Playboy's Theme
Solo
Kai Winding
Produced by Creed Taylor
Cover Art by Leroy Neiman
Recorded in New York City Jan. 24, Feb. 4 & 5, 1963
Recording Engineer: Phil Ramone
Verve V6-8525
1963
Personnel on:
How Are Things In Glocca Morra, The Things That We did Last Summer, Hey There, Days Of Wine And Roses: Kai Winding (trombone), Ross Tompkins (piano), Russell George (bass), Gus John- son (drums).
You've Changed, I Believe In You, The Sweetest Sounds, Playboy's Theme: Tommy Check for Gus Johnson (drums). The rest same as above.
I'm Your Bunny, Bossa Nova, Capricious, Ricardo: Kai Winding (trombone), Ross Tompkins (piano), Russell George (bass), Dick Garcia (guitar), Gus Johnson (drums).
NOTES ON THE PLAYERS
*Ross Tompkins with Winding for past three years. Prior to this association, he played with Chet Baker and the Al Cohn- Zoot Sims group.
*Russell George-a former trombone player who switched to bass eight years ago. He worked with Marian McPartland and Pee Wee Russell before joining Winding.
Tommy Check a well-schooled drummer who not only plays the various percussion instruments but composes and arranges. His credits-a number of name bands, including the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra directed by Lee Castle.
Dick Garcia-an important though under- rated guitarist who has worked with Tony Scott, Joe Roland, and became nationally known during his stay with the George Shearing Quintet.
Gus Johnson- veteran jazz drummer who first achieved prominence with the Jay McShann band over twenty years ago. Since then, he has appeared with Count Basie, Earl Hines, and Gerry Mulligan, among others.
*A member of the current Kai Winding Quartet.
From the back cover: Kai Winding, one of jazz's most fluent and influential trombonists, is not one to use equivocal language when playing or speaking. He believes in moving directly to the point. "Music must be a living thing," he asserts. "The cold, abstract, mathematical approaches to it are not for me.
"A well-known contemporary composer once said: 'Don't be afraid of simplicity and warmth; there is no need to mask your message in a mass of techniques.' I am in complete agreement with this concept."
Winding came into jazz in the early 1940s when this idea was more firmly entrenched than it is today.
The big bands held sway. Soloists, because of the nature of the context in which they functioned, were forced to develop the ability to express themselves succinctly. Blow- Wing space was limited, especially when compared with the latitude typical of the more casual small band. Therefore, every note had to count.
Soloists worked for definitive control and organization of their ideas -a logical flow that would clearly illuminate thoughts and the character of emotions. They learned not only what to play, but more important, what to leave out.
The training ground the big band Kai Winding (trombone), Ross Tompkins provided was invaluable. Some players could tell the stories of their lives in sixteen bars," says veteran tenor saxophone star Lucky Thompson.
When many big band soloists made the change in the mid-1940s to small bands, the only accommodation necessary-to larger quarters for their ideas-was generally accomplished with comparative ease.
Why? They came to this milieu prepared; the foundation had been
laid. Like the short story writer who moves into the larger area of the novel, they had only to apply the techniques, disciplines and knowledge gained on the smaller playground.
Kai Winding did not falter when he emerged from a series of big band experiences in April of 1947 and entered the ranks of the small band blowers. Stints with Sonny Dunham, Alvino Rey, Benny Goodman, and particularly the Stan Kenton Orchestra stood him in good stead.
To a number of small bands in New York, which included such leading modernists as Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Allen Eager, Stan Getz, Brew Moore, Max Roach, and others, Winding brought an appro- Brew Moore, Max Roach, and priately modern trombone style.
The Winding manner of expression was (and is) characterized by fluid- ity. His jabbing, often penetrating long lines, played with great dex- terity, generally surprised listeners used to the rougher, more jagged stylings of the older practitioners. The brassiness of the horn had been retained; yet, as Leonard Feather has pointed out: Winding added something new; he "pioneered in the difficult task of transferring the technically complex requirements of bebop to the incompatible medium of the slide trombone."
Winding and the equally influential J. J. Johnson, with whom he later led a successful group for two years (1954-56), showed the way to mod- ernism on the trombone, without losing touch with the realities of jazz playing. The instrument became more expressive in their hands. The techniques they used, though first introduced on less un- wieldy instruments-the saxophone and trumpet-were cogently adapted to the trombone and allowed trom- bonists who followed to touch bases previously inaccessible to them.
Since Winding helped co-spark the trombone revolution in the mid- 1940s, he has successfully headed jazz groups and endeavored "to further evolve as a player and to ex- tend the limits of the trombone."
His most widely exposed unit, featuring three trombones, himself and a rhythm section, formed in the late 1950s and with which he still appears on occasion, occupied the major portion of his time until recently. The sound of the trombone in various ensemble and solo combinations was given swinging il- lustration nightly as Kai and his slidemen traveled the nitery, con- cert, and college circuits. Because of its flexibility, its appeal to both dyed-in-the-wool jazz fans AND dancers around the nation, the group built a following. Winding, however, progressively felt more and more of a need to "stretch out."
"The septet was a kick," says Winding, "We could capture the sound of the big band, project with the intimacy of a small band, and run a wide range of feelings. But it didn't afford me the freedom offered in a small group situation.
"After a while, restlessness got the better of me. I had to play more!"
Winding's restlessness has somewhat subsided since the formation of his current quartet. Improvisa- tion is the focus around which the unit revolves. The improvisatory approach even extends to its arrangements which evolve as a result of the contributions of the players. Like all Winding's groups, however, there is a defined sense of organiza- tion about all it does.
"I've surrounded myself with vigorous, creative men," reports the trombonist-leader. "They act on me in a way that can only be described as beneficial. Every time I pick up the horn, it's another situation, another challenge."
Solo serves to re-introduce Kai Winding in an old role-that of an improvising jazzman. It is a depart- ure in that this is the first time Winding has recorded without other front-line horns. He is out there alone, though his excursions are not as extended as those taken at New York's Playboy Club, where he is musical director and "wails" with his group from early in the evening until early in the dawning six eve- nings a week.
The music herein, much of which will be familiar to you, is rendered in a manner which underscores Winding's musical attitude. The cold, the abstract, the mathematical are nowhere to be found. Instead, we find warmth, directness, sim- plicity, and not least of all, swing.
BURT KORALL
How Are Things In Glocca Morra
Recardo
Playboy's Theme
The Things We Did Last Summer
The Sweetest Sounds
Hey There
I'm Your Bunny Bossa Nova
Days Of Wine And Roses
You've Changed
I Believe In You
Capricious
