After Hours - Joni James

 

This Heart Of Mine

After Hours
Joni James
Produced  by Howard Scott
Sound Engineer: Val Valentin
Coordinator: Jesse Kaye
Cover Photograph by Jacques Lowe
MGM SE 4008
1962

Pete Jolly - Piano
Ralph Pena - Bass
Howard Roberts - Guitar
Shelly Manne (side one) or Milt Holland - Drums

From the back cover: Here is Joni James at her best-free, easy, relaxed and sweetly swinging. You'll hear her the way the public has never had a chance to hear her  – informal and with her hair down."After Hours", is a new departure for Joni. This is her first album with a jazz rhythm section backing. And it swings from note one!

The medium of jazz has given Joni a new dimension and a further opportunity to demonstrate her incomparable sense of timing and a unique ability in harmonic improvisation. "After Hours," is jazz at its best – relaxed and free-but the style is undeniably – Joni James.

This is really "After Hours" – a true jam session featuring Joni James sitting in with a quartet of top-flight jazzmen. There were no written arrangements whatsoever, and each side of the album was cut in one long continuous take. There was no splicing or cutting. What you hear is exactly what happened. This is it – there were no second takes.

The only preliminary preparation, before the tape started to roll, was a two hour conference. Here, Joni and the boys ran down the tunes. They also set up their routines and the ways that they would get in and out of the various tempos.

Accompanying Joni in this album. are Pete Jolly at the piano; Howard Roberts, guitar; Ralph Pena, bass; and Shelly Manne on the drums. Milt Holland takes over for Shelly Manne on side two. Each one of these leading jazzmen takes his turn carrying the solo load in individual songs.

The songs themselves are an ex- cellent selection of twelve top, old and new favorites-chock full of sen- timental moods and delivered by Joni with warmth and tenderness.

That the entry of Joni James into jazz was a complete success will become evident as you spin the platter. So now sit back, relax, unwind yourself, and enjoy a good half hour of sweet, swinging jazz with Joni and the boys-"After Hours." – Stan Ulanoff

All Of Nothing At All
Somewhere In The Night
I'll Remember April
Misty
I've Got A Crush On You
Just One Of Those Things
I Almost Lost My Mind
Can't Get Out Of This Mood
This Heart Of Mine
I Didn't Know What Time It Was
Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me
They Can't Take That Away From Me