Shifting Winds - Bob Cooper

 

'Round Midnight

Shifting Winds

Bob Cooper

Capitol Records T6513

1956

Sessions:

Bob Cooper - Tenor sax, Oboe, English Horn - 1, 2, 3

Jimmy Gluffre - Tenor Sax, Clarinet, Bariton Sax - 1, 2, 3

Bud Shank - Alto Sax, Flute, Tenor Sax - 1, 2, 3

Bob Enevoldsen - Trombone, Tenor Sax, Bass Clarinet - 1, 2, 3

Claude Williamson - Piano - 1, 2, 3

John Graas - French Horn - 2, 3

Stu Williamson - Trumpet, Trombone - 1

Max Bennet - Bass - 1

Joe Mondragon - Bass - 2

Ralph Pena - Bass - 3

Stan Levy - Drums - 1

Shelly Manne - 2, 3

Session 1: April 26, 1956, Hollywood, Califorina - Strike Up The Band, It Don't Mean A Thing, Hot Boy, Sunset

Session 2: June 13, 1955, Hollywood, California - Deep In A Dream, It's De-Lovely, Drawing Lines

Session 3: June 14, 1955, Hollywood, California - All Or Nothing At All, 'Round Midnight, Tongue Twister

From the back cover: A lank, shy fellow in his late twenties, Cooper is an inconspicuous suburban dweller, with a wife, singer June Christy – and an infant daughter. Not long after the recording sessions, Cooper discussed the music in an informal chat. Here, culled from that discussion, are some of his remarks on the tunes, the selections being dealt with in playing order.

It's De-Lovely - "I was looking through some lead sheets and I saw where I could change the old harmonies to dress up the melody by adding some key changes where there weren't any before – not an unusual thing to do these days. The boys snapped right on it, thanks largely to Shelly's tremendous work, and the feel is good. Notice how Gluffre always ties in with what has proceeded; he insists on making sense."

Strike Up The Band - "I've been playing this as a feature at the Lighthouse for a long time and people have asked me if its recorded: I thought it could be a good showcase. It's as it was evolved at the club: breakneck tempo, all tenor, and Dixie ending; only the introduction is new. This kind of tempo is very popular and kind of fun but, actually, anything new or worthwhile is pretty unlikely to happen at that speed; I like to work with something a little more reasonable."

'Round Midnight - "This tune was written by Thelonius Monk, and there is a well-known record on it by Dizzy. I wanted to play English horn on something, and this seemed to fit. I think we captured the mood of the tune. In fact, it could be the best mood of the entire date."

Hot Boy - "When early Britishers took the French 'hautbois,' meaning 'high-wood' and pronounced 'oh-bwa,' they change the spelling to 'hautboy' and mangled the pronunciation to 'ho-boy.' Now we carry this mangling still further. If the arrangement and tune seem satirical, perhaps it's because 'hot-oboe' is necessarily sort of a tongue-in-cheek idea. Ad lib oboe has its place in jazz, but an up-tempo oboe chorus is funny or amusing, not really swinging."

Deep In Dream - "In this arrangement, some of the harmonies are arrived at through contrapuntal lines – particularly where the quarter-notes triplets are heard in the melody – rather than the standard harmonies of the tune. I enjoyed my tenor solo on this one and had some good luck with it. It's probably my best ballad tenor to date."

Hallelujah - "In order to add color, at the beginning and again at the ending, the major third of the minor third in the melody line are changed to perfect fourths. Everyone seems to feel pretty good on this one; notice Giufre's little announcement at the beginning of his chorus."

Tongue Twister - " This is based on an ordinary blues with a sixteen-bar release added. The boys got into a nice happy mood and turned the into a fairly hard-swinging thing. On the last release, the French horn carries the melody while the alto and the tenor ad lib together in free counterpoint over the line."

All Or Nothing At All - "If the bass had been playing 2/4, you might be able to slip this in at any society dance – except for the solos. June made some transcriptions in New York several years ago and we have the tapes. One of those was an up-tempo jazz version of this tune and that's what gave me the idea of doing it. The tune's structure is good, and it's different – and the lyric is good. "

Sunset - "I like the sound of a flute and tenor together and I wrote this with that in mind. The valve trombone is Stu Williamson this time and he plays a good, loose solo. As for the title of this tune, someone suggested it, but now I'm not sure; I tried for a little Casbah feeling, and maybe got it, but it could just as well be the sun rise as sun set, I'm afraid."

Drawing Lines - "I started this out to be a passacaglia, a musical form with pretty strict rules; but pretty soon I found myself breaking all of the rules with ideas of my own, and now it's just a sort of distant jazz cousin of a passacaglia, at most. Enevoldsen plays a good valve chorus; there are some little chime effects from the piano, and some hot oboe. The title indicates that each horn's line delineates a different shape."

It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing - "I tried to score with a certain amount of blowing freedom; we take it at a slower tempo than it usually gets. The order of the three tenor solos is myself, then Shank, then Enevolden. This is a perfect closing tune; jazz changes its rules, but the rule expressed in this title is one that never changes. I think this reading has its swinging moments."

– 

"I went to the Lighthouse early in 1952 and at this time I have no plans to leave. Sticking there allows me a normal family life and freedom to study. And the generally high level of musicianship at the club offers a great proving-ground for writing and blowing; I couldn't afford men of that caliber if I were to go out on my own. Most of the people on this record have worked, or still work, at the Lighthouse; many of them are perfect examples of the modern, versatile musician. A small group's sound can get boring – no matter how skillful the writing – without this versatilely. Because we got a variety of moods and sounds, and because everybody blew, I'm pleased with this record, happy to have it carry my name." – Notes compiled by Will MacFarland

From Billboard - July 14, 1956: One of the most impressive entries in the Capitol "Kenton Presents" series to date. Cooper, long a mainstay staffer at the Lighthouse, the jazz nitery in Southern California, assembled some of the heavyweight wailers of the area for the three sessions from which the material here is drawn. His arrangements exploit the multiple talents of his crew, the nucleus of which was Jimmy Giuffre, Bub Shank, Bob Enevoldsen and Claude Williamson. Cooper himself blows tenor, oboe and English horn on the date; Shank, alto, tenor and flute; Enevoldsen, trombone, tenor and bass clarinet and so on. The versatility of these men makes for rich instrumentations and some highly colorful effects. The variety of moods and sounds makes for an extremely exciting West Coast jazz LP - and is a must for every modern collector.