The Music Man - Jimmy Giuffre

 

Wells Fargo Wagon

The Music Man

Jimmy Guiffre & His Music Men

Arrangements by Jimmy Guiffre

Recording Engineer: Tom Dowd

Cover Photo: Bob Goldby

Cover Design: Marvin Israel

Supervision: Nesuhi Ertegun

Atlantic 1276

1958

Personnel:

Jimmy Giuffre: Clarinet, Tenor Sax and Baritone Sax

Al Cohn and Eddie Wasserman: Tenor Sax

Sol Schlinger: Baritone Sax

Phil Sunkel, Joe Wilder and Bernie Glow: Trumpets

Wendell Marshall: Bass

Ed Shaughnessy: Drums

On The Well Fargo Wagon, It's You & Shipoopi, Nick Travis replaces Bernie Glow

On Iowa Stubborn, Lida Rose & Gary, Indiana, the trumpet section consists of Art Framer, Bernie Glow and Phil Sunkel

Jimmy Giuffre plays tenor sax on Iowa Stubborn, Lida Rose & It's You. He plays baritone sax on Seventy-Six Trombones, and clarinet on all the other tunes. On Gary, Indiana he plays all three instruments.

All horn solos are by Jimmy Giuffre, with the exceptions of The Wells Fargo Wagon, where there are short solos in this initial order, Al Cohn, Sol Schlinger, Eddie Wasserman, Phil Sunkel, Nick Travis and Joe Wilder

From the back cover: In deciding on the instrumentation for his ensemble, Jimmy fell back on a formula he used for Down Home, a selection in this LP "The Jimmy Giuffre Clarinet" (Atlantic 1238): 3 trumpets, 3 saxes, bass and drums, with himself playing solo horn. Such a group achieves the light, airy feel of Jimmy's Trio and yet offers a textural richness that often suggests a complement of far more than nine instruments. The Music Men sound like a big band, but are as compact and flexible as a three-piece combo.

This is not a jam session, but a program of "prepared jazz." Almost every note is written out, and this includes drums and bass. The arrangements themselves are characterized by a contrapunal approach. As Jimmy put it, "I wrote for this group as I would for a symphony orchestra. instead of voiced-out parts as in a dance band, I used each section in unison throughout." Hence, there are no solos by any of the horns besides Jimmy, except in The Wells Fargo Wagon, where each gets a break.

From Billboard - March 3, 1958: This could easily be one of the big jazz albums of the year with pop appeal as well. It is a superbly handled jazz version of the tunes from the smash hit musical, "The Music Man," featuring outstanding work by Jimmy Giuffre on clarinet and sax, backed tastefully by top jazz men. Giuffre's winning performance will win him more accolades, and his arrangements imbue the music with warmth and new meaning.

Iowa Stubborn

Goodnight My Someone

Seventy-Six Trombones

Marian The Librarian 

My White Knight

The Wells Fargo Wagon

It's You

Shipoopi

Lida Rose (Well I Ever Tell You)

Gary, Indiana 

Till There Was You