Happy Session - Benny Goodman

 

Having A Ball

Happy Session

Benny Goodman and His Orchestra

Featuring Andre Previn and Russ Freeman

Produced by Park Recording Company

Columbia Records CS 8129

1959

Personnel:

Clarinet: Benny Goodman

Piano: Andre Previn, Russ Freeman

Bass: George Duvivier, Milt Hinton (replaces on Happy Session Blues) and Leroy Vinnegar

Guitar: Barney Kessel, Turk Van Lake

Saxophones: Herb Geller, James Sands, Bob Wilber, Babe Clark, Pepper Adams

Trumpets: John Frosk, Allen Smith, Erment Perry, Benny Ventura

Trombones: Rex Peer, Hale Rood, Buster Cooper

Andre Previn, Shelly Manne and Barney Kessel appear through the courtesy of Contemporary Records.

From the back cover: One of the results of a success as tremendous as Goodman's was in the 1930s is the difficulty of presenting anything new to a public which wants to hear the dozens of Goodman classics over and over again. But Benny has always been searching for new songs, new players, new arrangers, and has rarely performed without presenting something or someone new. Last year during his European tour, culminating in his famous appearance at the Brussels Fair, recorded by Columbia in two volumes called Benny In Brussels (CS 8075, CS 8076) he discovered a young composer-arranger named Bobby Gutesha, a Yugoslavian now living in Germany. Four examples of this new talent are included in this album. Benny also commissioned Andre Previn to write a piece for his Brussels debut, and that too is included.

Benny's respect for Andre Previn as a pianist has been growing the several years while Goodman was on the East Coast and Previn on the West Coast. During a recent visit to Hollywood Goodman called Previn and arranged for the musical meeting he had been looking forward to, and the quintet sides they mad also included Barrey Kessel, who plays and sings (?) some wonderful choruses. For the East Coast sessions Benny called Russ Freeman, one of those rare pianists who, like Basie and Claude Thornhill, seem to play only the perfect notes at the perfect time. Drummer Shelly Manne was a West Coast visitor to the East Coast sessions in the album and another musician whom geography has prevented from joining Goodman before. The rest of the band, some like George Duvivier, veterans of other Goodman sessions (and most new to Benny's listeners), gathered to "try out some new things." Maybe they didn't know a microphone was turned on. I'm glad it was.

From Billboard - April 4, 1959: Ring the bells and chime the cymbals for Benny is back with a modern jazz group and jazz ork and some standards and Goodman and the men play well together. The new jazz quintet features such names as P. Adams, R. Freeman, S. Manne, H. Geller and B. Wilber. The arrangements are by Previn, Bobby Gutesha from Yugoslavia, plus the old Eddie Sauter arrangement of "Clarinet a la King." Sound is only fair, but Goodman may gain new fans with this stereo set.

Happy Session Blues

You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To

King And Me

Indian Summer

What A Diff'rence A Day Made

Batunga Train

Having A Ball

Clarinet a la King

Macedonia Lullaby

Diga Diga Doo