Nightsound - Joe Bushkin

 

A Foggy Day

Nightsounds

Joe Bushkin Piano And Orchestra

Cover Photo: Lou Faurer

Location: The Beekman Tower, Manhattan

Note: Gilbert Millstein of The New York Times

Capitol Records T983

1958

From the back cover: "Nightsounds" is the exuberant, fugitive air issuing from the doorway of a cabaret; the melody, swinging but reflective, heard on a record player in a darkened room; the popular song, at once familiar and made new by the artist out of his talents, his emotional associations, his private musings. The musical vehicle that would, in a jazz idiom, convey for him the night sound of music was happened on almost inadvertently by Joe Bushkin, the pianist, himself a composer and arranger. He saw the motion picture, "Baby Doll," and was immensely excited by its score, the work of Kenyon Hopkins, composer also of the scores for "Twelve Angry Men" and "The Strange One," among other films.

It became evident to Bushkin that what he was looking for in texture, color and tempo for "Nightsounds" was to be found in the point of view of someone who had not only written cinema music, but had a thorough and sophisticated working knowledge of jazz as well. He communicated his ideas to Hopkins, whom he had never met previously. Hopkins was greatly receptive when he was not actually anticipative, having heard, in an inner ear, not a few of the things Bushkin wanted set down. (It was only later that the two men discovered both had studied, at the same time some years earlier, under the same composer, the modernist, Stegan Wolpe.)

The way in which the album evolved was an interesting one. Bushkin and Hopkins first agreed on the dozen timeless songs – standards – included in "Nightsounds." They then created the instrumentation to be built about Bushkin's piano, one that would combine a feeling for a modern line with a respect for melody and a knowledgeable beat. After much discussion, they settled for upon woodwinds: alto flute, alto saxophone and bassoon;  two baritone saxophones alternating with bass clarinets; and the rhythm section, guitar, bass, conventional drums and bongo drums.

At home, Bushkin tape recorded choruses of the songs. These were not the solos he would record – a jazz musician composes on a theme as he plays – but the gave Hopkins ideas for the structures he intended to erect about Bushkin's improvised solos. Hopkins' arrangement gave Bushkin new thoughts. In the recording studio, he played things that, in turn, stimulated Hopkins anew and resulted in new structures behind Bushkin and new solos for him. The two were, so to speak, composing, arranging and playing in the manner of two soloists doing "chase choruses" at a jam session. The effect was heightened, too,  by the contributions of the individual musicians. The result is this album, "Nightsounds," a noteworthy addition to the music of Joe Bushkin.

Love Me Or Leave Me

You Go To My Head

But Not For Me

Fools Rush In

There's A Small Hotel

While We're Young

A Foggy Day

Who Cares?

They Can't Take That Away From Me

At Sundown

TheyAll Laughed 

The Lady Is A Tramp