Gloomy Sunday
Gloomy Sunday And Other Bright Moments
The Bob Brookmeyer Orchestra
Cover Painting by Olga Albizu
Produced by Creed Taylor
Recorded in New York City Nov. 6, 7 & 8, 1961
Verve V6-8455
1961
From the inside (gatefold) cover: Personnel unless otherwise noted: TROMBONES - Billy Byers, Wayne Andre, Alan Raph; TRUMPETS - Bernie Glow, Doc Severinsen, Nick Travis, Clark Terry; REEDS - Phil Woods (clarinet and alto), Eddie Caine (flute and alto), Al Cohn (tenor), Phil Bodner (English horn, oboe, tenor), Gene Allen (baritone and bass clarinet); PIANO - Hank Jones; BASS - George Duvivier; VIBES and PERCUSSION - Eddie Costa; DRUMS - Mel Lewis. Wally Kane, bassoon, replaces Al Cohn on Gloomy Sunday, Detour Ahead, and Where, Oh Where. Gene Quill replaces Phil Woods on Caravan. Eddie Wasserman replaces Phil Woods on Where, Oh Where and Detour Ahead. Joe Newman replaces Nick Travis on Gloomy Sunday and Some of My Best Friends. Bill Elton replaces Billy Byers on Why Are You Blue, Ho Hum, and Days Gone By.
Although Bob Brookmeyer has figured prominently in a number of jazz orchestral albums, he feels with justification that this is his most successful venture yet as a leader in that challenging area. He wrote the arrangements on the entire second side and commissioned Ralph Burns, Gary McFarland, Al Cohn, and Eddie Sauter to undertake the other four numbers. "The basic idea," Brookmeyer points out "was maximum self-expression for all the writers involved. This is definitely not jazz-a-la-mode in the sense that we were trying to exploit what is currently fashionable. Everything here is entirely personal. There's a lot of whimsey in it, much delight in using the full color range possible in a jazz orchestra, and a series of equally per- sonal improvisations by the soloists within the particular context of each arrangement."
What especially strikes this listener is that although there has been a great deal of concentration by the five writers on freshly detailed, interweaving voicings, the overall feeling throughout is remarkably relaxed. Since the sidemen involved have worked together frequently, there is an exuberant collective unity which results in an incisively swinging big band performance. The musicians, moreover, all have extensive experience in big band playing so that they blend and shade expertly, an increasingly rare skill in jazz. With so supple and multi-colored an orchestral setting, the solos become absorbingly integrated into the total musical experience. In short, this is not simply a string of choruses over a conventional, predictable set of back- grounds. This is a uniquely orchestral album.
Of Ralph Burns, who scored Cara- van, Brookmeyer observes that "he always comes up with just what you need. He not only has the imagination, but also an extraordinary reservoir of technique." Aside from Brookmeyer, the soloists are altoist Gene Quill and Eddie Costa on vibes. As on the rest of the tunes, the rhythm section is flowingly cohesive with Mel "The Tailor" Lewis fusing all the various ensemble and solo strands into a pulsing unity. Note too the exhilarating bite and brio of the brass section.
Gary McFarland is clearly one of the most resourceful of the younger arrangers. He has contributed to recordings by the Modern Jazz Quartet, Johnny Hodges, Anita O'Day, and Ray Brown, among others; and his jazz version of How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (Verve V/V6- 8443) excels every other jazz interpretation of a show score in recent years in high spirits and ingenuity. His Why Are You Blue has also been recorded by Johnny Hodges (Blue Hodge, Verve V/V6-8406). Here, the melody at the beginning and the end is played by Clark Terry with Nick Travis taking the mocking plunger solo. On this and all the other tracks, the trombonist is Brookmeyer.
Al Cohn's romping Some of My Best Friends has an Ellington tinge in its coloration and underlines Al's capacity to write for sections so that they play with an infectious looseness and rhythmic ease. The first trumpet solo is by Joe Newman and the second by Clark Terry. Eddie Costa is on vibes, and in the final spirited dialogue between Newman and Terry, Newman again is heard first. Along with the shifting ensemble textures, there's an intriguing interplay between the dis- tinctly different sounds of Newman and Terry and Brookmeyer's burry range of colors.
Brookmeyer names Eddie Sauter his favorite writer, and Sauter is responsible for this continuously surprising arrangement of Gloomy Sunday which combines romanticism, pungent humor ("Sauter can never stay serious for too long," Brookmeyer explains), and several brilliant contrapuntal passages. Phil Woods is the alto soloist.
The rest of the album is Brookmeyer's. His own Ho Hum is literally spoken by trumpets and trombones at the top and the soloists in addition to Brookmeyer are Clark Terry, Phil Woods, Al Cohn, and Terry again. Detour Ahead illustrates Brookmeyer's characteristically oblique humor ("It sort of sounds like a Spanish marching band in places," he adds.) Phil Bodner is on English horn.
On Brookmeyer's arrangement of Gary McFarland's Days Gone By, Oh My!, the trumpet solo is by Clark Terry and Phil Woods is on clarinet. Here, as in all the Brookmeyer charts, there is a beguiling play of sonorities through a skillful variety of voicings that indicate the command Brookmeyer now has of his materials. The brass writing in particular is both ingenious and often euphoric for both player and listener. The final Where, Oh Where is from Cole Porter's 1950 show, Out of This World. After setting the verse gently, Brookmeyer handles the graceful theme with good- humored affection and imagination.
All that remains to be said is that as diversely accomplished as the arrange- ments and the other soloists are, the core of the album is Brookmeyer him- self. Few instrumentalists have shown so steady a growth as Brookmeyer during the past ten years. From his first appearance on the New York jazz scene, Brookmeyer evidenced a highly individualized style. He has since grown not only technically but in terms of the subtleties of expression – textural, conceptual, and rhythmic – he draws from his valve trombone. There is a pervasive warmth and unpretentiousness in his work that is the mark of a mature musician who is free of the pressures of hip-status-seeking that have constricted some of his contemporaries. And above all, there is the playful Brookmeyer wit – ironic, sardonic, and sometimes just brimming with the unalloyed pleasure of mak- ing music that is unmistakably and refreshingly his own. -Nat Hentoff
Caravan
Why Are You Blue
Some Of My Best Friends
Gloomy Sunday
Ho Hum
Detour Ahead
Days Gone By Oh My
Where, Oh Where
