Creed Taylor Presents Know Your Jazz - Volume 1

 

Stella By Starlight

Creed Taylor Presents

Know Your Jazz

Volume 1

Produced by Creed Taylor

ABC-Paramount ABC-115

Recorded March 1956

From the back cover: The primary purpose of the Know Your Jazz series is to give some sort of concentrated direction to the new jazz fan. This particular volume contains a series of improvised solos on the major instruments used in jazz. We have tried to pick the best available musicians to represent their particular instruments.

Each musician selected the type of tune and arrangement with he thought would be most representative of the role his instrument plays in jazz today. Thus, each recording in this album is an individual musical explanation of a specific fact in contemporary jazz. The musical value in each case must be weighed by you. If after listening to a fair smattering of modern jazz players, you come upon a solo that does not make sincere, musical sense to you, then chances are very good that the solo did not make sense to the musician who was playin it, either.

Side One

Band 1 - Indiana - Billy Taylor - Piano

There are man sides to modern jazz piano playing, and to demonstrate all of them would take up an entire LP. Here's a demonstration of ability of the modern jazz pianist to play extremely fast melodic lines, fist-full of chords, and long, breathless runs that would be almost impossible for a horn player to execute. The piano, of course, is an extremely flexible jazz ballad vehicle. Billy Taylor is perhaps even better known for his ballad style. Horace Silver, Hank Jones, Pete Jolly and Dave McKenna are other outstanding examples of modern jazz piano.

Band 2 - Embraceable You - Jimmy Cleveland - Trombone

Jimmy has conquered a great many of the limitations of the slide trombone. Here he plays fast, clipped passages heretofore restricted to valve and key instruments. This technical achievement enables Jimmy to play double time á la Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. His solo on Embraceable You is an appropriate illustration of the modern jazz musician's departure from the old lyrical ballad style, i.e. Coleman Hawkins' treatment of Body And Soul. Another main exponent of this brilliant staccato ballad style is J. J. Johnson.

Band 3 - The Nearness Of You - Oscar Pettiford - Bass

Oscar Pettiford plays every idea with tremendous vitality and verve. His melodic phrases are long and extremely lyrical. For individuality of tone and strength as a bass soloist, he is practically without peer. Bass pizzicato playing has risen from a thump component of the rhythm section to an important, singing solo instrument – thanks to outstanding musicians and high-fidelity recording. Other important exponents if the modern bass style are Charlie Mingus, Red Mitchell and George Duvivier.

Band 4 - In A Mellow Tone - Kenny Clarke - Drums

Kenny is known generally as the father of modern jazz drumming. He was the first to imply a melodic line. This implication is demonstrated in the trading of two, four and eight-bar phrases with Gigi Gryce, Tony Scott and Mundell Lowe. The modern jazz drummer is a melodically and harmonically conscious as his horn and string playing contemporaries. Shelly Manne, Max Roach and Osie Johnson are leading figures in the melodic-percussive school.

Band 5 - If I Love Again - Tony Scott - Clarinet

Tony Scott illustrates the jazz feeling in or out of tempo. This recording is a good example of the effectiveness of a conservative use of the rhythm section in modern jazz – the first chorus is ad lib, out of tempo jazz with guitar, in the 2nd chorus bass and cymbal are added, the guitar joins in again in the 3r chorus and finally the piano adds its rhythmic punctuations. This judicious use of the rhythm section actually creates four movements and climaxes. Scott's controlled vibrato, facile technique and intellectual approach combined with a genuine, warm jazz feeling make him a leader in the warm-cool school of jazz clarinetists. Jimmy Guiffrie is another important leader in this area.

Side Two

Band 1 - There Will Never Be Another You - Al Cohn

Al Cohn is best known for his tenor sax work; however, he has made occasional record appearances on baritone. Here, he demonstrates his big masculine sound, and gradually builds a swinging solo.

For the past few years the baritone sax has been rising out of the role of the strict voice in the sax section, into an important solo instrument. Formerly, the baritone sax was used simply to fill out the bottom of the sax sections of dance and jazz bands. It was considered too large and cumbersome to be a satisfactory solo instrument. Few jazz soloists took up the instrument with any seriousness (with the exception of Harry Carney in Duke Ellington's band). It was not until Gerry Mulligan started playing solos on baritone with much lighter articulation and sound that it gained a substantial foothold as a solo instrument. The typical baritone solo sound is a little lighter than Al Cohn's full-bodied tone; both approaches are valid, but Al Cohn's seems to swing a litter harder.

Band 2 - Laura - Joe Roland - Vibraphone

The vibraphone has become increasingly popular, both as a solo voice and as an integral part of the frequent piano-vibes-drums combo. Joe worked with the '51-'53 George Shearing group, then left to lead various groups of his own. Joe's liquid sound and beautiful chord clusters give an indication of why the vibraphone has become such a popular instrument. Milt Jackson, of the Modern Jazz Quartet is perhaps the best known o the  contemporary vibists. He is noted for his slow vibrato and his introspective approach to everything he plays. Vibes are frequently used by multi-instrumentalist Don Elliot.

Band 3 - But Not For Me - Charlie Rouse - Tenor Sax

Charlie Rouse plays in a fast, choppy, aggressive style appropriately called "the peck." This is a rhythmic approach that actually amounts to pecking out fast melodic spurts. Just as the tomboy style developed from a more legato school to the staccato school, so did the tenor sax. However, the membership of the tenor staccato school is much wider than the trombone staccato. The technical limitations of the tenor sax have been less difficult to overcome. Some leaders of the "peck" school are Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stott and Hank Mobley.

Band 4 - How About You? - Mundell Lowe - Guitar

Mundell Lowe is noted for his warm guitar sound and his melodic approach. His liquid chord work is especially outstanding. The guitar, like the bass, broke the bounds of the rhythm section and has become a very popular solo instrument in jazz. The movement was pioneered by the late Charlie Christian and thoroughly developed by Jimmy Raney, Tal Farlowe and others.

Band 5 - Stella by Starlight - Donald Byrd - Trumpet

Donald Byrd, one of the youngest of the the new trumpet school, demonstrates the typically clear, vibrato less tone in the slow tempos, and a swinging, less lyrical style on the fast tempo parts. The fast tempo usually accentuates long, swinging melodic lines. The contemporary jazz trumpeter is usually concerned with more controlled, effortless blowing, the with the very loud vibrato-ridden style of his forerunners. Some of the leading contemporary trumpet players are Mile Davis, Art Framer and Kenny Durham.

Band 6 - Come Rain Or Come Shine - Gig Gryce - Alto Sax

Gigi Gryce demonstrates various shadings of tone in the melody. There is a subtle lyric quality – with thoughtful harmonic variations. Gigi's style on this piece contrasts sharply with the "peck" style on Charlie Rouse's recording. Gigi intimates the double time feeling which is so characteristic of the "peck." One might say that Gigi is speaking the same language as Charlie Rouse, but in a quieter, less emphatic manner. Another important player in the introspective alto school is Paul Desmond with Dave Brubeck's Quartet. – Creed Taylor

Percy Brice appears on drums on There Will Never Be Another You, How About You? and Indiana

George Duvivier appears on bass on There Will Never Be Another You, How About You?, Indiana and But Not For Me.

Jimmy Cleveland appears through the courtesy of Mercury Records

Tony Scott and Al Cohn appear though the courtesy of RCA Victor Records

Mundell Lowe appears through the courtesy of Riverside Records

From Billboard - November 3, 1956: Modern jazz styles on the various instruments are demonstrated by 11 excellent men on as many tunes – all standards. In pianist Billy Taylor's notes, he gives an articulate intro to the artist and style, and a quick look-around at the contemporary status of the instrument. Most of the tracks are good, and some better than that. Included are Taylor, J. Cleveland, O. Pettiford, K. Clarke, T. Scott, A. Cohn, J. Roland, G. Gryce... many on loan from other labels. Creed Taylor has inaugurated a worthwhile series here.