Search Manic Mark's Blog

Monday, March 18, 2024

The Goombay Kings

 

The Goombay Kings 

The Goombay Kings
Featuring Richie Del Amore
RCA Victor LPM-1514
1957

Goombay
Mommie On The Light
Bahama Lullaby
John B. Sails
Linsted Market
Bimini Gal
Don't Touch Me Tomato
Calypso Men
The Cricket Calypso
Rockin' Eight Babies To Sleep
Don't Go Away
Conch Ain't Got No Bones

Byrd's Word! - Charlie Byrd

 

Don't Explain

Byrd's Word
Charlie Byrd
Produced by Bill Grauer Productions
Recorded by Edgewood Recording Studio, Washington, D.C.
Album Design: Ken Deardoff
Riverside RS 9448

From the back cover: In September, 1957, Charlie Byrd, a guitarist who was nourished on the blues as a boy in Suffolk, Va., and who studied with Segovia as a man in Siena, Italy, opened with a trio at the Showboat is in the basement of a neighborhood bar and restaurant in a shopping-amusement-apartment district about 10 minutes from downtown Washington. Byrd welcomed the chance to work out some ideas he had for the trio away from the pressures of a large club and out of the spotlight. There were and are on pressures, but the spotlight has brightened considerably in the years since he opened. Today, Byrd still does most of his playing at the Showboat, is the most popular jazz musician in Washington – and of late one of the most popular in the country.

Byrd, who speaks with a mellow Virginia accent and has a dry sense of humor, summed up his feelings about the Showboat by saying, "I like the free hand, I like the boss for gibing me a free hand and I like the people for coming in droves to hear what we're doing with the free hand." 

While this record is not an attempt to recreated the flavor of an evening at the Showboat, it does present some of the musicians who have worked at the club over the years and gives an idea of the high quality of the jazz played at the club, and in Washington, D.C. in general.

First among these musicians is Byrd himself, who was born in Suffolk, a small town in the southeastern corner of Virginia on September 15, 1925. The country where BVyrd grew up was two-thirds Negro, and the community where Byrd's father ran a small country store had an even greater Negro population. It was natural that the first guitar along Byrd heard was the blues voicing of customers and idlers who congregated around the store on Saturday nights. Charlie retains a stones feeling for the blues, which can be best heard in this record in his duet with Keter Betts, Conversation Piece, freely impressed and recorded in one take by the pair.

Byrd took up the guitar and mandolin at the age of 10 and took up trumpet while in high school "so's I could get into the football games free." After two years at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, where he studied business administration (it didn't take) and played in a dance band (this did), Byrd entered the Army. Charlie describes his Army service as his "formative years in jazz." He met a Pittsburgh guitarist, Marty Fallon, who played Charlie Christian style, played with Django Reinhardt during a European tour with the band and heard bop for the first time. After he was discharged, Byrd went to New York (in 1946), where he worked with Barbara Carroll, Joe Marsala, Freddie Slack and others.

He became seriously interested in classical guitar in 1947, and came to Washington to study in 1950 after his marriage. In Washington he studied with Sophocles Papas, dean of Washington guitar teachers. After an audition with Andres Segovia, Byrd was invited by that master to study with him in the summer of 1954 in Italy.

Around 1956 Byrd became interested in adapting the classical finger style to playing jazz on unamplified guitar, and now he divides his playing about equally between unamplified and electric guitar. Byrd finds bass and drums the best accompaniment for unamplified guitar because in that context "it doesn't get swallowed by piano and saxes and you get a chance to show off the contrast within the guitar itself, which is one of its main advantages." Byrd also has some thoughts about jazz in general:

"I life to leave a lot of room for improvisation – that's one of the most interesting things about jazz – and I'm very much opposed to trying to push jazz into little categories. I don't see why a jazz player has to limit himself to one style and to refuse to hear and play anything else. A band's repertoire should cover the whole field. I don't feel that some kinds of jazz are corny."

Of Buck Hill, Byrd said, "I can't think of a musician I like better. He's a real jazzman." Hill, a native of Washington, started on soprano sax at 13, progressed though alto to tenor, and from influences from Benny Carter through Lester Young to Charlie Parker. He likes most of the current tenor men, especially John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, while retaining admiration for men like Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins and Young.

Felder is a native of Tampa, Fla. He majored in music at Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn., got his master's degree in music at Catholic University in June, 1958, and teaches music at a Washington junior high school. Felder is interested primarily in composing and arranging, but most of his work had been for rock and roll quartets. Consequently, he was happy to write the more challenging material for this LP. Felder's idol is Ellington.

Betts was born William Thomas Betts in Port Chester, N.Y. He started playing bass in 1946, turned professional in 1949 with Earl Bostic, and then was an accompanist for Dinah Washington for five years before coming to Washington. Bertell Knox is a native of New York City, but grew up in Alexandria, Va., across the Potomac River from Washington. He has accompanied Ella Fitzgerald and Pearl Bailey and worked with Bill Davis, Jackie Davis and Arnett Cobb.

Ginny Byrd is Charlie's wife, and her two vocals are samples of the sort of thing she does occasionally at the Showboat and more often for her pleasure at home. Kenneth Pasmanick is solo bassoonist with National Symphony. 

This LP was recorded in, of all places, the Washington YWCA, which has a hall with acoustics that are excellent for small groups. Byrd supervised the sessions and the tape editing.

As for the music, it's all good, but listen especially to the vibrant tenor of Hill, the earthy duet of Byrd and Betts and the trio's Satin Doll. – Paul Simpson

Byrd's Word
Blue Turning Grey Over You
Bobby In Bassoonville
Satin Doll
Tri-X
Conversation Piece
What's New
Stompin' At The Savoy
Don't Explain
Buck's Hill

Bossa Nova - Ramsey Lewis

 

A Noite Do Meu Bem

Bossa Nova
Ramsey Lewis Trio
Featuring Carmen Costa and Josef Paulo
Produced by Ralph Bass
Cover: Wardell Gaynor
Engineer: Reice Hamel
Recorded September 22 and 25, 1962 at Yamaha Studio, San Francisco, California
Argo LP 705

Ramsey Lewis - Piano
Eldee Young - Bass
Red Holt - Drums
Josef Paulo - Guitar & Pandeiro
Carmen Costa - Cabaca

From the back cover: Once in a long, long while there comes along a musician who seems to have the knack of keeping an ear and his music in tune with the broad taste of the public. He struggles along unheeded by the teeming throng, he may become recognized as a great neglected artist. If he is quickly and painlessly accepted and is financially successful, more than likely he will be classified as – quote "commercial" unquote. For some logic-defying reason, money and acceptance in jazz can become the kiss of death.

The Ramsey Lewis Trio has been, since its inception, a "winner." The group suffered through no "dues playing" period per se. The three healthy, normal, well adjusted family men got together in Chicago, rehearsed, worked local clubs, recorded and became a popular attraction without ever leaving home. More than five years later, the original musicians are still with the trio as healthy, normal, well adjusted family men (same families). Commercially, the trio is the one shining exception to Chicago's traditional indifference to homegrown talent. Lewis & Company is an overpowering favorite in the Windy City. This album is a good indication of why.

For the past eighteen months, jazz has been floundering in the dregs of the waning "soul" movement. Writers, listeners, and music fringe craftsman have been groping feebly for new, fresh ways of saying "It's the same old groove, badly mutilated and overdone." Meanwhile the serious jazz musician has been experimenting with a new idea. The perfected product is now bombarding the airwaves under the grandiose title of Bossa Nova.

In the past, American jazzmen have drawn on the latin dance culture for rhythmic variation; flavor and excitement in music. In the main, however, the latin harmonic limitations were not conducive to jazz improvisation. Melodies were undistinguished and almost horizontal in structure. There are few challenging chord progressions or variations. The emphasis was stripy on rhythmic development.

In the late fifties, a new musical concept was becoming prominent in certain areas of Latin America. Primarily based in Brazil, a style was emerging which still employed the latin rhythms; but displayed more extensive harmonic breadth. Gradually, the melody began to stand out with an identity of its own. With this change, the latin music of Brazil began to lend itself more readily to jazz adaptation. There were fundamental compromises to be made before jazz and the Brazilian music were to fuse into a new "school".

The latin music was still basically a percussion oriented one; while in jazz, the piano is the only prominent percussion instrument and it is employed in a melodic or harmonic capacity as well as a rhythmic one. Often jazz musicians, accustomed to playing primarily in flat keys found themselves faced with the dilemma of either transposing this new music and possibly losing some of its subtle connotation or playing it in the unfamiliar, sharp keys. There were infinite variations in instrumentation to be adjusted to.

It was Ramsey's task to make these adjustments within a matter of days. Having become acquainted with the music as a listener and admirer, he set about learning the technical fundamentals of the form. He was fortunate in having Josef Paulo and Carmen Costa to woodshed with the trio. These artists are two of the most sought after performers in the Bossa Nova rage. So throughly did the two become entrenched in their music, that both Lewis and Eldee actually contributed an original tune to this date.

By this time, "Bossa Nova" is the bight thing in jazz and everyone should have become familiar with the term. Form those who have not heard yet, "nova" means new and there is no literal English translation for "bossa." Very, very loosely, it represents the equivalent of our land "bag" or "thing." Ironically, there is a similar Russian pronunciation which means "barefoot"; that should result in an International definition of "new barefoot" music. Somehow, the term seem appropriate for the Ramsey Lewis Trio whose music has always been synonymous with that which is earthly and "of the people." 

Again this unit has responded to the music of the hour. Today, the listening public is halfway between the emotional outpouring of the "soul" school and the existing rhythmic beckoning of Bossa Nova. This album is a happy balance embodying both. – Barbara J. Gardner 

From Billboard - November 24, 1962: This album is already reported to be getting some action in some areas of the country. The set features pianist Lewis with his group doing Latin impressions along the bossa nova line of a number of tunes. For the date, Lewis' trio has been joined by two Latin musicians: percussionist Carmen Costa and guitarist Josef Paulo. The album swings with strong work on "Samba de Orpheus," "O Pato," Maha De Carnaval" and "Cara de Palhaco." On the latter track, and one other, are authentic sounding vocals from Paulo. This album has an authentic bossa nova sound and should prove a solid seller in jazz with action moving across to pop and maybe even Latin American markets. 

Samba de Orpheus
Maha de Carnaval (The Morning Of the Carnaval)
As Criancinhas (The Children)
A Noite Do Meu Bem (The Night Of My Love)
O Pato (The Duck)
Generique (Happiness)
Roda Moinho (Whirlpool)
Cara de Palace (The Face Of The Clown)
Canacao Para Geralda (A Song For Geraldine)

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Barbara Carroll Trio

 

I Want A Little Girl

Barbara Carroll Trio
RCA Victor LJM-1001
1954

Liner Notes: History is made at night. It was in the early hours of the morning, long past bedtime fro children, that, a couple of hundred of years ago, an astonished group of grown-ups discovered the infant George Frederick Handel seated at his spinet, pouring forth magnificent music. And it was again in the early hours of the morning, long past what should have been her bedtime, that another astonished group discovered, a couple of years ago, on a side street in the West Fifties of Manhattan, a very young lady named Barbara Carroll, playing a brand of piano that, though undeniably rooted in the jazz tradition, has a style and a sound all its own.

This discovery quickly led to the arrival of Miss Carroll at "The Embers," an East Side New York cafĂ© noted for the quilty of its spare ribs and its hot music, where she has, quite understandably, been a sort of household pet ever since. Her appearance in these fashionable surroundings led in turn to appearances on radio, on television, and at a great many parties. Hearing her at one of them, Richard Rodgers decided to rewrite a role in his forthcoming musical comedy Me And Juliet, and to ensconce Miss Carroll in the part – as a waling, talking and playing pianist.

The next logical step in Barbara's brisk little history was this, her first RCA Victory album. These are lullabies – lullabies because she plays them mostly to people who regard her music as a nightcap before they take off for home and bed – twelve of her favorite songs, culled largely from the Broadway stage and screen. As perceptive performers should, she has looked upon all forms of musical expression, absorbed what she wished of each, and rephrased it in her own special idiom. Thus there is amole evidence of conservatory training in her incisive touch, her facile fingering, and the subtleties of her pedal work; there are overtones of her forerunning, George Frederick Handel, in her fugal passages in Good Bait; there are implications of carefully regimented bebop in the bright figures that soar out into the wild blue yonder without ever forgetting the theme from which they stem; highly involved, but always recognizable.

Barbara Carroll is a young lady of many moos; anyone who has felt an involuntary tear start at the quiet sorrow of her Goodbye or the lovely, brooding final phrases of her Cabin In The Sky is scarcely prepared for the breakneck pace and sly humor with which she attacks Serenade For A Wealthy Widow and Mountain Greenery, in both of which the jocular interplay of piano, drums and bass tells the story almost as clearly as would the lyrics. Nor do any of these prepare one for the dynamic passages of I Want A Little Girl, Let's Fall In Love or Give Me The Simple Life, in which what stat out as two-finger exercises gradually develop into what sound like twenty-finger crescendos.

There are other distinctive characteristics in Miss Carroll's pianism – the constant varying of mood with a series of crescendos and diminuendos, the use of the left hand not merely as background but as an instrument with a mind of its own, her sudden departure from a straightforward statement of a theme into a brilliantly imaginative paraphrase of it. Rarely, by the way, does she ever play one of these freehand passages twice the same way.

The bass and drum accompaniment are the contributions of, respectively, Joe Shulman and Herb Wasserman, who have long been co-workers with Miss Carroll in a vineyard that promises even more strange and wonderful fruit in the years to come.

As many be easily recognized from the accompanying photographs, Barbara Carroll is as modern in appearance as she is in the way with which she attacks the piano keyboard. Although it cannot be said that she is primarily a visual act – certainly not after the effects of these recordings has sunk in – she is the possessor of a set of mannerisms which more than showcase the sly innuendos of her musical style. Happily ensconced in a semi-dark, happy, smoke-filled atmosphere, surrounded by her two fellow musicians, she moves in perfect feeling to the particular piece she is playing, swaying, bending, flirting with the music and the customers – in effect, adding considerably to the ivory notes which come so deliciously to life under her fingers.

It is undoubtedly true that "noodling" is a word not quite in keeping with the character of modern jazz, yet it is one of the few which may reasonably be assigned to the method which accounts for Barbara' fanciful flights. From a strong, melodic introduction, in which the outlines of the tune are firmly announced, Barbara invariably progresses to a point where her imagination runs away. It cannot be said that she gives it free rein, for there is no question about  its limitless possibilities from the moment she begins to play. But at this one point, she gives herself over completely to "noodling" of the most inventive kind, toying with the tune's melody, and emerging with a logically progressing improvisation which contributes markedly to the tune's coherence and entity.

Lightness of touch, flexibility, versatility – these, too, are inherent in Barbara's style. It does not matter on what she focuses her attention; the mere fact that art is sharply focused on the possibilities of the particular tune in question, guarantees that the tune will be performed with a spontaneity and freshness which could not be possible if played note for note from its original manuscript – it is definitely of the true essence of jazz.

Barbara Carroll is, finally, one of the growing of distaff musicians who have made jazz their own special province. They are especially at home at the piano where their femininity is easily adaptable to the demands of the keyboard. This is true to the greatest extent in modern jazz where a clear, orderly procession of ideas is demanded, and in which the same delicate refinement which makes a woman's touch so light and firm is steadily at work. Here, one finds the direct antithesis of the older heavy-handed tub-thumping jazz tradition – and here one finds Barbara Carroll, in the midst of the excitement and new musical values which she has helped to create.

From Billboard - April 17, 1954: Barbara Carroll gets a chance to show off a lot of her slick piano work on this new LP release. Miss Carroll plays in what would have to be called a commercial jazz idiom. That is, it is jazz-based, and yet it is the type of piano work that even squares can get the hang of and enjoy with little trouble. Usually she is to be heard at the Embers in New York, playing melodies for people who stay up late. Sometimes her style is brisk; at other times it is lushly sentimental. Little doubt that a lot of people will find this set a good one for parties or to enjoy at home when alone late at night. The liner notes are extravagant but the package is exceptional, with an extra leaf containing pictures and copy.

Serenade For A Wealthy Widow
From This Moment On
I Want A Little Girl
What's The Use Of Won'rin'
Goodbye
Good Bait
Let's Fall In Love
Lullaby Of Broadway
Folks Who Live On The Hill
Give Me The Simple Life
Cabin In The Sky
Mountain Greenery

Friday, March 15, 2024

Jazz West Coast - Various

 

Jazz West Coast

An Anthology Of California Music
Jazz West Coast
Pacific Jazz Records JWC-500
1955

Bockhanal - Chet Baker Ensemble
Composed and Arranged by Jack Montrose
Alternative Master
Personnel: Chet Baker, trumpet; Jack Montrose, tenor; Herby Geller, alto; Bob Gorden, baritone; Russ Freeman, piano; Joe Mondragon, bass; Shelly Manne, drums

Soft Shoe - Gerry Mulligan Quartet
Composed and Arranged by Gerry Mulligan
Previously Unreleased Master
Personnel: Gerry Mulligan, baritone; Jon Eardley, trumpet; Red Mitchell, bass; Chico Hamilton, drums

Tiny Capers - Clifford Brown Ensemble
Compositon - Clifford Brown. Arrangement - Jack Montrose
Alternative Master
Personnel: Clifford Brown, trumpet; Zoot Sims, tenor; Bob Gordon, bariton; Stu Williamson, valve trombone; Russ Freeman, piano; Carson Smith, bass, Shelly Manne, drums

I'll Remember April - Zoot Sims Quartet
By Gene DePaul, Don Raye, Patricia Johnson
Previously Unreleased Master
Personnel: Zoot Sims, tenor; Bob Brookmeyer, piano, Red Mitchell, bass; Larry Bunker, drums

Wailing Vessel - Bud Shank And 3 Trombones
Composed and Arranged by Bob Cooper
Alternative Master
Personnel: Bub Shank, alto; Bod Enevoldsen, valve trombone (solo); Maynard Ferguson, valve trombone, Stu Williamson, valve trombone, Claude Williamson, piano, Joe Mondragon, bass; Shelly Manne, drums

Happy Little Sunbeam - Chet Baker Quartet
Composed and Arranged by Russ Freeman
Alternative Master
Personnel: Chet Baker, trumpet; Russ Freeman, piano; Carson Smith, bass, Larry Bunker, drums

It Had To Be You - Bill Perkins and Bud Shank
By Isham Jones and Gus Kahn
Arrangement by Bill Perkins
Previously Unreleased
Personnel: Bill Perkins, tenor, Bud Shank, tenor, Hampton Hawes, piano; Red Mitchell, bass Mel Lewis, drums

Low Life - Bud Shank and Bob Brookmeyer
Composed and Arranged by Johnny Mandel
Alternative Master
Personnel: Bud Shank, alto; Bob Brookmeyer, valve trombone; Claude Williamson, piano; Buddy Clarke, bass; Larry Bunker, drums (strings)

There Will Never Be Another You - Chet Baker Quintet with Jimmy Giuffre
By Harry Warren-Mack Gordon
Arrangement by Russ Freeman
Unreleased
Personnel: Chet Baker, trumpet; Jimmy Giuffre, clarinet; Russ Freeman, piano; Carson Smith, bass; Bob Neel, drums

Lotus Bud - Bud Shank and Shorty Rogers
Composed and Arranged by Shorty Rogers
Original Master
Personnel: Bud Shank, flute; Shorty Rogers, flugle horn; Jimmy Rowles, piano; Harry Babasin, bass; Roy Harte, drums

Darn That Dream - Gerry Mulligan Quartet
By James Van Heusen and Eddie De Large
Arrangement by Gerry Mulligan
Alternati Master
Personnel: Gerry Mulligan, baritone; Chet Baker, trumpet; Carson Smith, bass, Larry Bunker, drums

Speak Low - Laurindo Almeida Quartet
By Orden Nash and Kurt Weill
Arrangement by Laurindo Almeida 
Alternative Master
Personnel: Laurindo Almedia, concert guitar; Bud Shank, alto; Harry Babasin, bass; Roy Harte, drums

Two Can Play - Bob Gordon & Jack Montrose
Composed and Arranged  by Jack Montrose
Alternative Master
Personnel: Bob Gordon, baritone; Jack Montrose, tenor, Paul Moer, piano; Joe Mondragon, bass; Billy Schneider, drums

Oh, Lady Be Good - Lee Konitz Plays With The Gerry Mulligan Quartet
By George and Ira Gershwin
Arrangement by Gerry Mulligan
Alternative Master
Personnel: Gerry Mulligan, baritone; Chet Baker, trumpet; Lee Konitz, alto; Joe Mondragon, bass, Larry Bunker, drums

From the back cover: The music enclosed here gathers together a sampling of the cream of the West Coast crop, presenting them in selections that typify their finest efforts, and offering the jazz follower – dedicated or casual – a varied program of current jazz at its best. This anthology of West Coast Jazz was complied both as a companion piece for the book of photographs called Jazz West Coast and as a progress report on California jazz activity as it stands in 1955.

Jazz on the West Coast in the first half of the 'fifties has enjoyed a status it has seldom experienced in many time or any city. It's probably unnecessary to enlighten most non-coastal residents as to this boom, but for those few still foggy about what has been happening on the wester front, reference is made to the introduction of the picture book Jazz West Coast which outlines at greater lenght the causes and  characteristics of this internationally recognize movement. (Portions of that introduction were adapted for use here.)

Very nearly every key figure in West Coast jazz (and Jazz West Coast, the book) is represented here. While it is interesting to speculate as to whether these musicians can be grouped into a musical school of  thought, that is not one of the limitations laced on selection. The chances are, history will reveal that there is a aWest Coast school; a group of musicians playing calmer, gentler jazz, placing at least as much emphasis on writing as on slowing. But the task of definitive summation is left to later years or less biased observers. It is hoed that by disclaiming any restrictions of School we may by-pass much of the clamor about presumptuous inclusion of musicians comply associated with other areas. Eastern will spot many of their old and-bys; the fact remains that this music was recorded in Lost Angeles by musicians in residence here, and to the extent the label "Jazz West Coast' is meaningful.

Wherever possible – happily, in every case but one – new performance were used to represent the group's. In many instance of course, the arrangements themselves have been offered bore, but as even the newest jazz listener knows, the essence of jazz in sin the soloing, and where material does overlap that simply adds a bonus opportunity for comparison of soloist approach.

The first to pooh-pooh the possibilities of a West Coast School in the making have been the musicians themselves; no one ducks a pigeon-hole like a creative artist. However, the better players needn't fear a blurring of their individuality. California music is built around powerfully individual voices: Chet Baker is a laureate whose poetic phrased and pastoral tone have worked which mosaics of recorded music. Gerry Mulligan, through his composed, friendly soloing and superb writing, has been an inspiration  and pace-maker of the first order.  Shorty Rogers is a paragon of consistent good taste in writing and trumpeting. Lost in a shuffle of altoists scant years ago, Bud Shank has shot up at the prodigious rate and now, with Bird gone, looms as one of the top contenders for the crown. Hardly a California settler, compared to the others, Clifford Brown nonetheless recorded heavily here and his breezy, twinkling style flourished under the Pacific sun. Another fleeting colonist, Lee Konitz, is represented by a fresh gem that recalls his memorable brush with the Mulligan quartet. Bob Brookmeyer has became a confirmed Coaster; he continues to come a hair-raising during-do with an official aplomb. As a Hollywood citizen, Zoot Sims waxes Zootier than ever; he needs no greater praise. Russ Freeman is one of the formulators of that modish style of piano playing which mixes a lusty revivalism with a new worldliness; with its delicate balance. The roster of praiseworthy names goes on and on: Shelly Manne, the omnipresent and seemingly omnipotent Einstein of the drums... Jim Guiffre, a paradox of rustic, romping horn and intricate, far-sighted writing... Brazilian virtuoso Laurindo Almedia, a successful welder of new form out of disparate parts... Bob Gordon of the surging, powerful baritone... Jack Montrose, sauce writer-arranger, considered supreme by many of his contemporaries. There are new faces as well as old: Kenton-Hermanite tenors Bill Perkins for instance, whose work here indicated why his star is in the ascendancy.

Many of the rest of the men represented here are legitimate stars in their own right and of equal importance to the scene with those already mentioned. But the names have been touted in no particular order and failure to include other names certainly isn't intended as a qualitative comment; space limitation dictate an arbitrary halt. The idea has been to indicate the wide range of West Coast figures included.

This wide range was possible because a significant portion of the important musicians are apart of the Pacific Jazz fold, and because contractual barriers to the inclusion of other jazzmen were bridged by an understanding on the part of companion companies as to the importance of a validly representative collection of the local output. The one exception, thorough no fault of the performers is the work of the Dave Brubeck Quartet and a few related San Francisco artists. Fortunately Brubeck has had ample coverage, both musical and verbal, and in any case the music generally spoken of as "West Coast Jazz" is Los Angeles-centered. The San Francisco people are covered in the book of course, where everyone pertinent to the Coastal picture – include here or otherwise – is covered in a brief sketch that accompanies his photograph.

Published some months prior to the issuance of this album, Jess West Coast: A Portfolio Of Pictures has already garnered a respectable sheaf of critical acclaim for the photofraer, William Clayton. The acceptance comes as no surprise. Especially, Claxton's work is praiseworthy for the purity of its composition. Equally impressive is his functional a reporter. Probably more than any other factor except the music itself, Laxton's photography has been responsible for the wide acceptance of West Coast Jazz. If his approach to picture-taking seems particularly appropriate to the music identified with California, it is no accident; Clayton has consciously striven to capture the spirit of the scene. That he has succeeded is obvious; yet far from being merely adjust to the music, his work has attained a following it its own, earning praise as much from artistic sources as from the musical world.

Owners of one half of the Jazz West Coast Report – either the book or the album – will find it rewarding to acquire the other half. The compilers of the two – Linear Publications for the book, Pacific Jazz for this album – suggest that together these companion pieces form a double window, opening onto a jazz vista as charming as any locale has thus far been able to offer. – Will Mac Farland

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Monday Night At The Village Gate - Herbie Mann

 

The Young Turks

Monday Night At The Village Gate
Herbie Mann
Recording Engineers: Tom Dowd, Phil Lehle & Joe Atkinson
Cover Painting: Abidine
Cover Design: Boring Eutemey
Supervision: Nesuhi Ertegun
Atlantic 1462
1966

Herbie Mann - Flute
John Hitchcock, Mark Weinstein - Trombones
Chick Corea - Piano
Dave Pike - Vibes
Earl May - Bass
Bruno Carr - Drums
Carlos "Patato" Valdes - Conga Drums

This album was recorded at The Village Gate in New York. Atlantic Records is grateful to Art D'Lugoff for his kind cooperation during the recording of this album.

From the back cover: Six years ago the Village Gate started a series of Monday evening jazz sessions. At that time the club played only folk and international attractions through the week. Herbie Mann's band became such a smash on Monday nights that we decided on Thanksgiving of 1960 to book the group for an entire week.

This, too, was successful, as Herbie Mann became the first of many jazz groups to play the Gate regularly. In fact, Herbie Mann holds the record of playing the Gate more weeks then any other single attraction. His first live recording from the club made four years ago and naturally titled Herbie Mann At The Village Gate has sold over half a million copies and thus far holds the record as the biggest album ever recorded live at the club. Incidentally, the Gate has more live recordings released than any other club in the world.

Whenever Herbie Mann comes to the Gate there's lots of excitement in the air. Herbie like to keep changing his book and his instrumentalists. He adds a drum here, subtracts a guitar there, adds  trombones and through it all you can hear the great swinging flute of Herbie mann. Whether it's Afro-Cuban, Bossa Nova, blues or just plain jazz his groups are always up with the audience. And, boy, does that audience react!

Unlike most night clubs, the Gate is acoustically a very live room. We absolutely shy away from fancy drapes, chandeliers and headwaiters. We have a real professional stage with a light and sound man to program every attraction. Most important, our patrons pay an admission, just like at any concert, to hear their favorite artist. We have liquor and food but no one is obligated to purchase anything.

Funny, but Herbie's customers not only pay admission gladly, they also drink. I wish there were a dozen more acts like Herbie Mann in the business. Maybe there would be more jazz clubs opening rather than closing. – Art D' Lugoff

From Billboard - May 14, 1966: Recorded live at New York's Village Gate, the album should top the sales of the flutist's earlier LP, "Herbie Mann At The Village Gate," which went over the 500,000 mark. Excellent Mann-made jazz.

Away From The Crowd
Motherless Child
In Escambrun
The Young Turks
You're Gonna Make It With Me

Somebody Love Me - Jerri Winters

 

I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me

Somebody Loves Me
Jerri Winters
With The Al Belletto Sextet (courtesy Capitol Records)
Recorded February and March, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois
Bethlehem Records BCP-76

From the back cover: Jerri Winters is a "new" singer, an exciting, vibrantly fresh new talent who has severed a strict apprenticeship in the Midwest, and who now has emerged from the fabulous spawning ground of Jazz as another important contribution to this most dramatic musical form. Unlike the myriad of girl vocalists who have been highly publicized in recent years, only to fade, for the most part, into oblivion, Jerri has been given little national exposure, and no high-powered press build-up. Bug whispers which had their beginnings in the small Chicago nightery where Jerri has been singing, have grown into shouts of praise wherever Jazz buffs gather.

What is it that sets Jerri apart from so many other young singers who never quite make the musical grade? Well, there's feeling in her singing, feeling for the lyrics she is singing, the story she is telling. And then there is the beat which is always present, always felt, but never over-powering. And finally there is an obvious knowledge of music and musicianship, a working marriage with the men who are performing with her to produce a finished product, complete with the styling that is Jerri's trademark.

In this, Jerri's first Bethlehem effort, she has carefully selected a program which can and does show off her command of every musical situation, her imagination, and her amazing versatility. Tunes which were meant to be emotional emerge emotional, while those denoting gaiety are happy, laughing songs maintaining the mood throughout. It's Always You, for example, gets a warm, soulful treatment which is rich and full to the earth, while All Or Nothing At All is vocally and instrumentally done in a wild Latin Beat that breathes for recognition.

While Jerri is a dominant singer, she has wisely used four male voices as background on several of the elections, including the all-time favorites, Sometimes I'm Happy, and the difficult Kind Of Moody ballad which handled in a most accomplish manners.

I Got It Bad is bound to bring comparison, for many of the great feminine Jazz singers have done this one, but Jerri gives it her own reading, and backed by some excellent trumpet work by Willis Thomas, it emerges as a sure winner.

Somebody Loves Me is an example of how well Jerri can change a mood, move from a ballad to an upbeat under, yet hold her audience in the palm of her hand. Here again strong instrumental support from the quint, plus a male vocal background are evident, but always subordinate to the effective Winters' style.

Dark Shadows perhaps is best known for the "Bird" (Charlie Parker) instrumental of several years past, but Jerri proves that as a vocal it also deserves recognition, giving it originality and strong interpretation, In the same vin, listen to Crazy In The Heart, which offers a perfect combine of vocals plus musical aptitude of the highest quality.

When Jerri sings There Will Never Be Another You, she is telling a lyrical story, telling it tastefully, excitingly an most importantly, convincingly. And in the same mood, who can doubt her when she ways "I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me?" Certainly not the men who will be listening to this album in the semi-darkness of their home, listening to Jerri sing directly to them.

Finally there are two direct opposites in composition, and beat, Ridin' On The Mood, a fast, swinging tune, and In Other Words, a ballad, Both are given a well-rounded treatment, each welded into a Musial delight by the interpretation vocally and instrumentally.

As noted above, Jerri is obviously aware of, and deeply interested in musicianship, and for this reason she has selected one of the Windy City's finest groups to accompany her. Al Belletto, leader of the Belletto Quintet which has worked with Jerri at the Colisters, plays alto and clarinet, Jimmy Guinn, trombone, Williw Thomas, trumpet; K. O'Brien, bass, and T. U. Montgomery, drums, completing the grou. Gillette, Crane, Quinn and Thomas also combine to form the vocal background for Jerri.

Augmenting Belleto's fine aggregation are two of the Jazz giants, Ray Brown on bass and Louis Marion, drums, who are featured on four of the sides, Somebody Loves Me, Carzy In The Heart, Dark Shadows and It's Always You.

We hope you will listen to this album with one other through in mind – the excellence of the recording quality. Here is true high fidelity reproduction, the highs are high, the lows low, and the over-all sound quality is one we think is truly representative of the term high fidelity. The entire album was recorded in a series of sessions conducted at Universal Studios in Chicago during February and March, 1957, with Bill Putnam personally handling the controls. He has produced a frame of sound beauty for the piece do resistance, Miss Jerri Winters. – Norman Weiser, Music Editor, Family Weekly, Argosy

Sometime I'm Happy
It's Always You
I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
Somebody Loves Me
Dark Shadows
Ridin' On The Moon
All Or Nothing At All
In Other Words
Crazy In The Heart
There Will Never Be Another You 
Kind Of Moody
I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Rocky & His Friends

 

Rocky & His Friends

TV Orignal Cast Album
Rocky The Flying Squirrel & His Friends
Starring the voices of June Foray, Paul Frees, Walter Tetley and Bill Scott
Written by Paul Barnes
Music Arranged and Conducted by Dennis Farina
Jay Ward Productions, Inc.
Golden Record LP 64
1961

I Was Born To Be Airborne
I'm Rocky's Pal
Bullwinkle's Corner: Tom, Tom, The Piper's Song And Pied Piper
Peabody Here!
Peabody's Adventure: "Ponce de Loen"
The Re-Goodnik's Sons - Boris And Natasha
Sherman: "I Wanna Go Back"
Peabody's Improbable History: "Stanley And Livingston"
Cloyd And Sidney - "Moon Men"
"You Gotta Have A Crook!"
Fractured Fairy Tale: "Riding Hoods - Anonymous 
Reprise And Farewell - Rocky's Song

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Dee-Latin Hi-Fi Organ - Lenny Dee

 

Adios

Dee-Latin
Hi-Fi Organ
Lenny Dee with Latin American Rhythm
Decca Records DL 8718

From the back cover: The trouble with a lot of music-lovers, as somebody once remarked, is that they don't have any fun with music. Too knowledgeable for comfort and too highbrow by half, they listen to music with a cooly discernible ear and look down their patrician noses at anything even faintly resembling a syncopated beat. To suggest to them that Bach, Brahms or Beethoven can be fun is sacrilege. To suggest that the other famous three B's – barrelhouse, boogie-woogie and the blues – can be music is an outrage. Fortunately, that kind of music-lover is so in the minority that if you're extremely careful about the friends you make you may be spared ever meeting one. Meanwhile, the fun to be had out of music of any kind is almost boundless.

One gentlemen who has a great deal of fun out of music is Lenny Dee. Staring with the accordion and the banjo when he was a boy, he switched to the organ at the Chicago Conservatory after a three-year stint in the Navy. He's been having a great time ever since playing for club dates, radio and television and for a series of highly successful Decca albums.

A large part of the fun Lenny Dee gets out of playing his custom-built, specially modified Hammond organ is in the amazing variety of sounds he can make it produce. He can make it strum like a banjo, beat like a tom-tom and, happily enough for this particular album, sound like an entire rhumba band.

Mambo Jambo
Walther Winchell Rhumba
Ja Da
(When We Are Dancing) I Get Ideas
Begin The Beguine
Sweet And Gentle (Me Lo Dijo Adela)
El Cumbanchero
Cherry Pink (And Apple Blossom White)
Mambo No. 5
Te Quiero Dijiste
Morena
Adios

Shorty Rogers And His Giants

 

Mambo Del Crow

Shorty Rogers And His Giants
RCA Victor LPM 1195
1956

From the back cover: Modern jazz is today in need of a leader, a fresh source of ideas and an inspirational fountainhead. The leaders of the bast will hold their positions only until new men are album to publicly prove themselves and they ideas in bidding for popular acclaim. In this album, RCA Victor features Shirty Rogers, whose musical ideas are making the most potent in the present jazz movement. In order to let Shorty express these ideas in his own way, he is given free rein as to composition, arrangement and choice of musicians.

Beginning his career with Red Norvo, who became his brother-in-law, Shorty was later drafted into the Army where he played trumpet in numerous service bands. After his discharge, he joined the original Woody Heron Herd. In composing such great instrumentals as Back Talk and Keen And Peachy for the full Herd and the majority of numbers performed by the Woodchoppers, Shorty soon became a bulwark of the fabulous Woody Herman arranging staff. Later, with Stan Kenton, he scored brilliantly on trumpet and with such compositions as Jamba and Jolly Rogers. At the moment he lives in Southern California where his time is divided between leading a jazz group, writing for films and teaching composition.

On this record you will hear two of Shorty's aggregations. The members of the first ensemble are: Shelly Manne, drums; Joe Mondragon, bass; Hampton Hawes, piano; Art Salt, alto sax; Gene England, tuba; Milt Bernhart, trombone; Johnny Grass, French horn; and Jimmy Giuffre, tenor sax. Opening their collection is Morpo, described by Shorty Rogers as having "that fundamental swing quality necessary t all jazz." This quality, said to be independent of rhythm, is illustrated by Johnny Graas in what is perhaps the first recorded jazz solo on French horn, followed by Bernhart, Salt, Shorty and an improbable quote by Hampton Hawes. Bunny musically incarnates a very real person with delicate and expressive solo work by Salt and Grass, steeped in a more contrapuntal idiom than is usual for jazz.  Powder Puff is a Latin original by Shelley Manne, who is known for his brilliant resolution of the number's final chord. During Mambo del Crow a very "hip" crow happened to fly into the studios where he participated as vocalist; the work features Milt Bernhart and Shelly Manne and proves rhythmically that jazz can borrow from Latin music to the enhancement of each.

The Pesky Serpent is a Jimmy Giuffre original arranged not unlike his great Four Brothers, and featuring him along with Milt, Shorty, Hamp and Art. Diablo's Dance showcases the taut, crackling piano of Hamp Hawes in a Latin manner, complete with tambourine introduction by Shelly Manne. Pirouette is Roger's graceful impression of a ballet which he once scored for a film, while the finals section is another number by Giuffre entitled Indian Club which combines Indian and swing motifs in an exceptionally clever way.

Shorty's second group displayed in this recording includes; Shorty Rogers, trumpet; Pete Jolly, piano; Shelly Manne, drums; Curtis Counce, bass and Jimmy Giuffre, tenor sax. Over and above the wonderfully imaginative work of the individual soloists, it is Shorty's writing which immediately sets his aggregations off from all others. Both the Rogers original, Joycycle, and the Rodgers and Hart standard, The Lady Is A Tramp, are cases in point. Their very structure is so excitingly (and often contrapuntally) formulated that the ensemble passages are as brilliantly conceived as the extemporaneous wailing by the variety of soloists. But even more than this, it is Shorty's closely styled, interdependent harmonies that make of each of his productions a thing of simple aural brilliance – simple, that is, in everything but the way they are put together.

In addition to the tunes already mentioned, this session of September 10, 1954, also produced the wonderfully stimulating version of Al Cohn's The Goof And I, and the trip-hammer wailing over the Bird's My Little Suede Shoes.

As we can at once hear in this recording, these were session like all those Rogers has led in the past and like those which he will undoubtably go on leading as long as his conception of jazz maintains its present high level of intelligence – full of vital perception which cannot but fall easily on tired ears. 

Morpo
Bunny
Powder Puff
Mambo Del Crow
Joycycle 
The Lady Is A Tramp
The Pesky Serpent
Diablo's Dance 
Pirouette
Indian Club
The Goof And I
My Little Suede Shoes