Intersection
4 To Go!
André Previn, Herb Ellis, Shelly Manne, Ray Brown
Produced by Irving Townsend
Cover Photos: J. Thompson
Columbia Records CS 8818
1963
From the back cover: The entire musical content of 4 To Go! can be characterized succinctly in a dozen words: André Previn, piano, Herb Ellis, guitar, Shelly Manne, drums; Ray Brown, bass.
The convocation in a Hollywood recording studio of this extraordinary aggregation came about as an indirect result of André's appearance on the Steve Allen TV show.
"I did a whole week on the show," André says, "and as you know, the atmosphere is very informal and you don't have to bring in arrangements or play anything. I had a lot of fun, and in particular I found it very exciting to play with Herb Ellis, who's a member of Donn Trenner's orchestra on the show.
"I talked to Irving Townsend about doing an album with Herb, and out of this came the idea of not just adding him to my regular trio, but of using a special all-star rhythm section. I wrote to Oscar Peterson asking him if he'd mind my using Ray Brown and received a very friendly letter saying of course I could. I'd known Ray personally for years, but strangely enough I'd never sat down down and played with him until the day we made this album.
"With Shelly, of course, it was a reunion; we've done any number of sessions together, and it was a kick to work with him again. In fact, not to be able to play one's best with these guys would be a sheer impossibility. My only reservation was that I felt I might be tempted just to sit back and listen to them."
Three of the four musicians being Hollywood residents, the date was set to take place during one of Ray's brief westward sojourns. According to a pre-arranged plan, each of the four entered the studio armed with one original composition; everything else was to be decided during the session. After a prelude of general conversation the meeting was called informally to order as André said, "Let's warm up on this" and proceeded to play Like Someone In Love. It felt so agreeable to all hands that they decided to try a "take" on it. The first one was fine, the second even better, and that was it.
The whole session went along smoothly, though not all the tunes were as easily or quickly mastered as the first: a couple of originals took considerably more time to perfect.
The standard tunes were chosen by mutual agreement; the aging (1926) Bye Bye Blackbird was agreed on only after six others had been rejected. The light percussive sound you hear during Ray's solo on this track is neither Shelly nor a guest bongo player; it's Herb tapping gently on his guitar.
Herb's original, Say It Again, a simple and engaging work on the 16-bar structure, provided an admirable framework for the quartet, committing André to some of his most convincingly funky moments of the session.
Ray brought his tune in without a title. They ran it down once and André said: "Let's keep this real simple and pretty – almost like a Claude Thornhill mood." They tried it again. "Yeah, that's the feeling!" said Shelly. Pencil in hand, Dory Langdon Previn sat in the control room scribbling determinedly. As the musicians listened to the playback of the first take, Ray was subjected to some light kidding about the potential popularity of his charming melody: "Everybody will record it. Eddie Fisher, Hillegarde... Dorothy Shay..."
It was no joke to Dory. Only a couple of hours later, when the album was completed, she submitted her title – I Know You So Well – and a completed set of admirably tailored lyrics, which she demonstrated to Ray's delight. A vocal version, I suspect, will not be slow in materializing.
The Shelly Manne composition, Intersection, is an intriguing and unusual work of which Shelly says: "I just heard it in my head one day, got out my tape machine and sang it. Sometimes if I try a thing out at the piano I start trying to change it and lose track of the original idea." It turned out to be in the key of E. This pleased André, who commented: "I like to play in keys other than the everyday standard jazz keys."
André own contribution was Don't Sing Along. It starts more or less like a standard blues, but played in 12/8 and with the chord pattern halved so that the main phrase is six instead of twelve bars long. The six measures constitute the "A" in an AABA format, B being a standard eight-bar release. Though the unconventional structure gives it a special character, the composition provided an ideal vehicle for the blues-oriented leanings of the soloists.
After the four originals and five standards had been completed, since there was time for one more tune, André said: "I've got a thing we might be able to do something with," and proceeded to play "You're Impossible. Nobody had any trouble at all picking up on this one without preparation or manuscript. It provided a fitting finale for one of the most relaxed, happy, friendly jazz dates I had attended in many months.
Later the four musicians, in individual conversations about the success of the date, all offered unbeknownst to one another the identical explanation: when there is mutual respect, mutual enjoyment and musical understanding, there will be much swinging and no tension.
This was what happened when Previn, Ellis, Manne and Brown had their summit meeting. There were other factors too, such as the touches of humor, complete lack of temperament, and a frequent tendency toward self-deprecation (At one point, while his own tune was being rehearsed, Shelly observed: "A little musical knowledge in a drummer is a dangerous thing.")
After it all was over and the tapes had been played back, André said": "It was even better than I'd hoped. You were all wonderful." And Shelly asked: "Whatever happened to sessions like this? What became of those days when you just went in the studio to have a good time, and swing and play some music you liked?"
"I guess," said Columbia album producer, Irving Townsend, "they just came back." – Leonard Feather
No Moon At All
Bye Bye Blackbird
Life Is A Ball
It's Easy To Remember
You're Impossible
Oh, What A Beautiful Morin'
I Know You Oh So Well
Intersection
Like Someone In Love
Don't Sing Along
