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... Many Albam

Manny Albam

Manny Albam And The Jazz Greats Of Our Time • Vol.1

Considering the fact that much of the essential character of jazz is derived from the spontaneity and excitement of improvisation, it would certainly seem that the most definitive jazz writing should be in compatible relation with, and emphasize the role of, the soloist. In essence, a marriage between the improvisation and the writing: the writer providing a pithy framework that is thought-provoking and impetus to the soloist, and in turn, the soloist, given the necessary latitude, investing life, individuality and substance to the story intimated in the writing.

There are some critics and musicians who subscribe to the polar aspects of this subject: some stand for improvisation in the complete sense —spontaneous, intuitive—without framework or guideposts; others line up for composition to the point of shutting off the soloist by writing everything, or giving him only a limited role. And then, there are variations on both. However, the middle ground, in its equivalent relation between writing and blowing, gives evidence of being the best approach.

We must enlarge for clarity... In their own way, some of these polar ventures have been successful, but whether they are jazz or not, is a matter for discussion. On the other hand, going toward the middle ground, definitions become clear, and the performance becomes jazz in the more accepted sense, retaining the idiom’s identifiable markings.

In truth, tradition is most accessible from the vantage point of the middle ground, and if anything were to define the writing of Manny Albam, it would be its great respect and reflection of tradition:

"I cannot divorce myself from tradition, for it's where we all come from, and it should be a base from which we operate in jazz. If writing is to be JAZZ WRITING, it should fuse the elements particular to its own tradition — the beat, improvisation within a disciplinary frame, and its own unique feeling.

"On this CORAL set, the first of a series, I had the blowers, the guys who dig deeply, and endow writing with the necessary richness of improvisational content. This is just what I wanted, for I feel that an inter-relation, inter-dependence between writing and blowing in jazz composition is imperative."*Burt Korall (from the liner notes)* 

This makes it. Manny Albam, an arranger sensitive to the blowing as well as the writing scene, assembled a good cross-section of eastern mainstream hornmen, supplied them with three-quarters of the New York Rhythm Section, and gave them some material on which to embroider, ranging from sparkling to merely fine.

Oddly enough, or perhaps justly enough, I found the Albam originals to be more fertile in terms of the results shown here. The two non-Albam tracks, Sweetie and Duke's All Too Soon, don't compare with the consistency and wealth of solos with which Blues for Neither Coast is endowed.

In fact, the only other track I found as richly rewarding as Neither Coast was Dr. Millmoss, and in this, Albam scores by using a simple device: Mulligan and Cohn playing the bass line on baritones as a binding factor in the composition.

Brookmeyer emerges as the most constantly challenging soloist. His appearances on the first three tracks, particularly on Blues, are glistening. His solo on Minor Matters is excellent, and his second solo on All Too Soon is moving and powerful.

Art Farmer's opening solo on Neither Coast is among his best recorded work. Zoot is unusually subdued throughout, except on Sweetie, where he boots along like the freewheeling tenor man we have come to know. Woods is stabbing and often terse. His playing of late has been brimming with tension. Travis is fine, particularly tasty in his muted work. Mulligan is good, but he has been more declarative as a soloist in his own group. As a supporting voice, he is excellent. Cohn is smooth and flowing, as expected. And Hank Jones remains one of the most tasteful of pianists.

Although I raise an eyebrow at the album title, I realize that other contractual commitments would of necessity exclude such vital voices as Miles, Monk, Diz, Hawk, J. J., Max Roach, and Pettiford, among other greats.

Burt Korall's liner notes are a valuable guidepost to the team lines followed by the participants. Manny has a West Coast collection due for release to complement this East Coast cross section. *Dom Cerulli (Down Beat, November 28, 1957 [5 stars])*

Side 1

1 - Blues From Neither Coast

(Manny Albam)

2 - Latined Fracture

(Manny Albam)

3 - Poor Dr. Millmoss

(Manny Albam)

Side 2

4 - Minor Matters

(Manny Albam)

5 - My Sweetie Went Away

(Roy Turk, Lou Handman)

6 - All Too Soon

(Duke Ellington, Carl Sigman)

7 - See Here, Miss Bromley

(Manny Albam)

Art Farmer, Nick Travis (trumpets); Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone); Phil Woods (alto sax);

Zoot Sims (tenor sax); AI Cohn (tenor sax, baritone sax); Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax);

Hank Jones (piano); Milt Hinton (bass); Osie Johnson (drums); Manny Albam (arranger, conductor).

Recorded in New York City, April 2 [#5], April 3 [#3, #6, #7] and April 4 [#1, #2, #4], 1957

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Manny Albam

Manny Albam And The Jazz Greats Of Our Time • Vol. 2

By design, the writing for this set is spare. Though engaging in its own right, jazz composer-arranger MANNY ALBAM aimed for functionality, writing catalytic frameworks for his soloists. Like the writer of plays, he provided provocative material, but left it to his players to breathe life and immediacy into his story.

Says Manny Albam — "Regardless of what is said to the contrary, jazz is, and always has been a player’s art. When the jazz composer-arranger realizes this, adjusts his working perspective accordingly, giving due consideration and space to the soloist, only then can jazz composition become the community of expression it is at its best... I feel that an inter-relation, inter-dependence between writing and blowing in jazz composition is imperative."

If anything were to truly define the writing of Manny Albam, it would be its great respect and reflection of tradition.

Following traditional procedure: incorporation of elements particular to the jazz tradition — the beat, improvisation within a disciplinary frame, and jazz's own unique feeling — has become increasingly important to him.

Awareness of the past, or shall we say, the whole of jazz, is likely to make one's work all the more meaningful. Having functioned as a writer in a wide range of jazz situations (scoring big bands — Auld, Barnet, Kenton, Herman, etc., jazz backgrounds for vocalists, small bands) helped him to this realization.

For this set, recorded in Hollywood, Manny employed 'blowers'; men equipped to fill his frameworks with the necessary improvisational nutrition. Once again, proof is accessible that players of substance are players of substance regardless of geographical boundaries.

*Burt Korall (from the liner notes)*

This set is a perfect companion piece to Albam’s Jazz Greats, Vol. 1, and some of the comments on that LP apply to this one. For instance, I still find Albam's originals far more interesting throughout than the standards. Possible exception here is De-Lovely, and again I find it's more Manny’s arrangement than the tune itself which makes it.

At any rate, I'll wager there hasn't been a moodier, lovelier ballad original than Afterthoughts (Benny Golson and his remarkable ballad compositions are not included in this bet). Kamuca and Candoli combine on Afterthoughts to create a stunningly somber mood, with the rest of the ensemble pitched low behind them. You can almost feel the rain.

Interwoven is interesting structurally, with sharp Mariano and Geller, and some pungent interchanges between Candoli and Sweets, the latter identified as Trumpeter X because of contractual ties.

Sweets has most of Sweet's-Bread to himself, and blows some compelling trumpet with the ensemble cast in a Basie vein. Harry stays in that groove, blowing relaxed muted trumpet on his and Basie's Jive at Five, and manages a witty phrase variation in the closing statement of the theme.

Thunder-Burt, similar in conception and main theme to Blues for Neither Coast in Vol. 1, is a good comparison track for buffs wishing to carry the East Coast–West Coast discussion into late spring. Solos here, perhaps because of the overall feel of the piece, are funkier, particularly Mariano’s baritone, Williamson's trombone, and Candoli (dig his trace of Eldridge at the end of his second chorus), and to a lesser extent, Flory and Kamuca.

De-Lovely is freshly arranged and smartly played all around. How Long, a muted, shadowy ballad, has some rough spots in Sheldon's solo and at the close of Levy's fine piano spot (with some interesting things going on behind him by Shelly).

If, after listening to both coasts on the two volumes, you can draw any conclusion, it will have to include that each swings, although the westerners seem to find their kicks in a Countish vein. You might also note that this is the third Coral LP in recent months by Albam, which has been in every way a superior effort. He seems to have crystallized that knack of writing brightly without lapsing into pretentiousness, and can score for plenty of solo blowing without just arranging a head and a tail and letting the soloists construct the rest of the skeleton as well as fleshing it out.

*Dom Cerulli (Down Beat, February 20, 1958 [5 stars])*

Side 1

1 - Intervowen

(Manny Albam)

2 - Afterthoughts

(Manny Albam)

3 - Sweet's-Bread

(Manny Albam)

Side 2

4 - Jive At Five

(Harry Edison, Count Basie)

5 - Thurnder Burt

(Manny Albam)

6 - How Long Has This Been Going On?

(George and Ira Gershwin)

7 - It's De-Lovely

(Cole Porter)

Conte Candoli, Jack Sheldon [#2, #5, #6],

Harry Edison as "Trumpeter X" [#1, #3, #4, #7] (trumpets); Stu Williamson (valve trombone);

Herb Geller (alto sax); Richie Kamuca, Med Flory [#2, #5, #6] (tenor saxes);

Bill Holman [#1, #3, #4, #7] (tenor sax, baritone sax);

Charlie Mariano (alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax); 

Lou Levy (piano); Red Mitchell (bass); Shelly Manne (drums); Manny Albam (arranger, conductor). 

Recorded in Los Angeles, California, August 4 [#2, #5, #6],

August 15 [#3, #4, #7] and August 16 [#1], 1957

Zoot Sims on Prestige (VI)

Straight ahead  mid-'50s swinging bop, this era was heralded as the transition from swing to bop, but my, does it swing.  The pairing of Zoot Sims and Phil Woods is magnificent, both bursting with unstoppable high energy flow, powered along by a driving rhythm section.

It is a complete delight to follow the solos, which seem to over-run their allotted time, but no problem, both Woods and Sims are great. Though Woods is beautiful,  Zoot stands as  a bridge between the old school of tenor players and the new, and it is Sims that has The Force with him.

There have been at least three Prestige issues of this recording under different leader names and album titles, which highlights the label's acute sensitivity to the  changing standing of different artists – Jon Eardley, Phil Woods and Zoot Sims.

The original PRLP 7033 featured The Jon Eardley Seven. Seriously classic cover art.

A second issue of PRLP 7033 appeared, but retitled Down East.  Zoot Sims now heads the list of artists, Woods at No.2, Eardley demoted to third billing, but gets capital letters to soften the blow. Both versions are frequently touted as "original".

A third reissue (which is presented here) was released in 1965, under the main name of Zoot Sims and titled Koo Koo. Rudy Van Gelder must have gone back and re-mastered this recording for Prestige sometime in the early/mid ’60s, intended for the New Jazz label, but a business decision was made to put it out on Status, with a third cover,  design and photo by Don Schlitten. *londonjazzcollector.com*

Zoot Sims

with Phil Woods and Jon Eardley

Koo Koo

When this record was made, however, sessions were still being held with some kind of regularity around town. Budding young jazzmen like Phil Woods and Jon Eardley were always eager to play, especially if they were not working, an attitude that is out of vogue today. Although Sims was an established star, he was always anxious for a session. Just as he had for Lloyd, Gerry Mulligan, and George Wallington in the late '40s, he made the sessions go for Woods, Eardley, and George Syran in the '50s. The younger musicians looked up to him, and this, coupled with the urgency of his blowing, made them outdo themselves. 

This, recording was done in a period when Zoot had returned from almost two years) in California. First he played with Miles Davis and Gerry Mulligan in the set at the 1955 Newport Jazz Festival which marked Miles' "comeback", and then he became a member of Gerry's sextet which also included Jon Eardley.

Eardley and Woods had already recorded two 10-inch LPs for Prestige. The rhythm section for these dates was Syran, Teddy Kotick, and Nick Stabulas. When Koo Koo was recorded, everyone in the studio knew each other well in the kind of familiarity that definitely does not breed contempt. Trombonist Milty Gold, a native Pennsylvanian like Eardley, had worked with the big bands of Herbie Fields, Buddy Rich, Claude Thornhill, Elliott Lawrence, Stan Kenton and Pete Rugolo. He also was with the sextet that backed Anita O'Day in the late '40s. As one who was around the New York area from that time, he participated in many informal sessions with the other musicians on this date.

The arrangements are just right for this kind of a blowing session. They have substance, and yet never impede the flow of the soloists. The lines, as stated by an interweaving of the trumpet and alto team with the trombone-tenor tandem, have an inner swing, while the backgrounds for the horn soloists act as a spur.

It's good to have these tracks available once again. They demonstrate how Zoot Sims and Phil Woods were taking care of business in the mid-Fifties. They are still very active today, as are Teddy Kotick and Nick Stabulas. However, less has been heard from the other principals involved. George Syran has been playing gigs in supper clubs and east side lounges in New York, but does not record. Jon Eardley was off the scene for a spell but is reported to be playing in Europe now. Milty Gold has been inactive professionally, of late. Perhaps we will be hearing more from these three in the near future. This recording proves that their capabilities warrant renewed attention.

*Ira Gitler (liner notes, November 1964)*

Side 1

1 - Leap Year

(Syran)

2 - There's No You

(Hopper)

3 - On The Minute

(Eardley)

Side 2

4 - Ladders

(Eardley)

5 - Koo Koo

(Eardley)

6 - Eard's Word

(Woods)

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Phil Woods (alto sax), Jon Eardley (trumpet), 

Milt Gold (trombone), George Syran (piano), Teddy Kotick (bass), Nick Stabulas (drums).

Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, January 13, 1956.

Leonard Feather Presents… ★1957★

There’s a Curious irony in the fact that of the thousands of jazz albums now flooding the record stores, this is the first LP to be released with bop as its main theme. The wheel has come full circle. Bop became an epithet by the end of the decade, the victim of keyhole columnists who identified it not with music but with eccentricities of clothes, personality and personal habits. Today we can examine the scene in truer perpective and observe that Bop is simply the way most people play jazz in 1959, including the "new star" awards winners in the Down Beat critics' poll.

Among the neglected elements in Bop were not people but tunes — some of the original and exciting compositions that emerged with the first of bop creativity. They were tunes you heard played along 52nd Street; tunes that spoke with a crisp, biting accent expressed in long, unison lines, leaving the harmonic moorings to the rhythm section. All the tunes you'll hear in this LP were products of the men and groups of that day, 'though only Ornithology has become a jazz standard. The others have rarely been re-recorded and a couple have been in oblivion for years.

The music on these sides evokes the atmosphere of a typical set at one of the old 52nd Street clubs, even to the fast two-chorus treatment of the "52nd Street Theme" that invariably ended every set.

To those for whom these performances represent long-overdues revivals, the music on this LP is bound to fill a gap in your collection. If your interest is minly in the instrumentalists, these sides represent an introduction to themes that belong in every jazz library. Either way they should provide a cogent reminder that the music we used to call bop, wich today is an important part of the whole jazz, endowed us with a wealth of material, of ideation and new creation that has a lasting place in the story of jazz. *Leonard Feather (liner notes)*

Leonard Feather Presents Bop 

[a.k.a. Leonard Feather Presents 52nd Street]

This pair of 1957 studio sessions features two separate groups, with alto saxophonist Phil Woods, pianist George Wallington, and bassist Curly Russell involved in both dates, with most of the music drawn from the works of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Trumpeter Idrees Sulieman and drummer Denzil Best join them on the first five selections. Wallington and Woods share the solo spotlight following the scatted group introduction to the pianist's "Lemon Drop" (one of many bop variations of "I Got Rhythm"), while Sulieman also gets a taste. Woods and Sulieman re-create the magic of Parker and Gillespie in a snappy take of "Ornithology". Sulieman switches to muted trumpet for an equally enjoyable take of "Anthropology". The quintet changes for the last five tracks, with Thad Jones on trumpet and Art Taylor on drums. It is not clear who contributed the little-boy vocal to "Salt Peanuts", but it does not distract from this potent arrangement. Taylor's effective drumming powers the cooking version of "Shaw 'Nuff". The next to last track is incorrectly listed as "Billie's Bounce"; it is actually "Now's the Time". Nothing groundbreaking takes place during these bop sessions, but the playing is at a consistently high level. This Mode LP has been reissued by VSOP and the Japanese CD label Tofrec, sometimes under the title Leonard Feather Presents Bop. *Ken Dryden*

1 - Little Benny

(Benny Harris)

2 - Be Bop

(Dizzy Gillespie)

3 - Lemon Drop

(George Wallington)

4 - Ornithology

(Charlie Parker, Benny Harris)

5 - Anthropology

(Charlie Parker)

6 - Salt Peanuts

(Dizzy Gillespie)

7 - Groovin' High

(Dizzy Gillespie)

8 - Shaw' Nuff

(Dizzy Gillespie)

9 - Billie's Bounce

(Charlie Parker)

10 - Hot House / 52nd Street Theme

(Tadd Dameron / Thelonious Monk)

Idrees Sulieman [#1 to #5], Thad Jones [#6 to #10] (trumpets);

Phil Woods (alto sax); George Wallington (piano); Curly Russell (bass);

Denzil Best [#1 to #5], Art Taylor  [#6 to #10] (drums).

Recorded in New York City, August 1957

John "Johnny" Carisi - His Music And His Orchestras

John Carisi born in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, February 23, 1922, died New York, October 8, 1992. Studied trumpet and theory in high school, composition with Stephan Wolpe (1948-1950), trumpet with Carmine Caruso (1953-1954). Played in his youth with Babe Russin, George Handy, Herbie Fields and joined Glenn Miller's army band in 1943. Played with Skitch Henderson, Claude Thornhill and Charlie Barnet. Aside of that also active in the classical field, writing compositions for chamber groups and also composed a jazz piece called "Israel" that was recorded by Miles Davis. In the 60's he continued to write compositions for jazz as well as classical performers. Three of his compositions were recorded on Impulse with an orchestra under direction of Gil Evans. Carisi himself played on this recording some of the trumpet parts. *Walter Bruyninckx*

Johnny Carisi is destined to be chiefly remembered for composing "Israel," a complex blues that was recorded by Miles Davis' Birth Of The Cool nonet. Otherwise his career was primarily spent in obscurity. Carisi, who was mostly self-taught on trumpet, played early on with little-known groups although he had a stint in 1943 with Glenn Miller's Army Air Force Band. Starting in the mid-40's, Carisi's writing was sophisticated and advanced enough for him to contribute arrangements to the books of Ray McKinley, Charlie Barnet and Claude Thornhill. Never a major soloist, Carisi played trumpet with Claude Thornhill's Orchestra a bit during 1949-1950. Although he worked fairly steadily as a writer, Johnny Carisi recorded only a few albums under his own name. He had an opportunity to remake "Israel" in 1956 for a Bluebird set not released until the CD era, and he utilized a "Guitar Choir" in an unusual reworking of the music from Showboat (playing trumpet on "Nobody Else But Me"). In 1961 Carisi shared an Impulse LP (Into The Hot) with Cecil Taylor and in 1968 he wrote the arrangements for trumpeter Marvin Stamm's Machinations album. Otherwise Johnny Carisi wrote for the studios, was involved part-time with classical music and was a music educator. *Scott Yanow*

Johnny Carisi

The Music Of Johnny Carisi

Israel

One of the most important movements in the late 40s and early 50s jazz, was the conscious effort of well-schooled, classically informed, creative jazz musicians to reflect not only their training but also a greater sense of structure and order in the jazz music they played and improvised on. It was a movement led by writers like Gil Evans, Gerry Mulligan, Ralph Burns, Tiny Kahn and Johnny Carisi, among others. Some, like Mulligan and Kahn, were also celebrated instrumentalists, but they all embraced both large and small group music.

Trumpeter Johnny Carisi (1922-1992), whose name endures as a notable one in this groundbreaking general movement, worked originally for bands such as Ray McKinley's and, more significantly, Claude Thornhill's, in which he also played at a period when the band was famed for its contemporary, boppish book written by Evans and Mulligan.

Appropriately, this compilation contains Carisi's own 1956 recordings as a leader, as well some of his most celebrated compositions and arrangements played by other great groups, all fine examples of his contribution to this development in jazz. But, apart from his extensive and varied background as both player and writer, the one composition that made him a jazz legend is Israel, one of Miles Davis' loveliest record arrangements, and for which Johnny Carisi will always be remembered. *Jordi Pujol*

Johnny Carisi name will always be associated with Israel — his highly original take on the 12-bar form premiered by the ground-breaking Miles Davis nonet in 1949. He revisits it here with his own Jazz Workshop as well as on a chart for Gerry Mulligans CJB. Miles original solo has been transcribed for both ensembles. A few years ago Ray Passman added a lyric which has been recorded by the delightful Meredith d'Ambrosio among others under the title Its Your Dance.

The opening tracks have plenty of Eddie Wassermans fine Prez-inspired tenor especially on "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Lestorian Mode". The latter was also recorded by Brew Moore, Mulligan and Kai Winding in 1949 but it has yet to be reissued on CD. That doyen of the New York recording scene Barry Galbraith shows on "Barry's Tune" just why Mulligan once described him as an altogether beautiful musician. "Springsville" (misspelt on the sleeve) was recorded by the composer a year before Miles Davis and Gil Evans gave it their seal of approval on Miles Ahead. There are also two of Carisis dramatic excursions into 12-tone territory - "Moon Taj" and "Angkor Wat". As a trumpet soloist he has some notable Phil Sunkel-like statements especially on "How About You?" and "Hips".

This comprehensive retrospective of Johnny Carisi — one of the most unsung people in the history of music according to Bob Brookmeyer — is most welcome. It should help focus attention on a vital but sometimes overlooked contributor to the celebrated Birth Of The Cool project. *Gordon Jack*

1 - Israel

(Johnny Carisi)

2 - Honeysuckle Rose

(Razaf, Waller)

3 - Lestorian Mode

(Johnny Carisi)

4 - Barry's Tune

(Johnny Carisi)

5 - How About You?

(Freed, Lane)

6 - Hips

(Johnny Carisi)

7 - Springville

(Johnny Carisi)

8 - Breakfast With Joe

(Johnny Carisi)

9 - Walkin' On Air

(Johnny Carisi)

10 - Little John

(Johnny Carisi)

11 - Springville

(Johnny Carisi)

12 - Plain Bill From Bluesville

(Johnny Carisi)

13 - Israel

(Johnny Carisi)

14 - Angkor Wat

(Johnny Carisi)

15 - Barry's Tune

(Johnny Carisi)

16 - Moon Taj

(Johnny Carisi)

17 - Israel

(Johnny Carisi)

#1 to #7 were recorded for the album RCA Victor Jazz Workshop Johnny Carisi that was scheduled as LPM 1371 but never released.

#1:

Johnny Carisi (trumpet), Urbie Green (trombone), Ray Beckenstein (clarinet, alto sax), Eddie Wasserman (tenor sax), Danny Bank (baritone sax), Barry Galbraith (guitar), Russ Saunders (bass), Herb Wasserman (drums).

Recorded at Webster Hall Studio, New York City, April 21, 1956

#2 to #7:

Johnny Carisi (trumpet), Urbie Green (trombone), Ray Beckenstein (clarinet, alto sax), Eddie Wasserman (tenor sax), Sol Schlinger (baritone sax), Barry Galbraith (guitar), Milt Hinton (bass), Osie Johnson (drums).

Recorded at Webster Hall Studio, New York City, May 5 (#2 to #4) and May 11 (#5 to #7), 1956.

#8: Al Cohn Octet, from the album Al Cohn - Mr. Music (RCA Victor LJM1024)

Joe Newman (trumpet); Billy Byers (trombone); Gene Quill (alto sax); Al Cohn, Sol Schlinger (tenor saxes); Sanford Gold (piano); Buddy Jones (bass); Osie Johnson (drums).

Recorded at Webster Hall Studio, New York City, December 23, 1954.

#9: Tony Scott Tentet, from the album The Touch of Tony Scott (RCA Victor LPM 1353)

Johnny Carisi, Joe Wilder (trumpets); Jimmy Cleveland, Urbie Green (trombones); Tony Scott (clarinet); Danny Bank (baritone sax); Bill Evans (piano); Barry Galbraith (guitar); Milt Hinton (bass); Osie Johnson (drums).

Recorded at Webster Hall Studio, New York City, July 5, 1956.

#10 to #12, from the album All About Urbie Green and His Big Band (ABC-Paramount ABC137)

#10:

Johnny Carisi, Nick Travis, Joe Wilder (trumpets); Urbie Green, Jack Green, Chauncey Welsch (trombones); Bill Barber (tuba); Ray Beckenstein, Hal McKusick (alto saxes); Al Cohn (tenor sax); Sol Schlinger (baritone sax); Dave McKenna (piano); Jack Lesberg (bass); Osie Johnson (drums).

Recorded at Beltone Studios, New York City, August 5, 1956.

#11, #12:

Doc Severinsen, Phil Sunkel, Johnny Carisi (trumpets); Urbie Green, Lou McGarity, Rex Peer (trombones); Bill Barber (tuba); Ray Beckenstein, Hal McKusick (alto saxes); Al Cohn (tenor sax); Danny Bank (baritone sax); Dave McKenna (piano); Vinnie Burke (bass); Osie Johnson (drums).

Recorded at Beltone Studios, New York City, August 23, 1956.

#13: Gerry Mulligan And The Concert Jazz Band, from the album A Concert in Jazz (Verve V6-8415)

Don Ferrara, Nick Travis, Doc Severinsen (trumpets); Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone); Willie Dennis (trombone); Alan Raph (bass trombone); Gene Quill, Bob Donovan (alto saxes); Gerry Mulligan, Gene Allen (baritone saxes); Bill Crow (bass); Mel Lewis (drums); John Carisi (arranger).

Recorded at Webster Hall Studio, New York City, July 10, 1961.

#14 to 16: Johnny Carisi And His Orchestra, from the Gil Evans' album Into the Hot (Impulse AS-9)

[Note: Though Gil Evans's Out Of The Cool for Impulse in late 1960 was well-received by critics, he decided to leave the new label when Impulse founder Creed Taylor left to head Verve. In addition, Evans didn't have enough material for a followup, so he turned over his remaining Impulse recording dates to Carisi and Cecil Taylor. Here are Carisi's three beautiful compositions that he arranged and conducted for the album, which came out under Gil Evans's name anyway in 1962.]

#14:

Johnny Carisi, Johnny Glasel, Doc Severinsen (trumpets); Urbie Green (trombone); Jimmy Buffington (French horn); Harvey Phillips (tuba); Phil Woods, Gene Quill (alto saxes); Eddie Costa (piano, vibes); Barry Galbraith (guitar); Milt Hinton (bass); Osie Johnson (drums).

Recorded at Beltone Studios, New York City, September 14, 1961.

#15:

Johnny Carisi, Johnny Glasel, Clark Terry (trumpets); Urbie Green (trombone); Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone); Harvey Phillips (tuba); Phil Woods, Gene Quill (alto saxes); Eddie Costa (piano, vibes); Barry Galbraith (guitar); Art Davis (bass); Osie Johnson (drums).

Recorded at Beltone Studios, New York City, October 1, 1961

#16: 

Johnny Carisi, Johnny Glasel, Joe Wilder (trumpets); Urbie Green (trombone); Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone); Harvey Phillips (tuba); Phil Woods, Gene Quill (alto saxes); Eddie Costa (piano, vibes); Barry Galbraith (guitar); Art Davis (bass); Osie Johnson (drums).

Recorded at Beltone Studios, New York City, October 31, 1961.

#17: from the 78 rpm disc Miles Davis And His Orchestra (Capitol 57-60011)

Miles Davis (trumpet), J.J. Johnson (trombone), Sandford Siegelstein (French horn), Bill Barber (tuba), Lee Konitz (alto sax), Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax), John Lewis (piano), Nelson Boyd (bass), Kenny Clarke [aka L.A. Salaam] (drums).

Recorded at WOR Studios, New York City, April 22, 1949.

***

John Carisi

The New Jazz Sound Of Show Boat

Carisi's sole album recorded under his name that gave us a glimpse of his inventive arranging skills and trumpet playing was The New Jazz Sound Of "Show Boat". Recorded for Columbia over three sessions in September 1959, the album featured Carisi arranging, conducting and playing trumpet. What's remarkable about the album is how orchestral it sounds with relatively few instruments featured. At first, too few.

The September 8th recording date was something of a washout. Only one track out of four was accepted by producer Teo Macero —"Nobody Else But Me". The personnel featured Carisi (tp,arr,cond), Barry Galbraith, Jimmy Raney, Billy Bauer, Howard Collins and Allan Hanlon on guitars; Milt Hinton on bass; and Osie Johnson on drums.

Upon hearing the playback, Macero likely felt the album needed a couple of additional horns to give the album greater variety, either because Carisi wasn't a big enough name to drive jazz-album sales or because Carisi's trumpet wasn't flashy enough.

So on September 18, the same group assembled in the studio with the addition of alto saxophonist Phil Woods as the soloist. The tracks were Make Believe, Why Do I Love You? and I Have the Room Above Her. Woods sat out on two of the tracks — "It Still Suits Me" and "Bill".

Then on September 24, the same core group returned but this time valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer replaced Woods on "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" and "I Might Fall Back On You". Brookmeyer sat out on "Life Upon the Wicked Stage".

The three tracks handed over to Carisi by Woods and Brookmeyer gave him three solo trumpet tracks he lost when Macero rejected the three from September 8.

The resulting album is a masterpiece of arranging and among only a handful of jazz interpretations of Broadway musicals that elevated the original scores to something way more interesting.

*Marc Myers*

Side 1

1 - Make Believe

2 - Nobody Else But Me

3 - I Might Fall Back On You

4 - I Have The Room Above Her

5 - Bill

Side 2

6 - Can't Help Lovin' That Man

7 - Life Upon The Wicked Stage

8 - Ol' Man River

9 - Why Do I Love You?

10 - I Still Suits Me

(All compositions by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern)

John Carisi And The Guitar Choir:

John "Johnny" Carisi (trumpet, conductor); Phil Woods (alto sax [#1, #4,  #9]); Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone [#3, #6, #8]); Jimmy Raney, Tommy Kay, Barry Galbraith, Billy Bauer, Howard Collins [#1, #2, #4, #5, #9, #10], Allen Hanlon [#3, #6, #7, #8] (guitars); Milt Hinton [#1, #2, #4, #5, #9, #10], Teddy Kotick [#3, #6, #7, #8] (basses); Osie Johnson [#1, #2, #4, #5, #9, #10],  Mousey Alexander [#3, #6, #7, #8] drums).

Recorded at Columbia Studios, 30th St., New York City, September 8 (#2, #5), September 18 (#1, #4, #9, #10) and September 24 (#3, #6, #7, #8), 1959.

Hal Schaefer - Rare And Oscure Jazz Albums

Like Erroll Garner, Hal Schaefer had his own distinctive jazz piano style and transformed every song he played into pure magic. He could turn standards inside out with a swinging fury and, with his right hand, whip up improvised lines that left listeners dazzled.

Born in 1925 in Queens, N.Y., Schaefer began playing professionally as a teen at resorts in the Catskill Mountains a few hours north of New York.

By the mid-1940s, he was playing and recording with Tommy Dorsey and Boyd Raeburn. During this time, he led a trio that played during intermissions at Duke Ellington concerts.

In 1947, he settled in Los Angeles and teamed with vocalist Peggy Lee and her husband, guitarist Dave Barbour, on record dates. He also squeezed in a session with Bob Cooper's band backing vocalist June Christy. In the early 1950s, he made records for MGM with Woody Herman and singer Billy Eckstine.

By early 1953, he was swept by the movie industry and began working as Marilyn Monroe's vocal coach and accompanist, helping her get up to speed for her solo vocal on Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend for the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, a song he arranged while working closely with film choreographer Jack Cole. He also worked with her on the music and arrangements for "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "River of No Return" in 1954.

Like many men who came into Monroe's orbit, Schaefer was lulled into thinking their relationship was more than it was. According to Schaefer, he became her lover in 1954 and confidant during the nine months she was married to Joe DiMaggio and beyond. Then Schaefer's relationship with the actress began slipping away. In July 1955, he said, he tried to commit suicide over his inability to hold onto her.

During this period of sexual despair, Schaefer recorded two albums for RCA as a leader — Just Too Much, a trio date months before his suicide attempt, and Jazz Workshop with a sextet months after being released from the hospital. Both are glorious recordings. 

On Just Too Much, recorded in late 1954 and early 1955, the album featured Schaefer (p,cel), Joe Mondragon (b) and Alvin Stoller (d). Schaefer sounds spectacular throughout the album, taking on "Thou Swell", "The Song Is You", "It Could Happen to You" and "St. Louis Blues" among others, creating impossibly inventive renditions that became musical catnip for the listener.

On the Jazz Workshop album, recorded over three sessions in the fall of 1955, the tracks on the first date were "Spring Is Here", "Isn't It Romantic", "Real Lee" and "A New Sound". The band Schaefer arranged featured Jimmy Nottingham and Nick Travis (tp), Schaefer (p), Milt Hinton (b), Don Lamond and Ed Shaughnessy (d).

On "Blues Skies", "This One's for Jack", "A Song of Love" and "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter", the personnel included Billy Byers, Urbie Green, Fred Ohms and Chauncey Welsch (tb); Tom Mitchell (b-tb); Hal Schaefer (p); Milt Hinton (b) and Osie Johnson (d).

And on "Imagination", "Dancing in the Dark", "Of Things Gone By" and "Let's Have a Cerebration", the musicians were Hal McKusick, Sam Marowitz and Phil Woods (as); Hal Schaefer (p); Milt Hinton (b) and Osie Johnson (d).

"This One's for Jack" must have been for Jack Lewis, RCA's head of jazz A&R at the time, when the 12-inch album format was brand new for pop records. Lewis created the Jazz Workshop series to give top artists a chance to lead a recording session of their own conception. The series also let Lewis quickly fill his quota of newly recorded albums for RCA's 12-inch LP pipeline.

Prior to Schaefer's suicide attempt, a jealous Joe DiMaggio with Frank Sinatra and others broke down the door of the wrong apartment at 3 a.m. looking for Monroe and Schaefer. Following this event, the pianist was regularly harassed in the days before trolling and social media. So much so that Schaefer feared his hands would be broken by goons in retribution and left Hollywood in the late 1950s.

In New York, he continued to play and record jazz albums as well as coach star singers such as Barbra Streisand, Chita Rivera, Rita Moreno and Julie Wilson. He moved to Florida in the 1990s and died in December 2012. Marilyn Monroe died of a barbiturate overdose in August 1962 that was widely considered a suicide. *Marc Myers *

Hal Schaefer

Rare And Oscure Jazz Albums

Hal Schaefer (1925-2012) was an extremely talented, thoughtful, and polished New York pianist who, by the age of 30, had already immersed himself in many musical circles. From an inauspicious start as a teenager playing with Lee Castle, he went on to join Ina Ray Hutton’s band for two years before settling in Los Angeles in 1943. There, he played with the bands of Benny Carter, Harry James, and Boyd Raeburn, with whom he gained notable recognition.

From the late 1940s onwards he accompanied Peggy Lee and Billy Eckstine before breaking into the world of film as an arranger and rehearsal pianist. His studio work would include the lucrative role of vocal coach to some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including Marilyn Monroe.

In 1954, affected by personal problems, Hal decided to leave the movieland scene behind to start a jazz recording career. His debut album as a leader, Just Too Much, came out in 1955 on the RCA Victor label, on which Hal performed in a trio with Joe Mondragon and Alvin Stoller and attracted considerable attention from jazz fans and critics alike.

Hal returned to New York City in 1955, the same year that RCA Victor inaugurated a new series of recordings titled The Jazz Workshop, which was specifically intended to showcase new ideas in jazz orchestration, composition, and instrumentation. His producer Jack Lewis asked Hal to record his second album as part of the series. With the simple title of Hal Schaefer, the music featured Hal’s creative writing as well as his skilled andmindful approach as a soloist. For this project he used piano, bass, and drums, adding different instrumentation in each of the three recording sessions: one with three reeds, one with five trombones, and the last with two trumpets, himself on harpsichord and an extra drummer. There are several stimulating as well as humorous moments in the writing, largely involving the freshly changing textures with especially charming ballads and sparkling new ideas in jazz. *Jordi Pujol*

1 - All The Things You Are

(Kern, Hammerstein II)

2 - I’ll Remember April

(Ray, DePaul, Johnson)

3 - You Are Too Beautiful

(Rodgers, Hart)

4 - Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

(Arlen, Koehler)

5 - I’m Glad There Is You

(Madeira, Dorsey)

6 - The Song Is You

(Kern, Hammerstein II)

7 - Thou Swell

(Rodgers, Hart)

8 - St. Louis Blues

(W.C. Handy)

9 - Yes

(Hal Schaefer)

10 - Have You Met Miss Jones?

(Rodgers, Hart)

11 - You Stepped Out Of A Dream

(Brown, Kahn)

12 - Montevideo

(Hal Schaefer)

13 - Dancing In The Dark

(Dietz, Schwartz)

14 - Imagination

(Van Heusen, Burke)

15 - This One's For Jack

(Hal Schaefer)

16 - A Song Of Love

(Hal Schaefer)

17 - Isn't It Romantic

(Rodgers, Hart)

18 - A New Sound For The Blue

(Hal Schaefer)

19 - Let’s Have A Cerebration

(Hal Schaefer)

20 - Of Things Gone By

(Hal Schaefer)

21 - Blue Skies

(Irving Berlin)

22 - I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter

(Young, Ahlert)

23 - Spring Is Here

(Rodgers, Hart)

24 - Real Lee

(Hal Schaefer)

#1 to #12: from Just Too Much: The Progressive Piano of Hal Schaefer (RCA Victor LPM-1106)

Hal Schaefer (piano), Joe Mondragon (bass), Alvin Stoller (drums).

Recorded in Los Angeles, California, December 27, 1954 (#5, #6, #7, #12), January 4, 1955 (#2, #4, #8, #10) and January 10, 1955 (#1, #3, #9, #11).

#13 to #24, from The RCA Victor Jazz Workshop (RCA Victor LPM-1199)

#13, #14, #19, #20:

Hal McKusick, Sam Marowitz, Phil Woods (alto saxes); Hal Schaefer (piano); Milt Hinton (bass); Osie Johnson (drums).

Recorded in New York City, November 28, 1955.

#15, #16, #21 , #22: 

Billy Byers, Urbie Green, Freddie Ohms, Chauncey Welsh (trombones); Tommy Mitchell (bass trombone); Hal Schaefer (piano); Milt Hinton (bass); Osie Johnson (drums).

Recorded in New York City, November 9, 1955.

#17, #18, #23, #24: 

Jimmy Nottingham, Nick Travis (trumpets); Hal Schaefer (harpsichord); Milt Hinton (bass); Don Lamond, Ed Shaughnessy (drums).

Recorded in New York City, October 17, 1955.

Bob Prince And... Saxes, Inc.

Thirteen of the country's top sax men in a musicians' —and listeners'— holiday.

This album is a tribute to many things; the saxophone itself, the great musicians of its brief history, some of the repertoire which has been associated with this peculiary jazz-suited instrument, the specific musicians who made these recordings, and most of all to the arranger whose interpretation of this unique idea is an extraordinary example of the creativity and technique that consistently mark his work. Bob Prince faced a difficult challenge in accepting the assignment of a "Saxophones, Inc." album, and made it still more challenging by resolving to use a great deal of material which has been associated with the instrument and its past masters. His conception of what and how to write for a saxophone ensemble has been brilliantly executed.

Prince did not start work until he had set the personnel for each session. He drew his primary inspiration from the virtuosity of each member of the ensemble; he wrote specifically for the individuals who made this recording. *George Avakian (liner notes)*

Saxes Inc. — a unique sax-heavy session done by Warner Brothers, and a blaring batch of tracks played by an all-star all-sax group that includes Herb Geller, Phil Woods, Gene Quill, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Seldon Powell, Hal McKusick, and Georgie Auld! Bob Prince arranged and conducted, and the approach is surprisingly modernist, with the saxes carrying the bulk of the rhythm and melody, as well as the solos —a really great approach that makes for plenty of unique moments— all handled with a sound that's a lot more fluid than you might expect! Titles include "Four Brothers" (of course!), "The Gypsy", "Night In Tunisia", "Jumpin With Symphony Sid", and "Axmobile".

*Jordi Pujol*

1 - Fugue For Tinhorns

(Frank Loesser)

2 - Broadway

(Woode, McRae, Bird)

3 - The Gypsy

(Billy Reid)

4 - Night In Tunisia

(Gillespie, Paparelli)

5 - Four Brothers

(Jimmy Giuffre)

6 - Sometimes I'm Happy

(Caesar, Youmans)

7 - Tickle-Toe

(Lester Young)

8 - Sweet And Lovely

(Arnheim, Tobias, Lemare)

9 - Jumpin' With Symphony Sid

(Lester Young)

10 - Early Autumn

(Mercer, Burns, Herman)

11 - Axmobile

(Robert Prince)

Al Cohn, Coleman Hawkins, Georgie Auld, Morty Lewis, Seldon Powell, Zoot Sims (tenor saxes); Gene Quill, Herb Geller, Phil Woods (alto saxes); Al Epstein, Gene Allen, Sol Schlinger (baritone saxes); Hal McKusick (soprano sax); Shelly Gold (bass sax); Dick Katz (piano); George Duvivier (bass); Osie Johnson (drums). 

Arranged and directed by Bob Prince.

Recorded in New York City, July and August, 1959.

Phil Woods • Gene Quill Sextet - Phil And Quill

 

In all of the awed recognition of the overwhelming influence that Charlie (Bird) Parker has had on the way jazz has developed during the past decade, it is only occasionally that one comes face to face with the problems that follow in the wake of so pervasive an influence. These problems are most noticeable in the area of Parker's own instrument, the alto saxophone.

If Parker pointed the way for jazz as a whole, he did much more for the alto sax. He set a pattern that has seemed so definitive that every alto man who has come after him, almost without exception, has taken to his pattern as though any deviation would be unthinkable heresy. This, of course, is the natural way for a jazz musician to start—there is always someone who is the inspiration and the guide.

But before Parker, no one —not even Louis Armstrong— had established an approach that was so universally accepted by the contemporary jazz generation.

As a consequence Parker, as a model, has been a trap —an inviting and exciting trap, to be sure— but nonetheless a trap for many young altoists who managed to acquire the surface qualities of Parker but, having done that, found they had no place to go but around and around the same repetitive and uncreative circle.

Neither Phil Woods nor Gene Quill were exceptions to the mode of the times when they started out on alto. Bird was the influence and they took to it with passion.

But, having used this convenient stepping stone to launch themselves in jazz, they both had the individuality and personal creativeness to realize that they had to avoid being suffocated by this influence. Building on the foundation they inherited, they have each moved in directions that are distinctly their own, and as time goes by the sound of their original inspiration has become steadily dimmer as their own musical personalities assert themselves.

Of the two. Woods has possibly developed the most completely individual attack at this point strong, assertive and gustily swinging. But Quill, who burst from the cocoon a Itit later than Woods, has recently been moving with startling and satisfying speed toward his own jazz fate.

The idea of teaming up has been stewing in the two altoists' minds for a couple of years, ever since they met at the apartment of pianist John Williams and started playing together in various groups. They found that they felt comfortable in each other's musical company and that more flexibility and variety were possible in the sound of two altos than in pairings of most other instruments.

The close musical and personal ties that bind Gene and Phil were made even tighter after they launched their own group (two altos and rhythm).

In the sextet heard in these performances, a "bottom" is provided for the two alto saxes by Sol Schlinger's baritone saxophone. The rhythm section is made up of the brilliant, swinging pianist, Dave McKenna; bassist Buddy Jones; and drummer Shadow Wilson, a widely experienced big-band veteran (Hampton, Hines, Basie, Herman).

The arrangements come from the pens of Woods; Neal Hefli and Nat Pierce, both quondam bandleaders; Bill Potts, who made his mark as a writer with Willis Conover's Washington band; and Gene Orloff, a violinist who is in great demand as concertmaster on jazz sessions when strings are used. *John S. Wilson (liner notes)*

The meetings of alto saxophonist Phil Woods and Gene Quill, such as this 1956 sextet date for RCA, are always enjoyable. In addition to baritone saxophonist Sol Schlinger, Woods and Quill are joined by pianist Dave McKenna, bassist Buddy Jones, and drummer Shadow Wilson. The focus is on the two altoists, but there is occasionally blowing room for Schlinger and McKenna, too. Gene Orloff's snappy "Sax Fifth Avenue" and Woods' brisk "Four Flights Up" are the highlights of the date, along with several works by Bill Potts. This is a typically solid effort by Phil Woods and Gene Quill.

*Ken Dryden*

Side 1

1 - Sax Fith Avenue

(Gene Orloff)

2 - Ready Rudy

(Neal Hefti)

3 - Cabeza

(Nat Pierce)

4 - Twin Funkies

(Phil Woods)

5 - Rib Roast

(Nat Pierce)

6 - High Stepping Bizzies

(Bill Potts)

Side 2

7 - Four Flights Up

(Phil Woods)

8 - Dig You P's And Q's

(Nat Pierce)

9 - Dry Chops In The Moonlight

(Bill Potts)

10 - Una Momento

(Phil Woods)

11 - Pottsville, U.S.A.

(Bill Potts)

12 - Frank The Barber

(Bill Potts)

Phil Woods, Gene Quill (alto saxes); Sol Schlinger (baritone sax); Dave McKenna (piano); Buddy Jones (bass); Shadow Wilson (drums).

Recorded in New York City, March 15, 1956.

The Jon Eardley Seven

When Jon Eardley first joined Gerry Mulligan's Quartet many people immediately closeted him with Chet Baker for the simple reason that he was playing with Gerry Mulligan. It is true that Jon was exercising a certain restraint in fitting his personality to the quartet but he never sounded like Baker. However, it took his own recordings and those with Phil Woods to establish clearly that his was a harmonically richer and more virile style.

Here it is a septet for which he has penned some arresting lines which never lack an inner swing and are well developed by the integration of trumpet-alto against trombone-tenor. For the personnel of the septet, Jon has drawn on past and present associates and chosen wisely and well. The very sound that they get points up the kindred spirit that existed on the date. For conclusive proof listen to the exchange between Zoot and Phil in "On The Minute" or the four way conversation on "Ladders". 

As I said before this is really Jon's personal expression. Aside from the ballad "There's No You" and George Syran's "For Leap Year", the rest of the compositions are by him. And there is his muscular and melodic horn which shows further maturity and added lustre. This is Eard's word and you can take him at it, for he knows whereof he speaks... straight from the shoulder.

*Ira Gitler (liner notes)*

This recording was done at a time when Jon Eardley and Zoot Sims were members of Gerry Mulligan's sextet. Jon, the young trumpeter from Altoona, Pennsylvania, was first visible at the legendary Open Door sessions in Greenwich Village during the mid-Fifties. Then he and Phil Woods recorded together in their New Jazz Quintet and Jon did his own quartet and quintet dates for Prestige. This septet shows off not only his playing and composing but his arranging talent as well. With Sims and Woods aboard, solo power was guaranteed. Milt Gold was not as well known but his highly articulate trombone fits in perfectly. In the Sixties Eardley left the United States for Europe to work in Belgium and Germany. He became a valuable member of the WDR Radio Big Band in Cologne, Germany, where his trumpet and flugelhorn continued to champion lyricism and swing until his death in 1991. *concord.com*

Side 1

1 - Leap Year

(Syran)

2 - There's No You

(Hopper)

3 - On The Minute

(Eardley)

Side 2

4 - Ladders

(Eardley)

5 - Koo Koo

(Eardley)

6 - Eard's Word

(Woods)

Jon Eardley (trumpet), Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Phil Woods (alto sax), Milt Gold (trombone), George Syran (piano), Teddy Kotick (bass), Nick Stabulas (drums).

Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, January 13, 1956.

Billy Ver Planck Orchestra - Jazz For Playgirls

Billy Ver Planck is a highly respected arranger, composer and trombonist, husband of the brilliant singer Marlene Ver Planck (Marlene Paula Pampinella), surely one of the most underrated vocalists of the last three decades. This is one of the three or four albums he did for Savoy in the 1950s using a big-sounding nine-piece band containing such notable soloists as trombonist Bill Harris, also saxist Phil Woods, trumpeter Joe Wilder and Eddie Costa doubling vibraphone and piano. The writing is excellent for it inspires the soloists and allows them space to deploy themselves. This was a particularly productive period for Woods, who takes off like a rocket on a number of tracks and is fea tured throughout "Whoo-ee!". The unique sound that was Bill Harris is still a joy, and when Ver Planck takes over the solo trombone role on one track it is obvious who he admires. The playing time could be better, but the work of Ver Planck and his colleagues is above reproach.

A nine man ball! Yes, that’s the best way to describe the exciting occurence in jazz captured in the enclosed album. Billy Ver Planck, versatile young trombonist-writer, has composed and arranged seven superb essays for jazz nonet that are sure to capture the vote of every jazz fan! Featuring the brilliant Bill Harris and Phil Woods, Seldon Powell, Eddie Costa, Joe Wilder and "a cast of thousands" as the ads say! Ver Planck and Ozzie Cadena, SAVOY A&R chief, have collaborated and individually contributed tunes, that Billy has given a wide range of interpretation. *H. Alan Stein (liner notes)*

A good straight ahead 1957 nonet album arranged and conducted by little known Billy Ver Planck featuring the alto sax of Phil Woods and the trombone of ex Woody Herman trombonist Bill Harris. One or the other, or both, solo on every track with occasional trumpet or tenor sax solo as well. 

The sequencing here is perfect beginning with the most popular tune first, although Horace Silver had just recorded it the previous year. Billy raises the tempo perhaps hoping to get some radio airplay too and the down tempo tunes are well placed. My only minor objection is the vibraphone playing of Eddie Costa on the longest track, comping behind Harris's playing and then taking a Lionel Hampton like solo of his own detracting a bit from the straight ahead nature of the album. Costa plays piano on the rest album. Keep a ear out for Phil Wood's cool but brief clarinet solo on "Winds". *John M. (Amazon customer)*

Arranger Billy Ver Planck leads a nones on some hard-swinging numbers; all but Horace Silver's "Señor Blues" were composed either by Ver Planck or producer Ozzie Cadena. Starring on these spirited sides are trombonist Bill Harris (who is heard at his most exciting on "Play Girl Stroll"), altoist Phil Woods (doubling on clarinet), Eddie Costa (doubling on vibes and piano) and trumpeter Joe Wilder. Ver Planck's arrangements make the group sound twice as big as it was yet have the feel of a small combo. A highly recommended disc. *Scott Yanow*

Side 1

1 - Señor Blues

(Horace Silver)

2 - Play Girl Stroll

(Ozzie Cadena)

3 - Aw, C'mon Sugah!

(Ozzie Cadena)

Side 2

4 - Whoo-ee!

(Ozzie Cadena)

5 - Miss Spring Blues

(Billy Ver Plank)

6 - Winds

(Billy Ver Plank)

7 - Du-udah-udah

(Billy Ver Plank)

#1 and #3 to #7:

Clyde Reasinger, Joe Wilder (trumpets); Bill Harris [#1 to #5], Billy Ver Planck [#6] (trombones); Phil Woods (alto sax); Seldon Powell (tenor sax); Gene Allen (baritone sax); Eddie Costa (vibes, piano); George Duvivier (bass); Bobby Donaldson (drums). 

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, November 17, 1957

#2

Bernie Glow, Phil Sunkel (trumpets), Bill Harris (trombone); Phil Woods (alto sax); Seldon Powell (tenor sax); Sol Schlinger (baritone sax); Eddie Costa (vibes, piano); Wendell Marshall (bass); Gus Johnson (drums). 

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, July 30, 1957

Billy Ver Planck (Arranger and conductor)