The Big Small Bands - Dave Pell

Boplicity

The Big Small Bands

A Musical Re-Creation 

Dave Pell

Produced by Bill Miller

Capitol Records T1309

1960

From the back cover: Amish a maze of the spectacularly sensitive recording equipment available today, stood three young men digging the sounds on a bunch of scratchy old 78 rpm records. The men were Dave Pell, Jimmy Priddy, and Bob Enevoldsen, none of whom you'd call ordinary. And neither was the music ordinary. It was the great music of such pioneers as Lester Young, Artie Shaw and Raymond Scott.

That was how their idea for this project came into being. Their formula included the sounds of the great combos, the finest recording equipment to be found, a lot of skill, and an awful lot of heard work. The results is this most unusual album.

Herein, Dave Pell and company re-created the sounds of "The Big Small Bands" which, until now, we have been able to hear only in the low fidelity of those old 78's. These are not just ordinary re-creations where the general sound and overall arrangement are being duplicated. But, through the proficiency of Priddy and Enevolden, who transcribed every last note from the old records, and through the rest of the Dave Pell organization, these re-creations are as close as humanly possible to the originals.

It's one feat to capture, on a piece of paper, the notes from an intricate ad lib solo, but quite another to play them with the same intonation and expression as did the original artist. To accomplish the latter in a couple if instances, Dave had what he called a "Lester Young reed" and a "Charlie Ventura mouthpiece" which he used appropriately on his tenor sax... to say nothing of his ability as a musician.

These sessions required a great deal more than just a quick run-through before recording – a common practice this days. Each soloist took the parts home and studied them diligently for weeks until he felt he was doing justice to the artist he was trying to sound like. Two excellent example where this is notably accomplices are dave's work as Charlie Ventura in Dark Eyes and Jack Sheldon's masquerade as Miles Davis in Boplcity.

The tunes are present pretty much in chronological order. The sequence is varied a little to provide a more interesting programming lineup. But they start with the earlier sounds and styles, brining us up through more recent developments to the final 1955 re-creation. – Jack Warner  Jack Warner is currently producing "The Sound OF Stereo" on KBIQ-FM and KBIG-AM in Los Angeles, in addition to his regular position as Program Director of KBIQ. Along with his radio activities, he is frequently called upon to MC jazz concerts and was moderator for the first jazz symposium ever held in the world-famous Hollywood Bowl.

Personnel on each selection is indicated by numbers referring to the following musicians: 

Sax and clarinet: (1) Dave Pell, (2) Abe Most

Saxes: (3) Martin Berman, (4) Ronnie Long, (5) Art Pepper

Trumpets: (6) Frank Beach, (7) Don Fagerquist, (8) Cappy Lewis, (9) Jack Sheldon

Trombones: (10) Hoyt Bohannon, (11) Bob Enevoldsen

French Horn: (12) Arthur Maebe

Tuba: (13) Phil Stephens

Piano: (14) Marty Paich, (15) Art Flickreiter, (16) John Williams - also Harpsichord

Bass: (17) Buddy Clark, (18) Red Michell

Drums: (19) Frank Capp, (20) Mel Lewis, (21) Keats Ennam

Guitar: (22) Joe Gibbons, (23) Toni Rizzie

Art Pepper appears through arrangement with Contemporary Records, Inc.

Then I'll Be Happy - John Kirby, 1939 (1, 2, 8, 16, 18, 19)

A Smo-o-o-oth One - Benny Goodman Septet, 1941 (1, 2, 8, 16, 18, 19, 23)

In An 18th Century Drawing Room - Raymond Scott Quintet, 1938 (1, 2, 7, 16, 17, 19)

Summit Ridge Drive - Artie Shaw and his Gramercy Five, 1941 (1, 8, 16, 18, 19)

At The Codfish Ball - Tommy Dorsey and the Clambake Seven, 1936 (1, 2, 8, 10, 16, 18, 19, 23)

Jumpin' With Symphony Sid - Lester Young, 1946 (1, 15, 18, 21, 22)

Popo - Shorty Rogers, 1951 (1, 5, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 20)

Boplcity - Miles Davis, 1949  (1, 5, 9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 20)

Dark Eyes - Gene Krupa Trio, 1945 (1, 15, 19)

Viva Zapata - The Lighthouse All Stars, 1952 (1, 9, 11, 15, 18, 19, 21)

Walking Shoes - Gerry Mulligan, 1953 (1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 20)

Mountain Greenery - Dave Pell, 1955 (1, 4, 7, 11, 16, 17, 19, 23)