Jazz West Coast - Various

 

Jazz West Coast

An Anthology Of California Music

Jazz West Coast

Pacific Jazz Records JWC-500

1955

Bockhanal - Chet Baker Ensemble

Composed and Arranged by Jack Montrose

Alternative Master

Personnel: Chet Baker, trumpet; Jack Montrose, tenor; Herby Geller, alto; Bob Gorden, baritone; Russ Freeman, piano; Joe Mondragon, bass; Shelly Manne, drums

Soft Shoe - Gerry Mulligan Quartet

Composed and Arranged by Gerry Mulligan

Previously Unreleased Master

Personnel: Gerry Mulligan, baritone; Jon Eardley, trumpet; Red Mitchell, bass; Chico Hamilton, drums

Tiny Capers - Clifford Brown Ensemble

Compositon - Clifford Brown. Arrangement - Jack Montrose

Alternative Master

Personnel: Clifford Brown, trumpet; Zoot Sims, tenor; Bob Gordon, bariton; Stu Williamson, valve trombone; Russ Freeman, piano; Carson Smith, bass, Shelly Manne, drums

I'll Remember April - Zoot Sims Quartet

By Gene DePaul, Don Raye, Patricia Johnson

Previously Unreleased Master

Personnel: Zoot Sims, tenor; Bob Brookmeyer, piano, Red Mitchell, bass; Larry Bunker, drums

Wailing Vessel - Bud Shank And 3 Trombones

Composed and Arranged by Bob Cooper

Alternative Master

Personnel: Bub Shank, alto; Bod Enevoldsen, valve trombone (solo); Maynard Ferguson, valve trombone, Stu Williamson, valve trombone, Claude Williamson, piano, Joe Mondragon, bass; Shelly Manne, drums

Happy Little Sunbeam - Chet Baker Quartet

Composed and Arranged by Russ Freeman

Alternative Master

Personnel: Chet Baker, trumpet; Russ Freeman, piano; Carson Smith, bass, Larry Bunker, drums

It Had To Be You - Bill Perkins and Bud Shank

By Isham Jones and Gus Kahn

Arrangement by Bill Perkins

Previously Unreleased

Personnel: Bill Perkins, tenor, Bud Shank, tenor, Hampton Hawes, piano; Red Mitchell, bass Mel Lewis, drums

Low Life - Bud Shank and Bob Brookmeyer

Composed and Arranged by Johnny Mandel

Alternative Master

Personnel: Bud Shank, alto; Bob Brookmeyer, valve trombone; Claude Williamson, piano; Buddy Clarke, bass; Larry Bunker, drums (strings)

There Will Never Be Another You - Chet Baker Quintet with Jimmy Giuffre

By Harry Warren-Mack Gordon

Arrangement by Russ Freeman

Unreleased

Personnel: Chet Baker, trumpet; Jimmy Giuffre, clarinet; Russ Freeman, piano; Carson Smith, bass; Bob Neel, drums

Lotus Bud - Bud Shank and Shorty Rogers

Composed and Arranged by Shorty Rogers

Original Master

Personnel: Bud Shank, flute; Shorty Rogers, flugle horn; Jimmy Rowles, piano; Harry Babasin, bass; Roy Harte, drums

Darn That Dream - Gerry Mulligan Quartet

By James Van Heusen and Eddie De Large

Arrangement by Gerry Mulligan

Alternati Master

Personnel: Gerry Mulligan, baritone; Chet Baker, trumpet; Carson Smith, bass, Larry Bunker, drums

Speak Low - Laurindo Almeida Quartet

By Orden Nash and Kurt Weill

Arrangement by Laurindo Almeida 

Alternative Master

Personnel: Laurindo Almedia, concert guitar; Bud Shank, alto; Harry Babasin, bass; Roy Harte, drums

Two Can Play - Bob Gordon & Jack Montrose

Composed and Arranged  by Jack Montrose

Alternative Master

Personnel: Bob Gordon, baritone; Jack Montrose, tenor, Paul Moer, piano; Joe Mondragon, bass; Billy Schneider, drums

Oh, Lady Be Good - Lee Konitz Plays With The Gerry Mulligan Quartet

By George and Ira Gershwin

Arrangement by Gerry Mulligan

Alternative Master

Personnel: Gerry Mulligan, baritone; Chet Baker, trumpet; Lee Konitz, alto; Joe Mondragon, bass, Larry Bunker, drums

From the back cover: The music enclosed here gathers together a sampling of the cream of the West Coast crop, presenting them in selections that typify their finest efforts, and offering the jazz follower – dedicated or casual – a varied program of current jazz at its best. This anthology of West Coast Jazz was complied both as a companion piece for the book of photographs called Jazz West Coast and as a progress report on California jazz activity as it stands in 1955.

Jazz on the West Coast in the first half of the 'fifties has enjoyed a status it has seldom experienced in many time or any city. It's probably unnecessary to enlighten most non-coastal residents as to this boom, but for those few still foggy about what has been happening on the wester front, reference is made to the introduction of the picture book Jazz West Coast which outlines at greater lenght the causes and  characteristics of this internationally recognize movement. (Portions of that introduction were adapted for use here.)

Very nearly every key figure in West Coast jazz (and Jazz West Coast, the book) is represented here. While it is interesting to speculate as to whether these musicians can be grouped into a musical school of  thought, that is not one of the limitations laced on selection. The chances are, history will reveal that there is a aWest Coast school; a group of musicians playing calmer, gentler jazz, placing at least as much emphasis on writing as on slowing. But the task of definitive summation is left to later years or less biased observers. It is hoed that by disclaiming any restrictions of School we may by-pass much of the clamor about presumptuous inclusion of musicians comply associated with other areas. Eastern will spot many of their old and-bys; the fact remains that this music was recorded in Lost Angeles by musicians in residence here, and to the extent the label "Jazz West Coast' is meaningful.

Wherever possible – happily, in every case but one – new performance were used to represent the group's. In many instance of course, the arrangements themselves have been offered bore, but as even the newest jazz listener knows, the essence of jazz in sin the soloing, and where material does overlap that simply adds a bonus opportunity for comparison of soloist approach.

The first to pooh-pooh the possibilities of a West Coast School in the making have been the musicians themselves; no one ducks a pigeon-hole like a creative artist. However, the better players needn't fear a blurring of their individuality. California music is built around powerfully individual voices: Chet Baker is a laureate whose poetic phrased and pastoral tone have worked which mosaics of recorded music. Gerry Mulligan, through his composed, friendly soloing and superb writing, has been an inspiration  and pace-maker of the first order.  Shorty Rogers is a paragon of consistent good taste in writing and trumpeting. Lost in a shuffle of altoists scant years ago, Bud Shank has shot up at the prodigious rate and now, with Bird gone, looms as one of the top contenders for the crown. Hardly a California settler, compared to the others, Clifford Brown nonetheless recorded heavily here and his breezy, twinkling style flourished under the Pacific sun. Another fleeting colonist, Lee Konitz, is represented by a fresh gem that recalls his memorable brush with the Mulligan quartet. Bob Brookmeyer has became a confirmed Coaster; he continues to come a hair-raising during-do with an official aplomb. As a Hollywood citizen, Zoot Sims waxes Zootier than ever; he needs no greater praise. Russ Freeman is one of the formulators of that modish style of piano playing which mixes a lusty revivalism with a new worldliness; with its delicate balance. The roster of praiseworthy names goes on and on: Shelly Manne, the omnipresent and seemingly omnipotent Einstein of the drums... Jim Guiffre, a paradox of rustic, romping horn and intricate, far-sighted writing... Brazilian virtuoso Laurindo Almedia, a successful welder of new form out of disparate parts... Bob Gordon of the surging, powerful baritone... Jack Montrose, sauce writer-arranger, considered supreme by many of his contemporaries. There are new faces as well as old: Kenton-Hermanite tenors Bill Perkins for instance, whose work here indicated why his star is in the ascendancy.

Many of the rest of the men represented here are legitimate stars in their own right and of equal importance to the scene with those already mentioned. But the names have been touted in no particular order and failure to include other names certainly isn't intended as a qualitative comment; space limitation dictate an arbitrary halt. The idea has been to indicate the wide range of West Coast figures included.

This wide range was possible because a significant portion of the important musicians are apart of the Pacific Jazz fold, and because contractual barriers to the inclusion of other jazzmen were bridged by an understanding on the part of companion companies as to the importance of a validly representative collection of the local output. The one exception, thorough no fault of the performers is the work of the Dave Brubeck Quartet and a few related San Francisco artists. Fortunately Brubeck has had ample coverage, both musical and verbal, and in any case the music generally spoken of as "West Coast Jazz" is Los Angeles-centered. The San Francisco people are covered in the book of course, where everyone pertinent to the Coastal picture – include here or otherwise – is covered in a brief sketch that accompanies his photograph.

Published some months prior to the issuance of this album, Jess West Coast: A Portfolio Of Pictures has already garnered a respectable sheaf of critical acclaim for the photofraer, William Clayton. The acceptance comes as no surprise. Especially, Claxton's work is praiseworthy for the purity of its composition. Equally impressive is his functional a reporter. Probably more than any other factor except the music itself, Laxton's photography has been responsible for the wide acceptance of West Coast Jazz. If his approach to picture-taking seems particularly appropriate to the music identified with California, it is no accident; Clayton has consciously striven to capture the spirit of the scene. That he has succeeded is obvious; yet far from being merely adjust to the music, his work has attained a following it its own, earning praise as much from artistic sources as from the musical world.

Owners of one half of the Jazz West Coast Report – either the book or the album – will find it rewarding to acquire the other half. The compilers of the two – Linear Publications for the book, Pacific Jazz for this album – suggest that together these companion pieces form a double window, opening onto a jazz vista as charming as any locale has thus far been able to offer. – Will Mac Farland

Monday Night At The Village Gate - Herbie Mann

 

The Young Turks

Monday Night At The Village Gate

Herbie Mann

Recording Engineers: Tom Dowd, Phil Lehle & Joe Atkinson

Cover Painting: Abidine

Cover Design: Boring Eutemey

Supervision: Nesuhi Ertegun

Atlantic 1462

1966

Herbie Mann - Flute

John Hitchcock, Mark Weinstein - Trombones

Chick Corea - Piano

Dave Pike - Vibes

Earl May - Bass

Bruno Carr - Drums

Carlos "Patato" Valdes - Conga Drums

This album was recorded at The Village Gate in New York. Atlantic Records is grateful to Art D'Lugoff for his kind cooperation during the recording of this album.

From the back cover: Six years ago the Village Gate started a series of Monday evening jazz sessions. At that time the club played only folk and international attractions through the week. Herbie Mann's band became such a smash on Monday nights that we decided on Thanksgiving of 1960 to book the group for an entire week.

This, too, was successful, as Herbie Mann became the first of many jazz groups to play the Gate regularly. In fact, Herbie Mann holds the record of playing the Gate more weeks then any other single attraction. His first live recording from the club made four years ago and naturally titled Herbie Mann At The Village Gate has sold over half a million copies and thus far holds the record as the biggest album ever recorded live at the club. Incidentally, the Gate has more live recordings released than any other club in the world.

Whenever Herbie Mann comes to the Gate there's lots of excitement in the air. Herbie like to keep changing his book and his instrumentalists. He adds a drum here, subtracts a guitar there, adds  trombones and through it all you can hear the great swinging flute of Herbie mann. Whether it's Afro-Cuban, Bossa Nova, blues or just plain jazz his groups are always up with the audience. And, boy, does that audience react!

Unlike most night clubs, the Gate is acoustically a very live room. We absolutely shy away from fancy drapes, chandeliers and headwaiters. We have a real professional stage with a light and sound man to program every attraction. Most important, our patrons pay an admission, just like at any concert, to hear their favorite artist. We have liquor and food but no one is obligated to purchase anything.

Funny, but Herbie's customers not only pay admission gladly, they also drink. I wish there were a dozen more acts like Herbie Mann in the business. Maybe there would be more jazz clubs opening rather than closing. – Art D' Lugoff

From Billboard - May 14, 1966: Recorded live at New York's Village Gate, the album should top the sales of the flutist's earlier LP, "Herbie Mann At The Village Gate," which went over the 500,000 mark. Excellent Mann-made jazz.

Away From The Crowd

Motherless Child

In Escambrun

The Young Turks

You're Gonna Make It With Me

Somebody Love Me - Jerri Winters

 

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

Somebody Loves Me

Jerri Winters

With The Al Belletto Sextet (courtesy Capitol Records)

Recorded February and March, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois

Bethlehem Records BCP-76

From the back cover: Jerri Winters is a "new" singer, an exciting, vibrantly fresh new talent who has severed a strict apprenticeship in the Midwest, and who now has emerged from the fabulous spawning ground of Jazz as another important contribution to this most dramatic musical form. Unlike the myriad of girl vocalists who have been highly publicized in recent years, only to fade, for the most part, into oblivion, Jerri has been given little national exposure, and no high-powered press build-up. Bug whispers which had their beginnings in the small Chicago nightery where Jerri has been singing, have grown into shouts of praise wherever Jazz buffs gather.

What is it that sets Jerri apart from so many other young singers who never quite make the musical grade? Well, there's feeling in her singing, feeling for the lyrics she is singing, the story she is telling. And then there is the beat which is always present, always felt, but never over-powering. And finally there is an obvious knowledge of music and musicianship, a working marriage with the men who are performing with her to produce a finished product, complete with the styling that is Jerri's trademark.

In this, Jerri's first Bethlehem effort, she has carefully selected a program which can and does show off her command of every musical situation, her imagination, and her amazing versatility. Tunes which were meant to be emotional emerge emotional, while those denoting gaiety are happy, laughing songs maintaining the mood throughout. It's Always You, for example, gets a warm, soulful treatment which is rich and full to the earth, while All Or Nothing At All is vocally and instrumentally done in a wild Latin Beat that breathes for recognition.

While Jerri is a dominant singer, she has wisely used four male voices as background on several of the elections, including the all-time favorites, Sometimes I'm Happy, and the difficult Kind Of Moody ballad which handled in a most accomplish manners.

I Got It Bad is bound to bring comparison, for many of the great feminine Jazz singers have done this one, but Jerri gives it her own reading, and backed by some excellent trumpet work by Willis Thomas, it emerges as a sure winner.

Somebody Loves Me is an example of how well Jerri can change a mood, move from a ballad to an upbeat under, yet hold her audience in the palm of her hand. Here again strong instrumental support from the quint, plus a male vocal background are evident, but always subordinate to the effective Winters' style.

Dark Shadows perhaps is best known for the "Bird" (Charlie Parker) instrumental of several years past, but Jerri proves that as a vocal it also deserves recognition, giving it originality and strong interpretation, In the same vin, listen to Crazy In The Heart, which offers a perfect combine of vocals plus musical aptitude of the highest quality.

When Jerri sings There Will Never Be Another You, she is telling a lyrical story, telling it tastefully, excitingly an most importantly, convincingly. And in the same mood, who can doubt her when she ways "I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me?" Certainly not the men who will be listening to this album in the semi-darkness of their home, listening to Jerri sing directly to them.

Finally there are two direct opposites in composition, and beat, Ridin' On The Mood, a fast, swinging tune, and In Other Words, a ballad, Both are given a well-rounded treatment, each welded into a Musial delight by the interpretation vocally and instrumentally.

As noted above, Jerri is obviously aware of, and deeply interested in musicianship, and for this reason she has selected one of the Windy City's finest groups to accompany her. Al Belletto, leader of the Belletto Quintet which has worked with Jerri at the Colisters, plays alto and clarinet, Jimmy Guinn, trombone, Williw Thomas, trumpet; K. O'Brien, bass, and T. U. Montgomery, drums, completing the grou. Gillette, Crane, Quinn and Thomas also combine to form the vocal background for Jerri.

Augmenting Belleto's fine aggregation are two of the Jazz giants, Ray Brown on bass and Louis Marion, drums, who are featured on four of the sides, Somebody Loves Me, Carzy In The Heart, Dark Shadows and It's Always You.

We hope you will listen to this album with one other through in mind – the excellence of the recording quality. Here is true high fidelity reproduction, the highs are high, the lows low, and the over-all sound quality is one we think is truly representative of the term high fidelity. The entire album was recorded in a series of sessions conducted at Universal Studios in Chicago during February and March, 1957, with Bill Putnam personally handling the controls. He has produced a frame of sound beauty for the piece do resistance, Miss Jerri Winters. – Norman Weiser, Music Editor, Family Weekly, Argosy

Sometime I'm Happy

It's Always You

I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good

Somebody Loves Me

Dark Shadows

Ridin' On The Moon

All Or Nothing At All

In Other Words

Crazy In The Heart

There Will Never Be Another You 

Kind Of Moody

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

Rocky & His Friends

 

Rocky & His Friends

TV Orignal Cast Album

Rocky The Flying Squirrel & His Friends

Starring the voices of June Foray, Paul Frees, Walter Tetley and Bill Scott

Written by Paul Barnes

Music Arranged and Conducted by Dennis Farina

Jay Ward Productions, Inc.

Golden Record LP 64

1961

I Was Born To Be Airborne

I'm Rocky's Pal

Bullwinkle's Corner: Tom, Tom, The Piper's Song And Pied Piper

Peabody Here!

Peabody's Adventure: "Ponce de Loen"

The Re-Goodnik's Sons - Boris And Natasha

Sherman: "I Wanna Go Back"

Peabody's Improbable History: "Stanley And Livingston"

Cloyd And Sidney - "Moon Men"

"You Gotta Have A Crook!"

Fractured Fairy Tale: "Riding Hoods - Anonymous 

Reprise And Farewell - Rocky's Song

Dee-Latin Hi-Fi Organ - Lenny Dee

 

Adios

Dee-Latin

Hi-Fi Organ

Lenny Dee with Latin American Rhythm

Decca Records DL 8718

From the back cover: The trouble with a lot of music-lovers, as somebody once remarked, is that they don't have any fun with music. Too knowledgeable for comfort and too highbrow by half, they listen to music with a cooly discernible ear and look down their patrician noses at anything even faintly resembling a syncopated beat. To suggest to them that Bach, Brahms or Beethoven can be fun is sacrilege. To suggest that the other famous three B's – barrelhouse, boogie-woogie and the blues – can be music is an outrage. Fortunately, that kind of music-lover is so in the minority that if you're extremely careful about the friends you make you may be spared ever meeting one. Meanwhile, the fun to be had out of music of any kind is almost boundless.

One gentlemen who has a great deal of fun out of music is Lenny Dee. Staring with the accordion and the banjo when he was a boy, he switched to the organ at the Chicago Conservatory after a three-year stint in the Navy. He's been having a great time ever since playing for club dates, radio and television and for a series of highly successful Decca albums.

A large part of the fun Lenny Dee gets out of playing his custom-built, specially modified Hammond organ is in the amazing variety of sounds he can make it produce. He can make it strum like a banjo, beat like a tom-tom and, happily enough for this particular album, sound like an entire rhumba band.

Mambo Jambo

Walther Winchell Rhumba

Ja Da

(When We Are Dancing) I Get Ideas

Begin The Beguine

Sweet And Gentle (Me Lo Dijo Adela)

El Cumbanchero

Cherry Pink (And Apple Blossom White)

Mambo No. 5

Te Quiero Dijiste

Morena

Adios

Shorty Rogers And His Giants

 

Mambo Del Crow

Shorty Rogers And His Giants

RCA Victor LPM 1195

1956

From the back cover: Modern jazz is today in need of a leader, a fresh source of ideas and an inspirational fountainhead. The leaders of the bast will hold their positions only until new men are album to publicly prove themselves and they ideas in bidding for popular acclaim. In this album, RCA Victor features Shirty Rogers, whose musical ideas are making the most potent in the present jazz movement. In order to let Shorty express these ideas in his own way, he is given free rein as to composition, arrangement and choice of musicians.

Beginning his career with Red Norvo, who became his brother-in-law, Shorty was later drafted into the Army where he played trumpet in numerous service bands. After his discharge, he joined the original Woody Heron Herd. In composing such great instrumentals as Back Talk and Keen And Peachy for the full Herd and the majority of numbers performed by the Woodchoppers, Shorty soon became a bulwark of the fabulous Woody Herman arranging staff. Later, with Stan Kenton, he scored brilliantly on trumpet and with such compositions as Jamba and Jolly Rogers. At the moment he lives in Southern California where his time is divided between leading a jazz group, writing for films and teaching composition.

On this record you will hear two of Shorty's aggregations. The members of the first ensemble are: Shelly Manne, drums; Joe Mondragon, bass; Hampton Hawes, piano; Art Salt, alto sax; Gene England, tuba; Milt Bernhart, trombone; Johnny Grass, French horn; and Jimmy Giuffre, tenor sax. Opening their collection is Morpo, described by Shorty Rogers as having "that fundamental swing quality necessary t all jazz." This quality, said to be independent of rhythm, is illustrated by Johnny Graas in what is perhaps the first recorded jazz solo on French horn, followed by Bernhart, Salt, Shorty and an improbable quote by Hampton Hawes. Bunny musically incarnates a very real person with delicate and expressive solo work by Salt and Grass, steeped in a more contrapuntal idiom than is usual for jazz.  Powder Puff is a Latin original by Shelley Manne, who is known for his brilliant resolution of the number's final chord. During Mambo del Crow a very "hip" crow happened to fly into the studios where he participated as vocalist; the work features Milt Bernhart and Shelly Manne and proves rhythmically that jazz can borrow from Latin music to the enhancement of each.

The Pesky Serpent is a Jimmy Giuffre original arranged not unlike his great Four Brothers, and featuring him along with Milt, Shorty, Hamp and Art. Diablo's Dance showcases the taut, crackling piano of Hamp Hawes in a Latin manner, complete with tambourine introduction by Shelly Manne. Pirouette is Roger's graceful impression of a ballet which he once scored for a film, while the finals section is another number by Giuffre entitled Indian Club which combines Indian and swing motifs in an exceptionally clever way.

Shorty's second group displayed in this recording includes; Shorty Rogers, trumpet; Pete Jolly, piano; Shelly Manne, drums; Curtis Counce, bass and Jimmy Giuffre, tenor sax. Over and above the wonderfully imaginative work of the individual soloists, it is Shorty's writing which immediately sets his aggregations off from all others. Both the Rogers original, Joycycle, and the Rodgers and Hart standard, The Lady Is A Tramp, are cases in point. Their very structure is so excitingly (and often contrapuntally) formulated that the ensemble passages are as brilliantly conceived as the extemporaneous wailing by the variety of soloists. But even more than this, it is Shorty's closely styled, interdependent harmonies that make of each of his productions a thing of simple aural brilliance – simple, that is, in everything but the way they are put together.

In addition to the tunes already mentioned, this session of September 10, 1954, also produced the wonderfully stimulating version of Al Cohn's The Goof And I, and the trip-hammer wailing over the Bird's My Little Suede Shoes.

As we can at once hear in this recording, these were session like all those Rogers has led in the past and like those which he will undoubtably go on leading as long as his conception of jazz maintains its present high level of intelligence – full of vital perception which cannot but fall easily on tired ears. 

Morpo

Bunny

Powder Puff

Mambo Del Crow

Joycycle 

The Lady Is A Tramp

The Pesky Serpent

Diablo's Dance 

Pirouette

Indian Club

The Goof And I

My Little Suede Shoes

Johnny Smith's Kaleidoscope

 

My Foolish Heart

Johnny Smith's Kaleidoscope

A Teddy Reig Production

Director of Engineer: Val Valentine

Engineer: Bob Arnold

Recorded at Capitol Studios, New York City

November 27, 28, 29 and 30, 1967

Cover Art: Robert Kennedy

Cover Design: Jack Anesh

Verve V6-8737

From inside the (gatefold) cover: When writing about Johnny Smith, one must exercise great restraint. For if you are even remotely acquainted with the man, of if you believe a jazz artist's true and basic personality is reflected in the sound and character of his solo voice, then you are aware of Johnny's total lack of voice, then you know he may be embarrassed if you praise him too highly.

Had Johnny not chosen to go into semi-retirement about nine years ago, praising, evaluating or re-starting his greatness would be unnecessary. His popularity at that time was unequalled on the East Coast. Since then, however, new guitar voices have reached prominence and the instrument itself has become musically symbolic of our electronic age.

But with all the fine players who have materialized during this time, it is interestingly, as movingly and with as much harmonic depth as does Johnny. Kile Lester Young, you have the feeling his mind is very much on the lyrics of any ballad he plays. This feeling is supported by the tag he plays on Old Folks, whereby he finally takes the liberty, after all these years, revealing the venerable gentleman's true commitment ("Did he fight for the Blue or the Gray?") in the War Between The States. And Johnny is no less effective the ballad context playing The Girl With The Flaxen Hair, Dreamsville and My Foolish Heart (with a bow to Bill Evan's masterly harmonic plumbing of the tune).

But the speed cum accuracy of Johnny's playing whether in up tempi (Walk Don't Run and By Myself) or medium tempi playing double-time (Days Of Wine And Roses, Sweet Lorraine [a classic rendition] and I'm Old Fashioned) are what, in all probability, will really turn the listener on.

But the speed cum accuracy of Johnny's playing, whether in up tempi (Walk Don't Run, and By Myself) or medium tempi playing double-time (Days Of Wine And Roses, Sweet Lorraine [a classic rendition] and I'm Old Fashioned) are what, in all probability, will really turn the listener on.

But enough already! These very mild comments will surely be considered too hyperbole might not serve to express the admiration he bears (and rightly so) for his fellow musicians on this date: Hank Jones, piano; George Duvivier, bass; Don Lamond, drums. They are, as anyone reasonably familiar with jazz in the last two decades knows, masters, all.

Critic Ralph Gleason, in a recent edition of Jazz & Pop, related the story of "a long haired young man," the lead guitarist and featured soloist of a prominent rack group, who "went to all the record stores in San Francisco and bought all the albums he could find by the French gypsy guitarist, Django Reinhardt." And the Berklee School of Music in Boston, a foremost institution for the teaching of jazz, reports guitarists to be the second leading group of enrollees. With these two salient facts in mind (and taking into consideration the excellence of this recording) one might wish MGM could issue Johnny Smith's KALEIDOSCOPE en masse. Its beneficial effects on young guitarists (or on music in general) may more than balance the consequent loss of revenue. – Sidney Eden

From Billboard - March 23, 1968: Guitarist Johnny Smith plays "Old Folks," "Days Of Wine And Roses" and "I'm Old Fashioned" with all the passion and vitality of a moody voice woven into the string. Smith's long-recognized virtuosity, a beacon in the fog of electronic guitar psychedelics, continues to bear out the idea that longevity is guaranteed by talent. His depth and command of the harmonic qualities to be found in the guitar are a tribute to this fine artists.

Walk Don't Run

Olf Folks

Days Of Wine And Roses

The Girl With The Flaxen Hair

My Foolish Heart

By Myself

I'm Old Fashioned

Sweet Lorriane 

Choro Da Saudade

Dreamsville

Rockin' Hammond - Milt Buckner

 

Mighty Low

Rockin' Hammond

Milt Buckner

Recorded February and March, 1956, in New York City

Capitol Records T722

Milt Buckner - Organ, Piano

Mickey Baker & Everett Barksdale alternating on Guitar

Milt Hinton - Bass

Osie Johnson & Shadow Wilson alternating on Drums

From the back cover: This album features Milt Buckner at his swinging best. Backed by a powerful, driving rhythm section, he rocks the Hammond in dynamic fashion. And for added spice, there are occasional bits of the distinctive Buckner piano style. The moods vary from slow blues to up-tempo "screamers"; at either extreme, of in between, the music sounds just like the good jazz it is.

Proper training and hard work give a musician the skill he seeks, the kind Milt Buckner unquestionably has. But the jazz "beat" is something else; no amount of study can instill it. And here Milt is one of the fortunate ones. He was born with a beat, and he's been swinging since the day he was born.

This album's performances are ample evidence of the versatile Buckner talent. Count's Basement, One O'Clock Jump, The Late, Late Show, and Jumpin' At The Woodside showcase Milt's one-man-ensemble organ style, with light piano embroidery in the Basie vein. Blue And Sentimental recalls the late Herschel Evans' flair for relaxed and irrepressible noodling. On the frantic Wild Scene Milt again alternates between organ and piano, and the tunes winds up with a big, swinging bash. We'll Be Together Again, Deep Purple, and When You Wish Upon A Star combine melodic charm and a solid beat. Mighty Low and The Beast are slow and sensuous, displaying Milt's great feeling for the blues, and Jumpin' At The Zanzibar is a free-wheeling number that highlights his amazing keyboard facility.

So here is music that really swings, music that exploits the full jazz potential of the organ, giving Milt Buckner a better than usual chance to demonstrate his extraordinary technical and creative skills at the Hammond.

Count's Basement

Mighty Low

We'll Be Together Again

Jumpin' At The Woodside

The Beast

One O'Clock Jump

Wild Scene

Blue And Sentimental

Deep Purple

Jumpin' At The Zanzibar

When You Wish Upon A Star

The Late, Late Show