Son Of Gunn - Shelly Manne

 

Joanna

Son Of Gunn!!

Shelly Manne & His Men

Play More "Peter Gunn"

Produced by Lester Koenig

Recorded May 21 and 26, 1959 at Contemporary Records in Los Angeles.

Sound by Roy DuNann

Cover Design: Guidi/Tri Arts

Cover Photo of Shelly Manne as a super-hip private eye by Peter James Samerjan, taken at Jazz-Seville in Hollywood.

Contemporary Records M 3566

1959

Music composed by Henry Mancini from the score of the NBC-TV series "Peter Gunn," starring Craig Stevens. Music © 1959 by Northridge Music, Inc. ASCAP. The individual titles are from various characters or scenes on the program. My Manne Shelly, for example, was written to be played by Shelly Manne & His Men, who were featured in one episode.

From the back cover: THE RECORD BUSINESS IN THE UNITED STATES during the first half of 1959 was taken over by Peter Gunn, that suave, Brooks Brothers-suited private eye who digs jazz.(1) The Henry Mancini music from the TV program was the No. 1 best-selling popular album, and Ray Anthony's record of The Peter Gunn Theme was the best-selling single in the country. Shelly Manne, long-time friend and admirer of Man- cini, has been the regular drummer on the Peter Gunn show since the latter part of 1958. This, of course, is in addition to Shelly's activities as leader of his own famous jazz group. As a result of his association with Mancini, Shelly and His Men recorded their own best-selling version of the Mancini music for Contemporary in January 1959 (M3560 and stereo S7025). When Mancini came up with a new set of compositions based on his score for the TV show, it was inevitable that Shelly would record them as well.

When Shelly first thought of doing the Peter Gunn music, Mancini urged him to feel free to change the original conceptions in any direction Shelly felt he wanted to go. In fact, in both Shelly's first album and in this one, Shelly and The Men use Mancini's compositions as points of departure for their own highly personal interpretations. A comparison of each track in this album with the corresponding track in Mancini's album might prove an interesting demonstration of "jazzmen at work" for the jazz fan or critic.

THE MANNE APPROACH DIFFERS from Mancini's in two basic ways: 1) all the performances are completely improvised, whereas Mancini wrote arrangements, and 2) the use of the six piece group (instead of Mancini's large band) allows for more extended jazz blowing. Working from lead sheets (melody line and chords), The Men explored various ways of treating each Mancini original, and once the general approach and routine were agreed upon, the performance was spontaneous, with, usually, the first or second take used.

Side 1 starts with Odd Ball, taken at a faster tempo than the Mancini version. There is an extremely inventive first chorus statement of the tune, followed by swinging solos which serve to introduce The Men. In Blue Steel, the walking bass figure in the original (so characteristic of the Gunn charts) is retained, but the Manne version is less menacing, more moody.

The marimba, which Feldman also played on Shelly's first Peter Gunn album, helps create an unusual setting. Spook! is a twelve-bar blues done originally in an exaggerated rock and roll style; Shelly's version, surprisingly, is taken in 3/4, and with a basic, folk-blues feeling.

Joanna, a ballad, is played by Joe Gordon as a muted trumpet solo. A haunting mood is set at the outset by the bowed bass, Shelly's brushes on cymbals, and Feldman's whispered chording. For his second chorus, Gordon departs from the melody, his improvisation is freer, but the mood is never broken. Goofin' at the Coffee House is played at a faster tempo than the original; the vibes play a chorus ahead of the ensemble statement of the tune, and Shelly, on sticks, drives along for free-blowing solos and some fours with trumpet, tenor and vibes.

Shelly starts Side 2 with an unusual treatment of Walkin' Bass, played by the rhythm section and marimba. Shelly takes the melodic line on his drums; originally it was given by Mancini to the horns. Monty Budwig has a solo which demonstrates his highly personal style. (The clarity with which you may hear all the subtle details of Monty's bass solo is also a demonstration of the recording skill of Roy DuNann.) My Manne Shelly was written especially for Shelly, and it was played by The Men who appeared in one of the Gunn episodes. Shelly's approach here is quite different: the tempo is up; instead of 4/4 he plays the tune in 6/8; and uses sticks in- stead of brushes. He also takes a solo chorus instead of playing only the fills in the ensemble chorus.

Blues for Mother's, which is not a blues, but a thirty-two bar tune, becomes a setting for a warm, ballad tenor solo by Richie Kamuca. Shelly and The Men come up with an odd and effective pattern for the solos in A Quiet Gass: each bridge is taken in 3/4 time instead of 4/4; and each new soloist comes in for the bridge of the previous player's chorus, and plays a double solo with him for the eight bars, after which he continues alone on his chorus. In effect he starts his solo blowing on the last eight of the chorus! For Lightly, which winds things up, Shelly uses a jazz-Latin beat, reverting to straight jazz for the bridge. Shelly is also heard on one of his infrequent drum solos.

ASIDE SIDE FROM OTHER CONSIDERATIONS, this album is important as the first by Shelly Manne's latest group, with its new front line-Joe Gordon on trumpet and Richie Kamuca on tenor. Shelly formed his own band late in 1955. He was determined to have a free-blowing outfit, one in which he could relax and swing. The original group consisted of Bill Holman, tenor sax; Stu Williamson, trumpet & valve trombone; Russ Freeman, piano; Leroy Vinnegar, bass. Early in 1956 Charlie Mariano replaced Holman, and the group re- mained intact for better than a year and a half. When Leroy left in 1957, Monty Budwig joined the Men, and the personnel remained constant until early in 1959, when Mariano moved to Boston and Herb Geller took his place. Gordon and Kamuca joined Shelly in the spring of 1959.

JOE GORDON was born in Boston in 1928, and has been playing since he was eighteen. He's worked with most of the great East Coast musicians in Boston and New York-Bird, Monk, Horace Silver, Art Blakey among others. In 1956 he toured the Near East as a member of Dizzy Gillespie's Orches- tra, then returned to Boston and the Herb Pomeroy Big Band. Since September 1958 he's lived in Los Angeles, and early in 1959 joined Shelly's Men. One of the best (and most under- rated) of modern trumpet players, Gordon made his Contem- porary record debut in March 1959 with Barney Kessel on Some Like It Hot (M3565 and stereo S7565).

RICHIE KAMUCA was born in Philadelphia in 1930, and he has been one of the most highly regarded of the younger tenor men since he played with the Stan Kenton Orchestra in 1951-52. After Kenton, Richie spent several years with Woody Herman. Since 1957 he has worked in the Los Angeles area, with Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars (he recorded That's Rich on Rumsey's In the Solo Spotlight, Contemporary C3517), and in the movie, TV and recording studios.

RUSS FREEMAN was born in Chicago in 1926. He is a leading figure in West Coast jazz, a musician's musician (picked by the 1958 Playboy All-Stars as one of their top favorites on piano), and has been associated with Shelly Manne for the past six years. They first worked together in The Light- house All-Stars (1953), and then in Shelly Manne & Shorty Rogers' Giants (1954). He recorded the first two-piano modern jazz album with André Previn for Contemporary (C3537 and stereo $7011).

MONTY BUDWIG was born in Pender, Nebraska in 1929. In Los Angeles since 1954, he played with Red Norvo and Woody Herman. He is no newcomer to Contemporary sessions -he's recorded with Lennie Niehaus and Barney Kessel, and with Shelly on the first Peter Gunn, Concerto for Clarinet & Combo (C3536), and The Gambit (C3557 and stereo S7030).

VICTOR FELDMAN, whose vibes and marimba are added to Shelly's regular group for this album, was born in London, England in 1934, and his first Contemporary album, Suite Six- teen (C3541) was recorded in England, where Victor's doings are front page news in the musical press. Biographical details may be found on that album, and on Contemporary's The Ar- rival of Victor Feldman (C3549) recorded in Los Angeles shortly after Victor made it his permanent home. Victor has been playing professionally for the past fifteen years, starting as a child prodigy on drums. He also plays piano, composes and arranges, and is planning to form his own group.

Odd Ball

Blue Steel

Spook!

Joanna

Goofing' At The Coffee House

Walkin' Bass

My Manne Shelly

Blues For Mother

A Quiet Gass

Lightly