Let's Get Away From It All - Andre Previn

 

Flying Down To Rio

Let's Get Away From It All

Andre Previn

Sport Car: The Austin-Healy "100"

Decca Records DL 8131

1955

Al Hendrickson - Guitar

Red Mitchell - Bass

Irv Cottler - Drums

From the back cover: Millions of people from coast to coast saw the telecast of the 1953 Academy Awards and saw young MGM studio conductor, Andre Previn, in white tie and tails conduct the orchestra for the show.

What they didn't see was what probably happened immediately after the conclusion of the program – Previn sitting at the piano in some Hollywood jazz club, trading intricate harmonic and melodic patterns with the top jazz men of the country.

This unusual switch is quite normal for 26-year-old Berlin-born Andre George Previn. He is the perfect example of the new look in modern music, a capable, finished, articulate performer in the classical, the popular, or the jazz field. At 21, Previn was the youngest musical director in Hollywood. At the same time he had a flourishing career as a popular pianist whose recordings of show tunes and ballads were among the best sellers in their field. In between he managed to appear as guest soloist with the Chicago and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and play special concerts in the Hollywood Bowl.

In recent years, Previn has emerged as one of the most versatile pianists in music. His stature as a jazz man has increased with each record. He can be heard to advantage on Decca Long Play "Jazz Studio Three," (DL 8104) and the scores of his various MGM pictures are making him secure in his position as one of the leading composures for motion pictures.

One of the most charming of Previn's many musical personalities is that of the delightful entertainer-through-music, I shall never forget a night in 1951 when Previn sat at the piano in NBC's San Francisco studios and played show tunes for hours – he was starved for music, having been on a GI tour of duty and away from his piano for weeks. At the time I thought if this can ever be captured on wax it would be something extra special. That is exactly what Decca has done in this LP.

Under the general title of "Let's Get Away From It All," Previn wanders through a series of ballads, each with the theme of a vacation spot. He mixes jazz solos with the most delightful of melodic journeys and the digressions into out-of-the-way spots are never without color, interest, and an atmosphere of relaxation. This album is not intended to be definitive jazz interpretations: it is intended to  be pleasant, listenable music in good taste with the attraction of the good ballad in the hands of the proper interpreter. It has most certainly succeeded, and in the process there is enough music packed into each tune so that the die-hard jazz fan is going to be able to spent many a happy hour with the rest of us, basking in the lovely sounds the Previn piano has created. – Notes by Ralph J. Gleason - Editor, The Rhythm Section, San Francisco Chronicle

Let's Get Away From It All

Moonlight In Vermont

It Happened In Sun Valley

Serenade To Sweden

Island In The West Indies

Flying Down To Rio

Honolulu

How Are Things In Glocca Morra

On A Slow Boat to China

London In July

San Francisco 

Sidewalks Of Cuba

Let's Get Away From It All (Reprise)

Pepper Adams 5

 

Baubles, Bangles And Bead

Pepper Adams 5

Cover Design: Cal Freedman

Photo: George Jerman / Photography 2

Interlude Records MO 502

1959

Personnell:

Pepper Adams - Baritone

Stu Williams - Trumpet

Carl Perkins - Piano

Leroy Vinnegar - Bass

Mel Lewis - Drums

From the back cover: Unlike other young jazz instrumentalists who had variety of idols to choose from, Pepper Adams and his baritone stylings colleagues single out Harry Carney as the only salient standard in the (obscured word) jazz realm who gave form and definition to the role of the baritone in (obscured word). Although Harry was at one time virtually alone in the field, his strong leadership paved the way to startling innovations by his latter-day admirers.

Park Adams grew up in Detroit Music Store, where the call for baritones was anemic. Through his fascination for reed instruments, he arranged with his boss to purchase the instrument for his employee discount. The union was an instant success, and Pepper became a convert to the over-sized horn. All of his available time was spent in perfecting his playing ability, and his patience was fully rewarded when he joined the Stan Kenton band in 1956, and later toured with Maynard Ferguson's "Dream Band."

This Interlude recording displays his talent with a group of his own choosing. Assisting him are four of the finest musicians in the country, all jazz individualists,  but with a keen sense of ensemble unity. The rhythm section of Carl Perkins, Leroy Vinnegar and Mel Lewis produce an unswerving backstop for the horns, and trumpeter Stu Williamson has long since distinguished himself as an important cog in the sphere of modern trumpet.

In addition to his performances here, Pepper composed two original lines for the group, both of which are heard on side 2. To complete the program he selected what we might call three standards, albeit that side 1 is devoted to a recently popular ballad, and a remarkably changed version of one of the great tunes from the Broadway success, "Kismet." The quintet had three things in mind as the program progressed. – Joe Quinn

From Billboard - July 13, 1959: Very listenable hard bop here by a fine group of jazzmen led by Pepper Adams on baritone. Sidemen include L. Vinnegar on bass, C. Perkins on piano, M. Lewis on drums, and S. Williamson on trumpet. There are only five selections on the album, with "Unforgettable" and "Baubles, Bangles And Beads" giving all the men a chance to blow. Good wax here.

Unforgettable - Gordon

Baubles, Bangles And Beads - Wright-Forrest

Freddie From - Pepper Adams

My One And Only Love - Wood-Mellin

Muezzin' - Pepper Adams

Move - Red Norvo

 

Godchild

Godchild

Red Norvo's Trio

with Tal Farlow - Guitar & Charlie Mingus - Bass

Production by Ozzie Cadena

Mastered by R. Van Gelder

Savoy Record, Co., Inc. SAVOY MG 12088

1956

From the back cover: The title aptly expresses Red's musical philosophy, that feeling which is so essential to the core of jazz. A happy attitude which makes jazz such an infectious music and, in its most productive moments, such a rewarding and refreshing musical experience. For that matter, there's always been something rewarding and refreshing in Red Norvo's musical dogma, and this set may well be the acme of his recorded history in a context that has all the zest of breezes blowing through Pacific coves.

I think you'll share the same zest when you sit, hear and feel the music which Red Norvo, Tal Farlow and Charlie Mingue present in this set. And what music it is! The themes employed are either standards which have worn well through the years, or original composition from the pens of the most expressive composers in jazz. Both standards and originals are afforded the finest treatment by all three confreres in a stimulating exposition of their talents. All three have ample time to appear in the solo spotlight, and considering the effectiveness of their individual statements, it is no wonder that each is considered to have no peer on his own instrument. Tal Farrow has won even major award in jazz polls throughout the country and in Europe, and, in line of descent and emotional intensity, many be the guitarist who shall bring to maturity the innovations which Charlie Christian first posited.

Bassist Mingus needs not introduction to the jazz public. Most fans are aware of his stature, as he is noted among the most original contributors and creative talents jazzdom has ever claimed. He is the leader of the modern movement of the East Coast with a following which rivals his own creative resources. But leader he definitely is, with a forceful, sometimes bellicose, personality which demands, and ofttimes receives, the finest performance from other soloists. (Charlie's work is well represented in the Composer's Workshop Album on SAVOY MG 12059). Red Norvo is certainly a musical who has withstood the test of time and the vagaries of public taste and opinion. He has functioned with the best in jazz domain, from Benny Goodman to Charlie Parker, and ever proved himself a valuable asset to any group. His position in jazz  has long established and the musical and personal respect he has garnered, is most deserving.

I feel that this album possesses that certain indefinable something which is the core of jazz greatness; perhaps it is the personality of the men who fuse and work together so well; perhaps the expressive munificence displayed by the soloists; perhaps it is the near-spiritual quality of jazz which allows its performers to transcend to a plane where creation begins. For these and other qualities, this album belongs in every music lover's collection. – Jack McKinney

Move

I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me

I'll Remember April

September Song

Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart

I've Got You Under My Skin

If I Had You

GodChild

This Can't Be Love

Cheek To Cheek

Swedish Pastery

Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band 1954

 

I Found A New Baby

Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band 1954

Cover Drawing: Mardi Gras by Irene Trivas

Cover Design by Robert Guidi / Trio-Arts

Photo Credit: Ory by William Claxton - Alcorn Probert by Cecil Charles & Ewell, Garland Hail by Ray Avery

Good Time Jazz Record Co.

GTJ L-12004

1954

Recorded the afternoons of August 9th & 10th, 1954, in Hollywood under the supervision of Lester Koenig. John Palladino was the recording engineer. A multiple microphone set-up was used, with all recording and mastering equipment checked to insure faithful reproduction of the full frequency range from 40 to 15,000 cps.

Personnel:

Kid Orgy - Trombone

Alvin Alcorn - Trumpet

George Probert - Clarinet

Don Ewell - Piano

Bill Newman - Guitar

Ed Garland - Bass

Minor Hall - Drums

From the back cover: How I wrote Muskrat Ramble by Kid Ory

Although I taught myself how to play the valve trombone at the age of 10 (1896) and the slide trombone at the age of 14 (1900), it wasn't until 1919 that I took my first formal music lesson. My teacher insisted that I should learn how to writ music so the I could better understand how to read it and interpret it.

After I finished with my first teacher, I decided I wanted to learn the saxophone, too. It was while learning this instrument that I was sitting there one day, running the scales and doing arpeggios and just sort of noodling around, when all the sudden it seemed to me that I had hold of a melody. I started putting it down on paper and adding here and there to fill in the gaps until I finally had the meter worked out. It sounded all right to me but I wasn't too enthusiastic about it, so much so that, although this took place in 1921, I didn't start playing with my band until 1923. I was playing a taxi dance hall in Los Angeles and it became one of our best numbers with the fans, but it was still nameless.

When I joined King Oliver in Chicago in 1925, I also started recording with another ex-employee of mine, Louis Armstrong, and the now-famous Hot Five. It was during our of our 1926 recording sessions for Okeh Records the we were short of a number to finish the session and I happened to have my music with me and we recorded my number. Just as we were leaving the studio, Mr. Fern, the Director of A&R for Okeh asked me what was the title of the last number we recorded. We all looked at each other after I stood there not answering, and Lil Armstrong helped me out. She turned to Mr. Fern and said, "Its title is "Muskrat Ramble" and added, turning to me, "Isn't that right, Red?" I told her, "I'll go for that title," and we all laughed and left the studio. Now it had a name. And it stayed that way until Melrose Music published it and old Mr. Melrose didn't like the sound of the "rat" part, so, on the sheet music, he changed it to Muskat Ramble. But the copyright still reads Muskrat Ramble by Edward Ory.

When The Saints Go Marching In

Maple Leaf Rag

Wolverine Blues

That's A Plenty

Musrat Ramble

Clarinet Marmalade

Gettysburg March

Yellow Dog Blues

I Found A New Baby

I Hear Ya Talkin' - Frank Wess

 

Opus The Blues

I Hear You Talkin'

Frank Wess

Original Session Produced by Ozzie Cadena

Recorded at Van Gelder Recording Studio

Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder

Prepared for release: Bob Porter

Dubbind and Editing: Malcolm Addey

Mastering Engineer: Joe Brescio - The Cutting Room, NYC

Cover and liner photos: Raymond Ross

Art Direction: W. Dale Cramer

Savoy Jazz SJL 1136

1984

Personnel:

Frank Wess - Flute, Tenor & Alto Sax

Thad Jones - Trumpet

Curtis Fuller - Trombone

Charlie Fowlkes - Baritone Saxophone

Hank Jones - Piano

Eddie Jones - Bass

Gus Johnson - Drums

From the back cover: Born in Kansas City, Missouri, on January 4, 1922, Wess had learned to play in a family band led by his father, who was a school teacher. Later, he joined Bill Baldwin for a time before becoming a member at the Howard Theater's pit band in Washington D.C., which was led by Coleridge Davis. He toured with Blanche Calloway for a year, then joined the Army from 1941 to 1944. When he returned to the music scene in 1944, Wess played with Billy Eckstine's band, Eddie Heywood, Lucky Millinder and Bull Moose Jackson. By that time, he was playing tenor saxophone, rather than the alto sax he had originally favored. As he told Stanley Dance in an interview for Down Beat in 1965: "When I started on tenor, I found I liked it better. I went back to alto later only because Basie asked me. I liked Chu Berry and Ben Webster, and I'd known Don Byas from the time I was 10 years old. But Lester Young was my inspiration. I jammed with Lester in Washington, and he showed me a lot of things about the horn and how to make some of the sounds he got that other people were not making. For a long time I played more like him that anybody." But eventually, he started to develop his own identity.

In 1949, Wess returned to Washington to study at Howard University's school of music. Thought he'd been attracted to the flute since he was 15 and heard Wayman Carver's recordings with Chick Webb, he had never had a chance to study the instrument. At Howard University, however, he worked under the tutelage of Wallace Mann, who was the first principal flutist with the National Symphony. But 1953 was the year when Wess replaced Paul Quinichette in Basie's band and first became widely known in jazz circles in relating the story to Stanley Dance, he noted: "Basie didn't know I played flute when I joined, but I used to practice during intermission all the time, and he couldn't help hearing me. So he told me to go ahead if I wanted to play and of my tenor spots on flute. The first number I was featured on that we recorded was "Perdido."

Leonard Feather has called him "the first jazz star to record extensively and with complete success as a flute soloist," and it is generally conceded that he as a pioneer on that instrument (Herbie Mann, Bub Shank, Sam Most, Jerome Richardson, Paul Horn and Bobby Jasper would follow soon after). And largely through his work on this instrument, Wess recorded a series of small group sessions for Savoy, Prestige and Commodore (in addition to this date, be sure to listen to Two Franks Please (SAVOY JAZZ SJL 2249).

Thad Jones, who wrote three of the five tunes on this record joined Basie's band in 1954, just one year after Wess. In 1959, at the time of this recording, he had just begun to establish himself as an important voice on the trumpet and as an equally important composer/arranger. He had perviously recorded with Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stott – and, of course, Basie, as well as his own LPs for Blue Note and Savoy. But he hadn't yet emerged as the innovative force that he would eventually become in the 1960s.

Of the other members of the band, trombonist Curtis Fuller had virtually become part of Savoy's house band and appeared on a myriad of records for the label during this time (Blues-ette SJL 1135; Curtis Fuller – All Star Sextets SJL 2239). Pianist Hank Jones (Thad's older brother) was another popular figure at Savoy who also recorded many albums as leader (for a magnificent example of Jones' keyboard technique listen to Solo Piano SJL 1124) and whose presence always lent a highly professional status to the proceedings. Charlie Fowlkes (baritone saxophone) and Eddie Jones (bass) were both member of Count Basie's orchestra along with Wess and Thad Jones. And drummer Gus Johnson had just left the band in 1954 after having taken over for Jo Jones in 1948.

As might be expected with such personnel, the flavor of this record is strongly influenced by the Basie experience. It's all intensely swinging and joyful, and the intelligent, carefully arranged charts frequently evoke images of a band much larger than the one which actually appears.

I Hear Ya Talkin'

Liz

Boop-Pe-Doop

Opus The Blues

Struttin' Down Broadway

Hi-Fi Dixieland - Art Mooney

 

Hindustan

Hi-Fi Dixieland

Art Mooney And His All Stars

MGM Records E3616

1958

From the back cover: Featured in the Art Mooney orchestra are some of the finest purveyors of Dixieland around today, including: Nappy Lamare on guitar and banjo; Matty Matlock on clarinet; Stan Wrightsman on piano and harpsichord (the latter a new, but extremely welcome instrumental addition to the ranks of Dixie); Moe Schneider on trombone; Eddie Miller on sax; Ray Barduc on drums; John Best on trumpet and Ray Leatherwood on both bass and tuba.

From Billboard - March 31, 1958: Here's a solid package for Dixieland and hi-fi fans, Mooney and a group of outstanding sidemen (Nappy Lamare, Matty Matlock, Eddie Miller, Ray Bauduc, etc.) serve up bouncy, infectious two-beat versions of "Sweet Georgia Brown," "South Rampart Street Parade," "12th Street Rag," etc.

Sweet Georgia Brown

Lassus Trombone

Do You Know What It Is To Miss New Orleans?

Hindustan

You'll Have The Blues I Know

Battle Hymn Of The Republic

Beale Street Blues

American Patrol

Just A Closer Walk With Thee

Dixieland Rock

South Rampart Street Parade

12th Street Rag

Gil Evans Orchestra - Featuring John Coles

 

Straight No Chaser

Gil Evans Orchestra

Great Jazz Standards Featuring John Coles

A Richard Bock Production

Cover Design by Armand Acosta

Photos by Richard Bock

World Pacific Records WP-1270

1959

Personnel:

Chant Of The Weed

Joy Spring

Balland Of The Sad Young Men 

Theme

Johnny Coles - Trumpet

Louis Mucci - Trumpet

Danny Stiles - Trumpet

Jimmy Cleveland - Trombone

Curtis Fuller - Trombone

Rod Levitt - Trombone

Earl Chapin - French Horn

Bill Barber - Tuba

Ed Caine - Woodwinds

Steve Lacey - Soprano Sax

Budd Johnson - Tenor & Clarinet

Ray Crawford - Guitar

Tommy Potter - Drums

Gil Evans - Piano

Davenport Blues

Django

Straight No Chaser

Johnny Coles - Trumpet 

Louis Mucci - Trumpet

Allen Smith - Trumpet

Curtis Fuller - Trombone

Bill Elton - Trombone

Dick Lieb - Trombone

Bob Northern - French Horn

Bill Barber - Tuba

Al Block - Woodwinds

Steve Lacey - Soprano Sax

Chuck Wayne - Guitar

Dick Carter - Bass

Dennis Charles - Drums

Gil Evans - Piano

From from the back cover: Born in Toronto and moving as a boy to Stockton, California, Gil Evans, without any formal musical training, formed his own band in 1933, which, under the direction of Skinnay Ennis, later moved en masse to the Bob Hope radio show. Emigrating in 1941 to New York to join the band of Claude Thornhill, who had also served as an arranger for Ennis, Gil remained until 1948, with time out for a stay in the Army. It seems, in retrospect, a natural thing for a sound-aware arranger of an orchestra employing French horns, tuba, and a basically soft-voiced lyric approach, to begin expanding his textural consciousness, especially while thinking in terms of developing the immediate and alive musics of such men as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Lester Young within such an organization. After 1948, Gil remained in New York, freelancing as an arranger. His achievements in connection with the monumental Miles Davis small-band sides on Capitol, which resulted in his wholehearted acceptance as a "musicians arranger," seemed to go unnoticed by the entire recording industry, and aside from occasional highly individual and sensitive vocal backgrounds or representation as composer or arranger of single tracks on still more occasional jazz albums, Gil seems forgotten by the jazz audience, or relegated to "whatever happened to..." status.

However, with the release of the similarly influential series of related concerto sketches that marked his reunion with Miles on Columbia's "Miles Ahead" and his own Prestige "Gil Evans Plus Ten," a sudden upswing in Evans stock began to take place in late 1957, one which has extended and continued to grow through the present, marked by such milestones as his "Porgy And Bess" with Miles and the Cannonball Adderly-Evans collaboration for World-Pacific, "New Bottle Old Wine." With the formation of a sometime full-time working band, which has already visited Birdland, its book still growing and developing, Gil's continued recognition seems permanently assured.

In balancing the solo voices within the band represented here, Gil has made use of several highly individual styles and approaches to his music, in each case blending the soloist's and his own band voice, amalgamating the two individual approaches to create a third blended musical personality. Against his developing cushions of sound, Gil features Budd Johnson, whose talents have encompassed as many schools of jazz as are to be heard, the trombones of Jimmy Cleveland and Curtis Fuller, Ray Crawford's guitar, the trumpet and soprano sax of Johnny Coles and Steve Lacy, and the exciting rhythmic drive of Elvin Jones' drums,

As in his earlier "New Bottle Of Old Wine," Evans has made use of significant jazz themes, cutting across the "school" lines and drawing his material from jazz as a whole, irrespective of stylistic or temporal limitations or associations. I think it especially fitting that the lovely 1931 "Chant Of The Weed," essentially an arranger's triumph which the Don Redman Orchestra used as its Cotton Club theme, has been revitalized here. Johnny Cole's treatment of the 1927 Bix Beiderbecke "Davenport Blues," and the echoes of similar feeling in his work on the twenty-six-year younger "Django," made on the same date, indicate the depth of his talent. The magnificent contributions made by Johnson, whose muscular tenor of "Theme," Gil's only original on the album, written at Birdland, and magnificent Fazola-flavored clarinet on "Chant," serve to underline what so often has amounted to the terrible wast of resources, in the person of musicians no longer "official" in contemporary recording circles. The brief echo of Clifford Brown's "Joy Spring," first recorded while the young trumpeter was in the west solidifying his newly-formed alliance with Max Roach, stands as Evan's elegiac tribute to the extent of the trumpeter's achievements in so short a span.

Theoloneous Monk's "Straight No Chaser," originally recorded with Milt Jackson and Saihib Shibab in the early fifties, with the cymbal in Gil's hands becoming almost another piano sound, features both Lacey's soprano and Fuller's gifted trombone; as in his "'Round Midnight," Gil captures much of the composer's original feeling, but in a decidedly unionistic manner. John Lewis's "Django" has much more of the flavor and aura of the orchestral version recorded by the composer for Norman Granz than the Modern Jazz Quartet treatment, but carries the spirit of true reverence of the original. Tommy Wolf's "Balland Of The Sad Young Men" from Broadway's "The Nervous Set," features Clevelands' rich trombone against the brass, retaining a feeling of depth and sombre tones throughout.

Says Gil, "I selected the tunes because I liked them. The featured numbers I played for Coles, Cleveland and Johnson to make sure they would like to play them.

Replying to a first draft set of notes, Gil neatly summed up: "I don't like being compared with Ellington. There never has been, there isn't, and there never will be another Duke Ellington. I love him, his men, and his music madly, I own them all plenty, and I'm on my own way. And, incidentally, I am not self-taught. Everybody who ever gave me a moment of beauty, significance, excitement has been a teacher. I have made a partial list. It's enormous, but I'll send it on request." – Ed Michel

From Billboard - September 21, 1959: Evans with a flock of West Coast jazz artists has an interesting LP. Sound is applied to a group of inventive arrangements for highly effective results. The writing is imaginative, and the execution is tops. The selections of tunes is thoughtful and varied, comprising selections by several top jazz writers and artists.

Diahann Carroll - The Andre Previn Trio

 

Why Can't You Behave

Diahann Carroll

The Andre Previn Trio

Arranged by Andre Previn

Produced by Jack Lewis

United Artists Records

UAL 3069

1960

From the back cover: Andre Previn and his trio are in league with Miss Carroll in her plan to show her many sides on this album. Diahann says, "I am trying my wings here, and would do it only with Previn at the piano." Previn can make a ballad sound even tenderer with his backgrounds; on two of them, he uses a celeste to good effect. He can make a blues seem bluer with his minor-key counterpoint. And his arrangements can make an up-tempo number, like It's All Right With Me, move with a driving rhythm; on this one, there's a fine string bass introduction. – Dick Kleiner (Record columnist for Newspaper Enterprise Assn.)

The Party's Over

Spring Is Here

But Not For Me

Glad To Be Unhappy

Change Of Heart

It's All Right With Me

I Should Care

Nobody's Heart

Why Can't You Behave

Where Are You

In Love In Vain 

Gingerbread Joy

In A Jazz Orbit - Bill Holman

 

Far Down Below

In A Jazz Orbit

Bill Holman

Arranges and Conducts a Presentation of Big Band Jazz

Producer: Bill Holman

Cover Design: McElroy Agency

Art Direction: Norm Price, Elgin Davis Studio

Rex Productions, Inc. ANDEX S-3004 STEREO

V.S.O.P Replica Edition Phonorecords

1958 (1985 reissue)

Personnel:

Trumpets: Al Porcino, Ed Leddy, Jack Sheldon & Conte Candoli (replaced by Stu Williams on "You Go To My Heart, Goodbye & Aura)

Trombones: Frank Rosolino, Carl Fontana & Ray Sims

Saxes: Charlie Marlano, Herb Geller, Rickie Kennedy & Bill Hood

Piano: Vic Feldman

Bass: Buddy Clark

Drums: Mel Lewis

From the back cover: Bill was born in Oliver, California in 1927. He played clarinet and tenor before first attempting to write. He worked with Ike Carpenter, Charlie Barnet, Stan Kenton, Shelly Manne, the Lighthouse All-Stars and Shorty Rogers, and is currently the co-leader of a Quintet with Mel Lewis. Needless to say, he has written for all the above-mentioned as well as for countless other libraries. In this album, which is comprised of four originals and five standards, Bill has attempted to integrate the light rhythm section sound and time fell of a small group with the orchestral possibilities of a big band. The personnel of this recording band is remarkable, and the soloists (including Bill) contribute some wonderful moments. Special mention should be made of the rhythm section (Mel Lewis, Vic Feldman, Buddy Clark) for so brilliantly accomplishing what Bill set out to do. I think it best to forego descriptions of the individual tracks; however, one more facet of the writing should be mentioned. In the 5 standards, Bill has a knack of turning the tunes into completely personal compositions as soon as the theme has been stated. His counter-lines and extensions, both melodically and harmonically, are such that were he to leave out the first sixteen bars of the published melody, he could very easily pass each arrangement off as a highly respectable original. Bill Holman most assuredly is a first-rate saxophonist, but his true instrument is the orchestra, and he plays it with musicianship, honesty and brilliance. – Andre Previn - August 12, 1958

Kissin' Bug

Solos: Holman, Rosolino, Mariano

Composer: Billy Strayhorn, Rex Stewart, Joya Sherrill

Arranger: Bill Holman

Publisher: Tempo Music

The Man I Love

Solos: Holam, Sheldon, Kamuca, Feldman, Fontana

Composer: Geo., Ira Gershwin

Arranger: Bill Holman

Publisher: Harms, Inc.

Goodbye

Solos: Holman, Sims

Composer: Gordon Jenkins

Arranger: Bill Holman

Publisher: Remick Music

You Go To My Head

Solos: Mariano, Williamson, Holman

Composer: Jay Fred Coots, Haven Gillispie

Arranger: Bill Holman

Publisher: Remick Music

After You've Gone

Solos: Sheldon, Fontana, Kennedy

Composer: Henry Creamer, Turner Layton

Arranger: Bill Holman

Publisher: Leo Feist, Inc.

Far Down Below

Solos: Sheldon, Feldman, Holman

Composer: Bill Holman

Publisher: Jocelyn Music Co.

No Heat

Solos: Sheldon, Holman, Rosolino, Geller, Candoli

Composer: Bill Holman

Publisher: Jocelyn Music, Co.

Theme & Variations #3

No Solos

Composer: Bill Holman

Publisher: Jocelyn Music Co.

Aura

Solos: Geller, Sheldon, Kamuca, Holman

Composer: Bill Holman

Publisher: Jocelyn Music Co.

Art Ford Party For Marty - Marty Holmes

Coolus Maximus

Art Ford Party For Marty

Marty Holmes Octette

Arrangements by Marty Holmes

Producer: Irving Falk

Cover Design: Sy Leichman

Photograph: Charles Varon

Recorded at Regent Sound Studio

Engineer: George Schowerer, Jr.

Jubilee 1099

1959

From the back cover: Jazz turns a new corner as Marty Holmes comes into his own.

This amazing young man is the first modern musician to breathe warmth and heart that distinguished the Swing Era into the bright new 1960 music world. The dragon that conquered the big band of the thirties and forties is met square on by Marty Holmes' incisive planning. The big band became too big and transportation and payroll costs forced it to virtually disappear from the scene. The Marty Holmes Octette is small enough to survive and big enough for the full sounds you hear in this album.

In this first exciting set on Jubilee, I believe Marty submits his passport to fame. The sounds are alternately cool, sweet, and hot and yet – to use a term with still describes the goal of every popular musician – it really "swings"

People, and particularly, their own personalities, can create a jazz era. In the thirties, Fletcher Henderson, Don Rodman, Mary Lou Williams and Jimmy Lunceford gave us much of the same spark that made Swing so universally accepted. Marty Holmes' unique capacity to light this flame under today's more intellectual jazz structures is how beautifully in this album. Here for the first time is the proper blend of the emotions and the intelligence of the jazzmen of this era.

We cornered Marty at the session, and he said so simply, "I have believed for a long time that good jazz must be a stimulant; it must convey an invigorating feeling to the listener, and should make him feel happy rather than depressed. It should leave him with a good taste in his soul. It's got to swing!" We agreed and marveled as we listened to what he was able to do with his basic five-horn section. He produces almost any sounds he needs for Holmes-jazz, anything from a trombone choir to a full ensemble.

Marty's hobbies are playing piano, listening to classical music and reading about all breeds of dogs. He has a wire-haired terrier named Duffy for which "Duffy's Dilemma" is named. Possibly the thing about Marty that impresses you most if the utter sincerity about his fight for the dignity of the jazz musician. He said it after the session as we set around listening to the playbacks. "One of the most disgraceful things present today is the stigma attached to the jazz musicians, and his "zero" standing in the community. Too many people forget that the jazz musician is a professional like a lawyer or a doctor; he has spent many years learning his craft; he is trying to protect something that after all is an American heritage; he is one of the few professional men who has any inborn talent; therefor he should not be shunned and looked upon as a 'social mis-fit': he is early that. I believe that a step in the right direction insofar and "PUBLIC  RE-EDUCATION is concerned is good, healthy swinging jazz.

In this great album, Marty says the same thing in music. – Art Ford

Duffy's Dilemma

Someone To Watch Over Me

Pepper Hot

I Get Along Without You Very Well

Love Walked In

Party For Marty

Moonlight In Vermont

Four Bluesers

Maybe Soon

Tales Of Wales

Was There A Call For Me?

Coolus Maximus

Moth In A Gray Flannel Suit - Bob Peck

Dog Song

Breakfast, My Dear

Moth In A Gray Flannel Suit

Weirds And Music, Piano, and Voice (?) of Bob Peck

Bass Player: Dan Rossman

Art Work by Dick Huebner

Photo Retouched by Victor and Milton Greene,

Garter by Christian Dior

Jubilee JLP 1035

Moth In A Gray Flannel Suit

Dog Song

Thank You, Mr. Bell

The Unsung Hero

Cigarette Girl

Playboy Undertaker

The Old Ball Game

Sweet Sixteen

Nam Daer Bregnig

T.V. Cowboy (Ballad Of Wyatt Urp)

Breakfast, My Dear

I Remember Mau Mau

The Bagdad Beguine (Illisa was Illicit)

Jazz From the San Francisco Waterfront - Burt Bales & Marty Marsala

 

Baby Won't You Please Come Home

Jazz From The San Francisco Waterfront

Burt Bales At The Piano

Featuring The Marty Marsala's Band

Supervised by Ralph Gleason

Cover Photo by Bob Crozier

Cover Photography by Allen Fontaine

ABC-Paramount ABC-181

1958

From the back cover: It was that kind of night at the Sunset Auditorium in Carmel, California, nestled among the pines and cottages of the Monterey Peninsula within hearing of the waves lapping the sandy Pacific shore. It was a November night and Burt Bales had brought his friends and fellow dixiecats from the San Francisco Embarcadero down for a concert. Jimmy Lyons, West Coast disc jockey, presented the affair and, although it was by no means a commercial success, it was an artistic one. The audience – and this was the first presentation of dixieland in that hall, I believe – was completely gassed. They responded with a contagious enthusiasm to everything the band did. And the band reacted directly by playing as I had never heard them play before – not only in their solos, but by improvising backgrounds and fill-ins while the other were soloing.

For me this was the most enjoyable dixieland concert I had ever attended in California and one of the most enjoyable I have ever attended in my life. And believe me, I have long since traded in my old copies of Chimes Blues and my Red Top Needle Sharpener.

Of course what made it so enjoyable was the enthusiasm of both the audience and the performers. It seemed that everything clicked just right. And when it was over gray-haired women and tweed-jacketed retired Army officers went away from the hall muttering about what a good time they had had. And so did the band.

Burt Bales, the pianist and leader of the group on this date, picked the men well. In San Francisco for some years now the Embarcadero (the dockside road that runs along the Bay waterfront wharfs) has been a sort of North Rampart Street with dixieland jazz floating out over the waters of the Bay every night from the Tin Angle and Pier 23, that converted dock wallopers  lunchroom where Burt plays. For the past year the band in the Tin Angel has been led by Marty Marsala, a veteran of the early days of Chicago jazz. Burt and Marty have worked together before on numerous occasions and there is a natural musical meeting of the minds.

Marty's debt to Louis Armstrong is obvious and it is something he shares with every trumpet man of his generation who ever had a chance to hear Louis, and who didn't?  At the Tin Angel, Marty's band has featured trombonist Skipp More, a refugee from the big bands of Lou Breeze and Henry Busse (11 year veteran at Chez Paris in Chicago!) who has been a San Francisco resident for almost a decade now. These three, plus Vince Cattolica, a blind San Franciscan making his third appearance on records here. Charles Odiin, a sturdy bass player who has been with numerous Bay Area groups, and Cus Cousineau on drums, make up the band.

Burt, whose vocals and piano playing at the sawdust floored Pier 23, which is opposite the Tin Angel on the Embarcadero, have long been a feature of San Francisco jazz, was determined to make this a swinging affair. He was a bit bashful about his own singing – he'd just gotten a new set of teeth and they were working out their gremlins! – but everyone else was enthusiastic. – Ralph J. Gleason, Editor, Jam Session (G. P. Putnam's Sons) Berkeley, California, 1958

From Billboard - March 31, 1958: Recorded "live" in Sunset Auditorium in Carmel, Calif., this Dixie concert, spotting notable "Bay Area" practitioners, has fire and flow and "fun" quality that is relatively rare these days. Trumpeter M. Marsala plays an Armstrong-type trumpet with much of the drive associated with the Chicago traditional wing; trombonist Skipp Morro and pianist Burt  Bales are excellent in solo, and the rhythm section, spearheaded by drummer Cus Cousineau, lends solidity to this venture. Repertoire is standard for Dixieland, i.e., "Tin Roof Blues," "Hindustand," etc.

Hindustan

Tin Roof Blues

Muskrat Ramble

Baby Won't You Please Come Home

Safe It Pretty Mama

King Porter Stomp