Jazz As I Feel It - Earl Bostic

 

Telestar Drive

Jazz As I Feel It

Earl Bostic

Arrangements: Earl Bostic & Buddy Collette

Audio: Dino Lappas

Production: Hal Neely

Recorded August 13 and 14, 1963 - World Pacific Studios, Hollywood, California

King Records KING 846

1963

Earl Bostic - Alto Sax

Richar "Groove" Holmes - Organ

Joe Pass - Guitar

Shelly Manne - Drums (Telestar Drive, Apple Cake, Ten Out, Fast Track)

Charles Blackwell - Drums (Don't Do It Please, A Taste Of Fresh Air, Hunt And Peck)

James Bond - Bass (Don't Do It Please, A Taste Of Fresh Air, Hunt And Peck)

From the back cover: Earl Eugene Bostic - This is a particularly articulate and quiet spoken man. Soft in manner and voice, deep in basic philosophies and prideful of the opportunities of this land, he has prepared himself well and is a credit to his fellow musicians. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he graduated from Booker T. Washington High School there, then on to Creighton University and getting his AB degree from Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana. These school years were the start and the foundation for his musical career as it was during these years that he made the decision to become a professional musician. The next few years saw him in the sax section of such bands as Don Redman, Cab Calloway and Lionel Hampton. Then came a stint backing Lena Horne. Joining the Paul Whiteman group on the Chesterfield Hour gave him his introduction   into big radio arranging. This led to a period of time where he arranged, free lance, for such bands as Louis Prima, Lionel Hampton and Jack Teagarden. In 1942 he made his first recording as a member of Lionel Hampton's Sextet working with Red Allen, J.C. Higginbottom, Syd Catlett, Teddy Wilson and Hampton. His first record with his own group "That's The Groovy Thing" was on the now defunct Gotham label and became a national hit. (ed. note: all these early Bostic recordings are available as collectors items on King Records). Lesser known for his songwriting and arranging than for his alto, Earl has such credits as "Let Me Off Uptown" the big Gene Krupa and Anita O'Day hits, "The Major And The Minor" by Alvino Rey, "Brooklyn Boogie" by Louie Prima, to name a few. Now making his home in Los Angeles, Earl works dates on the coast, make a national tour once a year. Instruments are all reed; trumpet, piano and guitar.

Also from the back cover: Much has been written, more has been said. about the horn – the big powerful alto – of Earl Bostic. His career has been one hard to define and to categorize. Long recognized, and through to, as a jazz artist (Earl constantly places high in the various disc jockey polls) even though his recorded work was never allowed to be completely free and personal or in the true jazz view. Most of his recordings are in the middle-of-the-road commercial kick and because of this approach his sales have been tremendous and his recordings classified as popular and dance rather than jazz. Over the years sales reports list Earl as being about the best selling instrumentalist on records for his instrument. (Over seventeen albums on the market). The reasons for this is probably best reported in Earl's own words, in a taped interview he made some months ago with Mr. Kurt Mohr, the famous jazz critic and writer from Paris, France. In answer to a question from Mr. Mohr concerning Earl's own personal feelings about jazz and why he had never recorded any pure jazz, Earl's reply was: "I like jazz, I like to play it, but I feel it's up to the record people who handle my sessions to pick the material and decide what is best for me to record and release since our main object is to sell records, and to do that it seems to me that we have to make an album that will appeal to the most people. If that's being commercial, well, then I'm that man. The music business, the record business, my fans – have been good to me. I work more than I want to. When I play gigs (ed. note: a one nighter of club date) I can then blow what I want and play jazz the way I feel it – maybe the way I feel jazz is good, maybe not, I don't know. Someday I hope to be able to pick some real good men, guys I know and want to play with, and go into a studio and cut some of the things I'd really like. You know, pure, clean, free, unrestricted. Just go. Of course I am maybe one of the few musicians who likes simple recurring melody patterns and in all my playing I try to keep a basic melody line in my mind and attempt to develop meaningful inversions and variations – pardon me if I sound egotistical, I don't want to be, but what I mean is things that are mine and me. I like the basic blues, after all don't forget that the blues chord structure, and maybe about all else, personality. The true blues lends itself to a musicians own personality and as for myself I like its easy melodic passages, its characteristic harmonic flavor of dissonance and harmonic suspensions. A lot of people ask me about the blues and they always ask "What is it?" Just what can you say to non-musicians, so I sort of hedge and say: "The blues? It's a spirit, a blues feeling, it's the start since it is one of America's basic folk forms and had its start many years ago in this country's rural south. Blues and jazz are inseparable – both are pure American.

I had remembered this interview and in setting up this album recording session the executives of King Records determined to record Earl just this way. He first decided that he would like to do an album of pure jazz... basing the whole album on variations of the blues. The first step was to pick the men. This proved to be somewhat difficult due to the conflicting schedules of some of them, but two dates were worked out. The men Earl chose were: Groove Holmes, on organ and Joe Pass on guitar. (Courtesy of World Pacific Jazz Records to whom they are under contract.) Shelly Manne and Charlie Blackwell were his choices for drummers, Jimmy Bond and Herb Gordey were choices on bass. (See notes as to tracks on which they appear). The session was recorded in Hollywood in August, 1963.

After the last session, while listening to the tape playbacks and the various takes, a discussion arose between the musicians, John Otis, a King A&R man, Freddy Stryker, a publisher; Dino the Engineer; Buddy Collete, who wrote and arranged several of the things that were recorded, and myself concerning the relationship of the blues to jazz. This was one of those good moments that happens about what he has played. Someone said, "The melody line seemed to always hang, it builds excitement and tension then it drop – building, releasing, building again"... "It's a personal identification of each man in the group"... These comments are best emphasized in track three on side one in a thing called Telsetar Drive. Groove Holmes opens with a simple organ figure against an answering guitar riff by Joe Pass which soon passes on to Shelly Manne on the drums. Bostic enters driving and the excitement builds with an apparent effect on the others as the whole mood changes with increase in tightness and tension. It drops off a little then starts to building anew as Bostic and Manne pass the rhythmic pattern back and forth. This is something new and different... it was a purely impromptu set and a one take thing. Before the take it was talked over in studio and decided to just go and let happen what may – go for free with groove leading the way. It is an amazing thing how the men all felt the same thing and how each contributed his own to the overall. The result is a spontaneous and tremendously exciting, and purely individualistic, improvised set. Running four minutes and twenty-nine seconds it was decided not to edit  or cut and to present it just as it was recorded

Rather than pick out certain passages, or to talk about specifics we have decided it best to let you go for free by yourself and decide for yourself just what Earl Bostic means when he said, "Jazz as I feel it".  – Hal Neely

Don't Do It Please

Ten Out

Telestar Drive

A Taste Of Fresh Air

Hunt And Peck

Fast Track

Apple Cake