Marian McPartland At The Festival

 

Cotton Tail

Marian McPartland
At The Festival
Produced by Carl E. Jefferson, President Concord Jazz, Inc.
Recorded live by PER Mobile II at the Concord Jazz Festival, Concord Pavilion, Concord, California August 1979
Recording Engineers: Phil Edwards, Ron Davis, Dennis Staats, Jim Hilson
Remixed at PER, San Fransico, California
Remix Engineer: Phil Edwards
Mastered by George Horn
Cover Photo: Kim Park
Art Direction: Dick Hendler
Concord Jazz CJ-118
1980

Marian McPartland - Piano
Brian Torff - Bass
Jake Hanna - Drums
Mary Fettig Park - Alto Saxophone

From the back cover: Marian McPartland is a forthright and daring woman and a stunning musician. While she is an inspirational figure to many, she is unassuming and unaffected. She can be almost comically self-critical: over National Public Radio she told Chick Corea that she doesn't like the shape of her nose; she told me that she has a singing voice like an English schoolgirl – not necessarily an unattractive trait – and she will at times suggest that she has trouble playing uptempo tunes. These defects are largely imaginary. When she wants, she can play like the wind, and her audiences are invariably impressed by her calm assurance, her graceful bearing and the controlled intensity of her music.

Recently I was involved in two conversations about Marian that suggest the respect she has garnered and the impact she can have. Interviewing John Lewis, I asked the former musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet about a two-piano concert he had given with Marian at Harvard University. Generally restrained in speech, Lewis spoke admiringly of Marian's playing. He was amazed at her ability to maintain her busy schedule and added, with a professional's sense of what this means: "And she does her own business too!"

Then at a seminar on "Women in Jazz," a part of the annual Jazz Week celebration in Boston, I heard a young woman, a professional pianist, talk about how she decided to become a jazz musician. Like many of her peers, this woman was initially hesitant about competing in the male-oriented jazz world. She was inspired to take the chance when she heard Marian McPartland in concert – Marian was "so confident," she said.

If Marian McPartland is confident, it is because she is accomplished and not because she has ceased to take chances: "I'd rather be wrong than work something out beforehand," she has said. In the notes to one of her Halcyon recordings, Marian wrote of her programs that the tunes "are not new, but the playing of them always is, for we are constantly creating fresh ideas for them."

As this Concord album demonstrates, Marian's playing is adventurous but never reckless. Her tunes are chosen with care. In this album we have the rarely performed Cole Porter ballad "1 Love You," Chick Corea's challenging "Windows," Ellington's boppish "Cottontail," and some jazz classics as well as the chestnut "Willow Weep for Me." Marian's "Willow" is a classic, bluesy performance, one of her best: it's pure and fresh and played inventively by all three musicians.

This is a real trio-bassist Brian Torff and Marian have a near telepathic relationship. Listen to Torff filling in certain of Marian's spare phrases in "Willow" or to the way the bassist and Marian share the melodies of "Cottontail" and "Oleo," despite the punishing tempos. Drummer Jake Hanna is so tactful that casual listeners may underestimate the value of his deft and swinging accompaniments, though few will miss the excitement of his brief solos. He is one of the best.

On the last three tunes of the album, the trio is joined by the strong, big-toned and lyrical alto saxophone of Mary Fettig Park. I played her solos for a group of aficionados who concluded that Ms. Park sounded like no one else. That is a compliment. Mary Fettig Park teaches and plays around Concord, California. She is 26 years old and has been performing professionally since high school. She traveled in 1973 with the Stan Kenton band and played on Kenton's "7.5 on the Richter Scale." She first performed with Marian at the first Kansas City Women's Jazz Festival. This recording should introduce her to a wider public.

Certainly that is Marian's intention. The pianist recognizes her responsibility as a highly visible, successful woman in jazz; she is currently writing a history of other such jazz women. She is also responsible to her audiences. Marian never gives an uninspired or dull performance. The history of jazz, male and female, would not be the same without her. But few of her fans will be ready soon to consign her to the ages. She's getting better and better, and for now she belongs to us. This record is great; I can't wait for her next one. – Michael Ullman, Author, Jazz Lives, (New Republic Books), columnist for The New Republic.

I Love You
Willow Weep For Me
Windows
In The Days Of Our Love
Cotton Tail
Here's That Rainy Day
On Green Dolphin Street
Oleo