Five-Star Collection... Stan Getz / Bob Brookmeyer

Stan Getz And Bob Brookmeyer

Recorded Fall 1961

Despite what you read in liner notes, an appalling percentage of jazz albums lose their allure over the years. I think particularly of that period in the mid-1950s when the monthly streams (main and others) of jazz releases first began to overflow. Many of the sets issued during those years have become as inactive on most turntables as Paul Whiteman sides without Bix. Yet a few albums of the time have proved durable, and among them were the Verve colloquies between Stan Getz and Bob Brookmeyer. The reason they lasted is that both these jazzmen had already established substantial personal styles that did not feed on fads (cool or funky) and besides, they completed each other so naturally that whole performances resulted, not fragmentary strings of solos.

The first meeting between Getz and Brookmeyer since that period took place in September 1961, while Getz was back in this country to refuel himself through stimulation from American jazzmen. (And also make some money). Since 1958, Getz has been an expatriate in Copenhagen, and while his recordings in Europe have been consistently interesting, they often lacked the level of mutual interaction between Getz and the local sideman that ignites the best of home-brewed recordings. (If this be chauvinism, ask American jazzmen about their experiences with most European rhythm sections).

The lapse of years and distance have not flawed the musical communion between Getz and Brookmeyer, as is evident from the first track on. They interweave lines and fuse rhythmically as if they'd been playing together steadily for a long time. Both, moreover, have a rare capacity for fresh, uncluttered, melodic imagination that is a refreshing relief from dates on which the players beguile themselves — but not always the listener — by the speed with which they can conjugate chord changes. The opener itself was written by Brookmeyer a month or so before the session, and as the title indicates, represents his quixotic conception of what a contemporary, jazz-limned minuet can sound like.

(...)

The rhythm section is one that Getz chose for his club dates on his return to America. John Neves has long been known to musicians who visited Boston in recent years and for a time was an important part of the Herb Pomeroy band there. Steve Kuhn, who also first established a reputation in that area, is an uncommonly imaginative pianist with formidable technique. In the past year, Kuhn has become even more effective as he's learned how to edit his abundance of ideas. Roy Haynes may well be the most taken-for-granted major drummer in jazz. He also been so reliable and resourceful for so long that he doesn't get nearly the degree of attention he merits.

The quintet blends well together, all the more so since each of the five has enough confidence in his own musical way to relax enough to listen to the others. From this kind of shared attitude records are produced that can be replayed long after the polls have changed and rechanged.

*Nat Hentoff (from the liner notes)*

This marks two events, the first recording by Getz since his return to the United States; a reunion with Brookmeyer, his partner of the mid-'50s.

The simultaneous happenings are cause for celebration. Getz and Brookmeyer are mature players, and everything they do on this record is in perfect balance insofar as ingredients required for one style of complete jazz performance are concerned.

The group, exclusive of Brookmeyer, is the one Getz has toured with since spring, 1961. Kuhn is a young pianist who has shown a liking for Bill Evans. He manifests this in several places here but also exhibits things of his own. He fits well in a subtle but driving (when it has to) rhythm section, completed by the strong Neves and the impeccable Haynes.

The three Brookmeyer originals are delightful: Minuet has as infectious a line as I’ve heard in a while, Who Could Care? is a lovely ballad. Thump is an equally engaging composition.

The other material is complementary. Berkeley Square is a beautiful ballad that has not been recorded into the ground, and Buck Clayton's Love Jumped Out is an old Basie feature that has only been done once since the 1930s (Paul Quinichette with a Basie alumni group in the '50s). It also has been some time since we've heard Nice Work. When it's played like this, however, you can enjoy it even if you had just heard several other versions.

There are many good things to be said about the individual merits of Getz and Brookmeyer, but the most important factor in the success of this set is the ease with which these men communicate their thoughts and feelings to the audience. It seems to flow out and by the same token, right in.

*Ira Gitler (Down Beat, February 15, 1962 [5 stars])*

1 - Minuet Circa '61

(Bob Brookmeyer)

2 - Who Could Care

(Bob Brookmeyer)

3 - Nice Work If You Can Get It

(George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)

4 - Thump, Thump, Thump

(Bob Brookmeyer)

5 - A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square

(Manning Sherwin, Eric Maschwitz)

6 - Love Jumped Out

(Buck Clayton)

Stan Getz (tenor sax), Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone),

Steve Kuhn (piano), John Neves (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded at Nola Recording Studio, New York City, September 12 and 13, 1961

Five-Star Collection... Bud Powell

 ...and here we go again

At the end of last year, the story was deliberately left with The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 1 — the first five-star album in Down Beat’s modern jazz reviews. It was a natural place to pause, with a promise implied rather than stated: the sequence would resume where it inevitably led. Returning now, Outlet Jazz picks up exactly at that point, with The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2, an album that also received the magazine’s highest rating and confirmed that the earlier accolade had been no isolated judgment.

The fact that Bud Powell was the first musician to achieve the highest rating was no small detail.His emergence as a modern pianist — capable of reshaping the bebop language from the keyboard — marked a clear before and after for critics and musicians alike. That initial five-star rating did more than celebrate virtuosity; it acknowledged, in real time, the arrival of a defining voice in mid-twentieth-century jazz.

Between 1949 and 1955, Bud Powell recorded three albums that not only defined his career but also shaped the course of modern jazz piano: The Amazing Bud Powell and The Artistry of Bud Powell. The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 1 (Blue Note, 1949–51) and The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2 (Blue Note, 1953) document, with remarkable clarity, the evolution of an artist who brought the language of bebop to the keyboard with unprecedented precision and intensity. The first, recorded for Alfred Lion with musicians such as Fats Navarro, Sonny Rollins, and Max Roach, displays Powell’s genius in trio, quintet, and solo formats, establishing a model that would influence an entire generation. The second volume, more introspective and focused, reveals a less explosive but more refined Powell, asserting his voice amid the personal difficulties already beginning to surround him.

Finally, The Artistry of Bud Powell (Norgran, 1954), produced by Norman Granz, offers a different perspective on the pianist. Recorded in a more controlled setting and with a polished sound, it finds Powell joined by George Duvivier, Percy Heath, and Art Taylor, revisiting standards and original compositions with a serenity that contrasts with the urgency of his Blue Note sessions. Heard together, these recordings trace Bud Powell’s creative summit: the passage from the fire of bebop to a more contained — yet no less intense — maturity, and the sound world of one of the most decisive artists of the twentieth century.

When Down Beat reviewed The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2, it did more than close the chapter opened by the first volume. The magazine used the occasion to place Powell’s recent work in a broader context, bringing The Artistry of Bud Powell into the same critical frame. Following that logic, Outlet Jazz resumes its work by addressing both albums together.

Here is how Down Beat reviewed the two albums that concern us today — The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2 and The Artistry of Bud Powell:

Two absorbing journeys (recorded this June) into the musically astonishing and troubled mind of Bud Powell. The first, made for Norman Granz, has Arthur Taylor on drums with George Duvivier and Percy Heath splitting the bass assignment. On the five standards, Bud is in an unusually gentle, reflectively passionate mood. Buttercup is a characteristically angular, intensely rhythmic original that is almost sunny in its casualness. Fantasy is more angular, more intense. (Norgran LP MG N-23)

The Blue Note program is more diversified. On this set, issued by Alfred Lion with the permission of Norman Granz, Bud was backed in August, 1953, by Taylor and the amazing Duvivier (amazing not only in his too long underrated bass artistry but in his ability to communicate so fully with Bud, no matter how rapidly and unpredictably the latter's musical mind races). Bud involves himself with Autumn and Polka Dots here with much the same measured passion as in the Granz album.

On the other bands (but one) he is the familiarly unfamiliar Bud Powell at middle and uptempo originals and in reappraisals of standard lines. The one exception is Enclosure, the best and most stimulatingly organized Bud original yet recorded and one that shows in small area the potential of this musician for significant composition as well as influential interpretation. It is to be hoped for himself and for music that Bud soon will come back to health. Good, helpful notes for the Blue Note LP by Leonard Feather. The Blue Note is better recorded and has the better cover. Both sets are worth repeated listening. (Blue Note LP BLP 5041). 

*Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, November 17, 1954 [5 stars]*

Bud Powell

The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2

Between these covers lies the harvest of a journey through the mind of Bud Powell. It is a journey in which beauty and darkness, pleasure and sorrow are to be gleaned along the way; for this mind is a strange land, endowed with a glow of genius yet beset by illness and deprivation.

Bud Powell's career has been an erratic one, gregarious months along 52nd Street alternating with lonely months in the hospital. For all the inconsistency of his march to fame, he has managed to earn the unanimous admiration of his contemporaries and to forge an ineradicable place for himself in the international hall of jazz fame.

A year ago, on his return from a year's absence, he was approached by Alfred Lion of Blue Note Records to make his first return to the recording studios since his illness. But at that time he was enjoying two weeks' vacation between engagements at Birdland.

The session that resulted was no hasty, impromptu venture. It was the product of many meetings between Lion, Powell and Duvivier and Taylor. Each tune was selected to show a certain aspect of Bud's style, and the entire set offers a comprehensive picture of this extraordinary talent. (...)

If you know Bud Powell only by repute, or through the media of radio and night clubs, this LP is the definitive set to represent him in your collection. If you already have his earlier recordings, you will probably agree with me that in this group of performances Bud Powell is at his peak. Let us hope that today, at the age of 30, he may have a future studded with many more such achievements. *Leonard Feather (from the liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - Reets And I

(Benny Harris)

2 - Autumn In New York

(Vernon Duke)

3 - I Want To Be Happy

(Vincent Youmans)

4 - Sure Thing

(Jerome Kern, Ira Gershwin)

Side 2

5 - Glass Enclosure

(Bud Powell)

6 - Collard Greens And Black-Eye Peas

(Oscar Pettiford)

7 - Polka Dots And Moonbeams

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

8 - Audrey

(Bud Powell)

Bud Powell (piano), George Duvivier (bass), Art Taylor (drums).

Recorded at WOR Studios, New York City, August 14, 1953

✳✳✳

Bud Powell

The Artistry Of Bud Powell

I've tried, in the past album brochures which I have written about Bud Powell, to describe carefully the man's playing with the man himself, because the two parts are inseparable and each is the key to the other’s personality.

I know of no other musician on the jazz scene today who is as frustrated as Bud Powell. He has so much to say and he tries so hard to say it that from time to time his efforts are too much for his body and his mind. I started to say and his spirit but I find that once seated at the piano his spirit is unquenchable. Bud loves his music and, having a natural talent for creation, something wonderful usually comes out of this marriage of creation and love. But there are too the frustrated edges which occasionally creep in, and in saying this I don't mean to derogate Bud but rather to describe him as accurately as I can, and in many ways this frustration at the edges is a kind of comment that Bud has to make about life and about his music, just as they, in turn, explain Bud.

This date was done with a great deal of preparation and Bud made it a point to practice his numbers as often and as thoroughly as he could so that he would be completely familiar with them and I think this comes through genuinely and sincerely on the sides. Bud chose all the tunes himself, and among them are the great standards, "Moonlight In Vermont", "Spring is Here" and "My Funny Valentine", and also a perfectly delightful original composition Bud made, entitled "Buttercup". The date was done in two sections and on one date we used George Duvivier on bass and on the other Percy Heath. The drummer on both dates was Art Taylor. The respect that these men have for Bud is evident, as is their own contribution on the date.

This, then, is more of the creative Bud Powell. *Norman Granz (from the liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - Moonlight In Vermont

(Karl Suessdorf, John Blackburn)

2 - Time Was

(Miguel Prado, Gabriel Luna, Bob Russell)

3 - Spring Is Here

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

Side 2

4 - Buttercup

(Bud Powell)

5 - Fantasy In Blue

(Bud Powell)

6 - It Never Entered My Mind

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

7 - My Funny Valentine

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

Bud Powell (piano); George Duvivier [#1, #3, #4, 5],

Percy Heath [#2, #6, #7] (basses), Art Taylor (drums).

Recorded at Fine Sound Studio, New York City,

June 2 [#1, #3, #4, 5] and June 4 [#2, #6, #7], 1954

✳✳✳

For those who prefer digital versions, each file includes the corresponding CD which, as usual, also adds bonus tracks and alternate takes not present on the original LPs.

The compact disc Bud Powell's Moods appears here thanks to the generosity of my dear friend Melanchthon.

Five-Star Collection... The Down Beat Five-Star History (Part III)

After exploring both the symbolic ratings of 1946 and the numerical approach introduced in 1951, we now arrive at the reform that would define Down Beat for generations of readers.

This final part revisits the introduction of the magazine's most enduring metric — its hallmark five-star scale.

✤ 1952 ✤

The Star System

Finally, in the May 21, 1952 issue, Down Beat introduced the five-star system — the format that would come to define the magazine's identity for decades. By then, the review department was organized into three distinct sections: Popular, Jazz, and Rhythm & Blues, each with its own criteria and editorial approach.

The new system formalized a crucial distinction. Popular and Rhythm & Blues releases were to be judged by their broad general appeal, while Jazz records — reflecting the magazine's core mission — were evaluated strictly on their musical merit. The editors also devised an additional symbol for popular and R&B items whose musical interest rose above their commercial category.

Here is how Down Beat announced the change:

"Records in the popular and rhythm-and-blues sections are reviewed and rated in terms of broad general appeal. Records in the jazz section are reviewed and rated in terms of their musical merit.

Records in the popular and rhythm-and-blues sections of interest from the musical standpint are marked with a sharp (#), or, if exceptionally interesting, a double sharp (##)".

Ratings:

★★★★★ Excellent (Masterpiece [today])

★★★★ Very Good (Excellent [today])

★★★ Good

★★ Fair

★ Poor

With this clear and durable format — and with its three-tiered review structure firmly in place — Down Beat finally arrived at the rating system that would carry it through the 10-inch and 12-inch LP eras, the CD market, the reissue boom, and well into the digital age.

What was the first Jazz album reviewed that achieved the highest score?

The Amazing Bud Powell!

Bud Powell

The Amazing Bud Powell

Two piano solo sides, four trios and two numbers by a quintet (Fats Navarro, Sonny Rollins and rhythm) are here combined into an LP, justifiably entitled "The Amazing Bud Powell".

Cynics who are inclined to sneer at bop and belittle its accomplishments are hereby advised to spend a few hours browsing over this disc. Congratulations to Blue Note's Alfred Lion for catching Bud at his fabulous best, and to the artist, name of Bacon, who conjured up that brilliant likeness of Bud for the cover. (Blue Note LP 5003.) *(Down Beat, Chicago, May 21, 1954 [5 stars])*

Powell's place in the jazz galaxy can hardly be overstated. He was a genius, the Charlie Parker of piano, and a brilliant composer. He was a contemporary (and friend) of Thelonious Monk, but declared that his greatest influence on piano was Art Tatum. He had a right hand that was described as lightning fast, a dazzlingly melodic way of improvising, and a rhythmic complexity that nonetheless flowed naturally. In the course of his career, Powell’s playing underwent style changes and, near the end, as his health went downhill, there was sometimes a certain raggedness about it — but it was always right.

The Amazing Bud Powell is the product of two separate recording sessions, one of a quintet on August 9, 1949, the other of a trio on May 1, 1951. Originally released on the Blue Note label in 10-inch LP form, the album, not surprisingly, has been re-released a number of times. 

Along with Powell on the 1949 date are the pioneering bop trumpeter Fats Navarro, a 20-year-old Sonny Rollins on tenor sax, bassist Tommy Potter, and drummer Roy Haynes. The trio date in 1951 included bassist Curley Russell and drummer Max Roach.

As the leader on both the recording dates, Powell's playing is naturally showcased. But what a treat to hear Fats Navarro — a bebop icon who died way too young — along with Sonny Rollins and Roy Haynes, both of whom are still alive, still playing, and whose evolving approaches to the music we’ve been able to witness over all these years. Not to mention Max Roach, who many consider to have been the greatest drummer in jazz history.

The original Powell compositions recorded here are bebop classics, and wonderful to hear. But the album also more than does justice to compositions by Bird, Dizzy and Monk as well as some hand-picked gems from the Great American Songbook.

I'm hardly the first to note that this is bop at its highest level. And if you have any real interest in jazz, this album belongs in your collection. Be warned, though: Bud Powell can be addictive. ("Betcha can’t hear just one!"). *Terry MacDonald (seacoastjazz.org)*

Side 1

1 - Un Poco Loco

(Bud Powell)

2 - Over The Rainbow

(E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, Harold Arlen)

3 - Ornithology

(Bennie Harris)

4 - Wail

(Bud Powell)

Side 2

5 - A Night In Tunisia

(Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)

6 - It Could Happen To You

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

7 - You Go To My Head

(J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie)

8 - Bouncing With Bud

(Bud Powell)

#1, #5:

Bud Powell (piano), Curley Russell (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#2, #6:

Bud Powell (solo piano)

#3, #4, #7, #8:

Fats Navarro (trumpet), Sonny Rollins (tenor sax),

Bud Powell (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded at WOR Studios, New York City,

August 9, 1949 [other source gives August 8, 1949] (#3, #4, #7, #8)

and May 1, 1951 (#1, #2, #5, #6)

The CD containing these recordings is a digital replica of the 12" LP issued two years later.

Appropriately, it too was "awarded" five stars… While Bud’s solo "Over The Rainbow" is not included, the disc is rounded out by alternate takes and additional tracks not found on the original 10" LP.

Bud Powell

The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 1

In view of the importance of this album historically, and the fact that four of its tracks have never been released previously, this part-reissue set gets listed here. Loco, one of Bud's most striking performances, is shown here in genesis. Infidels, never released on LP before, has Fats Navarro, Sonny Rollins, Tommy Potter, and Roy Haynes. Like Theme, Wail, and Bouncing with Bud (which have the same personnel and were previously on 10'' LPs), Infidels was recorded in 1949.

It Could Happen is a hitherto unreleased alternate master as is the first Tunisia. Both, like Loco and Parisian Thoroughfare, were cut in 1951 with Curly Russell and Max Roach. Ornithology with Potter and Haynes dates back to 1949. Thoroughfare, never released before, is an earlier version of the original Bud recorded for Clef. This is the first volume of two Blue Note 12'' Powell LPs. Blue Note has also repackaged in 12'' form albums by Sidney Bechet (BLP 1201), Jay Jay Johnson (BLP 1605) and Miles Davis (BLP 1501). All are recommended. Remastering has been done by Rudy Van Gelder. *Nat Hentoff (Down Beat, April 18, 1956 [5 stars])*

1 - Un Poco Loco (1st take)

(Bud Powell)

2 - Un Poco Loco (2nd take)

(Bud Powell)

3 - Un Poco Loco

(Bud Powell)

4 - Dance Of The Infidels

(Bud Powell)

5 - 52nd St. Theme

(Thelonious Monk)

6 - It Could Happen To You (alternate master)

(Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen)

7 - A Night In Tunisia (alternate master)

(Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)

8 - A Night In Tunisia

(Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Paparelli)

9 - Wail

(Bud Powell)

10 - Ornithology

(Bennie Harris)

11 - Bouncing With Bud

(Bud Powell)

12 - Parisian Thoroughfare

(Bud Powell)

#1, #2, #3, #7, #8, #12:

Bud Powell (piano), Curley Russell (bass), Max Roach (drums).

#6:

Bud Powell (solo piano)

#4, #5, #9, #10, #11:

Fats Navarro (trumpet), Sonny Rollins (tenor sax),

Bud Powell (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded at WOR Studios, New York City,

August 9, 1949 [other source gives August 8, 1949] (#4, #5, #9, #10, #11)

and May 1, 1951 (#1, #2, #3, #6, #7, #8, #12)

After The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 1 came The Amazing Bud Powell • Volume 2, a logical next step for the Blue Note label.

It, too, received five stars — reason enough to leave the story here, and to pick it up again next year.

For now… a pause...

The Punta del Este lighthouse points me in the right direction for summer vacation... 

Best wishes to everyone for the upcoming 2026!

Will back in February...

◈◈◈

Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre

Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre:

Altoist Lee Konitz is showcased during a set of adventurous Bill Russo arrangements for an orchestra and strings in 1958, pops up on half of Ralph Burns' underrated 1951 classic Free Forms (the most enjoyable of the four sets), and meets up with baritonist Jimmy Giuffre, whose arrangements for five saxes (including the great tenor Warne Marsh) and a trio led by pianist Bill Evans are sometimes equally influenced by classical music and bop. The least interesting date showcases Giuffre’s clarinet with a string section on his five-part "Piece For Clarinet And String Orchestra" and the 16 brief movements of "Mobiles". *vinylpussycat.com*

These two virtuoso reed players are among the most intrepid improvisers in jazz. In the Forties, Konitz was the alternative voice to Charlie Parker on alto saxophone, playing with a pure, cool sound, and he first came to prominence with the Miles Davis nine-piece band.

Lee Konitz meets Jimmy Giuffre, and it's a small masterpiece of pure jazz. Konitz is the main soloist on nine tracks of standards, ballads and originals, all beautifully scored by Giuffre for five saxophones plus a rhythm section of pianist Bill Evans, bassist Buddy Clark and drummer Ronnie Free. The music swings effortlessly and has the added joy of solos by Evans, the late great tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh and Giuffre himself, who plays baritone sax. *classical-music.com*

You And Lee:

A treasure! This album has been long out of print, although it was available on some compilations.

Before I proceed give the sound samples on You And Lee  a listen to get a sense of this album. For one thing, it's more of a big band ensemble. However, the arrangements by Jimmy Giuffre lift this into a different vibe than your typical big band fare. There is a definite West Coast touch to this album. Another feature is the rhythm section, which features Bill Evans on piano leading on most tracks, and Jim Hall on guitar on the remaining ones. That, too, gives this album a distinctive sound without breaking the continuity of the overall listening experience.

This was recorded in New York City for Verve on October 29 and 30, 1959. The core ensemble is comprised of Konitz on alto sax accompanied by a trumpet section (Marky Markowitz, Ernie Royal, Phil Sunkel), a trombone section (Eddie Bert and Billy Byers, with Bob Brookmeyer on valve trombone), Bill Evans on piano, Jim Hall on guitar, Sonny Dallas on bass and Roy Haynes on drums. *Mike Tarrani*

One of the lesser-known Lee Konitz albums, this LP features the altoist joined by six brass and a rhythm section for eight Jimmy Giuffre arrangements. The shouting brass contrasts well with Konitz's cool-toned solos and together they perform eight underplayed standards. Guitarist Jim Hall and pianist Bill Evans (who are on four songs apiece) are major assets behind Konitz on this pleasing set. * Scott Yanow*

Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre

Featuring Bill Evans

This release presents the complete Lee Konitz albums You and Lee , and Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre . These were Konitz and Bill Evans' earliest studio collaborations: on the first LP the pianist only played on one of the two sessions (Jim Hall replaced him on the other one), while on the second Evans was featured throughout the entire album. Both works were taped in 1959, and although Konitz and Evans had been previously recorded together in a concert setting, and would be taped in the same fashion during a 1965 European tour, their only other studio LP collaboration was the pianist’s 1977 album Crosscurrents. The great Jimmy Giuffre also participated on both records – on the first as arranger, and on the second as arranger and performer. *jazzmessengers.com*

Merged from two brilliant 1959 studio sessions, this disc is, just as the title and artist credits suggest, a showcase for three immense talents. Those expecting to hear the snap-crackle of Roy Haynes' snare or Bob Brookmeyer's punctuated counterpoints after reading the all-star lineup may be surprised to hear them relegated to the background, but any disappointment will end there. The brilliant playing of Lee Konitz and Bill Evans, paired with Jimmy Giuffre's sensitive arrangements, is enough to satisfy any true jazz lover.

Assembled for the album Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre, the first band, a quintet of saxophones backed by the rhythmic underpinnings of Evans, bassist Buddy Clark and drummer Ronnie Free, immediately shows its musicality on the angular, quasi-atonal "Palo Alto. After a rundown of the pointillistic Giuffre arrangement, Konitz jumps in and alternately toys with and floats over the buoyantly swinging rhythm section and airy horn backgrounds. Konitz and Evans solo at length on "Somp'm Outa' Nothin'", which can only be described as a blues that has a hard time getting off the "one" chord. The arrangement is quintessential Guiffre, with its dense tone clusters and recurring rhythmic pedal; Evans takes incredible liberties with the harmonic structure and shows an early affinity for Monk.

Following a chamber-jazz reworking of "Darn That Dream", in which Giuffre masterfully exploits the subtle harmonic movements using a quintet of saxophones, the album is rounded out with a number of tracks from the '59 album You And Lee. Recorded five months after the initial Konitz/Giuffre studio session, this date finds a trio of trumpets and trombones replacing the saxophone section and adding a distinct edge to the music. Konitz is clearly the leader here; his probing, inventive solos are featured throughout the lineup of reworked standards, and the comping work is split by Evans' piano and the earthy guitar of Jim Hall. The tunes, especially "You Don't Know What Love Is", show Konitz at his best. He dazzles the listener with his sensitivity and invention and revels in the shimmering, transparent beauty evoked by Giuffre's arrangements. *Matthew Miller*

1 - Somp'm Outa' Nothin'

(Giuffre)

2 - Someone To Watch Over Me

(Gershwin, Gershwin)

3 - Uncharted

(Giuffre)

4 - Moonlight In Vermont

(Suessedorf, Blackburn)

5 - The Song Is You

(Kern, Hammerstein)

6 - Palo Alto

(Konitz)

7 - Darn That Dream

(VanHeusen, DeLange)

8 - When Your Lover Has Gone

(Swan)

9 - Cork 'n Bib

(Konitz)

10 - I’m Getting Sentimental Over You

(Bassman, Washington)

11 - You Don't Know What Love Is

(Raye, DePaul)

12 - I Didn't Know About You

(Ellington, Russell)

13 - Ev'rything I've Got (Belongs To You)

(Rodgers, Hart)

14 - You're Clear Out Of This

(Arlen, Mercer)

15 - You Are Too Beautiful

(Rodgers, Hart)

16 - The More I See You

(Warren, Gordon)

17 - You're Driving Me Crazy

(Donaldson)

#1 to #9: from the album Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre (Verve Records MG V-8335)

Lee Konitz, Hal McKusick (as); Warne Marsh, Ted Brown (ts); Jimmy Giuffre (bs); Bill Evans (p); Buddy Clark (b); Ronnie Free (d).

Recorded in New York City, May 12 (#1 to #5) and May 13 (#6 to #9), 1959.

#10 to #17: from the album You And Lee (Verve Records MG V-8362)

Ernie Royal, Irving "Marky" Markowitz, Phil Sunkel (tp); Bob Brookmeyer (v-tb); Eddie Bert [except #14 to #17], Billy Byers (tb); Lee Konitz (as); Bill Evans [except #14 to #17](p); Jim Hall [#14 to #17](g); Sonny Dallas (b); Roy Haynes (d). Jimmy Giuffre (arranger).

Recorded in New York City, October 29 (#10 to #13) and October 30 (#14 to #17), 1959.

Stan Getz And Horace Silver - Pair Of Kings

It is easy to distinguish between hot water and cool water. If you step into a bathtub full of what you think is cool water and it turns out to be boiling hot, it is particularly easy to distinguish the difference.

If, however, you have spent many months or years or even decades listening to hot jazz, on stepping into the less torrid waters provided by music such as you will hear on these sides, the contrast may be far less easy to define. Indeed, few of the jazz experts themselves are in agreement on what constitutes cool jazz, or whether it is an outgrowth of bop, or whether it it an extension or even a synonym for it. 

If the experts themselves can't agree, then how can you, the average listener, possibly know the answer? Well, at least your ears will provide you with certain unmistakable clues. Reacting to many years during which excitement and an aggressive, hard-driving spirit seemed to be essential to a great deal of what was then known as hot jazz, some modern musicians during the middle 1940s rejected this concept in favor of a smoother, subtler approach. The horns, particularly the saxophones, tended toward a softer, gentler tone; the drummers, instead of using the bass drum for regular accents, transferred the bulk of the beat to the cymbal; though syncopation was still in general use, there was more extensive use of even, legato phrasing.

Stan Getz in the archetypical musician of the cool school. Born February 2, 1927 in Philadelphia he lived in New York City from the age of ten. 

After flirting briefly with the bass and bassoon, he took up the saxophone while playing in New York's all-city orchestra. Leaving James Monroe High School in the Bronx, he joined an orchestra led by one Stinky Rogers but was promptly ordered to return to school.

Though the original model of all the "Brothers" was unmistakably Lester Young and their styles at first seemed largely similar, it was Getz who emerged first to form his own combo and establish himself as one of the great individualists of the cool generation.

Horace Silver, a native of Norwalk, Connecticut, born there in 1928. Horace was a tenor saxophonist like Stan when he first played local gigs, but he had switched to piano when Stan Getz heard him one evening in Hartford and was soon invited to join the Getz quintet, with which he remained on tour for a year. It was during this period that six of these titles were recorded. 

Silver's piano style, which is finally receiving the recognition it deserves, is a result not of outward striving towards atonalities and modern classical complexities, but of an inner development and search for deeper "soul" and meaning to the blues roots of jazz. Words like "funk" and "soul" are open to many subjective interpretations, let's suggest that you listen awhile and discover that whatever the word, or the tune, Silver plays real swinging piano. *(Liner notes)*

These recordings, which originally appeared on Roost Records, are all Stan Getz showpieces, some of which were described by Down Beat editor and critic Nat Hentoff as "among the classic products of our contemporary jazz era". Discussing further the special qualities of Stan's playing on these records, Hentoff wrote: "Much has been written about his 'sound' of almost unprecedentedly piercing purity. There is also the Getz way with a melody as he often sculpts a melodic line with the sinuous care of a Martha Graham... Most important from a jazz viewpoint is that he swings. Sometimes vigorously, sometimes exceedingly gentle, he always moves". *Paul Shapler* 

Side 1

1 - Yvette

(Gigi Gryce)

2 - Wild Wood

(Gigi Gryce)

3 - Melody Express

(Gigi Gryce)

4 - Penny

(Horace Silver)

5 - Potter's Luck

(Horace Silver)

6 - Split Kick

(Horace Silver)

Side 2

7 - Rubber Neck

(Frank Rosolino)

8 - Mosquito Knees

(Gigi Gryce)

9 - Sweetie Pie

(John Jacob Loeb)

10 - Hershey Bar

(Johnny Mandel)

11 - Tootsie Roll

(Stan Getz)

12 - For Stompers Only

(Stan Getz)

#1 to #6:

Stan Getz (tenor sax), Jimmy Raney (guitar), Horace Silver (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded in New York City, August 15 (#1, #2, #3, #5) and March 1 (#4, #6), 1951.

#7 and #8:

Stan Getz (tenor sax), Jimmy Raney (guitar), Al Haig (piano), Teddy Kotick (bass), Tiny Kahn (drums).

Recorded live at Storyville Club, Boston, October 28, 1951.

#9 and #10:

Stan Getz (tenor sax), Al Haig (piano), Tommy Potter (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded in New York City, May 17, 1950.

#11 and #12:

Stan Getz (tenor sax), Horace Silver (piano), Joe Calloway (bass), Walter Bolden (drums).

Recorded in New York City, December 10, 1950.

Jimmy Jones - The Splendid Mr. Jones

Jimmy Jones is probably best known as a singer's arranger, even though his first credited orchestration on a jazz vocal session didn't come until a live Sarah Vaughan performance in 1955 (though he had been accompanying her since the late 1940s). His first jazz vocal album as a credited arranger was Beverly Kenney Sings With Jimmy Jones and the Basie-Ites for Roost Records a year later. Going forward, his name often popped up on album covers of albums he had arranged.

But Jones was also a prolific and superlative pianist dating back to recordings with bassist Stuff Smith in 1943. A product of the swing era, Jones recorded mostly with swing instrumentalists and jazz-pop vocalists rather than beboppers. Perhaps his first standout session with a modern feel was with the Frank Wess Quintet on an album for Commodore in 1954.

As a pianist, Jones became known for his elegant playing style, an approach that was increasingly in demand as pop singers ascended to stardom with the rise of the LP in the late 1940s. Vocalists looked good on covers and were favored by listeners who didn't have to get up as often to turn over a record.

These vocalists were increasingly in need of tasteful accompaniment and ensemble arrangements as LP fidelity and phonographs improved in the mid-1950s. Pianists who joined Jones in the vocalist accompaniment lane included Stan Freeman, Buddy Cole, Jimmy Rowles, Joe Harnell and Ronnell Bright.

Now, Fresh Sound has released The Splendid Mr. Jones, a collection of early Jones recordings in the solo and trio formats. The nine solo tracks were recorded in 1947 and show off Jones's chord voicings, ear for drama and self-arranging sensibility. These tracks originally turned up on the French Chronological Classics series some years back, but they sound a lot better now with Fresh Sound's 24-bit remastering.

There are two trio sessions on the new compilation. The first featured Jones's four tracks for Escape!, a 1952 álbum for the Gene Norman Presents label that showcased Jones and several other artists. This trio session feature Jones (p), Billy Hadnott (b) and J.C. Heard (d) playing "Moonlight in Vermont", "London in July", "Autumn in New York" and "Cool in Cuba".

The second trio session is the 10-inch Jimmy Jones Trio album for the French Swing label. Recorded in Paris in 1954, the Jimmy Jones Trio was comprised of Jones (p), Joe Benjamin (b) and Roy Haynes (d). The tracks are "Easy to Love", "Little Girl Blue", "Lush Life", "Just Squeeze Me", "My Funny Valentine" and "Good Morning Heartach".

It's a shame Jones didn't record more often as a leader. Instead, he opted to sit in as a sideman or accompanist with just about every marquee jazz player and singer of the post-war period. I suspect his arranging responsibilities were too time-consuming for much more.

There were few pianists as delicate, lush and as assertive as Jones. He'd coddle songs patiently with a full understanding of their lyrics and musical personalities, using those factors to direct how he'd frame their melodies and then take them apart during his gentle, swinging improvisation.

*Marc Myers*

Jimmy Jones

The Splendid Mr. Jones

Trio & Solo

James Henry Jones (1928-1982) was born in Memphis but spent his formative years in Chicago. "I always liked music", he said. "Guess that was only natural as my father was a choir director and my mother played a little piano".

His first attempt at creating music was at the age of 13 when he started playing the guitar. Later, Jimmy became interested in harmony and began experimenting at the family piano at the age of sixteen. During his formative years, Jimmy Jones developed a deep appreciation for two influential figures in jazz: Art Tatumand Duke Ellington. He had a natural ability to play the right chords and provide accompaniment for singers in the ensembles he worked with. Gradually, he developed the necessary technique and became a proficient pianist.

Jimmy Jones first gained attention in 1943 at Chicago's Garrick, playing with Stuff Smith. His intense expression accompanied a technical skill at the piano that was bound to capture the listener's attention, whether alone or in combination with others. This talent proved to be a great asset when, later that year, he moved to New York and became exposed to the vibrant jazz scene on 52nd Street.

Primarily occupied by his celebrated and continuous work as an accompanist and arranger for Sarah Vaughan, as well as many other great voices, Jimmy Jones had limited opportunities throughout his career to showcase his remarkable abilities as a soloist. Thus, the recordings featured here serve as a testament to his uncanny ability to strike a delicate balance of restraint and richness, showcasing his nuanced playing and artistic mastery as a highly sensitive musician.

The genesis of his chordal style is the story of his musical beginnings, and it is through this journey that The Splendid Mr. Jones leaves an indeliblemark on the history of jazz and piano performance. *Jordi Pujol*

1 - Easy To Love

(Cole Porter)

2 - Little Girl Blue

(Rodgers, Hart)

3 - Lush Life

(Billy Strayhorn)

4 - Just Squeeze Me

(Ellington, Gaines)

5 - My Funny Valentine

(Rodgers, Hart)

6 - Good Morning Heartache

(Higginbotham, Drake, Fisher)

7 - Moonlight In Vermont

(Blackburn, Suessdorf)

8 - London In July

(Duke, Kahn)

9 - Autumn In New York

(Vernon Duke)

10 - Cool In Cuba

(Jimmy Jones)

11 - New World A-Comin'

(Duke Ellington)

12 - Lazy River

(Carmichael, Arodin)

13 - When I Walk With You

(Ellington, Latouche)

14 - Empty Space

(Renfrow)

15 - Zigeuner

(Noel Coward)

16 - What's New?

(Burke, Haggart)

17 - I’ll See You Again

(Noel Coward)

18 - Mad About The Boy

(Noel Coward)

19 - Someday I’ll Find You

(Noel Coward)

20 - Clair De Lune

(Claude Debussy)

21 - Lover Man

(Davis, Sherman, Ramirez)

22 - New York City Blues

(Duke Ellington)

23 - On A Turquoise Cloud

(Ellington, Brown)

24 - Bakiff

(Juan Tizol)

#1 to #6: from the 10-inch album Jimmy Jones Trio (Swing M.33.3336)

Jimmy Jones (piano), Joe Benjamin (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded in Paris, October 28, 1954.

#7 to #10: from the 12-inch album Escape! (GNP-27)

Jimmy Jones (piano), Billy Hadnott (bass), J.C.Heard (drums).

Recorded in Los Angeles, 1952.

#11 to #24: from 78 rpm records released on Wax Records

#11:

Jimmy Jones (piano), John Levy (bass), Denzil Best (drums).

Recorded in New York City, 1947.

#12 to #15:

Jimmy Jones (piano); Al Hall (bass); Denzil Best [#12], Bill Clark [#13, #14] (drums); Al Casey (guitar [#12]); Lynn Warren (vocals [#14]).

Recorded in New York City, 1947.

#16 to #24:

Jimmy Jones (solo piano).

Recorded in New York City, 1947. 

Toshiko Akiyoshi - Toshiko's Blues

In the 1950s, Toshiko Akiyoshi was a force to behold. Inspired early on by pianist Bud Powell's bop attack and lightning-fast fingers, she grew up in Japan after World War II when her parents moved back to the country from Manchuria, China. She began playing piano at age 7, entertained U.S. troops in Japan and fell in love with jazz after hearing a Teddy Wilson recording of "Sweet Lorraine".

In 1953, under the direction of record producer Norman Granz, Akiyoshi recorded her first album with Oscar Peterson's rhythm section: Herb Ellis on guitar, Ray Brown on bass and J. C. Heard on drums. The album was released as Toshiko's Piano in the U.S. and Amazing Toshiko Akiyoshi in Japan. Akiyoshi then studied jazz at the Berklee School of Music in Boston in the mid-1950s on a full scholarship.

She is perhaps best known for her later small-group collaborations in the 1960s with husband, alto saxophonist Charlie Mariano, and big band recordings with her second husband, tenor saxophonist and flutist Lew Tabackin, whom she married in 1969. But her early work still knocks me out and is a must listen.

Now, Fresh Sound has released a two-CD set of Akyoshi's 1950s work that has been remastered with 24-bit technology: Toshiko's Blues: Toshiko Akiyoshi - Quartet and Trio, 1953-1958. The set includes material from her albums Toshiko's Piano (1953), George Wein Presents Toshiko (1956), Toshiko: Her Trio, Her Quartet (1956), Toshiko and the Leon Sash Quartet at Newport (1957), The Many Sides of Toshiko (1957) and the two tracks from her appearance on TV's The Subject Is Jazz in 1958.

Akyoshi's playing on her first album was a staggering tornado of speed, daring and perfection. "Squatty Roo" is hair-raising, but her solo treatment of the ballad "Laura" is exceptional as well. Her trio on the George Wein Presets Toshiko for Wein's Storyville label features Toshiko (p), Paul Chambers (b) and Ed Thigpen (d). The playlist is a mix of beautiful standards such as "It Could Happen to You" and "Softly As in a Morning Sunrise" and originals that include the meditative "Kyo-Shu" and the peppy "Manhattan Address". Throughout the first album, you get to experience Chambers's beefy-thick bass behind her.

The three trio tracks from Toshiko; Her Trio Her Quartet feature Oscar Pettiford (b) and Roy Haynes (d) playing "No Moon at All", "Pea, Bee and Lee" and "Thou Swell". On the four tracks from Toshiko and the Leon Sash Quartet at Newport, Akiyoshi was paired with her trio Gene Cherico (b) and Jake Hanna (d). Leon Sash was a gorgeous accordionist who played with his own quartet.

The Many Sides of Toshiko for Verve features the same trio playing Akyoshi's compositions and a range of standards, including a marvelous "Bag's Groove", which sounds far removed from the original by Milt Jackson. And finally, two tracks from The Subject Is Jazz, an NBC show in 1958 hosted by Gilbert Seldes. The 3d Movement is a fascinating bop workout.

What you'll notice listening to Akyoshi on this set is the iron power of her left hand and the lucidity of her fingers. And like Hazel Scott and Dorothy Donegan, Akyoshi would probably have been a household name if she had been a man. Such was the state of jazz. And it's a shame she didn't get to play and record with Charlie Parker. One of Granz's shortsighted failures, since both were on his Clef label in 1953. *Marc Myers*

Toshiko Akiyoshi

Toshiko's Blues

Quartet And Trios • 1953–1958

In 1953, during the Japan tour of producer and promoter Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic group, pianist Oscar Peterson had the opportunity to witness the performance of 23-year-old pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi at a Ginza club. Peterson was deeply impressed by her talent and successfully convinced Granz to record her. As a result, Toshiko recorded her debut album in Tokyo, accompanied by Peterson's esteemed rhythm section of Herb Ellis on guitar, Ray Brown on double bass, and J.C. Heard on drums. The album was released as Toshiko’s Piano in the United States and Amazing Toshiko Akiyoshi in Japan. Even at that early stage, it was evident that she held a deep admiration for the modernist Bud Powell, a fact that she has never made any effort to hide.

In January 1956, Akiyoshi was granted a prestigious four-year scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, becoming the first-ever Japanese student to enroll in the school. Her talent and unique background quicklymade her popular among fellow students. Since her arrival  in Boston, Toshiko had the valuable opportunity to collaborate with George Wein, the respected owner and manager of the renowned Storyville club and record label. Under his guidance, Toshiko recorded her first two albums in the United States, marking the beginning of her successful musical journey.

In addition, George Wein served as the director and founder of the Newport Jazz Festival, where Toshiko had the opportunity to showcase her talents in the 1956 and 1957 editions. Previously, in December 1956, she performed at the London House in Chicago, and in August 1957, she embarked on a highly successful two-month engagement at New York's Hickory House, which marked her first extended performance outside of Boston.

The release of these early Norgran, Storyville, and Verve albums, alongwith Toshiko's performance on The Subject Is Jazz TV-show, not only gained recognition from the public but also earned her acclaimfromprominent jazzmusicians. These achievements solidified her position as one of the top pianists in modern jazz. *Jordi Pujol*

*CD 1*

1 - What Is This Thing Called Love?

(Cole Porter)

2 - Gone With The Wind

(Magidson, Wrubel)

3 - I Want To Be Happy

(Youmans, Caesar)

4 - Toshiko's Blues

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

5 - Shadrack

(R. H. MacGimsey)

6 - Solidado

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

7 - Squatty Roo

(Johnny Hodges)

8 - Laura (piano solo)

(Raksin, Mercer)

9 - Between Me And Myself

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

10 - It Could Happen To You

(Van Heusen, Burke)

11 - Kyo-Shu (Nostalgia)

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

12 - Homework

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

13 - Manhattan Address

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

14 - Softly As In A Morning Sunrise

(Romberg, Hammerstein II)

15 - Soshu Yakyoku (Suzhou Serenade)

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

16 - Sunday Afternoon

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

17 - Blues for Toshiko

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

18 - No Moon at All

(Mann, Evans)

19 - Pea, Bee And Lee

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

20 - Thou Swell

(Rodgers, Hart)

*CD 2*

1 - Between Me And Myself

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

2 - Blues For Toshiko

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

3 - I'll Remember April

(Raye, De Paul, Johnston)

4 - Lover

(Rodgers, Hart)

5 - The Man I Love

(G. and I. Gershwin)

6 - Minor Mood

(Clifford Brown)

7 - After You've Gone

(Layton, Creamer)

8 - We'll Be Together Again

(Fischer, Laine)

9 - Tosh's Fantasy

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

• Down A Mountain

• Phrygian Waterfull

• Running Stream

10 - Bags' Groove

(Milt Jackson)

11 - Imagination

(Van Heusen, Burke)

12 - Studio J

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

13 - The 3rd Movement

(Toshiko Akiyoshi)

14 - Don't Get Around Much Anymore

(Duke Ellington)

*CD1*

#1 to #8: from the album Toshiko's Piano (Norgran MGN 22)

Toshiko Akiyoshi (piano), Herb Ellis (guitar), Ray Brown (bass), J.C. Heard (drums).

Recorded in Tokyo, November 13 and 14, 1953.

#9 to #17: from the album George Wein Presents Toshiko (Storyville STLP 912)

Toshiko Akiyoshi (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums).

Recorded in New York City, 1956 [other source gives Boston, Massachusetts, 1954.]

#18 to #20: taken from the album Toshiko, Her Trio Her Quartet (Storyville STLP 918)

Toshiko Akiyoshi (piano), Oscar Pettiford (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded in Boston, Massachusetts, July 1956.

*CD2*

#1 to #4: from the album Toshiko and the Leon Sash Quartet at Newport (Verve MG V 8236)

Toshiko Akiyoshi (piano), Gene Cherico (bass), Jack Hanna (drums).

Recorded live at the Newport Jazz Festival, July 5, 1957.

#5 to #12: from the album The Many Sides of Toshiko (Verve MGV-8273)

Toshiko Akiyoshi (piano), Gene Cherico (bass), Jack Hanna (drums).

Recorded in New York, September 28, 1957.

#13 and #14: from NBC TV-show The Subject Is Jazz

Toshiko Akiyoshi (piano), Eddie Safranski (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums).

Recorded live at "The Subject Is Jazz" TV-show, New York City, May 25, 1958.

***

**Extra**

Watch the videos:

• Toshiko Akiyoshi at the "Newport Jazz Festival" playing "Blues for Toshiko", July 5, 1957.

• Toshiko Akiyoshi at "The Subject Is Jazz", New York City, May 25, 1958.

***

Lennie Tristano - Classics 1947–1951

When Lennie Tristano's enclosed Capitol recordings were reissued in the mid-eighties, Alun Morgan noted that the music "is still a most remarkable piece of mind-reading and it presaged the Free Form movement which was still several years away". 

Leonard Joseph Tristano was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 19 1919. He began playing piano as a child. At the age of nine, he lost his eyesight and spent the next ten years in a home for the blind. During these years Tristano took up the clarinet, saxophone and also practiced on cello. In addition, he played trumpet and could easily sit in as a drummer. 

Lennie Tristano received further musical education at the American Conservatory in Chicago from which he graduated as a Bachelor of Music (in piano and composition) in 1943. From the early forties on Tristano worked as a tenor saxophonist and clarinetist with various bands in his native city. In addition, he taught at the Christiansen School of Popular Music until 1945. Lee Konitz and Bill Russo were among his first and foremost students. The following year Tristano moved to New York where he appeared with a trio including another two of his pupils, Arnold Fishkin and Billy Bauer. In late 1946 Lennie Tristano also played on the West Coast before returning to New York. In 1947 he played in a band organized by critic Barry Ulanov alongside Charlie Parker. During the late forties Tristano mainly worked with his trio in New York but occasionally also played with Charlie Ventura and others. In addition, he continued to teach and a group of young musicians, including Warne Marsh and Ted Brown formed around him. In June 1951 he opened his own music school where Tristano and his circle were able to pratice and play their music, quite independently from any influences of more established institutions. After giving up his school in 1956, he taught disciples at his home on Long Island. After the mid-fifties Tristano only rarely appeared on stage or in clubs. In the late-sixties Tristano made trips to Britain and Canada for a number of solo concerts but then returned to the self-sought seclusion of his home. He died in New York, on November 18, 1978. *Anatol Schenker (liner notes)*

This anthology of Lennie Tristano from his Capitol and Prestige recordings is where the mature composer and improviser appears from his former skeleton. Beginning with the original version of "Dissonance", featuring guitarist Billy Bauer and bassist Arnold Fishkin, the set concentrates on Tristano's emerging and very complex ideas about melodic improvisation. The masters for early tracks here come from a session cut on New Year's Eve in 1947, and include clarinetist John LaPorta on such visionary compositions as "Through These Portals", with its dual melodic front line playing an extrapolated harmonic counterpoint via the piano and guitar, then being bridged by a common third line played by LaPorta, whose solo is almost a tag upon the two entwining solo lines played throughout. "Speculation" is pure chordal genius, with rhythms cascading in two directions against a nearly expressionistic melodic integration of variously shaded harmonics. The first sessions of both the quintet and quartet with Lee Konitz are here, too, with Konitz's unique phrasing on the shimmering bop of "Progression", "Tautology", and, of course, "Subconscious-Lee". Tristano was a giant of the intellect, and his knotty approach to deconstructing harmonics and creating new melodies from the ruins appealed to Konitz, who was, and remains, a melodist. Later that same year, in 1949, Tristano added second saxophonist Warne Marsh to the mix, and that magical pairing found its voice on the front lines of "Crosscurrent", "Intuition", and the stellar "Marionette". Finally, the 1951 trio sides with Roy Haynes and Peter Ind make clear that these new architectures Tristano was building could be erected by himself and a rhythm section, and in some ways were even bigger as a result of that. These ideas have never been fully integrated into the jazz canon as they should be, but nonetheless, with recordings like this abounding now, it cannot be long before they are. 

*Thom Jurek*

1 - Dissonance

(Tristano) 

2 - Through These Portals

(LaPorta)

3 - Speculation (Ear, Eyes)

 (Tristano)

4 - New Sound

(Tristano)

5 - Resemblance

(Tristano)

6 - Tautology

(Konitz)

8 - Retrospection

(Tristano)

9 - Subconscious-Lee

(Konitz)

10 - Judy

(Tristano)

11 - Wow

(Tristano)

12 - Crosscurrent

(Tristano)

13 - Yesterdays

(Tristano)

14 - Marionette

(Bauer)

15 - Sax Of A Kind

(Konitz, Marsh)

16 - Intuition

(Tristano)

17 - Digression (Intuition II)

(Tristano)

18 - Ju-Ju

(Tristano)

19 - Passtime

(Tristano)

#1 to #5:

Lennie Tristano (piano), John LaPorta (clarinet [#2 to #5]), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass).

Recorded in New York City, December 31, 1947.

#6 to #10:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Lee Konitz (alto sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).

Recorded in New York City, January 11, 1949.

#11, #12:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Lee Konitz (alto sax), Warne Marsh (tenor sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Harold Granowsky (drums).

Recorded in New York City, March 4, 1949.

#13:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Harold Granowsky (drums).

Recorded in New York City, March 14, 1949.

#14 to #17:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Lee Konitz (alto sax), Warne Marsh (tenor sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Denzil Best (drums).

Recorded in New York City, May 16, 1949.

#18, #19:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Peter Ind (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded in New York City, October 30, 1951. 

Kai Winding Sextet & Red Rodney Quintet - Broadway

Broadway is the name of many streets but there is one Broadway, if you know what I mean. 

Broadway is also the name of a tune which is dedicated to the street that I mean. 

Broadway in the late '40s was the stamping ground —or, more accurately, the stomping ground— for the young modernists who had learned from Lester Young and the Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie axis. They chipped in to rent rehearsal studios in the Broadway area where they could jam if they were not working. When they did work, it was at the Three Deuces —the last holdout to feature modern jazz on 52nd Street— or on Broadway at the Roost and its successor, Bop City. 

Broadway was played quite often at the studio sessions like the ones held at Don Jose’s in the summer of 1949. 

Gerry Mulligan, Brew Moore, George Wallington, and Red Rodney were frequent participants. Anytime Mulligan is involved, there is a good chance that Broadway will be played in one form or another. His Gold Rush is based on Broadway. Broadway and/or Gold Rush have shown up in groups in which he has been a sideman, and in the various combos and orchestras he has led. 

Broadway is an example of these musicians' link to the Count Basie-Lester Young tradition. Count recorded it in 1940 with Pres as the featured soloist, and it captured the imagination of a generation of players.

This is the music they were playing on and around Broadway in the late '40s and early '50s. Broadway has changed and so has the music. Broadway has also endured. So has Broadway.

*Ira Gitler (liner notes)*

Kai Winding Sextet & Red Rodney Quintet

Broadway

Side 1

1 - A Night On Bop Mountain

(Winding)

2 - Waterworks

(Mulligan)

3 - Broadway

(McRay, Rayven)

4 - Sid's Bounce

(Kaminsky)

5 - Red Wig

(Rodney)

Side 2

6 - The Baron

(Rodney)

7 - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

(Kern, T. B. Harms)

8 - Coogan's Bluff

(Rodney)

9 - This Time The Dream's On Me

(Arlen, Mercer, Remick)

10 - If You Are But A Dream

(Jaffe, Fulton, Bronx)

11 - Mark

(Rodney)

#1 to #4:

(Originally as part of "Modern Jazz Trombones" [Prestige PRLP 109])

Kai Winding (trombone), Brew Moore (tenor sax), Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax), George Wallington (piano), Curly Russell (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded in New York, August 23, 1949.

#5 to #11:

(Originally "The New Sounds" [Prestige PRLP 122])

Red Rodney (trumpet), Jim Ford (alto sax), Phil Raphael (piano), Phil Leshin (bass), Phil Brown (drums).

Recorded in New York, September 27, 1951.