Jazz Abroad - Roy Haynes & Quincy Jones

 

Jones' Bones

Jazz Abroad

Featuring Roy Haynes and Quincy Jones

EmArcy/Mercury Records MG 36083

1957

From the back cover: Ever since the end of World War II, the exchange of musical ideas between jazzmen of various nations has gained increasing incidence, particularly in Scandinavia. It was in Sweden that the first outstanding modern jazz soloists were contributed by Europe to the international discograghies; and it was in Sweden, during the past five or six years, that a number of happy unions took place between American and Swedish jazzmen, resulting in the production of such successful sessions as the two represented on this album.

Quincy Jones, arranger and musical director of the band on the first side, has had one of the most meteoric careers in contemporary jazz. Only 23 years old, he has been an important part of the musical scene in at least four cities: first in Chicago, where he was born; later in Seattle, where he started his trumpet practices in 1947 and studied with Clark Terry in 1950; then in Boston, where he studied on a scholarship at Schillinger House, and lastly, for the past two or three years, as a highly successful freelance arranger in New York City.

Though best known as a composer-arranger (he has written the music for many of EmArcy's sessions), Quincy is enough of an instrumentalist to have held down both the trumpet and piano chair in Lionel Hampton's band at one time or another. In the spring of 1956, putting down his pen and picking up his horn after a two-year lull, he visited the Middle East on the historic State-Department-subsidized tour by Dizzy Gillespi's big band.

Coupled with Quincy's date is a session under the leadership of Roy Haynes, the diminutive drummer from Roxbury, Mass., who for several years has been part of Sarah Vaughan's accompanying trio. When these tunes were recorded in the fall of 1954, Roy and the bass player, Joe Benjamin, were visiting Stockholm with Sarah as part of a concert package that also included the Illinois Jacquet Band. Two members of Jacquet's orchestra are heard-Sahib Shihab on baritone and alto sax; Adrian Acea on piano. Completing the group are Bjarne Nerem on tenor sax and Ake Persson on trombone.

These performances are less arranged and more informal than Quincy's. Sahib's baritone is especially effective on Little Leona, a minor-key original by Adrian Acea. Mrs. Mopsy, an agreeable swinging riff tune by Joe Benjamin, has some outstanding muted trombone by Persson. Gone Again, a ballad popularized by Wini Brown with Hampton's band a few years ago, features Shihab's alto, Nerem's tenor and Acea's piano. Hagnes, dreamed up by Haynes and Shihab, features a long and provocative drum intro by Roy, followed by some alto ad libbing with Latin rhythm touches.

Jazz Abroad indicates decisively that men like Quincy Jones, Roy Haynes and their confreres are musically at ease in the company of such distinguished Swedish contemporaries as are heard with them here. Because so many of the musicians involved are even better known to jazz fans today than they were at the original time of recording, these are among the most interesting examples available of the ever-broadening policy of "Bands Across the Sea."

Pogo Stick, Liza, Jones' Bones and Sometimes I'm Happy were recorded in Stockholm in 1953 when Quincy was on a visit to Europe with Lionel Hampton's band. The personnel was as follows:

Art Farmer, trumpet; Jimmy Cleveland, Ake Persson, trombones; Arne Domnerus, alto and clarinet; Lars Gullin, baritone; Bengt Halberg, piano; Simon Brehm, bass; Alan Dawson, drums.

Quincy, Art Farmer and Jimmy Cleveland were the only Americans on the date, though you would never know it to listen to the music. Domnerus, who played at the Paris JazzFestival in 1949, has long been regarded as one of the two or three top men in Europe both on alto and clarinet. Gullin is, of course, well known to EmArcy fans on albums such as MG 36012 and MG 37059, the latter featuring him with the Moretone Singers. Bengt Halberg, the 23-year-old pianist, has been a sensation with every visiting American jazzman; he numbers Miles Davis and Stan Getz among his most ardent fans, and Getz has been trying to arrange to bring him to the United States. Bassist Brehm, who runs a record company on the side, has toured with his own band, often featuring some of the same Swedish sidemen heard here. The Anglo-Swedish vibrations on these sides are so sympathetic that at times it is hard to tell, for example, which trombonist is playing when. The following guide should be of some help. Pogo Stick features a series of short alternations, starting with Persson. Liza features a chorus by Cleveland, one by Persson and then a series of alternations starting with Cleveland. Jones' Bones features four choruses apiece by Cleveland and Persson. On Sometimes I'm Happy, Cleveland plays the opening melody chorus. The later solo is by Persson.

Pogo Stick (Quincy Jones)

Liza (Kahn-Gershwin-Gershwin)

Jones' Bones (Quincy Jones)

Sometimes I'm Happy (Ceasar-Gray-Youman

Little Leona (Adrian Acia)

Miss Mopsy (Joe Benjamin)

Gone Again (Curtis Lewis)

Hagnes (Haynes-Shihab)