Reminiscin' - Gigi Gryce

 

Caravan

Reminiscin'

Gigi Gryce Orch-Tette

Mercury Records SR 60628

1961

 

Reminsicin', Caravan, Yesterdays and Take The A Train - Gig Gryce, alto; Richard Williams, trumpet; Eddie Costa, vibes; Richard Wyands, piano; George Duvivier, bass and Bob Thomas, drums

Reginald Workman replaces Duvivier on A Night In Tunisia

On Gee Blues Gee, Blue Lights and Dearly Beloved, Gryce, Williams and Wyands are joined by Julian Euell, bass and Walter Perkins, drums

From the back cover: This is not a soul session – full of currently fashionable figures and gospel cliches. This fact should please all but the insatiable funk seekers.

Gigi Gryce, at the age of 33, knows what he wants. And what he wants is to probe the roots of jazz simply and directly. In Gryce's Orch-Tette, the emphasis is on beauty, whether it be expressed in an imaginative, moving version of a neglected ballad or in the intense exploration of a rhythmic original taken at fleet tempo. Gryce is concerned with sound and swing. His aim: to build the Orch-Tette into a group skilled enough – as he states it – "to fulfill any musical assignment of taste."

Gryce is dedicated to the basics of jazz and his concern for them springs from a career that has had a multitude of achievements. Born in Florida (Pensacola, to be exact), he was first schooled in music in Hartford, Conn., where his family had settled. He went on to major in composition at the Boston Conservatory, but managed to find time to master the clarinet, flute, alto and piano. His band experience began in the middle Forties and included the leadership of his own 23-piece band (with Horace on piano). In 1952, he studied in Paris on a Fullbright scholarship, returning to plunge into the New York jazz scene: contributing his impressive alto sound to the groups of Max Roach, Howard McGhee, Tadd Damernon and Lionel Hampton's orchestra. For several years, he was a stalwart with the Jazz Lab Quintet, a notable group that included trumpeter Donald Byrd. Throughout the Fities, Gryce composed and arranged, for the groups to which he belonged and for a host of other groups. Since 1959, he's headed his own combos, populating them with the best young musicians he could find.

A batch of them – all Gryce cohorts at in-person jobs – are vividly and impressively present here. Trumpeter Richard Williams, a 30-year-old Texan, has been attending the Manhattan School of Music for more than two years. A graduate of Wiley College in Marshall, Texas – where he majored in music – Williams is one of the most fluent and accurate of young brass men in jazz. Arriving in New York after working in San Francisco, Buffalo and Toronto, he's gigged with Gryce, John Handy, Yusef Lateef, Charlie Mingus and others.

Eddie Costa, the 30-year-old pianist-vibist from Atlas, Pa., has worked with as string of first-rate groups, including those of Joe Venuti, Sal Salvador, Tal Farlow, Kai Winding and Don Elliott. He's headed his own trio, as well.

Richard Wyands, who plays piano throughout, is a 32-year-old California. During the early Fifties his activities were largely confined to the San Francisco area; he worked frequently at the Black Hawk. After a sojourn in Canada, he became Carmen McRae's accompanist in late '56, made it to New York and decided to stay. Since then, he's fronted his own combo and jammed with Gryce, Mingus, Roy Haynes, Kenny Burrell and others.

Drummer Bob Thomas, 28, hails from Newark. His music-oriented family urged him to play when he was 12 and he's been at it ever since. Walter Perkins, a young, inventive drummer from Chicago (he heads the MJT+3, a vigorously cooking quintet), replaces Thomas on three tunes.

Three bass men saw service during the recording of this album. On four tunes George Duvivier is heard. A 40-year-old, extremely reliable bassist. Duvivier brings to jazz a background that includes studies at the Conservatory of Music and Art (in New York, where he was born) and New York University. A respected veteran, Duvivier has worked with Coleman Hawkins, Lucky Millinder, Gibbs, Don Rodman, Bud Powell and others.Reginald Workman, who mans the bass on A Night Own Tunisia, is a 23-year-old Philadelphian who's largely taught. For several years, he's made New York his headquarters, working with Nat Cole's brother, Freddie, Jackie McLean, Bennie Green and, in recent months, with Gryce. The third in the series of bassists, Julian Euell, is a 32-year-old New Yorker whose artistry often is underrated. The probable cause of this is the fact that Euell has been in and out of jazz activity in recent years. He's worked in a post office, spent a year at Columbia and studied at NYU. On the jazz side, he's contributed forcefully to the groups of Mingus, Freddie Redd, Phineas Newborn, Mal Waldron, Randy Weston and Gryce. – Don Gold, Associate Editor, Playboy Magazine

Blue Light

Caravan

Reminiscing 

Yesterdays

Gee Blues Gee

A Night In Tunisia

Dearly Beloved

Take The "A" Train