brookmeyer's solos are almost invariably humorous, as if he could not take his ability quite seriously. Even in conversation, he seems incapable (except perhaps among his most intimate friends) of considering his talent with anything but levity. Yet at the writing table, safely out of the public gaze, his full sensitivity comes to the fore, and it is in his writing that he consistently demonstrates that he is one of the most lyrical musicians in jazz today.

This was evident in the Django’s Castle track in the first Mulligan band album; here it is manifest in his lovely arrangement of Body and Soul, with its delicate, breathy blends and rich sonorities. Nor is there ever danger of Brookmeyer's slipping over the edge from pathos into bathos. Like Paul Desmond, Miles Davis, Lorenz Hart, and many others, he has his sense of irony to tell him when he has gone just far enough. A beautiful, beautiful writer, Brookmeyer.

Mulligan also is blessed with a great lyrical sense—and great humor. He and Brookmeyer, in their solos, contribute majorly to the sense of fun that makes this album so infectious, though Terry makes the most potent single contribution to that spirit. On the opening track, Blueport, Terry and Mulligan mix it up in fours and eights, the high, singing, pixieish quality of Terry's trumpet a perfect foil and companion to Mulligan's amused, lumbering baritone. On the last track, People, Terry does a marvelous long solo that is obviously knocking the band out. They respond with a powerful though simple riff in unison reeds—evidently extemporaneously—and Terry and the band build together until, when he sits down to let the band have it all, everything is shouting. All things considered, this is probably the best track in an excellent album.

Reider has the unenviable task of replacing Zoot Sims in the tenor solos. But, with a sound much like Sims', he does well indeed. I was moved to overt chuckling by his Middle Eastern bit in his solo on Blueport.

Bassist Crow more than adequately replaces Buddy Clark, who left the band a while back to return to California. Lewis, who also has returned to California, was perfect for this band. He is a kick all through the disc, both to the band and to the listener. He has a rivet cymbal that has just about the most sizzling sound you ever heard, and he rides it with the assurance of a master. Like everyone else on the disc, Lewis has excellent taste.

The essences of this LP are vitality, humor, and, at times, an affecting beauty. It’s very much worth not missing. *Gene Lees (Down Beat, August 17, 1961 [5 stars])*

Side 1

1 - Blueport

(Art Farmer)

2 - Body And Soul

(Johnny Green, Frank Eyton, Edward Heyman, Robert Sour)

3 - Black Nightgown

(Johnny Mandel)

Side 2

4 - Come Rain Or Come Shine

(Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer)

5 - Lady Chatterley's Mother

(Al Cohn)

6 - Let My People Be

(Gerry Mulligan)

Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax, piano [#6]); Don Ferrara, Clark Terry, Nick Travis, (trumpets);

Willie Dennis (trombone); Alan Raph (bass trombone); Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone);

Bob Donovan (alto sax); Gene Quill (alto sax, clarinet); Jim Reider (tenor sax);

Gene Allen (baritone sax, bass clarinet); Bill Crow (bass); Mel Lewis (drums).

Recorded live at the Village Vanguard, New York City, December 11, 1960

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

In late 1960, Gerry Mulligan shaped one of the most ambitious projects of his career: the Concert Jazz Band, an orchestra that, in the midst of the economic decline of big bands, openly defied the market conditions of the jazz scene at the time. Far from any retrospective gesture, the ensemble proposed a reformulation of modern orchestral language, transferring to the expanded format the principles of textural clarity, counterpoint, and interaction that Mulligan had developed in his pianeless formations since the early 1950s.

The initial support of the project was made possible thanks to an agreement with Norman Granz, producer of Verve Records, who guaranteed the financial backing necessary to keep an orchestra of these characteristics active. Within this framework, and in a remarkably brief span of time —between May 1960 and December 1961—, the Concert Jazz Band established the complete core of its discographic production.

In chronological order, this corpus can be reconstructed from five titles that are considered the main body of work of the orchestra:

The Concert Jazz Band — sessions from May and July 1960 in New York, Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band on Tour — recordings from the October–November 1960 tour in the United States and Europe, Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band at the Village Vanguard — recorded on December 11, 1960 in New York, Gerry Mulligan Presents a Concert in Jazz — sessions from July 1961 at Webster Hall, and Gerry Mulligan '63 — recorded in December 1962.

Viewed in this way, the project appears as a complete arc that coordinates studio, tour, and live documentation, allowing one to follow the evolution of the ensemble from its initial formulation to its point of maximum elaboration.

This artistic development, however, was abruptly interrupted by non-musical factors. Granz's sale of Verve to MGM put an end to the financing scheme that made the orchestra viable, forcing its dissolution shortly after the 1961 sessions, at the very moment when the group had reached its highest degree of cohesion and aesthetic definition.

Contemporary critical reception not only accompanied this process, but also consecrated it. In the pages of DownBeat magazine, three of these recordings obtained the maximum rating of five stars: the debut album The Concert Jazz Band, reviewed by Don DeMicheal in the December 8, 1960 issue; the live recording at the Village Vanguard; and Gerry Mulligan '63, whose assessment underscores the level of integration achieved by the orchestra in its final stage. Read together, these reviews trace a sort of critical arc that accompanies the trajectory of the group: from the initial affirmation of its viability, through the confirmation of its effectiveness live, to its consecration as one of the most accomplished orchestral achievements of modern jazz.

In that sense, the Concert Jazz Band asserts itself as one of the most unique orchestral formulations of its time, and one of the last great reformulations of the big band language in 20th-century jazz; although its existence was brief, the recordings it left behind still allow us today to perceive, with remarkable clarity, the creative impulse that gave it birth.

Without prejudice to focusing later on the two remaining productions that complete this corpus, let us dedicate the next three entries to examining the albums from this pentalogy that were honored by DownBeat magazine with its highest rating...

Gerry Mulligan

The Concert Jazz Band

In deciding on the instrumentation for the new band that makes its album debut here, Gerry Mulligan says: "I wanted the same clarity of sound and interplay of lines that I had in the smaller groups. 

"We have a clarinet in the reed section, not primarily for a clarinet-lead effect but for a sound contributing to the ensemble in general. As for the soloists, I wanted to use just a few men for the bulk of the solo work, so that they would be heard enough for the audience to become familiar to their styles."

What he has built, says Gerry, is essentially a concert band —a jazz band for listening— and it was on this premise that the band's first tour was arranged by Norman Granz for the fall of 1960. 

Further words are unnecessary. The album delivers its own exciting message: that this is the best new jazz orchestra of the year. *Leonard Feather (from the liner notes)*

Big bands in jazz have generally been of two sorts. The first reflects the thinking of such men as Fletcher Henderson and Don Redman, that of three sections –brass, reeds, rhythm –working as individual units within the whole, sometimes together, other times in opposition or in response to each other. While this concept is definitely tied to early jazz, it has stronger affiliations with brass bands and European music; and while there is room for individual contributions in the form of solos, the main emphasis is on group cohesion. The arranger is the controller. The major function of such bands is to provide dance music.

The other big-band concept stems from the thinking of Duke Ellington. The three sections are present as in the other, and the arranger is still important. But the individual members are not subservient to either section or pen. The part must fit the man, not vice versa. The spirit is that of a small jazz group, although the context is that of a big band. The brilliance and colors of numerous instruments can be achieved when desired, but –and this is the crucial difference between the two concepts –the creativity, freedom, and interaction of individuals found in small groups is retained. Such bands produce music the primary function of which is to stimulate the listener's ear, not his feet.

The Mulligan band is firmly in the Ellington camp. It is not an Ellington imitation, though Sweet and Low is a deep bow in Duke's direction, but reflects the feel, the spirit of Ellington –the feel, the spirit of small group jazz.

More specifically, 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 the impact of the band is even greater than on this album. It is unfortunate that Mulligan intends to disband, but the band is scheduled to reorganize later in 1961.)

It is not a blasting band; in many ways it is reminiscent of the Claude Thornhill Band when Gil Evans was writing for it. Attention is paid to blend, control, and dynamics. By using another baritone in the sax section, Mulligan retains fulness behind his solos. The brass is usually voiced close, giving it a subdued, almost muffled sound. Even in the shout choruses the brass keeps it head and depth.

Lewis and Clark, the rhythm section on all but one track and the one that toured with the band, are superlative. The rhythm is always firm yet never too tight. These two are the source of the band's relaxation. They push the whole band but do it unobtrusively. What Lewis plays fits so well and logically that at times the listener might miss his contribution, but on careful listening, you realize he's kicking everybody. Lewis is the Dave Tough of his time –a drummer felt more than heard.

The main soloists on the record are Mulligan, Brookmeyer, and Sims.

Mulligan builds his solos with more care than he has in some time. Each phrase relates to the next; each solo is like a story. He plays well on all tracks, but his most touching work is on Valentine and the lovely Django Reinhardt ballad Manoir de Mes Reves.

Brookmeyer's playing is the best I've heard him do. He seems to have found his true element in this band. Wit and melodiousness he always had, but here there's a fire that wasn't burning so brightly in the past. He has a gusty, burry, wonderful solo on his own arrangement of Advantage; in one place his fill over the saxes is nothing but a breathy slur –no brass sound, just breath.

Sims hasn't as much blowing room on the record as he has in person –he doesn't play in the section but is featured on a couple of tunes each set –but he has a meaty solo on Bweebida Bobbida.

This is one of the best records of 1960.

*Don DeMicheal (Down Beat, December 8, 1960 [5 stars])*

Side 1

1 - Sweet And Low

(Harry Warren, Al Dubin)

2 - Bweebida Bobbida

(Gerry Mulligan)

3 - Manoir De Mes Rêves (Django's Castle)

(Django Reinhardt)

4 - You Took Advantage Of Me

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

Side 2

5 - Out Of This World

(Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer)

6 - My Funny Valentine

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

7 - Broadway

(Henry Woode, Teddy McRae, Bill Bird)

8 - I'm Gonna Go Fishin'

(Duke Ellington, Peggy Lee)

Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax); Don Ferrara, Conte Candoli, Nick Travis (trumpets [#1 to #7]);

Don Ferrara, Danny Stiles, Phil Sunkel (trumpets [#8];

Wayne Andre (trombone); Alan Raph (bass trombone);

Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone); Dick Meldonian (alto sax); Gene Quill (alto sax, clarinet);

Zoot Sims[#1 to #7], Jim Reider [#8] (tenor saxes); Gene Allen (baritone sax, bass clarinet); 

Buddy Clark [#1 to #7], Bill Tackus [#8] (basses):

Mel Lewis [#1 to #7], Dave Bailey [#8] (drums).

Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York City, May 21 [#8],

July 25 [#1 to #4] and July 27 [#5 to #7], 1960

✤✤✤✤

For those who prefer the digital version of the Concert Jazz Band's debut album, there are several options. One of them is the one presented by the Poll Winners Records label titled The Concert Jazz Band • The First Album.

This edition brings together the complete original Gerry Mulligan LP, The Concert Jazz Band (Verve V6-8388), which marked the discographic debut of this extraordinary big band formation. Its tracks feature the presence of stellar figures such as Zoot Sims, Bob Brookmeyer, Conte Candoli, Gene Quill, Mel Lewis, and, of course, Mulligan himself. As a bonus, the disc incorporates all surviving tunes from the band’s second studio session —recorded in between the three sessions that made up the original LP—, as well as three tracks recorded live in Milan, four months after completing the album.

Gerry Mulligan

The Concert Jazz Band

The First Album

1 - Sweet And Low

(Harry Warren, Al Dubin)

2 - Bweebida Bobbida

(Gerry Mulligan)

3 - Manoir De Mes Rêves (Django's Castle)

(Django Reinhardt)

4 - You Took Advantage Of Me

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

5 - Out Of This World

(Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer)

6 - My Funny Valentine

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

7 - Broadway

(Henry Woode, Teddy McRae, Bill Bird)

8 - I'm Gonna Go Fishin'

(Duke Ellington, Peggy Lee)

9 - I Know, Don't Know How

(Gerry Mulligan)

10 - Barbara's Theme

(Johnny Mandel)

11 - Sweet And Slow (first version)

(Harry Warren, Al Dubin)

12 - Out Of This World (first version)

(Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer)

13 - Go Home (live in Milan, 1960)

(Ben Webster)

14 - Apple Core (live in Milan, 1960)

(Gerry Mulligan)

15 - Barbara's Theme (live in Milan, 1960)

(Johnny Mandel)

#1 to #8:

Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax); Don Ferrara, Conte Candoli, Nick Travis (trumpets [#1 to #7]);

Don Ferrara, Danny Stiles, Phil Sunkel (trumpets [#8]);

Wayne Andre (trombone); Alan Raph (bass trombone);

Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone); Dick Meldonian (alto sax); Gene Quill (alto sax, clarinet);

Zoot Sims[#1 to #7], Jim Reider [#8] (tenor saxes); Gene Allen (baritone sax, bass clarinet); 

Buddy Clark [#1 to #7], Bill Tackus [#8] (basses):

Mel Lewis [#1 to #7], Dave Bailey [#8] (drums).

Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York City, May 21 [#8],

July 25 [#1 to #4] and July 27 [#5 to #7], 1960

#9, #10, #11, #12:

Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax); Don Ferrara, Danny Stiles, Phil Sunkel (trumpets);

Wayne Andre (trombone); Alan Raph (bass trombone); Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone);

Dick Meldonian (alto sax); Gene Quill (alto sax, clarinet); Jim Reider (tenor sax);

Gene Allen (baritone sax, bass clarinet); Bill Tackus (bass); Dave Bailey (drums).

Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York City, June 1, 2 and 3, 1960

#13, #14, #15:

Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax); Don Ferrara, Conte Candoli, Nick Travis (trumpets);

Wayne Andre (trombone); Alan Raph (bass trombone); Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone);

Bob Donovan (alto sax); Gene Quill (alto sax, clarinet); Zoot Sims, Jim Reider (tenor saxes);

Gene Allen (baritone sax, bass clarinet); Buddy Clark (bass): Mel Lewis (drums).

Recorded live at Teatro Lirico, Milan, Italy, November 14, 1960

Five-Star Collection... Art Pepper

Art Pepper

Art Pepper + Eleven

A Treasury Of Modern Jazz Classics

In a period when the qualifications for having one's own jazz album remains nebulous, it's been all the more astonishing that Art Pepper has been in charge of so few. Pepper has grown remarkably in imagination and emotional depth in the past few years as was hotly clear in Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section (Contemporary 3532, Stereo 7018). In this new, uniquely integrated set, Pepper receives a differently challenging framework from Marty Paich than he — or most other soloists — has yet received on records. And Art responds with consistent brilliance.

What Paich has done has been to provide more than just accompaniment for Art. He has integrated the resilient band backgrounds with Art's playing in a way that stimulates Pepper but doesn't obstruct the improvisatory flow of his ideas. Paich was able to accomplish this fusion because he knows Pepper's style well through several years of association, including dates on which Marty was pianist for Art. (...)

The programmatic concept of the album is also challenging to both Pepper and Paich. These are twelve established modern jazz standards — music directly out of the jazz experience, written by jazzmen. They're part of that growing body of thoroughly indigenous jazz material to which player-writers like Jelly Roll Morton, Kid Ory, Duke Ellington, and in more recent years, Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk, John Lewis and others have contributed.

Pepper and Paich collaborated on selecting these twelve songs. "We treated them with a great deal of respect", Paich emphasizes. "The tune itself is there all the time. Unlike, for example, doing jazz versions of Broadway shows, with these jazz standards you don't have to alter and extend the chords and make other changes for jazz purposes". (...)

In essence, Art Pepper + Eleven demonstrates, first of all, how mature a soloist Art Pepper has become. It also reemphasizes how much of their own material jazzmen have to work with, and helps considerably in making known Marty Paich's qualifications as a particularly knowledgeable and sensitive jazz arranger. *Nat Hentoff (from the liner notes)*

This is a highly satisfactory album for which Marty Paich, who conducts and did the arranging, deserves a full measure of credit.

The tunes read like a jazz hit parade of the '40s and '50s, and Paich has treated them with the reverence and seriousness they deserve while still retaining wit and a freshness of view. Pepper, in the context of this group, turns out one of his best performances on record. As an altoist, he immediately assumes his place again in the front rank with the added virtue of successfully escaping the tyranny of Charlie Parker’s spirit and still keeping that full-blown swing. He is surprisingly sensitive and moving on clarinet (Anthropology of all things!), and if he ever gets seriously down to work on that instrument as his major, there's room to believe he might be the one to bring it up to the point of development of the other solo horns.

On tenor he is a solidly swinging, tough-minded soloist, but it is on alto, still, that he shines. The whole album is in excellent taste, the solos by Freeman here and there are a gas, too, and Lewis provides a fine, swinging foundation. 

*Ralph J. Gleason (Down Beat, February 18, 1960 [5 stars])*

1 - Move

(Denzil Best)

2 - Groovin' High

(Dizzy Gillespie)

3 - Opus de Funk

(Horace Silver)

4 - 'Round Midnight

(Monk, Williams)

5 - Four Brothers

(Jimmy Giuffre)

6 - Shaw Nuff

(Gillespie, Parker)

7 - Bernie's Tune

(Leiber, Stoller, Miller)

8 - Walkin' Shoes

(Gerry Mulligan)

9 - Anthropology

(Gillespie, Parker)

10 - Airegin

(Sonny Rollins)

11 - Walkin' (original take)

(Richard Carpenter)

12 - Walkin' (alternate take 1)

(Richard Carpenter)

13 - Walkin' (alternate take 2)

 (Richard Carpenter)

14 - Donna Lee (original take)

(Charlie Parker)

15 - Donna Lee (alternate take)

(Charlie Parker)

Art Pepper (alto sax, tenor sax [#1, #5, #11], clarinet [#9, #12, #13]) with:

Pete Candoli [#3, #4, #8, #10], Jack Sheldon, Al Porcino [#1, #2, #5 to #7, #9, #11 to #15] (trumpets);

Herb Geller [#3, #4, #8, #10], Bud Shank [#2, #6, #9, #14, #15], Charlie Kennedy [#1, #5, #7, #11 to #13] (alto saxes);

Dick Nash (trombone); Bob Enevoldsen (tenor sax, valve trombone); Vincent DeRosa (French horn);

Bill Perkins [#2, #3, #4, #6, #8 to #10, #14, #15], Richie Kamuca [#1, #5, #7, #11 to #13] (tenor saxes);

Med Flory (baritone sax); Russ Freeman (piano); Joe Mondragon (bass); Mel Lewis (drums).

Recorded at Contemporary's Studio, Los Angeles, California, March 14 (#3, #4, #8, #10),

March 28 (#2, #6, #9, #14, #15) and May 12 (#1, #5, #7, #11, #12, #13), 1959.

Five-Star Collection... Bill Holman

Bill Holman

Big Band In A Jazz Orbit

Bill Holman's compositions and arrangements are both experimental and basic at the same time; they never for one moment cease swinging, and yet their rhythmic complexities are brilliant. His harmonic sense is quite daring at times, and still his changes are comfortable and logical to play on. All his pieces have form and definite orderliness; they have strength and an underlying feeling of "There's something left in reserve, this isn't the climax yet". His voices are for the most part linear and his sections play a good deal in unison; however, the interweaving of the lines is so assured and musically sophisticated as to create a bigger harmonic sound than the thickest of chordal arranging. He builds his arrangements carefully and soundly and rarely succumbs to the screaming flag-waver ending so popular with many big bands. He has limited himself to the orthodox jazz instrumentation; trumpets, trombones, saxes and rhythm, but his knowledge of their possibilities is enormous. Being a highly talented instrumentalist himself, his arrangements are relatively easy to play. Everything lies well in the horns, a fact for which Bill is looked upon with gratitude by the playing musicians. He is very fond of the use of canonic imitation in his writing, and uses it to great advantage throughout this album. From a composer-arranger's point of view, he has already arrived at an enviable position: namely that his style is totally distinctive, recognizable, and personal; it is possible to say "That's Bill Holman" after listening to 8 bars of his music, and that is a very major accomplishment for a creative musician.

Bill Holman most assuredly is a first-rate saxophonist, but this true instrument is the orchestra, and he plays it with musicianship, honesty and brilliance. *André Previn (from the liner notes)*

While this, the second Holman big band set to be released in a year, lacks the compositional stature lent the first LP by his monumental work, The Big Street, it stands as an excellent album of modern big band jazz writing.

Thanks to the powerful rhythm section and the well-drilled ensemble, there is no dearth of rhythmic excitement. But the essence of musical interest lies in the imaginative quality of Holman's writing. One particularly interesting aspect of this set is the obvious Ellington-Strayhorn influence in certain portions of the ensemble work. This is evident — to this reviewer, anyway — in the saxes on No Heat and the massed brass effects on Kissin' Bug. It must be stressed, however, that these voicings are used not in imitation, but rather for effect where the overall character of the arrangement demanded them.

The composer ranges from utilizing an almost small band effect (on The Man I Love) to sheer powerhouse ensemble sound (as on Aura, for example) . Yet, for all the complexity of the arrangements, there is ample room for solo blowing and the various horn men use it well. Fontana solos only twice in the entire album, on The Man I Love and After You've Gone. Sheldon plays all the jazz trumpet, from fast glittering open horn lines to moody, muted statements blown right into the mike in the Davis manner. Holman has most of the tenor solos, although Kamuca is heard in relaxed statements on The Man I Love and Aura.

Space does not permit extended discussion of the playing of all soloists, unfortunately, but there is very little disappointment in the individual performances.

It is becoming increasingly evident to these ears that Holman and Gil Evans now emerge as the only two arranger-composers to come to prominence in recent years who have reached a point of maturity wherein their work is so completely individual that it becomes immediately recognizable. Each speaks with his own voice and, as the music on this album attests, Holman’s is eloquent indeed. Highly recommended. Also available on stereodisc.

*John A. Tynan (Down Beat, March 19, 1959 [5 stars])*

1 - Kissin' Bug

(Billy Strayhorn, Rex Stewart, Joya Sherrill)

2 - The Man I Love

(George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)

3 - Goodbye

(Gordon Jenkins)

4 - You Go To My Head

(Jay Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie)

5 - After You've Gone

(Henry Creamer, Turner Layton)

6 - Far Down Below

(Bill Holman)

7 - No Heat

(Bill Holman)

8 - Theme & Variations #2

(Bill Holman)

9 - Aura

(Bill Holman)

Conte Candoli, Ed Leddy, Al Porcino,

Jack Sheldon [replaced by Stu Williamson on #3, #4, #9] (trumpets);

Carl Fontana, Frank Rosolino, Ray Sims (trombones); Herb Geller, Charlie Mariano (alto saxes);

Bill Holman (tenor sax); Richie Kamuca, Charlie Kennedy (tenor saxes);

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California,

February 11(#1, #2, #6), 12 (#5, #7, #8) and 13 (#3, #4, #9) 1958.

Jazz goes to... The Dave Pell Octet

Shortly after it was formed in 1953, the Dave Pell Octet won best new combo of the year in polls conducted by Americas Daily News and Mirror newspapers. Six of its eight members were included in Down Beat magazines 1953 poll of the top musicians in the country. Pell and his group flipped fans everywhere they appeared, specializing in Proms and School Dances, and becoming the first name jazz group ever to play for dancing at one of the top Sunset Strip clubs, The Crescendo, and also the Hollywood Palladium.Its jazz was described variously as tasty, sophisticated, subtle, warm, bright, clean, friendly, inventive, happy, and a complete show and concert rolled into one. One successful Octet approach was to have the crowd gather around the bandstand to watch it play a fast jive number featuring the bands excellent soloists.An essential contributing factor in the Octets success was that Pell hired the West Coasts finest arrangers to write the beguilingly melodic and always attractive, danceable band charts; people of the calibre of Marty Paich, Bill Holman, Shorty Rogers, Jack Montrose, Med Flory, John T. Williams. And it was this canny combination of quality and accessibility that really made the Octets name and gave the music its enduring flavour. In Dave's own words: Heres hoping you enjoy our combined dance-and-jazz Campus Hop! *Jordi Pujol*

Dave Pell was a saxophonist who worked in Les Brown's band on the American West Coast from 1947 to 1955. In 1953 he formed his octet, which included some musicians who had played for Les Brown, such as Don Fagerquist and Ray Sims. Dave Pell won considerable popularity by playing in colleges and for high school proms, concentrating on jazz which was suitable for dancing. The music was of high quality, thanks especially to the talented arrangers that Pell employed, including Bill Holman, Marty Paich, Shorty Rogers and Jack Montrose.

The Octet made two LPs called Jazz Goes Dancing, the first in 1956 sub-titled Prom to Prom and the second in 1957 subtitled Campus Hop. They consist of tight, disciplined arrangements which make the most of the eight musicians. Each track contains a good deal of ensemble writing, leaving limited room for jazz solos. What solos there are seldom last for more than 16 bars. Only four of the dozen tracks on the first LP last for longer than three minutes.

One danger of such short, clean arrangements is that they can seem soulless, but that tendency is kept at bay with interesting treatments of the tunes. For instance, "Let's Face the Music and Dance" is taken at an unusually slow tempo, and "Forty-second Street" is updated from its old-fashioned mood to sound like a cool modern arrangement.

Dave Pell himself had a clipped style on the tenor sax, without much vibrato - somewhat similar to the style of altoist Lee Konitz. The trumpeters on both LPs are excellent, with Jack Sheldon particularly notable on "We're in the Money" and "Would You Like to Take a Walk". Med Flory's solos on baritone sax are well worth hearing.

These albums is certainly well-suited to dancing but also to listening, as it is full of musical subtleties. *Tony Augarde (musicweb-international.com)*

Dave Pell Octet

Jazz Goes Dancing

Prom To Prom

The Dave Pell Octet, which made its first recordings in 1953, came out of the Les Brown big band and was the epitome of a swinging, cool-toned, West Coast-style jazz group. Pell's ensemble at the time consisted of the leader on tenor, trumpeter Don Fagerquist (an underrated great), trombonist Ray Sims, baritonist Marty Berman, pianist Arnold Ross, guitarist Tony Rizzi, bassist Bob Bates and drummer Irv Kluger. In order to increase his audience, Pell went out of his way to play for dancing audiences without altering his music much. This long-out-of-print LP is an excellent example of Dave Pell's music of the era, with a dozen songs (two originals and ten vintage standards) whose titles have something to do with college-age people or dancing. Examples include "Young and Healthy", "The Continental", "When I Take My Sugar to Tea" and "Walkin' My Baby Back Home". Worth exploring. *Scott Yanow*

In the space of practically no time at all, the Dave Pell Octet has come to hold an extremely high reputation in the jazz world and, most recently, in the collegiate and high school orbit of dancing. Its jazz has been described variously as tasty, sophisticated, subtle, warm, bright, clean, friendly, inventive and happy. Be that as it may, there is a feeling of rapport here that is missing in so many other groups, and Pell's Octet always keeps everything swinging, whether lightly or from the heels. The cohesion engendered by the Octet is a natural thing indeed, in that three of its members — tenor saxophonist Dave Pell, trumpeter Don Fagerquist and trombonist Ray Sims — for years were stellar members of the fine Les Brown band. The other little Pells — baritone saxophonist Marty Berman, guitarist Tony Rizzi, bassist Bob Bates, pianist Arnold Ross and drummer Irving Kluger — each has his particular claim to fame, especially Rizzi, who is now on Dinah Shore's TV show; Ross, who was at one time Lena Horne's 

accompanist; and Bates, who was a member of the original Dave Brubeck quartet.

As for Dave Pell himself, he has all the qualities necessary for success in the music business. He's both handsome and personable; he has a complete knowledge of his instrument and knows exactly the manner in which he wants his Octet to play and to perform; he's by way of being a nifty guy with a wonderful sense of humor. On top of all this, he also maintains in Hollywood a thriving photography and publicity business. Our Mr. Pell is one for the record!

*Radio Corporation of America (liner notes)*

1 - Look Who's Dancing

(Arthur Schwartz, Dorothy Fields)

2 - East Of The Sun

(Brooks Bowman)

3 - You

(Walter Donaldson, Harold Adamson)

4 - Young And Healthy

(Warren, Dubin)

5 - The Continental

(Herb Magidson, Con Conrad)

6 - Dance For Daddy

(Dave Pell)

7 - When I Take My Sugar To Tea

(Fain, Kahal, Pierre)

8 - If I Had You

(Shapiro, Campbell, Connelly)

9 - Cheek To Cheek

(Irving Berlin)

10 - Let's Face The Music And Dance

(Irving Berlin)

11 - Prom To Prom

(Dave Pell)

12 - Walkin' My Baby Back Home

(Turk, Ahlert)

Don Fagerquist (trumpet), Ray Sims (trombone), 

Dave Pell (tenor sax), Marty Berman (baritone sax),

Arnold Ross (piano), Tony Rizzi (guitar), Bob Bates (bass), Irving Kluger (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California, May 28 (#1, #4, #10, #12), 

May 31(#2, #5, #7, #8) and June 4 (#3, #6, #9, #11), 1956

✳✳✳

Dave Pell Octet

Jazz Goes Dancing

Campus Hop

Subtitled "Jazz Goes Dancing" (which was the name of an earlier album), this LP (which was last reissued by the Spanish Fresh Sound label) features the Dave Pell Octet playing a dozen songs written by Harry Warren. The danceable music swings and features fine short solos from the members of the octet, which at the time were trumpeter Jack Sheldon, valve trombonist Bob Enevoldsen, Pell on tenor, baritonist Med Flory, pianist Paul Moer, guitarist Tom Tedesco, bassist Buddy Clark and drummer Mel Lewis. The West Coast all-stars perform arrangements by Marty Paich, Bill Holman, Shorty Rogers, Flory and John Williams to such songs as "You're My Everything", "Forty-Second Street", "Lulu's Back In Town" and "I'll String Along With You".

*Scott Yanow*

Listening to the Dave Pell Octet is like hearing music played all over again for the first time. The joyful abandon of the arrangements and the carefree style of the musicians make this a delightful album.

I have heard my music played by the Memphis Five in the beginning of the jazz era and, continuing through the years, by all the great bands up to the present day. Truthfully, I thought that I had heard about everything and that the end had been reached, but Dave Pell proves there is no end. 

I could go on and on singing the praises of these wonderful musicians and orchestrators, but if you just lend an ear you'll see why I heartily recommend this album to the young and the young in heart. *Harry Warren (liner notes)*

1 - Java Junction

(Harry Warren)

2 - You're My Everything

(Warren, Young, Dixon)

3 - Forty-Second Street

(Harry Warren, Al Dubin) 

4 - By The River Saint Marie

(Harry Warren, Edgar Leslie) 

5 - I Know Why And So Do You

(Harry Warren, Mack Gordon)

6 - We're In The Money

(Harry Warren, Al Dubin)

7 - Cheerful Little Earful

(Warren, Gershwin, Rose)

8 - Would You Like To Take A Walk

(Warren, Rose, Dixon)

9 - Lulu's Back In Town

(Harry Warren, Al Dubin)

10 - I'll String Along With You

(Harry Warren, Al Dubin)

11 - Remember Me

(Harry Warren, Al Dubin)

12 - Summer Night

(Harry Warren, Al Dubin)

Jack Sheldon (trumpet), Bob Enevoldsen (valve trombone), 

Dave Pell (tenor sax), Med Flory (baritone sax),

Paul Moer (piano), Tommy Tedesco (guitar), Buddy Clark (bass), Mel Lewis (drums). .

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California, November 12 (#4, #5, #6, #7),

November 14 (#2, #3, #11, #12) and November 27 (#1, #8, #9, #10), 1957

Jack Montrose and Red Norvo : Another good pair

Tenor saxophonist and composer Jack Montrose was a premier exponent of the West Coast jazz movement. His terse phrasing and smooth tone remain the quintessence of California cool. Born December 30, 1928, in Detroit, Montrose spent the first several years of the Depression in Chicago until poverty forced his family to relocate to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Upon teaching himself saxophone he joined a local dance band at the age of 14, and after several tours of the South he relocated to Southern California, where in 1947 he joined the John Kirby Sextet, beginning a long and fertile collaboration with Kirby's baritone saxophonist, Bob Gordon. Montrose continued working with Kirby while studying at Los Angeles State College, and after the bandleader's 1952 death he supported Shorty Rogers and Art Pepper. Upon graduating in 1953, Montrose earned notoriety as a session musician and arranger, contributing to dates headlined by Chet Baker, Clifford Brown, and Dave Pell. After returning from a six-month tour with Stan Kenton in mid-1954, Montrose reunited with Gordon for the Pacific Jazz LP Meet Mr. Gordon.

In 1955, the saxophonists convened for an acclaimed Atlantic date, Arranged/Played/Composed by Jack Montrose, followed by a Pacific Jazz session headlined by the former. But by the time of both albums' commercial release, Gordon was dead, killed in a fatal auto accident on August 28, 1955, at the age of only 27.

Montrose resurfaced in 1957 with a pair of RCA releases, Blues and Vanilla and The Horn's Full.

Reviewing Jack Montrose's albums posted here, it can be seen that only these last two albums are missing to complete his main recordings as a leader between the mid-1950s. Let's make the completists happy...

Jack Montrose

Blues and Vanilla

And

The Horn's Full

The two LPs compiled here are among the best works by the late Jack Montrose (1926-2006), a fine tenor sax player, remarkable jazz composer and arranger, and a key figure in the 1950s West Coast jazz movement. The first includes Montrose's extended work Concertino da Camera (subtitled Blues and Vanilla), his most ambitious project, devised within an essentially contrapuntal structure. The quintet sides prove the cleverly conceived aspects of his compositional concepts, with their sense of symmetry in the use thematic material. Montrose is accompanied here by some strong voices with a high level of individual performance such as Joe Maini, Shelly Manne, Jim Hall, Barney Kessel, and Red Norvo. The interplay, sympathy and good feeling between them are something to hear and one that doesn’t pall with repeated hearings.

Blues and Vanilla

Jack Montrose's first LP for RCA is a long-out-of-print collectable that is fairly obscure due to the paucity of jazz recordings that he made in the decades that followed this 1957 release. The cool-toned nature of the tenor saxophonist's compositions and arrangements fits in with the so-called West Coast jazz genre, though like many of the musicians labeled as such, Montrose is not a native of the region. The first section of his extended piece "Concertino da Camera (Blues and Vanilla)" is built upon a swinging blues theme that utilizes a call-and-response between the rhythm section (anchored by vibraphonist Red Norvo) and the saxophonists (Montrose is joined by alto saxophonist Joe Maini); the second part gradually integrates three separate themes with some wild counterpoint. The second side of the disc includes a quintet with guitarist Jim Hall, bassist Max Bennett, and drummer Bill Dolney joining Montrose and Norvo for several more originals by the leader and an inventive arrangement of Duke Ellington's "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" that incorporates a counter-melody against the main theme. Montrose's approach to "Bernie's Tune" also adds new depth to this favorite of '50s-era jam sessions. *Ken Dryden -All Music Guide*

The Horn's Full

Although a somewhat obscure set which has not yet been reissued on CD, this outing by tenor saxophonist Jack Montrose was put out by Fresh Sound Records in the 1980s. Montrose, an excellent improviser who was also a talented arranger, teams up with vibraphonist Red Norvo, either Barney Kessel or Jim Hall on guitar, Lawrence Wooten or Max Bennett on bass and Mel Lewis or Bill Dolney on drums to perform six of his originals and five swing-era standards. The music is greatly uplifted by Montrose's inventive arrangements and has many concise solos. Despite the quality, Montrose would not have his next opportunity to lead a record date for 28 years.

*Scott Yanow -All Music Guide*

1 - Concertino Da Camera (Blues and Vanilla)

(Jack Montrose)

2 - Bockhanal

(Jack Montrose)

3 - Don't Get Around Much Anymore

(Ellington, Russell)

4 - A Dandy Line

(Jack Montrose)

5 - For The Fairest

(Jack Montrose)

6 - Crazy She Calls Me

(Sigman, Russell)

7 - Dark Angel

 (Jack Montrose)

8 - Bernie's Tune

(Bernie Miller)

9 - Headline

(Jack Montrose)

10 - Rosanne

(Osser-Osser)

11 - Polka Dots And Moonbeams

(Burke, Van Heusen)

12 - The Little House

(Jack Montrose)

13 - Solid Citizen

(Jack Montrose)

14 - Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

(Duke Ellington)

15 - True Blue

(Jack Montrose)

16 - The Horn's Full

(Jack Montrose)

17 - Goody Goody

(Malneck, Mercer)

#1 to #5 and #8 from the album Blues and Vanilla (RCA LPM-1451)

#6, #7 and #9 to #17 from the album The Horn's Full (RCA LPM-1572)

#1:

Jack Montrose (tenor sax), Joe Maini (alto sax),

Red Norvo (vibes), Buddy Clark (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California, November 13, 1956

#2 to #9:

Jack Montrose (tenor sax), Red Norvo (vibes),

Jim Hall (guitar), Max Bennett (bass), Bill Dolney (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California,

December 24 (#2 to #5), and 26 (#6 to #9), 1956

#10 to #17:

Jack Montrose (tenor sax), Red Norvo (vibes),

Barney Kessel (guiotar), Lawrence "Red" Wooten (bass), Mel Lewis (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California,

September 10 (#10 to #13), and 11 (#14 to #17), 1957

Mel Lewis Septet - Got 'Cha

Melvin Sokoloff (May 10, 1929 – February 2, 1990), was born in Buffalo, New York, to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents Samuel and Mildred Sokoloff. Known professionally as Mel Lewis, was a jazz drummer, session musician, professor, and author. He received fourteen Grammy Award nominations.

Lewis  started playing professionally as a teen, eventually joining Stan Kenton in 1954. His musical career brought him to Los Angeles in 1957 and New York City in 1963. In 1966 in New York, he teamed up with Thad Jones to lead the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. The group started as informal jam sessions with the top studio and jazz musicians of the city, but eventually began performing regularly on Monday nights at the famed venue, the Village Vanguard. In 1979, the band won a Grammy for their album Live in Munich. Like all of the musicians in the band, it was only a sideline. In 1976, he released an album titled Mel Lewis and Friends that featured him leading a smaller sextet that allowed freedom and improvisation.

When Jones moved to Denmark in 1978, the band became known as Mel Lewis and the Jazz Orchestra. Lewis continued to lead the band, recording and performing every Monday night at the Village Vanguard until shortly before his death from cancer at age 60. The band still performs on most Monday nights at the club. Today, it is known as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and has released several CDs. *wikipedia.org*

Although he was generally reluctant to solo, Mel Lewis was considered one of the definitive big band drummers, a musician who was best at driving an orchestra, but could also play quite well with smaller units. He started playing professionally when he was 15 and worked with the big bands of Boyd Raeburn (1948), Alvino Rey, Ray Anthony, and Tex Beneke. Lewis gained a great deal of recognition in the jazz world for his work with Stan Kenton (1954-1957), making the large ensemble swing hard. In 1957, he settled in Los Angeles, became a studio drummer, and worked with the big bands of Terry Gibbs and Gerald Wilson. Lewis went to New York to play with Gerry Mulligan's Concert Jazz Band in 1960, and he toured Europe with Dizzy Gillespie (1961) and the Soviet Union with Benny Goodman (1962). In 1965, Lewis formed an orchestra in New York with Thad Jones which grew to be one of the top big bands in jazz. When Jones surprised everyone by suddenly fleeing to Europe in 1979, Lewis became the orchestra's sole leader, playing regularly each Monday night at the Village Vanguard until his death. Lewis recorded as a leader in the 1950s for San Francisco Jazz Records, Mode (reissued on V.S.O.P.), and Andex and, after Thad Jones left their orchestra, Lewis recorded with his big band for Atlantic, Telarc, and Music Masters. *Scott Yanow*

About Got 'Cha, Mel Lewis' first album under his own name: Kenton drummer, Mel Lewis, surrounded by fellow Kentonites — Pepper Adams, Richie Kamuca, Jerry Coker, Ed Leddy, etc., in a most competent outing. Set essays coolish, modern Basie feeling in arrangements by Lennie Niehaus, Bill Perkins, Coker, Adams and Marabuto that arenlean and warmly melodic, for the most part, with much space for the soloists. Could be sold to the modern jazz enthusiast. Try "In a Mellowtone" as demo band... Pepper Adams emerges as a jazz soloist to be watched.

*Billboard, April 20, 1957*

1 - In A Mellowtone

(Duke Ellington)

2 - Leave Your Worries Behind

(Lennie Niehaus)

3 - A Winters Tale

(Pepper Adams)

4 - Sir Richard Face

(Bill Perkins)

5 - One For Pat

(Lennie Niehaus)

6 - 'Enry 'Iggins 'Ead

(Jerry Coker)

7 - El Cerrito

(Johnny Marabuto)

Ed Leddy (trumpet); Richie Kamuca, Jerry Coker (tenor saxes); Pepper Adams (baritone sax); Johnny Marabuto (piano); Dean Reilly (bass); Mel Lewis (drums).

Recorded in San Francisco, California, November 19 (#1, #2, #5), and November 20 (#3, #4, #6, #7), 1956.

Jerry Coker - Modern Music

Jazz saxophonist and pedagogue Jerry Coker was born in South Bend, Indiana (November 28, 1932). He attended Indiana University in the early 1950s, but left school to become a member of Woody Herman's Herd. Coker eventually earned undergraduate and graduate degrees while he taught jazz at Sam Houston State University (then Sam Houston State Teachers College). He recorded under his own name in the mid-1950s and as a sideman with Nat Pierce, Dick Collins, and Mel Lewis; later that decade he played with Stan Kenton. In 1960 he began teaching and increasingly turned to music education and composition. He taught at Duke University, University of Miami, North Texas State University, and started the Studio Music and Jazz program at the University of Tennessee, where he was a professor of music from the 1980s through the 2000s. *wikipedia.org*

Born in 1932, tenor saxophonist Jerry Coker first emerged as a major talent in Indiana University's brilliant jazz clique of the early '50s. While he was still a student he joined Woody Herman's Third Herd, leading to a year performing, recording and, in the spring of 1954, a European tour. Returning to Indiana that summer, he was at the heart of the university's thriving jazz movement which, in July 1955, recorded his album, Modern Music from Indiana University. Leading some talented students, Coker, as producer, wrote all the arrangements – with echoes of the Four Brothers sax sound – while his solo work revealed an affinity for Lester Young.

In 1956, settled in Oakland, he began to make a name himself as performer, composer and arranger, and joined Rudy Salvini's rehearsal band. He also recorded with them and with his own quartet in November for San Francisco Jazz Records.

While the Kenton band was playing in the Bay Area, Coker briefly replaced the injured Bill Perkins, but, despite his considerable reputation as a soloist, after the spring of 1957 his appearances on concert and on record have been rare. He has since mostly devoted himself to teaching and writing, which has obscured his talents as a player—a pity, as these recordings show just how good he was. *Jordi Pujol*

Jerry Coker

Composes – Arranges – Plays

Modern Music

From Indiana University

And The Bay Area

Jerry Coker should have been a household name (and maybe he will be among readers after this post). A composer, arranger and tenor saxophonist from Indiana, Coker in the 1950s and beyond had a beautiful ear and gorgeous sound. Coker recorded only one album and a few tracks as a leader in 1955. He also recorded as a sideman small groups led by Mel Lewis and Nat Pierce in the mid-'50s as well as a big band led by Rudy Salvini. In the early 1950s, he recorded and toured with Woody Herman's Third Herd and he recorded with Clare Fischer's band in the early 1960s. Except for two albums in the early 1980s (A Re-emergence and Rebirth for the Revelation label), that was pretty much it.

Coker played with Stan Kenton in 1957 and then he spent much of his career as an exceptional educator. He taught at the Monterey Peninsula Junior College in 1963, at Indiana University as head of their jazz program and then, in 1966, at Coral Gables University in Miami, developing first-rate BA and MFA degree programs. He left in 1972.

While in Miami, Coker played gigs for entertainers, including Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. Next came Pembroke State College and Duke University before he settled with his wife in Knoxville, Tenn. Over the course of his career, Coker wrote 20 jazz education books and is a member of the International Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame. Coker is still with us today.

Fortunately for us, Fresh Sound Records has gathered many of Coker's recordings between 1954 and 1956 on a single CD entitled Jerry Coker: Modern Music From Indiana University and the Bay Area. It is a stunning collection of jazz recordings that will leave your jaw hanging. The sound is a perfect blend of West and East Coast jazz styles during this period, and Coker's composing and arranging was extraordinary. It's highly melodic with tasteful harmony parts and exquisite blowing by everyone on the dates.

The 12 tracks from Modern Music From Indiana University feature a reed ensemble comprised of three different configurations. The first includes Jerry Coker, Bob Cowart and Louis Ciotti (ts) Jack Coker (p) Monk Montgomery (b) and Charlie Mastropaolo (d). The second adds Freddy Fox and Roger Pemberton on baritone sax. And finally Al Kiger (tp) and Jim Hewitt (tb) sit in on selected tracks.

Coker's reed writing was so gorgeous you'll want to cry. Heartfelt and fully maximized, the arrangements have a sensitive passion for the harmonized saxophone sound while the musicians have a nimble Four Brothers feel. The players on the session were all students at Indiana University, where Coker had attended college.

Next are three tracks (Coker's "You'll Stay" and "Giggling Oysters" and Wayne Crabtree's "Water's Edge") that feature Coker in a quartet setting in San Francisco: Al Kiger (tp) Jerry Coker (ts) Eddie Duran (g) and Dean Reilly (b). A Mel Lewis Sextet track, 'Enry 'Iggins 'Ead, composed and arranged by Coker, includes Kentonites Ed Leddy (tp) Jerry Coker and Richie Kamuca (ts) Pepper Adams (bar) John Marabuto (p) Dean Reilly (b) and Mel Lewis (d).

This is followed by a Rudy Salvini Orchestra album called Intro to Jazz, recorded at the Sands Ballroom in Oakland, Calif., in November 1956. The band on these five tracks include Rudy Salvini, Allen Smith, Al Del Simone, Wayne Allen and Billy Catalano (tp), Van Hughes, Archie Lecoque, Chuck Etter and Ron Bertuccelli (tb), Charles Martin (as), Jerry Coker, Tom Hart and Howard Dudune (ts), Virgil Gonsalves (bar), John Marabuto (p), Dean Reilly (b) and John Markham (d), with arrangements by Jerry Cournoyer, Jerry Mulvihill and Coker.

There are two bonus tracks recorded in Paris in 1954 with groups that included members of Woody Herman's Third Herd: First, Coker's "Embarkation", with Cy Touff (b-tp), Jerry Coker (ts), Ralph Burns (p), Jimmy Gourley (g), Jean-Marie Ingrand (b) and Chuck Flores (d). And Coker's "Thanks for You", featuring Jerry Coker (ts), Ralph Burns (p), Jean-Marie Ingrand (b) and Chuck Flores (d).

Coker was masterful, and in an ideal, selfish world, he would have moved to Los Angeles, recorded dozens of albums in the studios and written for television. Then again, hundreds of fledgling jazz musicians studying at the various universities where Coker taught would be poorer for it. I'm just thankful we have what we have here. So gorgeous. *Marc Myers*

1 - Limehouse Blues

(Braham, Furber)

2 - Old Crinkletoes

(Jerry Coker)

3 - Opus #1

(Oliver, Garris)

4 - Red Kelly's Blues

(Jerry Coker)

5 - Nancy

(Van Heusen, Silvers)

6 - Kigeria

(Jerry Coker)

7 - You Gotta Show Me

(Brooks, Castle)

8 - It’s You Or No One

(Cahn, Styne)

9 - Jack's Acts

(Jerry Coker)

10 - This Is Always

(Warren, Gordon)

11 - Lost April

(DeLange, Newman, Spencer)

12 - Clare-ity

(Jerry Coker)

13 - You'll Stay

(Jerry Coker)

14 - Water's Edge

(Crabtree)

15 - Giggling Oysters

(Jerry Coker)

16 - 'Enry 'Iggins 'Ead

(Jerry Coker)

17 - Yesterdays

(Kern, Harbach)

18 - Wail For Patrick

(Jerry Coker)

19 - Boot's Boots

(Cournoyer)

20 - Topsy Returns

(Jerome Mulvihill)

21 - Smithsonian

(Jerome Mulvihill)

22 - Embarkation

(Jerry Coker)

23 - Thanks For You

(Hanighen, Wright)

#1 to #12: from the album Modern Music from Indiana University (Fantasy 3-214)

Jerry Coker, Bob Cowart, Lou Ciotti (out on #10) (tenor saxes); Roger Pemberton (baritone sax); Jack Coker (piano); Monk Montgomery (bass); Charles Mastropaolo (drums). 

#2, #3, #5, #6, #8, #9, #11, #12: Freddy Fox (added on baritone sax).

#6, #8: Al Kiger (added on trumpet).

#5, #11: Jim Hewitt (added on trombone).

Recorded at Indiana University, Bloomington, July 1955.

#13 to #15 : Jerry Coker Quartet - from the album Intro to Jazz (San Francisco Jazz JR-1)

Alan Kiger (trumpet), Jerry Coker (tenor sax), Eddie Duran (guitar), Dean Reilly (bass).

Recorded at the Sands Ballroom, Oakland, November 1956.

#16: Mel Lewis Sextet - from the album Got ‘Cha (San Francisco Jazz JR-2)

Ed Leddy (trumpet); Richie Kamuca, Jerry Coker (tenor saxes); Pepper Adams (baritone sax); Johnny Marabuto (piano); Dean Reilly (bass); Mel Lewis (drums).

Recorded at the Sands Ballroom, Oakland, November 20, 1956.

#17 to #21: Rudy Salvini Orchestra - from the album Intro to Jazz (San Francisco Jazz JR-1)

Rudy Salvini, Allen Smith, Al Del Simone, Wayne Allen, Billy Catalano (trumpets); Van Hughes, Archie Lecoque, Chuck Etter, Ron Bertuccelli (trombones); Charles Martin (alto sax); Jerry Coker, Tom Hart, Howard Dudune [#17, #19, #20, #21], Charles Peterson [#18] (tenor saxes); Virgil Gonsalves (baritone sax); John Marabuto (piano); Dean Reilly (bass); John Markham (drums).

Recorded at the Sands Ballroom, Oakland, November 1956.

#22: from the album The Third Herdmen Blow in Paris, Vol.2 (Vogue LD.205)

or also The Herdsmen Play Paris (Fantasy 3-201)

Cy Touff (bass trumpet), Jerry Coker (tenor sax), Ralph Burns (piano),  Jimmy Gourley (guitar), Jean-Marie Ingrand (bass), Chuck Flores (drums).

Recorded in Paris, May 5, 1954.

#23: from the album The Third Herdmen Blow in Paris, Vol.1 (Vogue LD.204)

or also The Herdsmen Play Paris (Fantasy 3-201)

Jerry Coker (tenor sax), Ralph Burns (piano), Jean-Marie Ingrand (bass), Chuck Flores (drums).

Recorded in Paris, May 5, 1954. 

Marty Paich - Paich-Ence

One of the best-known arrangers of the post-World War II era, Marty Paich had much stronger jazz credentials than many of his peers, thanks to his active presence on the West Coast scene during the '50s. Paich was born in Oakland, CA, on January 23, 1925; he started out as a pianist, and was performing professionally at age 16. Along with the up-and-coming Pete Rugolo, he wrote arrangements for local bandleader Gary Nottingham. Tapped for military service in 1943, he continued to arrange while serving as the leader of the Army Air Corps band through 1946. Following his discharge, he used the G.I. Bill to further his musical education, enrolling at UCLA to study arranging under Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (who also helped train Nelson Riddle). He earned a master's degree from the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music in 1951, and quickly found work in the industry as both an arranger and pianist, working with Jerry Gray and Dan Terry early on.

Paich soon graduated to higher-profile gigs, playing and arranging for Shelly Manne and Shorty Rogers over 1953-1954, and also serving a stint as Peggy Lee's accompanist and musical director. He led his own groups as well, and in 1955 he began recording for a succession of labels that included Mode, Tampa, Candid, Warner and RCA Victor. He also toured with Dorothy Dandridge, and arranged (and performed on) the soundtrack to the Disney film Lady and the Tramp (1955). During the mid- to late '50s, Paich wrote arrangements for a who's who of West Coast jazz, including Chet Baker, Buddy Rich, Ray Brown, Dave Pell, and Stan Kenton, among others. Perhaps his most notable work came with Mel Tormé, whom he often backed with a ten-piece group dubbed the Dek-tette; the pairing resulted in the classic album Mel Tormé and the Marty Paich Dek-tette, plus numerous other high-quality sessions through 1960. Additionally, Paich contributed the arrangements to altoist Art Pepper's 1959 masterpiece Art Pepper + Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics. Paich's work for both Tormé and Pepper reflected one of his greatest strengths as an arranger: making relatively small groups sound like full-size orchestras.

By the close of the '50s, Paich had already begun to branch out from his West Coast roots, arranging material for Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, and big-band leader Terry Gibbs. Around 1960, he elected to move away from his own recording career to focus on arranging for pop (and sometimes jazz) vocalists. Over the course of the decade, he worked with the likes of Ray Charles, Lena Horne, Helen Humes, Al Hirt, Andy Williams, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Astrud Gilberto, and Mahalia Jackson, among many others. He also composed music for films (including some animated Hanna-Barbera projects) and television shows, winning an Emmy for his work on Ironside. In the late '60s, he served as musical director on a succession of variety shows, including The Glen Campbell Good-Time Hour, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (as Nelson Riddle's successor), and The Sonny and Cher Show.

After the early '70s, Paich's activity began to tail off, though he still worked sporadically as an orchestra conductor and string arranger, both on movie soundtracks and for artists like George Benson, Carly Simon, Elton John, and Kenny Loggins. He also helmed Sarah Vaughan's Songs of the Beatles project in 1980. In the late '80s, Paich reunited with a resurgent Tormé, reorganizing the Dek-tette for a series of highly acclaimed recordings and tours. He also continued to work on soundtracks into the '90s, frequently as a conductor and musical supervisor. Colon cancer claimed Paich's life on August 12, 1995. *Steve Huey*

Marty Paich

Paich-Ence • The Unique Orchestral Sound

Complete Recordings As A Leader (1955–1956)

Marty Paich (1925-1995) became interested in jazz in 1940 when he heard the Jimmy Lunceford band play. As a student of the distinguished Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, he absorbed the fundamentals of harmony and counterpoint. In 1951, with a Masters Degree in Composition he became one of the most sought after arrangers of the music business in the Los Angeles scene.

These recordings, the first he did as a leader, are not only further evidence of the talent, versatility and imagination of Marty Paich, but also a showcase for the more academic approach to jazz scoring he promoted within the boundaries of the West Coast school of jazz during the mid Fifties.

*Jordi Pujol*

1 - Tempo De Sylva

(Marty Paich)

2 - Tomjean

(Marty Paich)

3 - Stranger In The Rain

(Marty Paich)

4 - Kentucky Blue Grass

(Marty Paich)

5 - Tenors West

(Marty Paich)

6 - Paich-Ence

(Marty Paich)

7 - Con-Spirito

(Marty Paich)

8 - The Dragon

(Marty Paich)

9 - Jacqueline

(Marty Paich)

10 - At The Marty Gras

(Marty Paich)

11 - Ballet Du Bongo, (part I)

(Marty Paich)

12 - Ballet Du Bongo, (part II)

(Marty Paich)

13 - Take The "A" Train

(Ellington, Strayhorn)

14 - Line For Lions

(Gerry Mulligan)

15 - There's No You

(Adair-Hooper)

16 - Shorty George

(Basie, Durham)

17 - Times Square

(Marty Paich)

18 - Coldwater Canyon Blues

(Marty Paich)

19 - Four Blow Fours

(Marty Paich)

20 - Lonely Time

(Marty Paich)

#1 to #4: from Jazz Music For The Birds And The Hep Cats (Bethlehem BCP-6039)

Conte Candoli (trumpet), Bob Enevoldsen (valve tronbone), Bob Hardaway (tenor sax), Marty Paich (piano), Tony Rizzi (guitar), Max Bennett (bass), Stan Levey (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Los Angeles, CA, January 15, 1955.

#5 to #12: from The Marty Paich Octet Vol.10 (Gene Norman Presents GNP-153)

Conte Candoli (trumpet), Bob Enevoldsen (valve trombone), Harry Klee (flute, tenor sax, alto sax), Bob Cooper (tenor sax), Jack Du Long (baritone sax), Marty Paich (piano), Joe Mondragon (bass), Art Mardigan (drums), Jack Costanzo (bongoes [#11, #12]).

Recorded at Capitol Melrose Studios, Los Angeles, CA, February 1 and 2, 1955 [other source gives November 9, 1955.]

#13 to #16: from Tenors West (Gene Norman Presents GNP-21)

Conte Candoli (trumpet), Bob Enevoldsen (valve trombone), Harry Klee (flute, tenor sax), Jimmy Giuffre (tenor sax), Jack Du Long (baritone sax), Marty Paich (piano), Joe Mondragon (bass), Frank Capp (drums).

Recorded at Capitol Melrose Studios, Los Angeles, CA, November 10, 1955.

#17 to #20: from Modern Jazz Gallery (Kapp KXL-5001)

Conte Candoli, Don Fagerquist, Ed Leddy (trumpets); Francis Fitzpatrick, Bobby Burgess (trombones); Herb Geller (alto sax); Richie Kamuca, Bill Perkins (tenor saxes); Marty Berman (baritone sax); Marty Paich (piano); Joe Mondragon (bass); Mel Lewis (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Los Angeles, California, October 23, 1956.