On The Other Hand

Jazz
OFC_0812JJ
17/7/12
3:10 pm
Page 1
Bob Mintzer
Triple threat
Decibel Records
Hidden treasures
Books & DVDs
Berigan to Lovano
Plus
Elliot Mason
Mark Turner
Kurt Elling
100+ CD reviews
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08
9 772041 883027
Volume 65 No.8
Journal
August 2012 £4.25 U.S. $8.50
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Recorded in New York, 1959-61.
‹ 16 tracks ‹ 79:04 min ‹ Includes 12-page booklet
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Contents_0812JJ
17/7/12
3:27 pm
Page 1
Contents
David Redfern
John Watson
From the editor
I was intrigued and heartened to see in a
Brit jazz world still mad on lo-fi amateurism that Yamaha have gone to the
trouble of creating digital samples of
Chick Corea’s early 1980s Fender
Rhodes Mark V for their Motif synthesizer range. The artisanal endeavour
described in the press release and here
on YouTube http://bit.ly/NRTvJP echoes
the invention found in Frank Dixon’s
descriptions of Decibel’s “trailing edge”
approach to sound recording (see p13). I
happen like the rich harmonic spectrum
of the Rhodes a lot and it’s fascinating to
see that as much artistry went into creating Chick’s particular sounds as many
imagine goes into steam piano playing.
What is jazz, or music, without technique, the machinery of creation and as
I say in my review of Gary Husband’s
Dirty & Beautiful Vol 2 (p26) how can
we forget the primary role of technological advance in shaping musical sound,
invention and progress? It’s not surprising that so much music from the socalled Leeds cutting edge, so often
harking back to the worst of 70s tonalities, sounds so monotonal. Here’s to
proper musical endeavour!
JAZZ JOURNAL is available from any newsagent
or bookstall to order, or by annual subscription
from the publisher at £48 (UK), £62 or €79
(overseas surface mail including Eire, except
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Address all distribution enquiries to: JJ Publishing
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Email: [email protected]
Colour origination by TSS Digital, Margate, Kent.
Typeset and printed by Headley Brothers Ltd,
Invicta Press, Queens Road, Ashford, Kent.
4
Readers’ Poll
7
On The Other Hand
8
That Charles Lloyd
Video
8
Maynard’s Manchester; Meeker’s movies;
Tubby’s tome
Finally, the results totted up and readers’ tastes
revealed
Dave Gelly is prompted to recall Lionel Grigson’s
particularities and the youthful optimism of the
London Jazz Orchestra
bobmintzer.com
One Sweet Letter
Elliot Mason; Mark Turner; Kurt Elling
Bob Mintzer
Edward Gleason’s poetic impression of a
valedictory YouTube video with Billy Higgins
Bob Mintzer
10
Decibel Records
12
The multi-tasking reedman and former Buddy
Rich, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis and Art Blakey
sideman in conversation with Derek Ansell
John Latham delves into the Decibel label,
home in the early 50s to Kathy Stobart, the
Merseysippi Jazz Band and more
Helge Hansen
Photographers:
Tim Dickeson
Tim Motion
2
3
Elliot Mason
Decibel Records
JJ Crossword, No. 2 13
More of the ups and downs of the jazz world
from Fred Dellar
Book & DVD Reviews 14
Bunny Berigan; Africa Speaks; Kenny Dorham;
Jazzpaths; The Trumpet; All Star Jazz Show;
Max Roach; Joe Lovano
Anec-dotage
17
Obituaries
18
Record Reviews
One Finger Snaps
20
40
Alan Luff laments the passing of the trusting
60s and the advent of texting, broadband and
Twitter but doesn’t miss The Shadows
Lol Coxhill; Marjie Hyams; Graeme Bell; Andy
Hamilton
Rounding up some of the dozens of discs we
never have space to review in full
Cover: Bob Mintzer by bobmintzer.com
John Latham
©JJ Publishing Ltd.
ISSN 2041–8833
Jazz Journal is published monthly by
JJ Publishing Ltd, The Invicta Press,
Queen’s Road, Ashford, Kent TN24 8HH
Editor: Mark Gilbert
Tel: 020 8516 0994
Email: [email protected]
Administration: The Invicta Press
Tel: 01233 648895
Email: [email protected] (sales)
Email: [email protected] (subscriptions)
Chief contributors:
Simon Adams
Barry McRae
Derek Ansell
Alun Morgan
Ronald Atkins
Brian Morton
John R. Brown
Richard Palmer
Graham Colombé
Anthony Troon
Bruce Crowther
Michael Tucker
Peter Gamble
Steve Voce
Mark Gardner
Bob Weir
Fred Grand
Bert Whyatt
Gordon Jack
Barry Witherden
On the Beat
Profiles
David Wild
August 2012 Vol 65 No 8
Jazzpaths: Coltrane, Ali, Garrison,
Sanders; see p15
CONTENTS JAZZ JOURNAL
1
On the Beat_0812JJ
17/7/12
3:31 pm
Page 2
On the Beat
BRECON JAZZ FESTIVAL
Brecon Jazz Festival, adopted briefly by the Hay
organisation and now taken over by Welsh
events company Orchard, runs 10-12 August
2012. The programme has been put together at
short notice since Orchard were only appointed
by the Arts Council of Wales in May.
Headline attraction is Dionne Warwick followed
RYE JAZZ FESTIVAL
CANARY WHARF JAZZ FESTIVAL
LONDON JAZZ FEST EXTRA
Further to last
month’s list, the
following have
been added to
the 2012 London
Jazz Festival (918 November):
Herbie Hancock;
Marcus Roberts
& Friends covering jazz from
New Orleans to
the present; Jack
DeJohnette
Group (quintet with Don Byron, Marvin
Sewell, George Colligan and Jerome Harris);
Michael Garrick: A Tribute, with Chris and
Gabriel Garrick, Norma Winstone, Dave
Green, Art Themen, Jim Hart and the poet
Jeremy Robson; A Tribute To Joe Harriott
with Gary Crosby (OBE), Peter Edwards and
the 11-piece Nu Civilisation Orchestra;
David Murray Big Band & Macy Gray:
Stomping And Singin’ The Blues via covers
of Metallica, Kanye West, Willie Dixon and
James “Blood” Ulmer. More information at
www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk.
David Murray
2 JAZZ
JOURNAL ON THE BEAT
tion (25-26 October) and much more. Ronnie Scott’s, 47 Frith St, London, W1D 4HT.
www.ronniescotts.co.uk. Box office: 020
7439 0747.
CONCORDE’S 55TH BIRTHDAY
On Wednesday, 8 August, the Concorde
Club in Eastleigh, Hants, will celebrate 55
years of presenting jazz in a night of nostalgia with Alan Barnes telling the story of
the club’s history in his own inimitable style
while introducing musicians and tunes that
will revive memories of great gigs at the
club. Alan will lead an all-star band including club favourites Robert Fowler, Enrico
Tomasso, David Newton, Paul Morgan and
Bobby Worth plus special guests. The club is
on 023 8061 3989.
Programming was done by Orchard director
Pablo Janczur and Welsh pianist Huw Warren.
Orchard are calling it “a compact and powerful
programme” and regarding 2012 as an “interim
year” but promise innovative collaborations and
the return of a party atmosphere to the streets of
Brecon. Janczur says: “If we can get close to
recapturing the values, spirit and magic of the
heyday of Brecon Jazz, we’ll have done our job.”
Tickets are available from www.breconjazz.com
and 01874 611622 (Theatr Brycheiniog) and
24/7 from 0844 858 8521.
The historic and picturesque East Sussex
town of Rye is to hold its first international
jazz festival 23-27 August. Among those
booked are Anthony Strong, Ginger Baker’s
Jazz Confusion (with Alec Dankworth, Pee
Wee Ellis and Abass Dodoo), IDMC Gospel
Choir, Herbie Flowers and Mike Hatchard.
The programme also features a range of free
street entertainment, acoustic sessions at
the Butter Market and a Cuban marching
band and educational projects. The full programme can be found at www.ryejazz.com
or call 01892 277984.
Frank Schemmann
by Roy Ayers, Huw Warren, Thomas Stronen,
Peter Herbert, Iain Ballamy, Neil Yates, the Lighthouse trio, Trio Libero, Neil Cowley, Claire Martin, YolanDa Brown, Stan Tracey, Bobby Wellins,
Soweto Kinch, Alan Barnes, Kit Downes, Ginger
Baker’s Jazz Confusion and more.
BILL’S BACK
It’s all free admission, takes place 17-19
August at Canary Wharf, London and
features Courtney Pine, the big band Lokkhi
Terra, James Morton Soul Collective, Josh
Arcoleo, Dennis Rollins’ Velocity, Davide
Mantovani, Beats & Pieces and more. More
info from arts&[email protected].
020 7001 3016.
RONNIE SCOTT’S
Ronnie
Scott’s
attractions
this
summer include
a Classic Jazz
Series, 27 July-12
August, featuring
the Ronnie Scott’s
Jazz Orchestra led
by saxophonist
Pete Long – a big
band
featuring Wayne Krantz at
“the cream of UK Brecon 1998
talent”. Each night has a different theme
focusing on past RS club legends such as
Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald,
Oscar Peterson and Buddy Rich alongside
other related performers including Frank
Sinatra, George Gershwin and Ray Charles.
Other highlights in August include Roy
Ayers (13), the Wayne Krantz Trio (20,
with drummer Nate Wood and bassist
Tim Lefebvre), Booker T Jones (22), The
Laurence Cottle Big Band: A Portrait Of
Jaco (25) and Pee Wee Ellis Funk (27-29).
Coming up in the autumn: Bireli Lagrene
(10-12 Sept), Patricia Barber (17-18 Sept),
Hiromi Trio with Steve Smith and Anthony
Jackson (4-6 Oct), Avishai Cohen (15-17
Oct), Joe Lovano/Dave Douglas Sound
Prints Quintet (18-19 Oct), The Bad Plus
(23-24 Oct), Steve Smith & Vital Informa-
Mark Gilbert
Sasa Huzjak
Ginger Baker
After
retiring Bill Ashton
from 47 years
of fronting the
National Youth
Jazz Orchestra,
Bill Ashton is
back leading a
big band again.
The impetus to
launch his new
orchestra came
when
Sarah
Webster, former
head of Bedale’s Junior School, invited Bill
to feature his own band at the first Privett
International Jazz Festival on 8 September
2012. A CD containing 39 of Bill’s songs,
Sing A Song Of Ashton (Stanza SOB003)
will be issued to coincide with the launch.
BARRY HARRIS
Bebop maestro Barry Harris is back in the
London for his annual round of concerts
and workshops. The trio (with Dave Green
and Steve Brown) plays Pizza Express, Dean
St, 16-20 August (020 7437 9595). He does
workshops 17-18 August at St Andrews
United Reformed Church, NW3 7DY and on
19 August at the Vortex Jazz Club, N16 8JN.
SEVEN JAZZ IN LEEDS
Seven Jazz in Chapel Allerton (“the Leeds
club for quality accessible jazz”) has
announced its autumn season, which
includes the Brandon Allen-Quentin Collins
Quartet (27 September), John Taylor (4
October), Liane Carroll Trio (18 October),
Benn Clatworthy Quartet (8 November),
Pete King quartet (13 December). There’s
also jazz on Sunday afternoons (1-4pm),
including including Katie Patterson’s
“Steely Dan” Big Band (7 October). Full
details at www.sevenjazz.co.uk.
Profiles_0812JJ
17/7/12
8:19 am
Page 3
Profiles
tively rare instrument but one he uses regularly. “Yes, it gets played and written for all
the time. What’s unique about the JLCO is
that band members write and arrange for
the individual, using one person’s sound to
complement another and also focusing on
varied instruments such as the bass trumpet,
on technical facility, stylistic approach and
so on. These elements emphasise the individual personalities of the musicians in the
orchestra.”
Elliot Mason, Norwich trombone man now in the Jazz At Lincoln Center
Orchestra; Mark Turner, US saxophonist keen to play down the early
influence of Warne Marsh; Kurt Elling, distinctive singer mixing a church
There are plans for the future too. “Brad and
myself are definitely trying to book more
tour dates with the quintet. We’re always
writing new music and there’s talk of
recording a live version of Two Sides, One
Story in the near future.” A UK trip isn’t
planned just yet, but the possibility of hearing Mason in a small group setting would
certainly be welcome.
background with modern sensibilities
understanding of the music’s heritage has
deepened. I feel that as an artist, nothing is
more important than feeding from your
life’s journey. I’m always reassessing my
motivations behind what I want to express
and why I’ve dedicated my life to jazz.”
ELLIOT MASON
“The Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra is a salary
gig with benefits: you get your schedule a year in
advance which gives you the opportunity to concentrate on personal projects in your time off”
The Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra is one
of the most prestigious ensembles in jazz,
internationally known and respected. Its
lineup is predominantly American, but two
of its 2012 musicians are British. Veteran
saxophonist Joe Temperley is one: the second is trombonist Elliot Mason, from the
Fine City of Norwich.
It’s almost 20 years since the 16-year-old
Mason took up a scholarship at the Berklee
School of Music, joining his older brother,
trumpeter Brad Mason, in 1993. Since then
he’s played with jazz ensembles including
the Count Basie Orchestra, the Mingus Big
Band and the Maria Schneider Orchestra: in
the wider musical world Queen Latifah and
Willie Nelson have also benefited from
Mason’s talents. With brother Brad he coleads the Mason Brothers Quintet which
released its debut album Two Sides, One
Story in 2010.
Berklee provided Mason with a strong educational foundation but he takes constant
inspiration from his career and is always
developing his art. “I feel like I’ve developed
tremendously since Berklee, broadening my
vision, changing my perspective on creating
music, where emotion takes priority. My
Bruce Lindsay
After almost two decades in New York,
Mason recognises the recent changes in the
jazz scene and views them with a mix of
concern and hope. “It’s getting difficult for
anyone to spend as much time or money
checking out music as they might have a
few years ago. Now, an artist who would
once have filled theatres might perform in a
smaller auditorium, and the cycle continues.
This hurts everyone, especially today’s
young, emerging players. Fortunately my
work as a teacher at Northwestern University, New York University, and the New
School gives me hope. It’s inspiring on a
personal level, to know that jazz as an art
form is in good hands.”
He is unsurprisingly less familiar with the
current British scene, but is aware of its
development and is complimentary about
the players. “The modern UK jazz scene has
developed creatively in some unexpected
ways, much like jazz in the States. I would
like to have more of a connection with the
UK scene: there are many talented musicians making some amazing music.”
Unlike most JLCO musicians, Mason hadn’t
met or played with Wynton Marsalis, the
Orchestra’s Music Director, before joining in
2006. “I had performed with some of the
guys in different projects, and they recommended me for the trombone chair, which
was vacant for almost a year. During the
first concert series I concentrated on section
playing, blending with the ensemble: I may
have had an occasional eight-bar solo.
“I was called back for a second concert
series, and then for a month-long tour
where everyone really gets to stretch.”
Membership of the JLCO gives Mason a
level of security that’s available to few jazz
musicians. “During the tour I was asked to
join the band for a season, which is a yearlong contract. It’s a salary gig with benefits:
you get your schedule a year in advance
which gives you the opportunity to concentrate on personal projects in your time off.”
Mason doubles on the bass trumpet: a rela-
Mark Turner
Edward Gleason
Clay Patrick McBride
Elliot Mason
MARK TURNER
Regarding the Billy Hart Quartet: “One of the
gigs – maybe THE gig – I look forward to most.
Playing with Billy feels like stepping into infinity”
Over the last decade or so, the Fly trio has
become one of the most important and consistent groups in contemporary jazz, significantly redefining the scope of the
tenor-bass-drums trio along the way.
Despite featuring three musicians with some
of the starriest CVs of their generation, saxophonist Mark Turner, double bassist Larry
Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard insist
that they are a “band of equals,” with a
group concept that is “never about soloistand-accompaniment.”
Since Fly’s self-titled debut (Savoy Jazz,
2004), the trio has, by mixing sparse
grooves, intricate through-composition and
occasional urgent swing, developed a sound
that is notably current: although the group’s
music obviously acknowledges the history
continued on page 6
PROFILES JAZZ JOURNAL
3
OSL_0812JJ
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8:01 am
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One Sweet
Letter
MASSIVE FERGUSON
Just a little embroidery on Steve Voce’s recollections of the Maynard Ferguson British
big band (JJ, July 2012, p12): It made a bigger impact than any new British band for
some time. Playing at the 100 Club in early
1968 it got rave reviews, and was surrounded by fans requesting autographs,
even though none of the musicians was
known in London.
The previous year Ernie Garside had managed to get Ferguson to appear at his Club
43 in Manchester, then deciding to go the
whole hog and give him a big band backing.
Leading the brass section was trumpeter
Jack Bell from Bradford who also ran a taxi
business. He was to form Ferguson Bell Ltd,
marketing trumpets and mouthpieces
designed by Ferguson, tested by Jack before
sales. For second trumpet Ernie chose Barry
Whitworth from Sheffield, a steel firm representative. Third trumpet was Alan
Downey who played with BBC Midland
Light Orchestra. On trombones were the
Northern Dance Orchestra’s Harry Burgess,
who had spells with Cyril Stapleton, and
Wally Aldred, Bolton gig musician and
sheet metal worker.
The lead alto was the NDO’s Gary Cox. Ivor
Deach (chiropodist/pro musician) and Brian
Smith (Gordon Robinson Septet) were on
tenor and Salford policeman Bob Watson
played baritone. The rhythm section was
Joe Palin (best-known jazzman in the band)
on piano or club pianist Peter Jackson
standing in. Dave Lynane played bass and
Bob Gillespie played drums, both seen often
on TV in the north as members of the Derek
Hilton Trio at Granada. Ernie Garside took
over third trumpet chair on many out-ofManchester dates.
How come the band sounded so good? Ferguson must be credited with his quality
leadership. The boys soon mastered the
arrangements of Bill Holman, Don Menza
and Herb Geller that were previously played
by Ferguson’s all-star American band. The
band played club and concert dates
throughout Britain and Europe with visits to
the USA. Happy listening.
Ray Whitehouse, Rochdale
4 JAZZ
JOURNAL
ONE SWEET LETTER
. . . I very much enjoyed the article by Steve
Voce on Maynard Ferguson’s time in
Manchester (JJ, July 2012, p12). It evoked
memories of many happy Saturday nights
at the Club 43 in the Clarendon Hotel which
was run by Eric Scriven and Ernie Garside.
I saw Maynard and his Manchester band a
couple of times at the Manchester Sports
Guild, now, like the Clarendon Hotel, razed
to the ground. The book Keeper Of The
Flame, by Bill Birch, covers the Manchester
modern scene thoroughly.
Neville Barstow, Manchester
MORE THAN A FLICKER
John Robert Brown bemoans the paucity of
film of jazz greats of the past (JJ, June
2012, p10) How true!
Until very recently I had thought nothing
whatsoever existed of two of my own
particular favourites, Tina Brooks, amd
amazingly, Hank Mobley. For a player who
graced so many sessions it seemed ridiculous that nothing of Hank existed on film
but he has been spotted in clip 8 of a
programme on Danish television remembering the Copenhagen jazz club Montmartre
Jazzhus on the 30th anniversary of its
closure. The film is called Montmartre I
Store Regnegade but I’ve not been able to
trace a copy of this anywhere. Surely something more of this wonderful musician must
exist somewhere?
Even more astounding, Tina Brooks is now
known to have been a member of the Ray
Charles band on a 1963 visit to Sao Paulo,
the concerts from which have recently
appeared in a DVD entitled Ray Charles:
Live In Brazil. Sure enough Tina is there and
even gets a sax duet out front on one of the
tracks – and the DVD costs less than £4!
We well recall David Meeker’s involvement
in jazz on film: he has variously featured in
JJ over the years. David recently dropped us
the above postcard – it’s good to see he’s
still in business and we wish him well. – MG
EVANS ABOVE
I was pleased to see Richard Palmer saying
that he thinks Bill Evans (JJ, May 2012, p20)
has been seriously overrated. In the past he
has been unenthusiastic when reviewing
Bill Evans but he has always appeared
apologetic about his lack of enthusiasm
which is quite unnecessary.
After all there is no law which says we have
to enjoy music where technique is totally
transparent, never used as a crutch when
inspiration flags and never in grandstanding musically vapid bravura displays; where
ideas infused by a wonderful melodic gift
and a clarity of perception follow logically
one upon another; where clichés and quotations are not resorted to and where the
overarching aim is to develop a line such
that theme, improvisation and recapitulation form a seamless and coherent musical
statement.
It’s well worth a visit if you are trying to
find out what there is (and isn’t) of jazz on
film and DVD.
Of course, it is not Bill Evans that Richard
Palmer takes issue with when he questions
his reputation – he never claimed to be anything other than a dedicated jazz musician
– it is the aural evidence of his influence on
countless others and the stated opinions of
musicians of the calibre of Chick Corea,
Herbie Hancock and John Taylor.
Kenneth Clark, Aberdeen
J A Nelson, London SW15
I found out all this initially from a super site
called “Jazz on the Screen: A Jazz and
Blues Filmography by David Meeker” at
http://1.usa.gov/132WDq
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One Sweet Letter
MISSING SCOTT
As part two of his piano jazz article (JJ, April
2012, p14) Richard Palmer gives some selected
records featuring the work of Scott Joplin.
Missing from his selection is the five-LP box
of recordings by Dick Hyman which I would
have thought essential for any appraisal of
Joplin’s work. In this set Dick plays everything
written by Joplin including the marches and
waltzes in chronological order (as written), a
narration by Eubie Blake and, last, some
improvisations. The classical pieces – Tremonisha and others are not included.
Fred Stone, by email
DANUBE DON
Ref previous correspondence (Books, December 2011 and OSL, March 2012), it might
interest your readers and fans of Don Ellis to
know that Ellis is not forgotten in Vienna.
I was fortunate to be present in December
2008 at wonderful concert at the Porgy &
Bess Jazz & Music Club which featured the
music of Don Ellis played by the Thomas
Gansch Big Band with a superb performance by Thomas as leader and featured
trumpet soloist. Search for Thomas Gansch
Don Ellis on YouTube for performances such
as this from 2010: http://bit.ly/RLmOhO.
I now learn that there will be another performance in the Konzerthaus, Vienna on 2
April 2013. There is certainly a treat in store
for the audience. PS: the magazine gets better and better.
Dick Feeney, Dublin
PITY THE YOUNGER
I like to read the Profiles in JJ because they
contain comments by living and current
jazz musicians. The profile on Robert
Glasper (JJ, June 2012, p3) brought up a
point that many older jazz fans tend to
overlook. He says: “More old people buy
jazz and the music they buy is from older
players. That’s why Kind Of Blue is always
gonna be number 1.” Sadly, that is true.
More jazz fans need to start attending concerts and buying records by musicians performing today. I can always listen to my
reissues, but isn’t that being selfish?
Ron Taylor, Crewe
TUBBY, GETTING TUBBIER
As I read Simon Spillett’s piece on Gordon
Beck and Michael Garrick (JJ, June 2012,
p16) I got the distinct impression that he’s
been reading Richard Palmer. There are
dangerous signs (“using liturgical sources”,
“interactive sense of time”, “musical polymath” etc) that smack of writing to impress.
A cure might be to lock RP and SS in a room
together and have them fight it out by writing letters to each other – but with Herb
Wong as the referee? Gentlemen, “know
your reader” as the plain language guide
books might say.
Incidentally, I eagerly awaited Mr. Spillett’s
biography on Tubby Hayes – which JJ said
will be published in “the spring”. Since it is
now your summer (!) – what happened?
And hopefully, it’s not edited by Mr.
Palmer, otherwise I’m going to have to
order an unabridged OED to go with it.
Lionel Astill, Durban, SA
Simon tells us his Hayes book is now at
600,000 odd words (15 times the length of
one JJ), every one lucid and essential.
Publication delayed for one reason or
another. – MG
SCOTS SOUL
I greatly enjoyed Brian Morton’s engaging
piece on the LCJO’s Joe Temperley, routinely described by Wynton Marsalis as
“The most soulful thing to come out of
Scotland” but I would like to correct Brian’s
statement that Joe is “the only non-American” in the orchestra for there is another
UK-born band member.
Elliot Mason, who has been in the LCJO
trombone section for the past four years, was
born in Norwich and gained his early experience in NYJO before taking up a scholarship at Berklee, alongside his trumpeter
brother Brad Mason. Their parents are multiinstrumentalist Barry Mason and singer
Christine Vance, both key participants in the
East Anglian jazz scene. My interview feature with Elliot appeared in Jazz UK no 94
dated August-September 2010.
Peter Vacher, by email
A Scot more soulful than Andy Murray,
apparently newly humanised by his Wimbledon defeat? After a period of mature reflection,
we have decided to publish our own Elliot
Mason piece – see Profiles in this issue. – MG
FINGER POINTING
On the subject of One Finger Snaps, the
recent album At Last, by Heather Cairncross, is a case in point. Why on earth does
this album by an exceptional singer not justify a full review? I am not alone in thinking that Heather is the most outstanding
jazz vocalist for many years – Dave Newton
obviously agrees. Twelve words within OFS
(JJ, April 2012), even with a 4-star rating, is
an insult! Incidentally am surprised Bruce
Crowther didn’t pick the CD up for review –
thought it was just up his street!
Also, am I missing something? The final
paragraph in Dave Gelly’s article (JJ, May
2012, p7) does not seem to finish properly.
Roger Eatough, by email
Nobody picked Heather for review – bad luck
Heather, but thanks Roger for your illuminating enthusiasm. Re. Dave Gelly’s column,
I was hoping nobody would notice. The last
line got accidentally sliced by the printer at
last minute and should have read “Even the
editor of the Lower Bogworthy Advertiser
would have chucked that out.” – MG
FLUTING REFERENCES
Reference review of Les McCann CD In San
Francisco (JJ, June 2012, p28). I thought
Brian Robinson would like to know of a version of Red Sails In The Sunset by Don
Ewell and George Lewis on Lake LACD50, A
Portrait Of George Lewis.
I have just been listening to Clarence
Williams’s Jazz Kings. The 1929 track Have
You Ever Felt That Way? has a flute solo by
Albert Socarras. Does anyone know if this is
the earliest jazz flute solo?
Roy Bailey, Broadstairs
Re Socarras, that’s thought to be the case.
Check our Latin jazz feature in July 2011
for more on Socarras, also apparently one of
the first Cubans to play jazz on record. – MG
TEDDY’S BACK
Greetings from Florida. Thanks again for
another most enjoyable read. I just thought
I’d advise you that the picture of Teddy and
Nica (JJ, May 2012, p13) is printed backwards. Check his pocket handkerchief, on
his right side?
Jack Simpson, by email
CLARK TERRY
I’ve just sent £50 to Clark Terry using PayPal and it was very simple and inexpensive.
No matter how much money is sent the
charge for sending it is less than £3. Just
Google “PayPal” and follow the “Send
Money” boxes. Simply send the money to
Clark’s wife Gwen’s e-mail address which is
[email protected] and the money goes
straight to her PayPal account. Clark has
enough to pay for his 24-hour care until the
end of September, so he urgently needs
more funds.
Steve Voce, by email
CORRECTION
The last sentence of the Pyramidic Dynamics letter published last issue should have
read “Duke’s late sparse piano style is
superb” and not “Duke’s late sparse piano
style is suspect.”
Apropos this matter, could readers as far
possible endeavour to send OSL by email, or
at least typed? And if referencing earlier
publication always cite issue and page number. Many thanks, MG
More letters online at jazzjournal.co.uk/
opinion
Letters for publication, which
may be edited, should be
addressed to OSL at
[email protected]
or OSL, JJ Publishing Ltd,
The Invicta Press, Queen's Road,
Ashford, Kent TN24 8HH.
ONE SWEET LETTER JAZZ JOURNAL
5
Profiles_0812JJ
17/7/12
8:21 am
Page 6
Profiles
continued from page 3
of jazz, the influence of modern hip-hop
and rock is equally clear, albeit in a way
that is more subtle, less overt than among
some of their contemporaries. 2009’s Sky
and Country (ECM) continued in a similar
vein whilst incorporating some more lyrical,
folky themes, and a third album, Year Of
The Snake, was released in April this year,
again on ECM.
Fly’s latest offering was one of a few subjects about which I was fortunate enough to
ask Turner, the band’s enigmatic saxophonist, in a recent email interview. Year Of The
Snake features a series of five completely
improvised pieces, The Western Lands, and
I wondered whether this might be symptomatic of a broader stylistic swing towards
freer music in general for the trio.
“Before this recording we had discussed
incorporating some free sections or doing a
record that was primarily free and rubato
music. We decided on the former as we felt
a need to document the music we had been
playing the previous year. I expect that we’ll
explore the free aesthetic in the studio more
in the future.”
Turner describes Fly as becoming “increasingly minimalist in scope,” and it would
seem that this also applies to his own playing within the group: whilst we still get his
usual long, elaborate lines and displays of
peerless technique, what pervades is a sense
of considered restraint, in contrast, for
example, to his more explosive performance
on Billy Hart’s recent ECM album All Our
Reasons.
“For this particular band I choose to play in
a more minimal, selective, reflective fashion. This situation is more about pacing,
context, finding the right moments to dig in
or hold back. The playing and compositions
are synergistic to this aesthetic.”
Of course, Turner is involved in many more
projects than just Fly. He has worked as a
sideman with the likes of Kurt Rosenwinkel,
Enrico Rava and the aforementioned Billy
Hart Quartet. The great drummer’s band also
features Ethan Iverson and Ben Street and,
for my money, is up there with the current
Wayne Shorter and Charles Lloyd quartets
as one of today’s great small groups. Turner
describes it as “One of the gigs – maybe THE
gig – I look forward to most. Playing with
Billy feels like stepping into infinity.”
Between the mid 1990s and the early 2000s
the saxophonist released a string of albums,
including In This World (Warner Bros, 1998)
and Dharma Days (Warner Bros, 2001). With
stellar casts including Kurt Rosenwinkel and
Brad Mehldau and featuring Turner’s excellent compositions alongside standards and
even the odd Beatles tune, the CDs were
highly influential for today’s younger gener-
6 JAZZ
JOURNAL PROFILES
ation of jazz musicians.
In terms of his own influences, Warne
Marsh and the whole Lennie Tristano school
have obviously had a big impact: those
long, twisting flights and that dark, woody
sound are unmistakable. However, it has
almost become a journalistic cliché to mention this in relation to Turner, and I wondered whether he was tired of being painted
as some obsessive Tristano disciple while
writers failed to mention his other influences, of which there are clearly many.
‘Yes! Although Marsh/Tristano were important for me, John Coltrane, Joe Henderson
among many others were also important to
greater and lesser degrees than Marsh/Tristano, [including] old and current music. We
are influenced by music that we listen to a
great deal, even if we have not transcribed
or learned it note for note. I would not
sound like I do if Marsh/Tristano was my
main influence. The process continues.”
Fans of Turner’s will be excited to know
that, after an 11-year wait, there is finally
another project under his own name on the
way soon. With recording scheduled to take
place “sometime before winter’s end,” he
will be leading a quartet that has already
toured in the States and which features
Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Joe Martin (bass)
and Marcus Gilmore (drums). Although he
still may not have the international fame of
some of his flashier contemporaries, those
in the know will be extremely excited to
hear the development of this quartet, the Fly
trio and whichever other projects Mark
Turner is involved with over the coming
months and years.
Sam Braysher
KURT ELLING
“When I got hip to what Jon Hendricks has been
up to all these years, and Mark Murphy, I went to
see them live. That was the big turning point”
What led him down the jazz path? “I was
always peripherally aware of some main
ingredients like Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett,
and such, but it wasn’t until I was in university that some friends were playing Herbie
Hancock, Dexter Gordon and people like that,
and I really liked all that stuff right away.
“It happened that there were opportunities
for me to start sitting in with bands and I
knew the lyrics to a bunch of songs thanks
to recordings of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis
Armstrong. For some reason I had a kind of
swinging sensibility of some kind from the
start, at least compared to other students. I
definitely had an adventuresome streak that
appealed to the musicians. I wanted to start
improvising right away even though I was
flying by the seat of my pants.
“When I returned back to Chicago to go to
graduate school I was sitting in with many
of Chicago’s best jazz musicians. Every
place I went it seemed like they enjoyed it
and they wanted me to come back. They
tapped me on my shoulder and made sure
Kurt Elling
they knew my name and said ‘Come on
back, son.’ That kind of experience happened to me again where more established,
older musicians would make an effort to
call me aside and encourage me, so I really
owe it to the musicians I encountered. They
helped me realise my vocation.
“When I got hip to what Jon Hendricks has
been up to all these years, and Mark Murphy, I went to see them live. That was the
big turning point. I figured I had some
extremely potent examples of what it would
mean to be a jazz singer.”
I asked how he created his style, which is
really original. “It’s kind of you to say. Well,
I have done my homework on the jazz
singers, at least to understand what each of
them brought to the table that was unique,
and to understand it, and to add what I
could of those great artists to my own work.
I’ve made a study of Mark, and Jon, Joe
Williams, Mel Tormé and Betty Carter. It’s
kind of the homework you should do to be
a jazz person.
“Then I realised that I come from a different
era. I come from a different background.
Some things may be the same, like Jon’s
father was a minister and my dad was a
church musician. That part of it is not
uncommon – for church people to give birth
to jazz people.
“But I’m kind of a middle-aged man now,
which means I did not grow up in the 40s or
50s or even the 60s, so I think a lot of it has
to do with the time frame in which I have
become of age, and a lot of it has to do with
the books I’ve read and the way I’ve made
my way through life. The moves are intuitive and you follow your heart, and the
thing that sounds good to you in that
moment.”
Don Albert
Poll Result_0812JJ
17/7/12
3:24 pm
Page 7
Readers’ Poll results
There were just 46 responses to our readers’ poll questions set in the December 2011 issue
and repeated in the February 2012 issue. As one reader just wrote, it’s about time we published the results, and I must admit to being repeatedly daunted by the time and the scale
of the clerical task involved. But, time to bite the bullet, and here are the results.
The question initially posed apropos the annual critics’ poll is do reader’s tastes coincide
with JJ’s habitual contents and the tastes of its critics? Regarding the critic’s poll, probably
a resounding no. As far as content is concerned, probably a reserved yes. It’s worth bearing
in mind that any poll is inevitably a reflection of its questions and respondents, and with
the limited response we have here, the outcome probably shouldn’t be viewed (echoes of
record review star ratings) as any kind of absolute. But the range of opinion is broad enough
to suggest we have a result that’s reasonably representative of the readership.
Many thanks to all readers who did respond. Almost everyone produced a lot of detailed
work, not all of it complimentary (the longest, and most waspish, response came from an
academic who probably has too much subsidised time and not enough grace on his hands).
Readers went to a lot of trouble and the effort is much appreciated.
Decry it as many do, I’m grateful for modern technology, without which production of JJ
to whatever current standard it reaches would be impossible. In the case of the poll, the sort
and search facility of OpenOffice’s spreadsheet software has been invaluable. I’m glad I
didn’t have to deal with as many papery responses as shown in the adjacent picture of JJ
founder Sinclair Traill contemplating an old JJ poll with Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis.
Mark Gilbert
THE RESULTS, SUMMARISED
1) Name at least five and up to 10 favourite
records reviewed in JJ during 2011.
Listing all records that received at least five
votes, giving in brackets number of votes
and month of review):
Bobby Wellins: Time Gentleman, Please (11,
March)
Art Pepper: Complete At Ronnie Scott’s
1980 (7, May)
Herb Ellis: Four Classic Albums (6, Nov)
Sonny Stitt: Sits In With Oscar Peterson (6, Mar)
Stan Getz: And The Oscar Peterson Trio (6, Aug)
Cannonball Adderley: Them Dirty Blues (5, May)
Buck Clayton: Complete Legendary Jam
Sessions (5, Dec)
Erroll Garner: Concert By The Sea (5, July)
Dizzy Gillespie: Gillespiana (5, Sept)
Scott Hamilton & Rossano Sportiello: Midnight At Nola’s Penthouse (5, May)
Gerry Mulligan Concert Jazz Band: At Newport 1960 (5, July)
Ken Peplowski & Alan Barnes: Happy
Reunion (5, June)
There seems a better consensus here than
among 30-odd critics, and distinctly different
taste. Having said that, to create context there
were votes for more contemporary players too,
such as Gwilym Simcock (4), Impossible
Gentlemen (3), Empirical (3), David Murray (3),
David Binney (3), Ambrose Akinmusire (3),
Marcin Wasilewski (2) and Marius Neset (2).
2) Name the player (dead or alive) who most
impressed you in 2011, on record or live.
Louis Armstrong (4)
Alan Barnes (2)
Art Pepper (2)
Sonny Rollins (2)
Rossano Sportiello (2)
A minimal convergence in names but much
more in style. The response was dominated
by mainstream players but there were single
showings for a range of modernists such as
Michael Janisch, Wayne Shorter, Phronesis
and Michel Portal.
3) Name your favourite five articles in JJ in
2011.
So Much, So Quickly: British Piano, 195070 (24, Jan-June)
Sonny Stitt: Leaving The Pack (17, Mar-Apr)
Alan Skidmore: Never-ending Journey (15,
Sept)
Scratching The Surface (15, monthly)
Anec-dotage (10, monthly)
Joe Harriott: Beyond The Myth (10, Dec)
Serge Chaloff: Power Serge (9, Nov)
Bill Charlap: Songbook Specialist (9, June)
Bobby Wellins: Now’s The Time (9, Feb)
Lost In Meditation (9, monthly)
Dexter Gordon: Renaissance, 1960-65 (8, May)
John Coltrane: A Minority View (7, Feb-Mar)
Michael Cuscuna: The Producer (5, Dec)
Seminal Session: Gillespiana (5, Sep)
Honourable mentions (3-4 votes) also for
Randy Sandke, Dan Block, Critics’ Poll, Jon
Hiseman, Rumba Jazz and The Forgotten Ones.
4) Name your preferred style of music.
Subjectivity and semantics get the better of
this one, but roughly speaking, predominantly mainstream-modern.
5) Name your favourite record label.
Arbors (7)
Avid (6)
Woodville (6)
Blue Note (5)
ECM (3)
Fresh Sound (3)
Mosaic (3)
Mentions also for Solar, Trio, Lake, Cam
Jazz and Edition.
6) Name your favourite jazz festival or jazz club.
London Jazz Festival (4)
Swanage (4)
Norwich Jazz Party (4) Ronnie Scott’s (3)
Vortex (2)
Mentions also for many locally lauded
venues and festivals. Several laments for the
passing of Appleby and cheers for the
advent of Titley, plus hopes for the future of
Brecon.
7) What would you like to see more or less
of in JJ?
No marks here but a general consensus of
“steady as you go”. Some choice comments:
“The latest incarnation of JJ is superb and
much improved. I wish however, that one or
two of the reviewers (no names mentioned)
would try to stop showing off their knowledge of some of the more obscure words in
the English language”
“Fewer atrocious views on Coltrane and less
Jazz Info but I would say that JJ is without
doubt the best jazz magazine in the UK.
Congratulations on a fine job.”
“I would like to know a little bit more about
what is happening today in jazz, especially
those musicians who are kicking at the
boundaries of the music. Particular
favourites are Ken Vandermark, Jeb Bishop,
Marty Ehrlich and William Parker.”
“Many congratulations, and thanks, for
keeping Jazz Journal going. I have every
issue from September 1962, and life
wouldn’t be the same without it. I probably
would not miss the festival reports, but otherwise I think the Journal is very well balanced.”
“I am very happy with Jazz Journal as it is.
Taken along with Downbeat (for more about
the younger American players) everything
is covered.”
“Bring back The Test. More correspondence
from Dave Taylor. More reviews of new
music. Finally, no more Beatles-sniping: it’s
undignified and it isn’t clever.”
“There should be much more on the best
American jazz musicians and far less on
inferior British musicians. There should be
no coverage given to European chamber
music (particularly Scandinavian) which
bears no resemblance to jazz. This is music
to induce suicide.”
READERS’ POLL RESULTS JAZZ JOURNAL
7
Other Hand_0812JJ
17/7/12
8:23 am
Page 8
On The Other Hand
DAVE GELLY is spurred to recall Lionel Grigson’s pedagogic flair and
delighted to be reminded of Le Déjeuner Sur l’Herbe
Lionel
Bill Greensmith
I enjoyed reading Simon Spillett’s interview
with my old friend Art Themen (JJ, April),
which conveyed the dear fellow’s unassuming personality to a tee. I will not embarrass
him by going on about it. Speaking of his
time at Cambridge, he mentioned three others who were up at around the same time Colin Purbrook, Lionel Grigson and me. This
was mildly alarming since the other two are
no longer with us, but it did revive memories of Lionel in particular. As Art says, “He
kind of sprang from the womb knowing the
rudiments of bebop.” In addition, he was a
born teacher, by which I mean he instinctively knew the exact bit of helpful information to impart to a particular person at
the moment when it was most needed.
Even just listening to records in Lionel’s
company was an educational experience.
He had a habit of shouting encouragement
at the loudspeaker when a particularly tasty
lick emerged, going immediately afterwards
to the piano and crashing out the phrase in
question and the change it was attached to.
Exposure to this curious practice gradually
had the effect of focusing one’s listening, so
that one took everything in - changes, bass
line, solo line, drum patterns, the whole
structure. He was a very good writer (his
father was the poet and critic Geoffrey Grigson) and would have made a great jazz critic.
In 1960, in the wake of Kind Of Blue, when
“modal” jazz was the latest thing, he wrote a
piece in Granta, outlining its main characteristics, in the process coming to the conclusion that it wasn’t “modal” at all. That would
have been about the time when he was bending Art’s ear on the subject of Benny Golson.
In many ways Lionel was the most impossible person - wilful, stubborn and unbelievably tactless. His 10 years as Professor of
Piano and Improvisation at the Guildhall
were marked by rows, feuds and scandals.
He dropped me in it several times in later
Dick Heckstall-Smith gives
Neil Ardley’s microphone
anJ Aearful
Z Z J Oof
U Rsimultaneous
NAL JINGLE
tenor and soprano
8
ALL THE WAY
life, on the last occasion so seriously that
I refused to speak to
him for some years.
Towards the end of
his life, when he’d
finally been given
the boot from the
Guildhall, we made
it up. I’m glad about that.
NJO
Imagine my delight at finding the New Jazz
Orchestra’s Le Déjeuner Sur l’Herbe chosen
by Roger Farbey as a Seminal Session in
June’s JJ. We knew it was going to be special while we were making it, and there are
moments - such as Dick Heckstall-Smith’s
entry in the title piece, blowing tenor and
soprano simultaneously - that are still
goose-bump raisers.
We were all pretty young at the time, and
few of us had received much in the way of
formal musical education, with the result
that we all sounded different. Neil Ardley
had a wonderful flair for writing with our
personal quirks and oddities in mind (something that came from his love of Duke
Ellington) and that, I’m convinced, is what
made the NJO unique. It’s also why we
could never revive it now. So many of us
have since died, Neil included. The last time
we played together (not exactly the same
line-up, but close) was for a 60s weekend at
the Barbican, back in 1991. Some of us
became very excited and said we ought to
get a tour organised. Neil said we’d better
ask Jon Hiseman, because he knew all about
things like that. In due course Jon sent back
a “realistic” costing, roughly equal to the
national debt of Luxembourg, so we abandoned the idea.
The label is Verve, which now means
Universal. Maybe, if we all ask nicely,
they’ll reissue it on CD.
That Charles Lloyd Video
youtube.com/watch?v=2AcwnScNM9M
It’s clearly not a professional job,
but the audio is good
so we are more than inclined to view on.
Still, it surprises us that they are never in the
same frame.
Alternating shots throughout: right Charlie, left
Higgins.
Two fixed camcorders, editable down the road.
Billy has less than two months to go,
and the decision to split the imaging
is only some videographer’s honest scheme
for how best to render what everyone
there must realize will be among the duo’s final
choruses.
We could easily be persuaded at the video’s lead-in
that we are in Billy’s hospital room.
So much bare white wall space.
But our eyes quickly find the details that correct
the error:
there’s Billy, poised at his drumset
weighing the cues from the notes
of Charlie’s off-camera alto,
and in the flip of frames that follow we do pick out
the top of one floorstanding speaker, then another,
a sofa, and the grand piano against which
Charlie’s flexing torso is shored.
Billy’s place? Charlie’s?
Charlie’s got his bob and weave going,
so Billy knows that today’s session
is not gratuitous – even if the hatless
thing throws him a bit. He is not used to seeing
Charlie hatless. Where is the Zairean mud cloth
wraparound,
the black and red-braided doppa,
or the tangerine silk bao-tzu Billy recalls him
being handed
over the crowd-retention ropes at Montreux
ten minutes shy of midnight
in that chilled April air?
We know more than we wish we knew.
Higgins has reached his flesh’s final tautness
and his jersey (low color saturation yields a
faded red)
sags at the elbows as he works his sticks,
the sticks extensions of his bony wrists.
His apologetic head tilts forward
as he looks back across the room
with eyes both wide and weary.
And that wan grin.
In the tape’s final quarter [6:13], there is an abrupt
- and momentary – cut to black,
audio still running,
and the project’s hackish close-down
is not how we want things to conclude.
Once Billy’s drumroll acknowledges the tag
Charlie has in mind,
the camera pans wildly – and finally – away
from him,
and settles on Charlie, who at first seems
so pleased with how well the collaboration has
gone
that he tacks on a variation on a riff
and blows it in Billy’s direction
as if to say, “Yeah, man, and we could have
done that as well.”
But in the half-minute of running time left,
Charlie steps awkwardly around his microphone
toward a reel-to-reel no one has bothered to pause,
stops, turns back, looks again in Billy’s direction looks for Billy?
Suddenly, Charlie is squinting,
then placing his left hand over his eyes
to shield them from a brightness
the source of which he seems
fully and profoundly puzzled by.
- Edward Gleason
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10 Mintzer_0812JJ
17/7/12
8:30 am
Page 10
Bob Mintzer
Triple threat
DEREK ANSELL talks to the multi-tasking reedman, composer and bandleader, one of the generation of
saxophonists including Michael Brecker and Bob Berg who came to maturity in New York in the late 1970s.
Bob’s early breaks were with Buddy Rich, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis and Art Blakey, since when he’s developed a
busy career as international big band writer and clinician and three-decade member of the Yellowjackets
I
met Bob Mintzer as he was coming off
stage after a soundcheck at the Regent, a
plush, newly restored Victorian theatre
in Palmerston North, New Zealand. An
accomplished instrumentalist on various
wind instruments as well as a composer and
bandleader, Bob is known in jazz circles as
a “triple threat” musician – the term reserved
for those with skill in all three departments,
with instrument, pen and baton.
Mintzer was born in California on 27 January 1953, where, as was noted in Mark
Gilbert’s review of his Canyon Cove album
in JJ July 2011, he now lives in a house formerly occupied by Arnold Schoenberg.
We spent the next 10 minutes looking for
an illusive Japanese restaurant, as Bob had
not eaten for many hours but the place
proved impossible to find and we ended up
in one of those cavernous restaurant/bar
type places that are springing up everywhere. I’d read that Mintzer had studied at
the Hartt School of Music in the United
states, directed at that time (1970) by Jackie
McLean. My book about McLean is about to
be published, so the subject made a good
introduction.
Alberto Reina/Phocus
“Yes, I was there for two years. It was a
great experience. I was actually a classical
clarinet major but I hung out with Jackie
and was playing all over the Hartford area.”
Jackie was incredible, he tells me, a living
legend even back then. He remembers that
Jackie taught a history class there. He says
he wasn’t the typical academic type but he
laid out the history of the music in a very
precise way. “Jackie himself was always
part of the stories and anecdotes and there’s
no better way to learn than with somebody
like that. I still go back and study the early
musicians to this day.”
Bob has played with many of the greats in
the music, his main gigs being with Art
Blakey, the Buddy Rich Orchestra and later,
the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis jazz orchestra. He
also once subbed in the Gil Evans orchestra.
“I also played with Louis Bellson’s band,
with Sam Jones, the bassist and in a variety
of set ups.”
10 J A Z Z
JOURNAL BOB MINTZER
10 Mintzer_0812JJ
17/7/12
8:30 am
Page 11
Bob Mintzer
Is New York still the main
hub? “Well, that’s right, with
Los Angeles a close second.
LA’s a bit of a smaller scene
but it’s a very vibrant scene.”
Bob Mintzer (far left) with the Yellowjackets
Did he prefer any setting over the others?
“It’s a different focus for each but I like the
small group; as a saxophonist it gives you a
good focus and plenty of scope. In big band
playing it’s the ensemble aspect that is
really challenging.” When pressed, he conceded that the Jones/Lewis orchestra was
very special in terms of the swing and the
writing and playing of Thad Jones. In fact
the above mentioned Canyon Cove contains
Thaddeus, a tribute to Thad. Bob played
with Jones/Lewis in 1978, which I suggest
was the heyday of the band. “I don’t know.
Thad left in the later part of ’79 and shortly
after I left Joe Lovano took my chair.”
The Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra
became the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra when
Thad went out to Denmark and then eventually metamorphosed into the Vanguard
Jazz Orchestra when Mel died. As well as
working in the original Jones/Lewis orchestra, Bob occasionally led an orchestra that
filled in for the Monday nights when the
Jones/Lewis band went out on tour. He did
not tend to go on tour as his reputation as a
triple-threat musician was already making
itself felt and he found himself in demand
for all sorts of combo and recording work in
NYC. In 1986 he formed and played in his
own big band for a while.
Mintzer has a new big band CD about to be
released at the time I speak to him (spring
2012). He describes it as Brazilian flavoured
big band music. The title is For The Moment
and it features top soloists such as Peter
Erskine and Scott Wendholt. Bob says he is
really proud of the new record and is hoping it will do well in the present difficult
economic climate – never mind that things
have always been tough for jazz.
So how does he go about writing his
renowned themes and charts? He tells me he
thinks playing and writing go hand in hand.
“One creates a vehicle for the other. But
writing for so many jazz greats was a challenge – creating an environment where they
could respond and play.” He says he spends
an equal amount of time on composing,
playing and bandleading along with teaching. He is also much in demand as a sideman and for various other musical projects,
not necessarily all connected with jazz.
As to his inspirations and jazz preferences,
these are reflected in the list of people he
found most inspiring. He lists Miles Davis,
Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Dexter
Gordon and Gil Evans and tells me that their
abilities as soloists, bandleaders and com-
kvonphotography.com
THAD’S BIG BAD SWING
posers helped to put them in the exalted
positions they occupy today.
Although Bob went to the Harrt school to
get started he tells me that it wasn’t long
before Jackie McLean propelled him in the
direction of New York City. “That was very
noble of him. But he was right. At that time,
NYC was the place to be and he considered
that was where I should be. He thought I
should have the opportunity to meet other
musicians and get into bands.”
Is New York still the main hub? “Well, that’s
right, with Los Angeles a close second. LA’s
a bit of a smaller scene but it’s a very
vibrant scene.”
We note that the cool label was applied to
LA for years but he goes on to agree that
even through the 1950s and 60s, when cool
was the main flavour out there, musicians
like Art Pepper, Harold Land and for some
years Dexter Gordon were all playing in a far
from simply cool style. They could be said to
represent the hot modern sound of LA.
Similarly hot, in a slightly different sense,
were Bob’s years in the Buddy Rich band.
He noted that Rich was a pretty volatile
character but found the experience enlightening. “The thing I remember most about
Buddy was that he gave me and other musicians the opportunity to play and to write
for the band. And it was a band where you
played pretty well every night of the year. It
was a really good training ground. I mean
that’s how you learned how to play. That
situation doesn’t really exist today.”
NOTHING WASPISH
In 1980 Bob became a member of the jazz
fusion combo, the Yellowjackets, a band
that is still going strong and touring today,
32 years later. It’s a cooperative group, but
who takes charge and gets things done?
“There’s no leader but it works beautifully
because it’s the right group of people. We all
have respect for each other and we see that
everybody is comfortable and happy with
whatever decisions are made.” Bob admits
that there are disagreements but claims that
they are dealt with in a very gracious way.
They feel grateful that they have so many
opportunities to play together and want to
keep things “bright and uplifting”, so a
strong desire to succeed drives the band forward.
This is Bob Mintzer’s second visit to the
Manawatu International Jazz & Blues Festival, renamed this year as the International
Jazz Festival on Queen’s Birthday 2012 and
he pays tribute to Rodger Fox, tromboneplaying leader of the Wellington Jazz
Orchestra which Bob is due to play with
later that evening. The Wellington Jazz
Orchestra is about to travel to the USA to
record at Capitol Studios at the time of writing and Bob feels that this will bring their
music to the attention of an international
group of enthusiasts.
I leave Bob to finish his late dinner and
head back to the Regent where later that
evening he will play with the orchestra on
tenor saxophone and EWI (pronounced “ee
wee”) or electronic wind instrument. It has a
range of eight octaves, allowing Bob to play
in the doggy-only treble range and way
down through the basement floor, contrabass. It is basically a synthesizer that you
blow into and it looks like a clarinet. Bob is
on great form with the orchestra. He is constantly on tour or playing jazz in his homeland and on this night he excels with a
programme demonstrating that there are
still new ways to play old standards such as
My Shining Hour. The EWI? I’m going to
reserve judgement on that beastie.
BOB MINTZER JAZZ JOURNAL
11
12 Decibel_0812JJ
16/7/12
7:13 am
Page 12
Decibel Records
JOHN LATHAM does some archaeological delving into the rarely seen
Decibel label, home in the early 50s to the Saints Jazz Band, Kathy
Stobart, the Merseysippi Jazz Band and classical guitarist John Duarte
THE 1940s AND EARLY 1950s are a much
under-researched period of British jazz history, often viewed by traditionalists as the
BC (Before Colyer) period. But much was
going on outside of London, and not only in
traditional jazz, as recent discussion of
Decibel records shows (See Jazz Information, December 2011, February 2012), and
we now have a complete list of Decibel’s
output (see panel).
that day, I Want A Girl, went out on Parlophone who signed them up. In total Parlophone put out 42 tracks by the Saints up
to 1962. (Parlophone’s other major jazz
band at the time was Humphrey Lyttelton).
The Saints’ Parlophone tracks have all been
reissued on Lake Records LACD 105 and
LACD 147. But the Decibel tracks have not
yet been reissued and would be keenly
sought after by Saints enthusiasts.
As for the bands, two copies of all the
Saints’ records are known to exist. The
Saints went on to be a major band. On 14
July 1951 (presumably on the strength of
the Decibel sides) they performed before
Princess Elizabeth just before she became
Queen, at the Royal Festival Hall, and were
the show stoppers. The track they recorded
Kathy Stobart, of course, went on to be a
major figure in mainstream/modern jazz,
particularly for the many years she spent
with the Lyttelton band. Of her musicians,
Bert Courtley (whom she married) and
Derek Humble became important figures in
British modern jazz. However copies of
these sides have not yet been found, and
DECIBEL ISSUES
SAINTS JAZZ BAND
Manchester 3 Sept 1950
Mike McNama (t); Ron Simpson (tb); Alan Radcliffe (cl); John Fish (p); Jim Lolley (bj);
Thomas Gregory (b); John Mills (d).
M178
Saints Blues
Decibel J1A
M179
Streets Of The City
Decibel J1B
KATHY STOBART ORCHESTRA
Manchester Oct 1951 (1950?)
Kathleen Stobart (ts, v); Bert Courtley (t); Derek Humble (as); Dennis Armitage (p); Len
Harrison (b); Pete Bray (d).
M182
He Was A Good Man
Decibel P2
M185
Lover Come Back To Me
Decibel P2
Add Franklin Boyd (v) on Idaho
M183
Idaho
Decibel P3
M184
Old Black Magic
Decibel P3
(George Hulme supplied the matrix numbers for Idaho and Old Black Magic. He also
thinks that the date could be 1950, not 1951. This would make sense from the dates of
the subsequent matrix numbers).
SAINTS JAZZ BAND
Manchester, 11 Feb 1951
Mike McNama (t); Ron Simpson (tb); Alan Radcliffe (cl); John Fish (p); Jim Lolley (bj);
Thomas Gregory (b); John Mills (d).
M188
Old Stack O’Lee Blues
Decibel J3 A
M189
1919 March
Decibel J3 B
M190
When The Saints Go Marching In Decibel J2
M191
Sister Kate
Decibel J2
JACK DUARTE & TERRY USHER
(Review, The Gramophone, August
1952, p.41)
Jack Duarte (elg); Terry Usher (g).
M(?)
Danzon
Decibel Pr
M(?)
Feeling My Way
Decibel Pr
MERSEYSIPPI JAZZ BAND
Manchester, 22 June 1952
John Lawrence (c); Pete Daniels (t, c); Frank Parr (tb); Don Lydiatt (cl); Frank Robinson
(p); Ken Baldwin (bj); Dick Goodwin (b); George Bennett (d).
MJB 1
Friendless Blues
Decibel SJ101
MJB 2
Moose March
Decibel SJ101
(Moose March is on Lake LACD 113, The Merseysippi Jazz Band: Senior Moments)
12 J A Z Z
JOURNAL DECIBEL RECORDS
any information of their whereabouts
would be very welcome.
The Merseysippi are no strangers, as the
major band in Liverpool, and still going
strong. Moose March has been reissued
on Lake LACD 113 (cover pictured above).
John Lawrence, cornettist on the session,
remembers that only 99 copies of the original
were pressed, as Purchase Tax was payable
on 100 or more records!
Lake Records have
Jack Duarte
many CDs of their subsequent work. But Jack
(aka John) Duarte and
Terry Usher are less
familiar figures. A
copy of their record
has been found. Dave
Griffiths, jazz correspondent of the South Wales Evening Post
cites The Gramophone, August 1952, p.41:
“Jack Duarte and Terry Usher, electric and
acoustic guitars respectively on a new label,
Decibel (Pr), Feeling My Way and Danzon.
These are well recorded sides which will
appeal particularly to students of fretted
instruments, but I must say that I thought
the electrical guitar sounded dull besides the
acoustic one.”
Dave cites paulvernonchester.com for this
information, and also the comment that
John William Duarte was one of the most
prolific 20th century composers for the guitar. The Manchester Guitar Circle was
founded in 1946 by John Duarte and Terry
Usher with the stated aim of increasing
interest in the classical guitar. Also from the
same source he quotes a piece by Sue
McCreadie, saying Duarte was born in
Sheffield in 1919 and grew up in Manchester where he studied jazz guitar with Terry
Usher (his only formal tuition). He was passionate about jazz, with Wes Montgomery
being a particular favourite. He worked professionally as a player of the trumpet and
double bass in music of many kinds, and
regularly as a jazz musician until 1953,
playing bass in a session with Coleman
Hawkins and Django Reinhardt. The late
avant-garde guitarist Derek Bailey had early
lessons with Duarte too.
*
*
*
*
*
*
12 Decibel_0812JJ
16/7/12
7:14 am
Page 13
So who were Decibel records? The label on
the Saints records says “Lancashire Society
Of Jazz Music Series. A Product Of The
Dixon/Roadhouse Recording Co. Ltd, 93
Oxford Rd, Manchester.”
Bert Courtley
The second JJ crossword by Fred Dellar.
Johnny Roadhouse’s is Manchester’s
famous music shop, now at 123 Oxford Rd,
and after enquiries, it emerges that Frank
Dixon is still hale and hearty at 89, and
remembers the Decibel days well. In his
early days Frank played tenor sax in the
Oxford University Bandits Club Orchestra
and can be heard on three tracks with them
on Oxford Jazz Through The Years 1926-63,
Raymer Sound RSCD763. He writes:
“Many thanks for the latest tranche of Decibel research, which is truly impressive. It
also puts me to shame, as I have absolutely
no Dixon-Roadhouse memorabilia left, and
in fact have no recollection of any photographs ever being taken in the old studio.
This was a basement under the former Stock
& Chapman musical instrument shop, long
since demolished to make way for one of
the Manchester Metropolitan University
buildings. However, the site is still only one
small block away from the surviving
Johnny Roadhouse shop, now run by J.R.
junior.
“For many years odd bits of our old recording equipment survived here, but have now
been dispersed. One item was our main
amplifier, custom built for us c. 1949 by H.J.
Leak who later became quite a big name in
hi-fi. This amp, in a huge steel-grey cabinet,
later found its way to Manchester airport,
and I was told c.1965 by John Roadhouse’s
brother Bill, that it was still working, with
its original valves, playing alarm calls to
disperse birds from the runway.”
“Everything in your research summary
rings absolutely true. There is little or nothing I can add – certainly not about the
Merseysippi sessions, which I did not
attend. In fact, I cannot recall them at all,
although all the other music on your listing
is quite clear in my mind, even though the
actual discs are long vanished.
“It is pleasant to be reminded of Jack Duarte
and Terry Usher. The former, as your notes
say, was certainly a prolific composer, and
a most remarkable multi-instrumentalist.
His educational music is still widely used
and his concert pieces have been regularly
featured – in earlier times by the great
Segovia, latterly by John Williams (the gui-
The Jazz Journal
Crossword, No. 2
Solution next month.
tarist, of course, not the conductor). Jack,
however, seldom played his trumpet or his
bass professionally – he retained his daytime job as a textile chemist until his move
to London and full-time music. Terry Usher,
too, was a semi-pro. He worked as Public
Relations Officer to Manchester Corporation, was founder member of the public
relations professional body and, in this
capacity had some influence on me in my
former career in advertising.
“I was particularly tickled by your
reviewer’s compliments on the technical
quality of the guitar recordings. We tended
to be at the trailing edge of technology!
Connections were often twisted wires and
insulating tape; we had a constant battle to
eliminate hum – our screening techniques
were not very well developed.
“We never used a tape recorder, as we were
snobbish about the frequency response of
tape in those early days. Everything was
blasted direct into the acetate discs – some
of which we coated ourselves with cellulose
paint from a spray gun. When making
pressings we always made two recordings at
the same time on two decks wired in parallel. One was played in the studio for
appraisal, the other was then sent for processing. I seem to recall that our processor
was a firm called Levers-Rich in Wardour
St, Soho. If I am right, this might be another
avenue for you and your intrepid
researchers to explore.”
*
*
*
*
*
*
So Decibel records played an important role
in the development of jazz in early post-war
Britain, and, if copies of all the records can
be found, a commemorative CD reissue
would be of great interest.
With thanks to Gerard Bielderman, Biographical (Jazz) Research Service, Frank
Dixon, Dave Griffiths, George Hulme, Mart
Rodger, Dameon Walker, Mal Webb, Bob
Weir and Jem Wilyman
Across
1 Delightful - like this classic Neal Hefti score
for Basie (4)
3 US label that released Mamie Smith’s Crazy
Blues in 1920 (4)
6 Rodney coloured (3)
9 David, perhaps the most influential
crossover alto saxophonist (7)
10 Could be Previn, could be Hodeir (5)
11 Jazz fusion guitarist from Galveston, Texas
(5,7)
13 Record label co-founded by Michael Cuscuna (6)
15 It provided Georgie Fame with a hit in 1965
(3,3)
17 In the 1920s he was The King Of Jazz (4,8)
20 Liston, noted trombonist and arranger (5)
21 Quincy Jones album, released in 1981
(3,4)
22 Jackie’s partner in song (3)
23 The one and only Zoot (4)
24 Basie flautist and saxman Frank (4)
Down
1 Big band, headed by Glen Gray (4,4)
2 Pianist McCoy from Philadelphia (5)
4 Progressive Jazz mainman Stan (6)
5 Weather Report’s seventh album (5,7)
6 Freddie Hubbard’s debut album for CTI (3,4)
7 Pianist Kenny who first recorded with
Howard McGhee in 1949 (4)
8 This drummer launched Lifetime, a trio, in
1969 (4,8)
12 A ——- — Gonna Come (Brother Jack
McDuff album) (6,2)
14 Levey hailed as “a steamer” by Dexter Gordon
(7)
16 The kind of Boys that sang with 17 across
(6)
18 This Ken brought you Jazz At Toad Hall (5)
19 Clarinettist Simeon hidden in Somerset (4)
CROSSWORD JAZZ JOURNAL
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Book & DVD
Reviews
Books
BERNARD “BUNNY” BERIGAN
The Trials, Tribulations and Triumph of Bunny Berigan by Michael P. Zirpolo. The Scarecrow Press,
Inc. 573pp. ISBN 978-0-8108-8152-5
Much has been written of Bunny Berigan
down the years. All that and a great deal
more has been put together for this astonishing and often disturbing biography of
the wonderful trumpeter. The assembling of
facts has been by author Michael Zirpolo
and reading it has left me with a feeling of
admiration, as well as exhaustion, for his
determination to get everything in place.
Berigan was born in November 1908 to a
German-extraction mother by a distantly
Irish father in Wisconsin. His mother was of
a musically talented family and this was the
strain carried through to her second son
who became, at quite an early age, a truly
wonderful musician. Affectionately named
by his parents as “Bun”, the boy was playing the violin at around the age of six and
singing too, accompanied by his mother at
the piano. By the time he was 10 he was
playing alto horn in the local juvenile band
and a year later learning the trumpet.
By 1925 and living in Madison, Wisconsin,
Bert Whyatt
he was playing in bands at dances and parties and any interest in education had been
abandoned. But his passion for music led
him to listen to the records of such as the
Dorseys but, most importantly, of Louis
Armstrong. Ben Pollack’s band played in
Madison in 1928 and then, in no time, Berigan was busy and in New York awaiting
becoming a member of Local 802 of the
AFM, the musicians’ union. By the early
1930s he was in Gene Kardos’s orchestra
and then Freddie Martin’s, both of which
recorded material of no jazz interest. But his
fascination there brought him more time
playing alongside musicians taken with that
part of popular music. In late 1935 he was
named as leader of a fine band that recorded
four sides issued by Decca.
Which brings us to one of the big things
about Zirpolo’s book. Without exception he
outlines every Berigan record with much
space devoted to the best in jazz terms. The
volume has no discography as such but no
session misses discussion nor yet the naming of personnels. I spotted some booboos
about vocals (but Brian Rust did the same)
in the 1935/6 sessions. He then toils steadfastly though often somewhat dreary material put before Berigan during 1937/9 under
his Victor contract. Despite my adjective
there, the Berigan trumpet surfaces to give
us wonderful and often beautiful solos
which make listening much more than
worthwhile. Mention here should be made
of musicians who provided good solo playing too, given the opportunity.
Here I must name C.K. “Bosy” White whom
the author names for what must be the bulk
of his information. He is named first in his
introduction and then innumerable times in
the course of the story and in the notes to
each chapter. I first knew Bosy via the mail
in the later 1960s and met him for much
discussion during visits to the Bay Area in
the 1970s and later. We talked Berigan but
he revealed to me little or nothing of what
he had discovered and his death in 2004 left
me despairing. Zirpolo’s assembly leaves
me happy there.
In my reading though I became weary of the
constant return to Berigan’s addiction to
alcohol. Yes, that’s what killed him at the
age of 33 but it is surely of minor interest.
And I find myself asking why the author
14 J A Z Z
spent so much time and space with brief
biographies of individuals in the notes to
each chapter. There are close on 50 of these
– Bob Hope included – by chapter 15 and
there my counting ended. Don’t allow my
moans to put you off getting your copy of
this astonishing book. The production is
excellent, though the binding is tight – hard
to get reasonably flat pages – and I welcome
the 22 pages of photographs included. Yes,
a fine addition to your jazz library.
JOURNAL BOOK & DVD REVIEWS
AFRICA SPEAKS, AMERICA
ANSWERS
Modern Jazz In Revolutionary Times, by Robin
D.G. Kelley. Harvard University Press. £18.95. ISBN
978-0-674-04624-5
The title of this collection of essays is taken
from a jazz composition by Guy Warren, an
African drummer “committed to fusing jazz
and African rhythms,” according to Robin
Kelley. Here, four artists are examined: Guy
Warren, Randy Weston, Ahmed AbdulMalik and Sathima Bea Benjamin. Two are
from Africa – vocalist Benjamin, and
Ghanaian percussionist Guy Warren (later
Kofi Ghanaba). The other two are Brooklynborn friends and collaborators: pianist
Randy Weston and Ahmed Abdul-Malik, a
bassist and oud player. The four musicians
were among hundreds who forged connections between jazz and Africa during the
50s and 60s.
The crucial point to note is that author Kelley is Gary B. Nash Chair of US History at
the University of California, Los Angeles.
That is, he is an historian. Kelley’s research
and teaching interests range widely, covering the history of labour and radical movements in the USA, the African Diaspora and
Africa and its intellectual and cultural history. Though Kelley is a much praised academic, nowhere is he cited as an educated
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Book & DVD Reviews
musician. For me, that is the weakness of
this book: it appears not to be written by a
musically literate person. No musical examples are included. Furthermore, elementary
mistakes are committed, even down to the
basic description of writing of “building to
a crescendo,” the author seeming not to
recognise that a crescendo is a process, not
a state. One writes less convincing jazz history and musically-associated commentary
without basic musical understanding.
In his concluding paragraph, Kelley
expresses gratitude to LisaGay Hamilton
(the author’s partner), who “improved the
text immeasurably by asking one single
question, over and over again: ‘So, what is
this book about?’” Good for her; I wondered
the same thing myself several times, as I
ploughed through this text. One is pleased
that someone cares about such matters of
politics and sociology, but one would welcome better-educated musical commentary.
John Robert Brown
Having read this book and followed the
career of Dorham from his early days with
Charlie Parker through his recordings for
United Artists, Riverside, Blue Note and the
rest, I feel I haven’t really learned much
more than I knew at the start. The reason is,
I suspect, the form the book has taken; a
straight narrative would have been much
easier to absorb and take fully on board; as
it is I find I have admired the poetry but
wished I could have read about Kenny’s life
and music in prose. It seemed to me that
Dave has sacrificed additional information
for the sake of getting his quatrains to flow
and rhyme.
Given that jazz is a minority art and poetry
arguably even more so, I wonder what sort
of people Dave expects to buy and read this
volume. I hope it will be a considerable
number because it is a major achievement
in terms of poetry and an attempt, in its
own way, to bring the music of Dorham to
a wider audience. I wish him well with it.
Derek Ansell
KD: A JAZZ BIOGRAPHY
Dave Oliphant. Wings Press, San Antonio, Texas,
www.wingspress.com. Hb, 193pp, $19.95. ISBN:
978-0-916727-95-6
Dave Oliphant is a Texan poet and retired
senior lecturer at the University of Texas
and this is his biography of fellow Texan
Kenny Dorham, the bop trumpeter. A superb
and individual sounding trumpet player,
Dorham never quite made the big time
although he had as much ability as almost
any other of his contemporaries and was a
consistently inventive player with a distinctive tone.
Dave Oliphant has attempted to chronicle
the life and times of Dorham through the
major events of his relatively short lifespan
with particular attention to the catalogue of
his recorded legacy. Unusually, the narrative is written in rhymed quatrains, fourline stanzas of poetry, throughout the entire
193 pages of the volume. This is a considerable feat, a labour of love that must have
taken Oliphant a long time to write but
there are obvious obstacles for the average
reader in such an endeavour. It certainly
brings new meaning to the oft-attempted
amalgamation of jazz and poetry.
JAZZPATHS
An American Photomemento, by David Wild.
Hyphenpress.co.uk. Hb, 112pp, £20. ISBN 978-0907259-45-9.
David Wild is a Briton who spent time in the
US as a child and much more after he got a
job in Chicago in 1965. He made sure that his
first stop was New York where he remembers
catching Lou Donaldson and Roland Kirk at
the Five Spot Café, Sonny Rollins at the Village Vanguard and John Coltrane at the Half
Note, not a luxury most British jazz fans
could contemplate at the time.
Apart from Chicago he managed to take in
Detroit, St Louis and New Orleans and it is the
pictures taken in these cities which make up
the body of this book. What is described as a
photomemento actually captures a little bit of
jazz history, for there are some nice shots of
the Archie Shepp Quartet with Roswell Rudd,
Howard Johnson and Beaver Harris, an Elvin
Jones trio complete with unidentified bass
and tenor saxophonist plus Coltrane accompanied by Rashied Ali and Jimmy Garrison.
While in a teaching post at the Washington
University School of Architecture in St Louis
he decided to book a Roscoe Mitchell group.
It turned out effectively to be the Art Ensemble Of Chicago which arrived in Lester
Bowie’s green Bentley.
THE TRUMPET
John Wallace and Alexander McGrattan. Yale University Press. Hb, 338pp, £30. ISBN 978-0-30011230-6
Should you detect a slight Scottish flavour
in The Trumpet, doubtless this is because
both of the authors live north of the border.
Alexander McGrattan is principal trumpet
player at Scottish Ballet, and John Wallace
is principal of the Royal Conservatoire of
Scotland, Glasgow, and a virtuoso trumpet
player.
The book’s cover carries a photograph of a
reproduction of a serpentine-shaped trumpet from Nuremberg, the original dated
1585, above a picture of Louis Armstrong
performing on stage during the 1960s.
These pictures symbolise the breadth of the
book’s coverage. However, despite having
Pops on the cover, be warned that fewer
than 20 pages are devoted to jazz, providing only one of the book’s 12 chapters. As
one might expect, that chapter mentions
Rafael Mendez, Harry James, Chet Baker,
Mannie Klein, Al Hirt, Miles Davis and
Maynard Ferguson, but inevitably in such
a congested jazz overview there are omissions. Mention of Miles Davis’s introduction of the flugelhorn is to be commended,
but the complete absence of Clifford Brown
from the trumpet discussion is unfortunate. The paragraph on female players
includes consideration of Valaida Snow,
the intriguing Carole Dawn Reinhart, and
Ingrid Jensen, but busy New York freelance Laurie Frink goes unmentioned,
despite her having toured Britain in
the past.
It is all a matter of taste but your reviewer
found the straightahead images, which also
include some crisp prints of street musicians
on Chicago’s Maxwell Street, to have far
more impact than the montages which are
dotted about these 120 pages. And yes, this
is a fairly slimmish volume for the money,
recording a very personal take on the American scene in the mid 1960s but a take many
JJ readers would surely have been happy to
have experienced.
Notwithstanding the generous provision of
music examples, which come into the contemporary era with an excerpt from Tim
Souster’s The Transistor Radio Of St Narcissus, no jazz transcriptions are included.
The Trumpet is a comprehensive book,
expertly written, but intended for a general
trumpet readership rather than for jazz aficionados.
Peter Gamble
continued on page 16
John Robert Brown
BOOK & DVD REVIEWS JAZZ JOURNAL
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DVDs
VARIOUS
ALL STAR JAZZ SHOW
Sounds Of Jazz (ensemble); Work Song (Joe
Williams); Gospel Song (Dionne Warwick );
Maple Leaf Rag (Sir Roland Hanna);
Dippermouth Blues (Joe Newman); Mood
Indigo (Warwick); Stompin’ At The Savoy
(Lionel Hampton); Everyday (I Have The Blues)
(Count Basie and Williams); Hot House (Dizzy
Gillespie); Jeru (Gerry Mulligan); No More
Blues (Stan Getz); Chameleon (Herbie
Hancock); Sounds Of Jazz (ensemble). 1976.
(47.00)
MVD Visual 5178D
The show’s subtitle, The Original Rompin’
Stompin’ Hot And Heavy, Cool And Groovy
All Star Jazz Show, and a pop singer as host
serve as warnings to serious jazz fans that
this is not for them. Originally transmitted
as part of CBS’s Lively Arts For Young
People series and assembled by producer
Gary Keys at the Ed Sullivan Theater, the
show is directed by Jerome Schnur and has
musical direction by Chico O’Farrill. The
filmmakers use a popularised and somewhat
hazy version of the history of jazz as a
thread for appearances by several noted
musicians. Presumably, the perceived needs
of the juvenile audience is the cause of some
less than representative music, much of
which is, until halfway through, offered as a
backdrop to dancers choreographed by
George Faison.
Had Hanna’s name not appeared in the
credits one would never have known that it
was he perched aloft while dancers occupy
stage front. He, Hampton and Basie are subpar; Getz and Mulligan are okay, as are
Newman (with, I think, Peanuts Hucko),
Williams and Hancock; Gillespie is in good
form as is Max Roach. Warwick recites an
inadequate linking script, written by Keys
and Edward Gant, and should never have
been allowed anywhere near Mood Indigo.
On the closer, everyone comes together
(Mulligan on soprano) and reprises the
opening, confirming that this piece of music
is poor and the lyrics positively awful. This
show was nominated for but did not win a
1977 Daytime Emmy. We all have heard
and read that we jazz fans should be grateful for the small crumbs that television has
thrown our way over the years. It is something like this, especially considering that it
was aimed at educating children, that
proves just how misplaced would be any
such gratitude.
Bruce Crowther
MAX ROACH
LIVE AT BLUES ALLEY
Big Sid; Effie; Back To Basics; Nommo; Mr. HiHat (60.00)
Cecil Bridgewater(t); Odeon Pope (ts); Calvin
Hill (b); Max Roach (d) 1981.
MVD Visual 5168D
Max used to be described as one of the big
three in modern drums back in ye olde days;
that would be Roach, Art Blakey and Philly
Joe Jones. Many people would want to
include Kenny Clarke and a few others no
doubt but, in terms of influence on other
drummers and prominence on the scene,
those three were the boys to reckon with.
Max reached the dizzy heights early on with
Bird and Diz and then with a spectacular
quintet where he shared leadership with
Clifford Brown. In some ways, as I think
history will eventually decide, it was downhill all the way after Brownie was killed but
only in the sense that Max could never
equal those staggering musical achievements in his later work.
All of which is a preamble to saying that
this is a good, fairly typical, very musical
working quartet playing a well received set
in a prominent jazz club. Bridgewater plays
some crisply structured trumpet and Pope,
although having less solo space, manages to
impress. Hill has a good workout with a
very technical but fascinating bass solo on
Back To Basics. Max shadows him faultlessly. Effie features the quartet in a fairly
straightahead bop opus where Bridgewater
shines brightly.
This is a drum-led quartet so solos by the
leader may be expected if not welcomed by
all. Big Sid is a homage to B.S. Catlett, the
master drummer from the past that all the
modernists admire. Max also takes two
other extended solos, ending with Mr. HiHat, in tribute to Papa Jo Jones. Whitney
Balliett once described Max as being like a
non-stop talker who finally reduces all
around him to silence. It isn’t anything like
as bad as that but if you can’t stand drum
solos be aware there are three longish ones
here where no other instruments are
involved.
Derek Ansell
16 J A Z Z
JOURNAL BOOK & DVD REVIEWS
JOE LOVANO
SOLOS: THE JAZZ SESSIONS
I’m All For You; Fort Worth; Sanctuary Park;
Tones, Shapes and Colours; On This Day (Just
Like Any Other); Bass Space; Viva Caruso;
Evolution; Panonica (50.00)
Lovano (ts, taragato, gongs). Berkeley Church,
Toronto, prob. 2004.
MVD Visual 5269D
Just before first watching this DVD I saw a TV
film in which David Hockney quoted some distinguished painter (I forget who) who said that
the making of a work of art must involve the
hand, the eye and the heart: two out of three
wouldn’t do. I’ve enjoyed Lovano on many
recordings, but hearing him live has disappointed: it often seemed the brain and chops
were working overtime, Lovano and his colleagues playing fast, flashy and complicated,
whilst the heart and/or soul took a back seat.
Here, without the competitive element, Lovano
displays all the virtues that first made me like
and admire his work, and I have no reservations about recommending this DVD as the
work of a master musician, not just a virtuoso
instrumentalist.
All the pieces are Lovano compositions except
Monk’s Pannonica (not mentioned on the DVD
case, which also lists some tracks out of order)
and he performs them lovingly, interspersed
with illuminating anecdotes about musicians
and circumstances that have inspired him. His
improvisations are tightly controlled yet never
hidebound. The elegance of his designs, the
apparent simplicity of his melodic developments and harmonic implications, evince the
proverbial art that conceals art throughout
these thoughtful, reflective, touching performances. The location has a resonant acoustic,
and Lovano turns the echo to good account.
It sounds like he is taking Ornette Coleman’s
Lonely Woman for a walk in Sanctuary Park,
and they visit some beautiful places. For Bass
Space Lovano picks up a 1930s Hungarian
taragato, a variation on the soprano sax with a
slightly duskier sound. These are just two particular pleasures amongst many.
The sound and widescreen image are very
good. Under the direction of Daniel K. Berman,
the editing and camera work is fussier than on
the James Blood Ulmer DVD in this series,
which Berman also directed, but is not too
intrusive.
Barry Witherden
16/7/12
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Anec-dotage
ALAN LUFF laments the passing of the trusting 60s and the advent of texting,
broadband, Twitter, Lotto, Jedward and Autotune but doesn’t miss The Shadows
Following on from the Queen’s Diamond
Jubilee and my review of the 50s, I’ve been
asked to do the 60s. I’ve done it, about two
years ago. However, I’ve revised it a bit.
Apologies again to unqualified septuagenarians, octogenarians and those “of a certain
age”. It is said – if you remember it, you
weren’t there.
Righty-ho. They say, as you grow older you
lose interest in sex, politics, TV, holidays and
birthdays. There are other advantages, of
course. Free buses, no need to go out in the
dark, easy theatre tickets for matinees, rent a
film – saves you going to the cinema, you
have all day to finish the crossword, no need
to worry if you find today’s comedians not
funny and no rush-hour trains to catch. With
the confidence of hindsight, we need not
worry we are analogues in a digital world; we
can just look back over our shoulder to the
so-called Swinging Sixties.
Jazz was in a turbulent state; it had lost much
of its old confidence. It was not itself.
Changes in the socio-political world in America had cast many shadows and racial problems and unrest were rife. Jazz had gone
skew-whiff. It had segued from early Impressionist to Expressionist, had gone modal and
the avant-garde was barging us with noholds-barred, unbridled, raw freedom of
expression – Free Jazz.
Wild, wayward musicians such as Pharaoh
Sanders, Albert Ayler, Sun Ra, David and
Sunny Murray, Dolphy, Ornette, Archie Shepp,
Roscoe Mitchell, Paul Bley and his missus
Carla were banging on the door screaming to
be let in. These fierce, youngish radicals were
expressing the new moves for freedom in the
US. Their outlet was in their music, but elsewhere it was flaunted in riots and civil unrest.
Severe internal problems, racism, Cuba, Russia
and Vietnam were piling up in the pending
tray on the new president’s desk.
But back here we partly looked away and
found solace in our music. Only to discover
that music generally had now become more a
way of life. Well, popular music that is. The
whole family became obsessed with the
week’s charts, Top Of The Pops and the current trendy DJs. The latest hit singles became
of interest to all and sundry (mostly sundry).
Previously, music was in the precious domain
of jazzers, classical music lovers, wind-up
gramophone owners and steel-needle connoisseurs. Pop led to rock with everyone
crushed in its fearless onslaught, flattening
old-style pop, Gracie Fields, Donald Peers
and, for a time, jazz too on occasion. Many
jazzers tore up their loyalty cards.
Thus The Swinging Sixties, the decade making huge reputations and mega-bucks for
these pop idols, who for us, couldn’t swing if
you hung ’em. Decade? Well, decayed more
likely. No, we weren’t sucked into the quicksand. Ronnie Scott’s moved up to Frith Street
declaring “If we go under, it’s the river!” The
MU had to admit defeat and let foreign musicians in. Shelly’s Manne Hole opened in LA.
Mingus’s complex Fables Of Faubus highlighted the crisis facing the newly-elected
JFK. Similarly, Max Roach’s powerful Freedom Now Suite. Much anger too in Ornette’s
Free Jazz album (got short shrift from Miles)
and Don Cherry’s pocket trumpet on The
Avant Garde.
John Coltrane ring-fenced his interest and
music style; caused a sensation with his
Favorite Things and revived life for the
soprano; and often needed revival himself
after his marathon solos. Made a lovely
album with Ellington. Duke worked on the
film score for Paris Blues and was busy crafting The Nutcracker Suite and Peer Gynt Suite.
Miles gave us the lovely Sketches Of Spain
and near gave me a heart attack when we saw
him for the first time, with Sonny Stitt at
Lewisham. Acker secured his pension with the
lovely Stranger On The Shore. Gagarin went
into space along with Stan Getz with Jazz
Samba, Desafinado and Girl From Ipanema.
Mainstream was very, very popular over here
as was Dexter and Oscar Peterson’s Night
Train. A treat for big band fans, Syd Lawrence
played Glenn Miller superbly (with Fifty
Shades Of Gray, no doubt) and there was the
surprise formation of the Thad Jones-Mel
Lewis Orchestra, albeit short-lived.
Mingus gave us Black Saint And the Sinner
Lady and, with Duke, Money Jungle. We
loved Lee Morgan’s Sidewinder and Bill
Evans’s multi-tracked Conversations With
Myself. Miles gave us his perceptive ESP and
introduced the young sensation Tony
Williams. Horace Silver gave us Song For My
Father. Coltrane reached saintly status with
his record of the year, A Love Supreme. Then
Ascension. Herbie Hancock gave us a lovely
modal treat, Maiden Voyage. At home, we
had Under Milk Wood with superb Bobby
Wellins and Stan Tracey. Magic.
Counter to these riches, we lost Bud Powell,
Eric Dolphy, Big T, Meade Lux, Nat King Cole
and Cole Porter and Stan Kenton said “Jazz is
Dead”. The Basie orchestra came over and,
with Sonny Payne, proved Kenton well
Bud Powell by Alan Luff
Anecdotage_0812JJ
wrong. Ornette was here too, on the strength
of The Golden Circle, but still didn’t click with
too many fans. Nor did Albert Ayler, who
packed it in and went back to R&B. Sonny
Rollins triumphed here – a sensation. Lovely,
lovely Hodges on Duke’s Far East Suite. But
it didn’t get on the new front page of The
Times – nor did Miles Smiles. Nor did news of
Stan Tracey pending a massive change to
stride! Not to worry – he was thinking of
packing it in to become a postie; luckily it
didn’t happen.
1967, still reeling from the previous year’s
World Cup, was the year of Flower Power,
and sadly many were needed for the funerals
of Coltrane, Rex Stewart, Muggsy, Stuff
Smith, Ed Hall, Pete Johnson, Billy Strayhorn,
JFK, Martin Luther King and – that’s enough.
Surprisingly, Indian music crept into jazz and
pop music – for a while it became all the Raj
(sorry). Norman Granz was fed up with JATP
and jazz and packed it in. But thanks Normy.
There were visits from the very busy Dave
Brubeck – he’d hardly time to take five.
Monk and Miles over, Basie and the young,
fresh Gary Burton. But the fans didn’t warm
to the electric Charles Lloyd, nor did Ronnie
Scott who couldn’t afford his electric bill.
Archie Shepp detonated many an argument
and one night got booed off and Buddy Rich
gobsmacked with an empty first house at
Croydon.
Dave Holland and John McLaughlin got
called by Miles Davis – I’ll repeat that – Dave
Holland and John McLaughlin got called by
Miles Davis. Tubbs perhaps too manic but
Ronnie Scott in the charts (on Lady Madonna,
and got £9 for it). The Beatles hogged the
charts with Elvis; Bert Weedon emptied the
guitar shops – we had Lonnie Donegan and
Georgie Fame. Sadly, we lost Wes Montgomery, Hawkins, Pee Wee, Ziggy Elman, Ted
Heath and Ray Charles (to pop). There was a
short revival for classic ragtime by Joshua
Rifkin; a chance for Joe Public to savour a bit
of our music. Armstrong (Neal) was on the
moon and some of us were over it on hearing
In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew.
Fantastic days, none of the trust-no-one merchants of today. No fixed-rate bankers, big
bonuses, behemoths, cold-callers, charity
calls, conceptual and invisible artists, texting,
broadband, Twitter, Lotto, Jedward, singers
miming and cheating Autotune. But, at least,
we haven’t got to go back to The Shadows.
Bloody hell . . .
’Bye
ANEC-DOTAGE JAZZ JOURNAL
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Obituaries
Obituaries
Lol Coxhill, saxophonist whose talents as a compère threatened to
eclipse his musical gift; Marjie Hyams, vibraphonist who left professional
music aged 27 after starring with George Shearing; Graeme Bell, pianist,
leading light of Australian jazz and boss of the Swaggie label; Andy
Hamilton, Birmingham-based saxophonist who made his first record at 72
and received his MBE for his jazz at 90
Lol Coxhill
Coxhill emerge as one of the great mavericks of British music.
Dennis Austin
He played with Canterbury band Delivery,
fronted by Carol Grimes, then worked with
Kevin Ayers and the Whole World alongside
the very young Mike Oldfield. In the early
1970s, Coxhill began to record on his own
account, at first for the Virgin spin-off Caroline on sessions shared with keyboard man
Steve Miller, later for Ogun, for whom he
recorded the glorious Joy Of Paranoia and
Diverse.
LOL COXHILL
Lol Coxhill’s role as court jester to British
jazz and improv – he was a fixture as compère of the Bracknell Jazz Festival – deafened
many to his flexible skills as an improviser.
Coxhill moved easily between free jazz and
standards playing and contributed saxophone to pop recordings like John Kongos’s
Zeigeist-defining Tokoloshe Man along the
way. Ironically, he may have become better
known for playing in free and abstract situations than for his devastating facility with
vertical harmony and for a saxophone sound
that was securely pitched right through the
range and capable of a seamless legato
matched by few others on the small horn.
Lowen Coxhill was born in Portsmouth on
19 September 1932. He became obsessed
with jazz as a teenager and spent his time
organising jams and record sessions. His
playing evolved steadily and proved adaptable to bop, cool, swing, dance and R&B
idioms. The myth that he learned to play
while busking on Hungerford Bridge has
proved hard to set aside. Those solitary performances, with their echoes of Sonny
Rollins’s and Steve Lacy’s sojourns on the
Williamsburg Bridge in New York, were part
of the evolution of a mature style that saw
18 J A Z Z
JOURNAL OBITUARIES
Later recordings were mostly gathered
together by Martin Davidson for Emanem,
many of them like Spectral Soprano calling
together performances from longish spans
of time, often in quite different acoustics
and with very different playing partnerships. Always, though, Coxhill sounded
like no one but himself, a puckish, almost
Shakespearean figure whose drolleries
masked a deep seriousness of purpose and
whose mournful exterior camouflaged one
of the few “players” who really do convey
the impression of an imagination at play.
Coxhill’s MC role proved as distracting as
his occasional appearances in films (Sally
Potter’s Orlando, Derek Jarman’s Caravaggio), his recent habit of playing solo gigs in
rubbish skips (as opposed to the dustbins
that used to be passed off as jazz clubs) and
his reputation outside improv circles as a
lugubrious raconteur from the social margins, Orwell without the Eton polish.
He didn’t polish his saxophone either, and
latterly it was held together by rubber bands
and good intentions, but it delivered a
unique and irreplaceable sound in British
jazz, in which bebop and the Beatles, cool
jazz and working class anthems, pub songs
and high art all seemed to play some indivisible part. He is one of those rare artists
whose creative importance may be only be
fully recognised after his physical departure. Future generations may well regard
him as not a sideshow man at all but one of
the most important improvisers of his time.
Lowen “Lol” Coxhill died in London, 9 July
2012.
Brian Morton
MARJIE HYAMS
There’s a very famous
William Gottlieb photograph of 52nd Street,
taken some time just after
the war. It shows the 3
Deuces club with the
names of Charlie Parker
Marjie Hyams and “Margie” Hyams up
on the marquee. Ironically,
Bird’s name is almost obliterated in glare
and hers clearly legible. The priority is
reversed on the wall posters. There’s a guy
standing in front of Hyams’s name, just as
throughout her career she found herself
standing behind male stars. The final
eclipse, though, was self-chosen. She retired
from music – or, as she insisted, from playing music, not from talking about it – at the
age of 27.
When the Gottlieb photograph was taken,
Marjie (the spelling she insisted on) was
working her own trio. She’d been a member
of the First Herd and can be heard on some
of Woody Herman’s V-Disc recordings.
She’d recorded with Charlie Ventura and
Flip Phillips and Mary Lou Williams who
still remembered Marjie well in 1976 and
told me “She was a very good vibraphone
player to work with. She knew where the
spaces were and how to use the spaces.” In
1949 and 1950, Hyams was working with
George Shearing, but then she got married
and that was it.
Marjorie Hyams was born on 9 August 1920,
(almost) the same day as Jimmy Witherspoon.
She grew up in the Jamaica district of Queens,
New York and started playing piano in the
shadow of her brother, who worked the band
scene. She switched to vibes almost by accident when working an NBC radio programme
with a group of youngsters who already had
a good piano player. She played the vibraphone as if it was a keyboard. “That seemed
to make sense. I got to work, at least.” I have
notes from a sadly undated telephone interview with Marjie made in the 1980s when
researching a radio programme on Mary Lou.
Work came steadily for Marjie and she was
spotted by Woody Herman at a club in
Atlantic City. “He took me on, and it was
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Obituaries
Hyams’s humour and sweetness stayed with
her. She told how bandmates would tell the
blind Shearing that white musicians were
black, and how she would sometimes switch
instruments with Best to see if the boss noticed.
Even in his dark later years, Miles Davis, who
admired Hyams’s playing, spoke warmly of
her. Marjie’s best known performance remains
her solo spot on Shearing’s version of The Continental. It’s not avant-garde. It’s just damn
fine music and she deserves her place on the
marquee. Marjorie Hyams died 14 June 2012.
Brian Morton
Graeme Bell
ABC. Mum sang in Dame Nellie Melba’s
troupe. Graeme always suggested that they’d
imprinted him with an instinct for performance and for close rapport with an audience.
When the Bells brought the AJB to Europe,
they became known for very close rapport
indeed, being mobbed by German girls in particular, many of them wearing cheap wedding
rings in the hope of passing off as band wives.
A cheerful larrikin, Bell and his music exuded
a kind of sunburnt bonhomie, purveying a
style of jazz that didn’t admit of neurotic agonies or highly abstract harmonic solutions,
just stomping, feel-good swing.
Though some recent obituaries have inexplicably cited a later date, Graeme Bell was born
in Richmond, Victoria, on 7 September 1914,
the day the German march on Paris was
halted. He studied at Scotch College, took up
piano, tooled around various jobs. He was living in Melbourne when his first jazz “gang”
got underway and after being passed unfit for
active service he began his career proper
entertaining troops. Various socialist networks allowed him to travel to Europe, including eastern Europe, and in 1948 Bell
established a club in Leicester Square, London,
playing for dancers.
He went home in the mid-50s, remarried and
became the leading light of Australian jazz,
bringing over distinguished Americans and
recording extensively, often for his own
Swaggie imprint which he established as early
as 1949. Bell was awarded an MBE in 1978,
but it was his role as the narrator in an
Australian production of Pete Townshend’s
Tommy five years earlier that ironically won
him his greatest fame. “There were times in
my life I could have played the blind kid as
well . . . without practising,” he told one
British journalist, in characteristic deadpan.
Brian Morton
ANDY HAMILTON
Earlier in the summer jazz stars from the
USA and the UK gave a special concert at
Symphony Hall in Birmingham in memory
of tenor saxophonist Andy Hamilton MBE,
who died in June aged 94. Among those
paying tribute to Andy were tenor players
David Murray and Jean Toussaint, and alto
saxophonist Soweto Kinch. They were
backed by West Midlands musicians associated with Hamilton’s band The Blue Notes.
GRAEME BELL
So thoroughly is the country’s jazz history
identified with the two brothers that the Australian Jazz Awards are universally known as
“The Bells”. A long chapter of that history
closed on 13 June when pianist Graeme Bell,
leader of the legendary Australian Jazz Band
and founder of Swaggie Records, died at the
age of 97. His trumpeter brother Roger, also a
member of the AJB and the boy who’d steered
his brother away from classical ambitions and
towards jazz, passed away in 2008.
The Bells came from a musical family. Dad
had been a variety turn who made a name on
Hamilton – who as a young man spent two
years as musical director on the yacht of
Hollywood star Errol Flynn – became a
grandfather figure of jazz on the Birmingham scene, and for many years led The Blue
Notes in weekly sessions at venues in Bearwood. Guests appearing with Andy included
David Murray, trumpeter Art Farmer and
UK musicians Peter King, Jim Mullen and
Art Themen. Hamilton also performed in
concert halls with Murray, including
appearances at the Royal Festival Hall in
London and the CBSO Centre in Birmingham. Andy’s rich, expressive tone won
much praise. David Murray said: “My hero
Andy Hamilton
John Watson/jazzcamera.co.uk
great. He didn’t have a fixed idea about anything. But the band was tough and some of
the guys were petty.” Hyams acknowledged
that Mary Lou Williams taught her selfrespect and how to stand up for herself but
she gave Leonard Feather full credit for shaping her career and getting her out of a rut
singing and playing piano in a fustian dive
in the East Village. “He put me together with
George Shearing and he encouraged me to
play original things, boppy things, maybe
slightly esoteric things. That suited me. I got
into the music listening to Art Tatum, mostly,
but also Igor Stravinsky. Those would be the
two big influences.” Hyams learned to work
in a setting with piano, vibes, (Chuck
Wayne’s) guitar, and (Denzil Best’s) drums,
an intricate sound that still represents a
poorly understood corner of bebop terrain.
– his tone knocks me out.” Art Farmer once
commented: “So soulful, so mellow.”
Hamilton was born in Port Maria, Jamaica,
and became inspired by church music and
by jazz broadcasts from the USA. As a
youngster, he made his first “saxophone”
from bamboo, forming his first band in
1928. He came to England in 1949, intending to eventually move to the USA, but he
settled in Birmingham and became a muchloved figure on the West Midlands scene. It
was not until Andy was 72 that he made his
recorded debut as a bandleader, and his LP
Silvershine (World Circuit Records) was
named The Times jazz album of the year. In
the year of his 90th birthday, Hamilton was
made an MBE for his services to music in
Birmingham.
John Watson
OTHER PASSINGS
Toni Arden, 40s big band singer with Ray
Bloch et al. Florida, 29 May.
Jimmy Bond, first bassist with the Jazz Crusaders and architectural designer. Late April
2012.
Pete Cosey, guitarist who brought rock
stylings to Miles Davis’s 70s bands.
Chicago, 30 May.
Vinnie Johnson, drummer with Lester
Bowie, Bill Frisell et al. 2 June 2012.
Ben Kynard, saxophonist who wrote Red
Top as a member of the Lionel Hampton
Orchestra. 5 July 2012.
Frank Parr, trombonist with the Merseysippi
Jazz Band and Lancashire wicket keeper. 8
May 2012.
Carrie Smith, singer with the WGJB and
many others, and star of the Broadway
musical Black And Blue. 20 May 2012.
OBITUARIES JAZZ JOURNAL
19
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Record
Reviews
ALBARE ITD
LONG WAY
Cut To The Chase; Eagle’s Way;
Long Way; Funky Girl; Now And
Then; You Make Me Smile; Love
Again; Moving On (58.15)
Albare (g, elg); George Garzone
(ts); Hendrik Meurkens (hca);
Evripidis Evripedou (elb, g);
Antonio Sanchez (d). NY, January
2012.
Enja ENJ-9582
!!!
Jazz has its share of player-impresario doublers, George Wein one
of the best known. Guitarist
Albare (offstage Albert Dadon) is
another. He was recommended to
Enja boss Matthias Winckelmann
after releasing five acid jazz
albums in Australia and working
as artistic director and chairman
of the Melbourne jazz festival.
Born in Morocco, he arrived in
Melbourne after a childhood in
Israel and Lyon. He was first
inspired by Django Reinhardt but
later discovered Wes Montgomery
and George Benson, and the latter’s influence is often apparent in
this mellifluous set together with
some harmonically well-furnished
passages redolent of Weather
Report and a strong Latin streak.
JJ CONTENT
Material is received for consideration
of review by Jazz Journal (that term
including its website) only under the
following conditions: Any party supplying
any material for review automatically
indemnifies JJ Publishing Ltd and its staff
against any consequences whatsoever
arising from publication of review of that
material and accepts that the material
is non-returnable. All letters published
in Jazz Journal appear only under the following conditions: Any party submitting
any letter for publication automatically
indemnifies JJ Publishing Ltd and its staff
against any consequences whatsoever
arising from publication of such letter.
Although every care is taken to ensure
accuracy and propriety, neither the
editor, nor the publishers necessarily
agree with opinions expressed in JJ by
contributors, nor indeed by readers in
their published letters.
20 J A Z Z
The distinguished international
lineup is at its most impressive on
the samba-driven title track,
where Garzone produces a typically polished, muscular postColtrane performance on Long
Way, but the man who really
turns the track upside down, and
first sets the session alight is
pianist Leo Genovese, his stabbing, wide-interval lines taking
the sequence in an appealingly
edgy direction, one that’s sustained in the ensemble blowing in
the coda.
The leader, who made his UK
debut at the Pizza Express, London in July, is a team player,
never hogging the musical bandwidth and playing in an economical, bluesy style with a dark and
mellow tone. It’s an approach that
brings out the best in a set of original compositions, all written by
Albare and long-time associate,
the bassist Evripidis Evripedou.
They won’t change the world, but
offer an satisfying hour of melodious respite from its pressures.
Mark Gilbert
JOE ALEXANDER QUINTET
BLUE JUBILEE
Blues Jubilee; Brown’s Town; I’ll
Close My Eyes; Terri’s Blues; Weird
Beard (40.14)
John Hunt (t, flh); Joe Alexander
(ts); Bobby Timmons (p); Sam
Jones (b); Albert “Tootie” Heath
(d). New York, 20 June 1960.
Fresh Sound FSR 1657
!!!!
JOURNAL RECORD REVIEWS
Tenorist Joe Alexander originally
hailed
from
Birmingham
Alabama, later worked in Cleveland and eventually brought his
confident, hard-driving approach
to the Big Apple where he worked
for a while with The Three
Sounds. His discography is almost
non-existent and this is his only
known album as a leader. Likewise trumpeter John Hunt only
had limited exposure as for many
years he was buried within the
Ray Charles aggregation. On this
disc they prove that they could
hold their own with the big names
and they must have been well
regarded to have the support of
such as Timmons, Jones and
Heath. The lively programme
includes an intricate swinging
progression on Brown’s Town followed by an emotional interpretation of the lovely I’ll Close My
Eyes. Hunt’s clear-toned, articulate playing is a joy.
Everyone digs in for the upbeat
Terri’s Blues, Sam Jones’s bass
underpinning the proceedings in
compelling style. The rhythm section as would be expected is
superb and Timmons’s engaging
contributions prove him to be an
ideal pianist for such settings.
Weird Beard is another uptempo
workout and has some virtuoso
call and response between the two
front liners. As indicated, Joe
Alexander and John Hunt were
never well represented on disc,
and here is the opportunity to
make the acquaintance of these
two fine musicians. Excellent
sound throughout.
Brian Robinson
GENE AMMONS/
SONNY STITT
BLUES UP AND DOWN
(1) Blues Up And Down; Counter
Clockwise; There Is No Greater
Love; The One Before This;
Autumn Leaves (2) Red Sails In
The Sunlight; But Not For Me; A
Pair Of Red Pants; We’ll Be
Together Again; A Mess; New
Blues Up And Down; My Foolish
Heart; Headin’ West; Autumn
Leaves; Time On My Hands
(77.43)
(1) Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt (ts);
John Houston (p); Charles Williams
(b); George Brown (d) Chicago 22
August 1961. (2) Same personnel,
26 August 1961.
Fresh Sound FSR-CD 695
!!!!
One thing I like about jazz is that
if you don’t feel like listening to
the latest and greatest of the
giants playing their most sensational, often complex records, you
can always turn to basic twotenor blowing on the blues and
standards by masters of the genre
in their prime. In 1961 you would
be hard pressed to find a more
inventive, compatible pair of
soloists. Stitt has the edge technically, Jug was a more natural
blues manipulator and stylist.
Both swing easily and being very
competitive, keep each other constantly alert and at their best. The
leaders stretch out over two basic
programmes, mainly blues or
popular songs played in blues
mode. Tracks 1-5 were issued
originally in 1961 on a Verve LP
and the rest on an Argo disc
shortly afterwards.
The rhythm section is very good
and yet another reminder of how
many unsung, largely unknown
musicians there were, and probably still are, all over the US. Stitt
and Ammons are, without either
man really stretching himself, on
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Record Reviews
top form on this programme,
familiar as it was to them both on
live performances at the time.
Stitt switches to alto briefly for
There Is No Greater Love, in a
solid reading, and Time On My
Hands.
Derek Ansell
CRITICS’ CHOICE
The 10 CDs JJ critics most wanted to hear from this month’s review list
Gene Ammons/Sonny Stitt
Dan Barrett
Floratone
Gigi Gryce
Coleman Hawkins
Vijay Iyer
Roland Kirk
Brew Moore
Jimmy Rushing
Pee Wee Russell
Blues Up & Down
International Swing Party Vol 1/2
Floratone II
Gigi Gryce Quintet 1960-1961
Classic Hawkins 1922-1947
Accelerando
Spirits Up Above
Quartet & Quintet 1955-1958
Four Classic Albums Plus
Four Classic Albums Plus
of impact as a leader in bop. She
usually gets a routine nod in features on Alice Coltrane and Iro
Haarla, but few have listened to
this stuff with much attention
since she passed in 1986.
DOROTHY ASHBY
THE JAZZ HARPIST
CD1: [The Jazz Harpist] (1) Thou
Swell; Stella By Starlight; Dancing
On The Ceiling; Aeolian Groove;
Quietude; Spicy; Lamentation;
[Hip Harp] (2) Pawky; Moonlight In
Vermont; Back Talk; Dancing In
The Dark (52.05)
CD2: (2) Charmaine; Jollity;
There’s a Small Hotel; [In A Minor
Groove] (3) Rascality; You’d Be So
Nice To Come Home To; It’s A
Minor Thing; Yesterdays; Bohemia
After Dark; Taboo; Autumn In
Rome; Alone Together (52.15)
CD3: [Dorothy Ashby] (4) Lonely
Melody; Secret Love; Gloomy
Sunday; Satin Doll; John R.; Li’l
Darlin’; Booze; Django; You
Stepped Out Of A Dream; Stranger
In Paradise (44.59)
CD4: [Soft Winds] (5) Soft Winds;
Wild Is The Wind; The Man I Love;
My Ship; Love Is Here To Stay; I’ve
Never Been In Love Before; With
Strings Attached; Laura; The Guns
of Navarone; Misty; The Gypsy In
My Soul (31.51)
(1) Ashby (hp); Frank Wess (f);
Wendell Marshall or Eddie Jones
(b); Ed Thigpen (d). Hackensack,
NJ, August 1957. (2) Ashby (hp);
Frank Wess (f); Herman Wright (b);
Art Taylor (d). Hackensack, NJ,
March 1958. (3) Roy Haynes
replaces Taylor. Hackensack, NJ,
September 1958. (4) Ashby (hp);
Herman Wright (b); John Tooley
(d). Chicago, August 1961. (5)
Ashby (hp); Terry Pollard (p, vib);
Herman Wright (b); Jimmy Cobb
(d). NYC, August 1961.
Fresh Sound FSR-CD 709
!!!!
She wasn’t strictly a pioneer –
Adele Girard and Casper Reardon
beat her to it – but Dorothy was
the first harpist to make any kind
The problem isn’t Ashby’s skill.
She’s a deft instrumentalist, with
a strong sense of time and placement to go with a natural aptitude
for melody. The problem is the
harp itself, an instrument with
notoriously low dynamics, more
usually deployed as aquarelle in
an orchestral setting, and just as
notoriously associated with a
Marx Brother. So is there any
urgent need to check out these
three hours of music?
Maybe not urgent, but certainly
worthwhile. I’ve always enjoyed
The Jazz Harpist, a clean-lined
and beautifully balanced jazz
record that gains a lot from
Wess’s flute playing. The latest of
the bunch is a bit more studied
and conceptual, with the contrasting opening titles and the unlikely
juxtaposition of Laura, Misty and
Dmitri Tiomkin’s theme to The
Guns Of Navarone (later covered
by the Skatalites, but brand
spanking new in 1961). Very listenable, all the same.
I seem to remember some of the
middle material here under a different name (Dorothy Ashby
Plays For Beautiful People?) and
Fresh Sound might reasonably
have settled for a two-CD selection of the best tracks rather than
the exhaustive approach. But it’s
all listenable. Tweak the volume
up a notch, and enjoy.
Brian Morton
DAN BARRETT
DAN BARRETT’S INTERNATIONAL
SWING PARTY
CD1: (1) Indiana; Sunny Side Of
The Street; Blues My Naughty
Sweetie Gives To Me; Keepin’ Out
Of Mischief Now; Tea For Two;
Let’s Do It; Montevideo; The King
(2) Bochum Electricity Blues; Do
You Know What It Means To Miss
New Orleans? (70.52)
CD2: (1) Neal’s Deal; Georgia
Jubilee; Waste No Tears; Whoa
Babe; Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My
Baby; Cavernism; (3) Absolutely
Positively; With ‘Em; (1) One O’
Clock Jump; (2) Montevideo; If I
Had You; Sweet Sue; Hindustan
(67.48)
(1) Duke Heitger (t); Dan Barrett
(tb, v); Dan Block (cl, as, ts);
Engelbert Wrobel (cl, ss, ts); Chris
Hopkins (p); Eddie Erickson (g, bjo,
v); Nicki Parrott (b, v); Butch Miles
(d). Neu-Ulm, Germany, 21 March
2010. (2) same. Bochum,
Germany, 14 March 2010. (3) as
(1) but Bernard Fleger (d) replaces
Miles.
Fresh Sound FSR-CD 695
Echoes Of Swing EOSP 4508/9
Savoy Jazz SVY17855
Fresh Sound FSR-CD 697
Mosaic MD8-251
ACT 9524-2
Warner 2564659141
Fresh Sounds FSR-CD 705
Avid AMSC1057
Avid AMSC1056
tasteful. Everyone has a feature,
and Parrott, a powerful bassist,
sings convincingly on Is You Is.
Heitger is a nicely lyrical player –
his Sunny Side feature is purest
Louis – rather stronger in presence than the two reed men, who
don’t have much impact. The
introductions and applause could
usefully have been edited down or
out. On the second disc Barrett
calls for applause for each musician and emotionally says goodbye to the audience. Presumably
the audience then came back in,
for his announcement is followed
by another four numbers.
Steve Voce
Echoes Of Swing EOSP 4508 &
EOSP 45099
!!!
This band toured for three weeks
following two years of advance
planning. The musicians were
selected by Manfred Selchow
(who, as an author, put together
the huge and indispensible tomes
on Ed Hall and Vic Dickenson).
Barrett wished to distinguish
between the pickup groups
engendered at jazz parties and a
regular group playing organised
music. To this end the music on
the first CD uses head arrangements, whilst the programme for
the second is made up of attractive charts by Barrett.
Dan composed With ’Em and this
and If I Had You are fine displays of
his lovely trombone sound. His
style is couched in Teagarden’s
with Bennie Green and Vic
Dickenson occasionally peeping
through. He’s a fine soloist as well
as a great all-round musician. The
rhythm section is good too, with
Hopkins a revelation to me. He has
a light Basieite touch when required
and features on Montevideo, originally a solo piece for Duke Ellington on a 1953 Capitol. Erikson is a
good guitarist and Miles, as one
would expect, is both dextrous and
ART BLAKEY
LEGENDS LIVE: JAZZ
MESSENGERS LIVE IN
UNTERTURKHEIM 1978
Mishima; Body And Soul; 1997
AD; Hawk Man; I Remember
Clifford; Moanin’ (71.32)
Art Blakey (d), Valery Ponomarev
(t), David Schnitter (ts) Bobby
Watson (as), James Williams (p),
Dennis Irwin (b). Unterturkheim, 15
July 1978.
Jazzhaus 101701
!!!!
One of my all-time most memorable gigs was Art Blakey at Ronnie Scott’s in 1982 – not so long
after this fine live recording was
made, though with a line-up of
Donald Harrison and Terence
Blanchard instead of Messrs Ponomarev, Schnitter and Watson, as
RECORD REVIEWS JAZZ JOURNAL
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Record Reviews
here. Blakey was, as they say, a
rhythmic volcano. On the Jazzhaus date, aged 55, he powers
musicians
two
generations
younger than himself, in a programme of explosive uptempo
numbers and moving ballads. The
programme is a mix of standards
and originals by Schnitter
(Mishima), pianist James Williams
(1997 A. D.) and Watson (Hawk
Man), but the highlight for me is
that great Messengers hit Moanin’.
This is hard bop from the modern
jazz era of common practice – no
great surprises, but exciting and
very satisfying, featuring one of
the great drummers of modern
jazz. The compositions often conform to the “modal + changes”
format exploited so brilliantly by
Wayne Shorter’s compositions –
who was of course a former music
director of the Jazz Messengers.
Dave Schnitter may not be the
most individual tenor player
Blakey ever had, but Ponamarev
offers lyricism plus pyrotechnics,
and the programme is well-balanced and conceived. As this is a
recording from German radio,
sound quality is excellent. The
result is an utter joy and delight.
Andy Hamilton
company Sony doesn’t seem to
think so – the strap-line is “The
Unreleased Live Concert” – and I’d
suggest that we should treasure
these sides as, truly, the last concert this DB quartet gave.
And what a performance it was!
Very much like the Last Concert
the MJQ cut seven years later, the
DB quartet was clearly determined
to have as good – and creatively
brave – a time as they could. New
things happen all the time. Ready
is, perhaps, not quite as vibrantly
thrilling as the version on the
1963 Carnegie Hall Concert, but
it’s close: Brubeck’s work is especially inventive, and of course
Morello is as sharp as about 14
tacks in all he does.
Other highlights include a beautiful revisiting of Prince; the pulsating Lindo (also a highlight of
the Bravo Brubeck album cut in
Mexico seven months before);
Desmond at his deceptively imperious best on Foolish, and also Go
To My Head; Gene Wright’s moving People Free; and the utter gas
that is Dancing Mood.
Altogether, another, perhaps
clinching testament to what a
magnificent group this was. I
would hazard that no leading jazz
musician has attracted as much
vitriol and sheer nasty prejudice
as Brubeck has suffered over his
near 70 years in the business.
Dates like this prove how shamefully, viciously cloth-eared were
those inane detractors.
Richard Palmer
(1) Ervin (ts); Tommy Turrentine (t);
Zoot Sims (ts); Tommy Flanagan
(p); George Tucker (b); Dannie
Richmond (d). NYC; June 1960.
(1a) omit Turrentine; Sims. (2) Ervin
(ts); Richard Williams (t); Horace
Parlan (p); George Tucker (b);
Dannie Richmond (d). Newark; NJ;
November 1960. (3) Ervin (ts);
Horace Parlan (p); George Tucker
(b); Al Harewood (d). NYC,
January 1961.
Fresh Sound FSR-CD 703 2CD
!!!!
all the time, while never forgetting
to swing ferociously (they couldn’t
forget that even if they tried ridiculously hard).
Perhaps the exemplar of what I’ve
just written is Deo. I’ve heard
countless (wonderful) versions of
Gillespie’s masterwork – from DG
himself to his alumnus Junior
Mance, plus a stunning 1963 version by Oscar Peterson (also on
MPS), but this ranks with the best.
The approach and arrangement –
I suspect they are Boland’s – are
truly original, and its 10 minutes
are riveting throughout. Lockjaw
then shines on Had You (a
favourite tune of his), and thereafter the quintet has an edifying
ball with Dawg. Two splendid
originals – the first by Griffin, the
second by Davis – take us out.
The playing time is meagre by
today’s standards, but it is wonderful to have this music with us
again, and its 40 minutes are a
whole lot more satisfying than
many much longer enterprises
I’ve heard over the last few years.
Richard Palmer
EDDIE “LOCKJAW” DAVISJOHNNY GRIFFIN QUINTET
TOUGH TENORS AGAIN ‘N’ AGAIN
DAVE BRUBECK
THEIR LAST TIME OUT
CD1: Introduction; St. Louis Blues;
Three To Get Ready; These Foolish
Things; Cielito Lindo; La Paloma
Azul; Take The ‘A’ Train; Someday
My Prince Will Come (49.00)
CD2: Introduction to the members
of the quartet; Swanee River; I’m
In A Dancing Mood; You Go To My
Head; Set My People Free; For
Drummers Only; Take Five (50.15)
Paul Desmond (as); Brubeck (p);
Gene Wright (b); Joe Morello (d).
Pittsburgh, 26 December 1967.
Columbia/Legacy 8697 8162 2
!!!!!
A major find. Inveterate DB fan
though I be, I’m not a professional
discographer or even an amateur
one, so it may be that these sides
have appeared before. But parent
22 J A Z Z
Again ‘N’ Again; Tin Tin Deo; If I
Had You; Jim Dawg; When We
Were One; Gigi (39.47)
Davis, Griffin (ts); Francy Boland
(p); Jimmy Woode Jr. (b); Kenny
Clarke (d). Cologne; 24 April 1970.
MPS 441182
!!!!!
Well, this couldn’t ever been other
than terrific, could it? By this time
Lockjaw and Griffin were not only
a veteran partnership – one of the
best two-tenor combinations ever –
but had further honed their skills
and developed their musical vision
as alumni of the great BolandClarke orchestra of the mid-60s
onwards. Unsurprisingly, therefore,
pianist and drummer are key parts
of this wonderful set, their pulsating invention crucial to everything
that happens. The two tenors are in
majestic form, but also deeply
thoughtful and pushing boundaries
JOURNAL RECORD REVIEWS
Though the later “Books” for Prestige are rightly admired, the
essence of Booker Ervin – part
Texas Tenor, part guarded avantgardist – is to be found in this
brilliant early sequence. He’s not
often cited as a composer, but
most of these cuts are highly individualistic reworkings of generic
forms with a heavy infusion of
modernist blues. The pairing with
Sims sounds improbable but it
works in an oil-and-vinegar way.
Flanagan makes the record, and
Tucker is a big, big presence. He’s
mixed further back on Cookin’ for
Savoy. Parlan went out as “Felix
Krull” on the later and excellent
That’s It! but might have welcomed anonymity on the Savoy
date. The piano is whack and
everyone except the leader seems
in a different space.
It was a short career. Ervin spent
the next three years working on
some of Charles Mingus’s greatest
recordings, before returning to the
studios on his own account with
further dates for Prestige and Blue
Note before dying of kidney disease in 1970, three months before
his 40th birthday. He left some
great things, though, and I always
steer newcomers to the sequence
that closes The Book Cooks. The
title track is a terrific two-tenor
chase, with piled up twos and
fours and great accompaniment.
Largo is Booker’s loveliest ballad
performance apart from Uranus,
and Poor Butterfly underlines his
command of song form and willingness to stretch it. I’d say this
was an essential set.
BOOKER ERVIN
TEXAS TENOR: SEXTET, QUINTET
AND QUARTET
CD1: [The Book Cooks] (1) The
Blue Book; Git It; Little Jane; The
Book Cooks; (1a) Largo; (1) Poor
Butterfly; [Cookin’] (2) Dee Da
Doo; Mr. Wiggles; You Don’t Know
What Love Is (62.58)
CD2: (2) Down In The Dumps;
Well, Well; Autumn Leaves; [That’s
It!] (3) Mojo; Uranus; Poinciana;
Speak Low; Booker’s Blues; Boo
(66.21)
Brian Morton
BILL EVANS
THE WAY TO PLAY
CD1: (1) [Conception] I Love You;
Conception; Easy Living;
Displacement; Speak Low; Our
Delight; No Cover, No Minimum; I
Got It Bad And That Ain’t Good;
Waltz For Debby; My Romance (2)
Minority; Young And Foolish;
Night And Day; Oleo; Tenderly;
What Is There To Say; Peace Piece
(79.53)
Rec Revs_0812JJ
17/7/12
2:58 pm
Page 23
Record Reviews
influenced others. Before him the
main jazz pianists like Tatum,
Powell, Cole and company all featured virtuoso piano with bass
and drum rhythm support.
CD2: (2) [Blue In Green] Lucky To
Be Me; Epilogue (3) Honeysuckle
Rose; As Time Goes By; The Way
You Look Tonight; It Could Happen
To You; The Man I Love; I Got
Rhythm(4) Peri’s Scope;
Witchcraft; Spring Is Here; What Is
This Thing Called Love; Come Rain
Or Come Shine; Blue In Green;
Autumn Leaves (79.39)
CD3: [Nardis] (4) Someday My
Prince Will Come; When I Fall In
Love (5) Autumn Leaves; Our
Delight; Beautiful Love; Come Rain
Or Come Shine; Blue In Green (6)
Israel; Haunted Heart; Beautiful
Love; Elsa; Nardis; How Deep Is
The Ocean; I Wish I Knew; Sweet
And Lovely (78.10)
CD4: [Gloria’s Step] (7) My
Foolish Heart; My Romance; Some
Other Time; Solar; Gloria’s Step;
My Man’s Gone Now; All Of You;
Alice In Wonderland; Milestones;
Detour Ahead; Waltz For Debby;
Jade Visions (79.57)
(1) Bill Evans (p); Teddy Kotick (b);
Paul Motian (d). NYC, 11 & 27
September 1956.
(2) Bill Evans (p); Sam Jones (b);
Philly Joe Jones (d). NYC, 15
December 1958.
(3) Bill Evans, Bob Brookmeyer (p);
Percy Heath (b); Connie Kay (d).
NYC, 12 March 1959.
(4) Evans (p); Scott LaFaro (b);
Paul Motian (d). 28 December
1959.
This set is an ideal purchase for
anybody new to Evans and even
some who are not so new as it
offers all the music from three of
Evans’s greatest sessions by the
classic trio at the peak of its abilities, culminating in the sublime
sets at the Vanguard just before
the premature death of bassist
LaFaro. Actually seven Evans LPs
and some music recorded at Birdland in 1960 are included here
with the session with Brookmeyer
the only one that sounds less than
excellent. The two pianists do not
sound comfortable together and
Heath and Kay represent an odd
choice of rhythm section. This
would normally reduce the rating
somewhat but because here the
session with Sam Jones and Philly
Joe Jones is so very good and the
final, Vanguard tracks represent
the classic trio in such superb,
inventive form, the five stars are,
I feel, still justified. Minority and
Young And Foolish are standout
tracks along with the unique solo
Peace Piece on the selections with
Philly Joe and Sam Jones.
Listen carefully to the three-way
conversations in the trio on those
Vanguard tracks and check out
how impressively integrated the
three musicians are; they almost
breathe together musically on
Foolish Heart, Alice In Wonderland, Solar, Detour Ahead and the
closing, magical Jade Visions.
After LaFaro died, two weeks
later, Evans was unable to play
again for six months and
although he resumed and formed
very good trios after 1963 he was
never quite the same again.
Derek Ansell
(5) Same personnel. Birdland,
NYC, 12 March or 30 April 1960.
(6) as (4) NYC, 4 February 1961.
Art Farmer (t) with:
(1) Hank Jones (p); Addison
Farmer (b); Roy Haynes (d). NYC,
19 April & 1 May 1958.
(2) Benny Golson (ts); Bill Evans
(p); Addison Farmer (b); Dave
Bailey (d). NYC, 10, 11 and 14
September 1958.
(7) as (4) Village Vanguard, NYC,
25 June 1961.
Properbox 169
(3) Gigi Gryce (as); Duke Jordan
(p); Addison Farmer (b); Philly Joe
Jones (d). No date.
!!!!!
Because of his totally fresh
approach to piano trio jazz, with a
fully integrated piano, bass and
drum sound, Evans could truly be
said to offer “The Way To Play”.
The vast majority of piano trios –
and modern pianists in all settings
for that matter – have taken this
1958-61 Evans trio as their source
of inspiration for the past 50 plus
years. In terms of his effect on
other jazz pianists Evans can be
said to rival Parker and Coltrane
in the extent to which he has
Fair Weather; Darn That Dream;
The Touch Of Your Lips; Jubilation;
Like Someone In Love; I Love You
(79.36)
CD2: (2) Cold Breeze; (3)
Forecast; Evening In Casablanca;
Nica’s Tempo; Satellite; Sans
Souci; Shabozz; (4) Bel; Milano;
Django; New York 19; 2 Degrees
East, 3 Degrees West; Odds
Against Tomorrow (79.58)
(4) Benny Golson (ts); Thomas
McIntosh (tb); Thomas Williams
(b); Cedar Walton (p); Albert
Heath (d). NYC, 20-21 December
1960 and 9 January 1961.
Avid AMSC1060
ART FARMER
FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS
CD1: (1) Back In The Cage;
Stablemates; The Very Thought Of
You; “And Now..”; Nita; By Myself;
Too Late Now; Earth; (2) Mox Nix;
!!!!
First, a word about Art’s trumpet
sound in this pre-flugel period. In
the original notes, Gene Lees
detects a “smoked quality”, but I
would go further. It’s also peaty,
like an island malt, so that the
trumpet’s brilliance is suffused
with a touch of expressive hoarseness – a distinctive jazzman’s
soundprint that would be frowned
upon by symphonic players. John
Lewis did not play on the last session but supplied the charts which
make it the most-arranged and
most challenging of the four
albums covered by this welcome
and generous reissue. However,
the Gryce tracks, in which the
band tackled some unconventional structures (Casablanca is a
46-bar song), comes a close second.
The entire CD is notable for the
high proportion of original compositions, mainly by Art, Benny,
Gigi and Lewis, some of which
deserve greater airing by current
combos. Lewis’s Milano, for
example, is a walking-paced
exploration of harmonic variety
and has almost big band resonance. Art’s short, clipped phrases
in 2 Degrees East, followed by
Golson’s rich delivery and McIntosh’s pensive solo lead into a
haunting ensemble statement of
the memorable theme. The set with
Gryce finds Farmer responding to
the altoist’s fiery challenge (I’ve
often felt Gigi was undervalued)
and the involvement of Duke Jor-
RECORD REVIEWS JAZZ JOURNAL
23
Rec Revs_0812JJ
17/7/12
2:58 pm
Page 24
Record Reviews
dan, an early associate of Bird,
adds piquancy for bop enthusiasts.
with an equivalent amount of
magnetism in her work.
Looking at Art’s qualities as a
sensitive balladeer, his rendering
of By Myself – harmon-muted
against Haynes’s brushes and
with Hank Jones at his most
stylishly hushed – and the following Too Late Now on open horn,
show the trumpet at its most saxophonic, if there’s such a word.
These titles were recorded during
her best period. She left Atlantic
and joined Roulette, and produced
an album for each of them from
these sessions. There are few poor
numbers, and Chris was one of the
few to seek out classics like Russ
Freeman’s The Wind and Alec
Wilder’s Where Do You Go?
Somehow Maynard’s blatant horn
gels with the more subtle singing,
despite the fact that it was his
habit, on occasion, to explode like
a terrorist’s kitchen. There are few
instrumental solos apart from
Maynard’s, but from him, plenty
of razor-sharp bayonet thrusts.
Anthony Troon
MAYNARD FERGUSON/
CHRIS CONNOR
DOUBLE EXPOSURE & TWO’S
COMPANY
(3) Summertime; I Only Have Eyes
For You; It Never Entered My Mind;
(1) Two Ladies In De Shade Of De
Banana Tree; (2) Spring Can
Really Hang You Up The Most; (1)
Lonesome Road; All The Things
You Are; Black Coffee; Happy New
Year; (3) That’s How It Went All
Right; (4) I Feel A Song Coming
On; (5) The Wind; New York’s My
Home; (6) Guess Who I Saw
Today; (5) When The Sun Comes
Out; (4) Send For Me; (6) Where
Do You Go?; (4) Something’s
Coming; Deep Song; Can’t Get
Out Of This Mood (75.01)
The arrangements, all but two by
Don Sebesky, are bright and functional. And so is the magnificent
band. This was actually the regular Ferguson band. Here it is just
doing a job with great radiance
and professionalism. We’re now
looking back at it more than half
a century later. As the sadly longvanished 10-CD Mosaic set confirmed, it was indeed a trenchant
band that packed far more weight
and substance than the gaudy
reputation of its leader as a highnoter suggested. But it perfectly
fills its function here and is
responsible for backing some of
the very best of Chris Connor.
And the very best of Chris Connor
is about as good as it gets.
Steve Voce
Chris Connor (v) acc by Maynard
Ferguson And His Orchestra:
(1) Maynard Ferguson (t, flh, vtb);
Rolf Ericson, Chet Ferretti, Rick
Kiefer (t); Ray Winslow, Kenny Rupp
(tb); Lanny Morgan (as, f) Joe
Farrell (ts, ss, f) Willie Maiden (ts,
cl); Frank Hittner (bar, bcl); Jaki
Byard (p); Charlie Saunders (b);
Rufus Jones (d). New York, 5
December 1960.
(2) same, December 14 1960.
(3) Bill Berry (t) replaces Rick Kiefer.
NY, 23 January 1961.
(4) as (1) but 30 January 1961.
(5) as (1) but 15 December 1960.
(6) as (1) but 22 December 1960
Fresh Sound FSR 702
!!!!
Some of the best of Mary Loutsenhizer, for it is she. June Christy
originally recommended Chris to
Stan Kenton, and one can see
why, for she is a darker, more
schooled version of Christy, but
24 J A Z Z
I felt nervous listing the personnel
for this second album by Floratone,
an occasional vehicle of the oddball guitarist Bill Frisell. I remember a concert he played at the Royal
Festival Hall a long time ago which
he opened with a long, furious rant
about how Time Out jazz critic Linton Chiswick had made a mistake
in the line-up for the preview. He
went postal, as they say in Portland, and created rather a bad
atmosphere for his show.
The reason for my nervousness is
that the sinister cover of
Floratone II lists the personnel as
Bill Frisell, Matt Chamberlain, Lee
Townsend and Tucker Martine.
Yet Townsend is the producer and
Martine is the engineer. The other
musicians have a secondary listing. That’s because of the way
Floratone works as a creative unit.
Frisell and Chamberlain put down
the bones of the music and then
Townsend and Martine do their
atmospheric magic, adding in the
musicians.
The resulting sound is an extension of familiar Frisell territory
with each number a curious
American vignette. By turns sombre, poignant, sinister and jaunty,
the Frisell/Chamberlain compositions capture different essences of
the big country – with the emphasis on country. But it is jazz
because the music is made and
remade in the moment. There are
no grandstanding solo excursions
nor obvious choruses. Instead the
emphasis is on atmosphere, into
which Frisell inserts his curlicues
of notes and off-kilter chords.
And these are fleetingly old-fashioned moments, with the programme coming in at under 40
minutes before dissipating into
the ether. Works for me.
Garry Booth
BENNY GOODMAN/
ANITA O’DAY
BIG BAND LIVE
FLORATONE
FLORATONE II
(1) The Bloom Is On; (2) More
Pluck; (3) Snake Rattle; (4)
Parade; (5) Not Over Ever; (6)
Move; (7) Do You Have It; (8) The
Time, The Place; (9) No Turn Back;
(10) The Time, The Place Part II;
(11) Gimme Some; (12) Grin And
Bite; (13) Stand By Time (38.15)
Bill Frisell (g); Matt Chamberlain
(d); Mike Elizondo (b); Ron Miles
(t); Jon Brion (kyb); Eyvind Kang
(vla). Flora, Portland, No date.
Savoy Jazz SVY17855
!!!!
JOURNAL RECORD REVIEWS
Let’s Dance; Air Mail Special;
Raise The Riff; Honeysuckle Rose;
Come Rain Or Come Shine; Let
Me Off Uptown; Gotta Be This Or
That; Body And Soul; Whispering;
Medley (But Not For Me, Four
Brothers, Blues); Breakfast Feud;
Memories Of You; Don’t Get
Around Much Anymore; Ten
Bone; Medley (Don’t Be That
Way; Stompin’ At The Savoy;
Sunny Side Of The Street; In A
Mellow Tone; Moonglow; Sing,
Sing, Sing; Bei mir bist du
scheen) (76.07)
Benny Goodman (cl, arr); Anita
O’Day (v); Russ Freeman (p); Red
Norvo (vib); Jack Sheldon (t); Flip
Phillips (ts); Bill Harris (tb); Jerry
Dodgion (as,f); Jimmy Wyble (g);
Red Wootton (b); John Markham
or John Poole (d). Stadhalle,
Freiburg, Germany, 15 October
1959.
Jazzhaus 101704
!!!!
It has been said that this 10-piece
band which was put together to
tour Europe in October 1959 was
the finest post-war band that
Goodman led. Having not heard
them all I cannot comment but
this is an excellent group which
was very well recorded by Sudwestrundfunk for later radio
transmission. The sound is warm
and full and judging by the
applause the performances were
well received by a large audience.
Remastering is good but it is a
shame that the same care has not
been taken in other areas. The
liner notes are cursory and there
are several glaring errors such as
showing as Dodgion as playing
flute only, no mention of the fact
that John Poole takes over the
drum chair during Anita O’Day’s
vocals and that Sing, Sing, Sing
is heavily featured in the final
medley.
Goodman is well on form and
gives his band members plenty of
scope to demonstrate their individual talents particularly Red
Norvo, Flip Phillips and Bill Harris. Anita O’Day is also well represented throughout the disc with
six outings including a great version of But Not For Me which
moves into a hard-swinging Four
Brothers with O’Day demonstrating her scatting talents followed
by a free blues. Overall an excellent issue even if the presentation
of the CD leaves a little to be
desired. This issue purports to be
part of the first batch of some
3000 hours of jazz recordings
from the archives of this German
radio station. Something to look
forward to!
Jerry Brown
Rec Revs_0812JJ
17/7/12
2:58 pm
Page 25
Record Reviews
GIGI GRYCE QUINTET
1960-1961
CD1: [Saying Somethin’] (1) Leila’s
Blues; Blues In The Jungle; Down
Home; Back Breaker; Let Me Know;
Jones Bones; [The Hap’nins] (2)
Summertime; Lover Man; Minority;
Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me; Frankie And
Johnny; Nica’s Tempo (79.34)
CD2: [The Rat Race Blues] (3)
Blues In Bloom: Boxer’s Blues;
Strange Feeling; The Rat Race
Blues; Monday Through Sunday;
[Reminiscin’] (4) Blue Lights; Gee
Blues Gee; Dearly Beloved; (5)
Caravan; Reminiscing; Yesterdays;
Take The A Train; (6) A Night In
Tunisia (73.44)
Gigi Gryce (as); Richard Williams
(t); Richard Wyands (p) all tracks
with:
(1) Reggie Workman (b); Mickey
Roker (d). Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 11
March 1960. (2) as (1) except
Julian Euell (b) replaces Workman.
3 May 1960. (3) as (2). Englewood
Cliffs, NJ, 7 June 1960. (4) as (3)
except Walter Perkins (d) replaces
Roker. New York, January 1961. (5)
Orch-Tette: Eddie Costa (vib);
George Duvivier (b); Bobby
Thomas (d). New York, January
1961. (6) as (5) but Workman (b)
and Perkins (d).
Fresh Sound FSR-CD 697
!!!!!
This double CD contains the last
four albums Gigi Gryce made as a
leader – Saying Somethin’, The
Hap’nins, Rat Race Blues and
Reminiscin’. Whilst his performance on the alto was never less
than excellent, with a great feeling for the blues and a generally
astringent tone, his highly competent composing, arranging and
organisational skills were at least
of equal importance to him. A
selection of his own tunes are
scattered amongst the goodies on
offer here. After a spell at the
Boston Conservatory of Music his
CV included work with the bands
of Tadd Dameron and Lionel
Hampton from which he appeared
on Clifford Brown’s famous Paris
recordings defying Hampton’s
ban on his musicians recording
away from the band.
It would be silly to try and com-
ment on individual numbers on
these two discs; all are played
with tremendous spirit and enthusiasm embracing a wide variety of
moods and are endlessly satisfying. Richard Williams and Richard
Wyands make perfect musical
partners for the leader. Williams
deserved much greater recognition for his prowess and control
on his instrument. The final five
tracks on CD2 are by what Gryce
termed his Orch-Tette where his
intention was apparently to give
an enhanced feeling of sound,
swing and beauty. Whether this is
achieved by the addition of Eddie
Costa’s vibes is a matter of conjecture. Certainly all the musicians involved on these discs are
completely compatible and have
obvious respect for each other and
the music. The sound quality and
recording balance are first-rate
and the 24-page booklet provides
an interesting resumé of Gryce’s
career. A likely candidate for the
2012 top ten.
Brian Robinson
COLEMAN HAWKINS
CLASSIC COLEMAN HAWKINS
SESSIONS 1922-1947
CD1: I’m Gonna Get You; Dicty
Blues; He’s The Hottest Man In
Town; The Stampede; St Louis
Shuffle; Whiteman Stomp; Goose
Pimples; Baltimore; Dreaming The
Hours Away; King Porter Stomp; I’m
Feelin’ Devilish; Raisin’ The Roof;
Blazin’; Wang Wang Blues;
Wherever There’s A Will, Baby; Hello
Lola; One Hour; Chinatown, My
Chinatown; What Good Am I
Without You?; Goodbye Blues;
Cloudy Skies; Got Another Sweetie
Now; Bugle Call Rag; Dee Blues;
Wherever There’s A Will, Baby (alt tk
3) (66.26)
CD2: My Pretty Girl; Sweet And Hot;
Clarinet Marmalade; Sugar Foot
Stomp; Hot ‘n’ Anxious; Sugar Foot
Stomp; Georgia On My Mind; I Can’t
Believe That You’re In Love With Me;
Darktown Strutter’s Ball; You Rascal
You; Oh, It Looks Like Rain; Sweet
Music; Malinda’s Wedding Day; It’s
The Darndest Thing; Business In F;
Strangers; I Wanna Count Sheep;
Sugarfoot Stomp (alt); Sugar Foot
Stomp (alt) (66.40)
CD3: Casa Loma Stomp; Blue
Moments; How’m I Doin’, Hey Hey?;
Honeysuckle Rose; New King Porter
Stomp; Underneath The Harlem
Moon; Someday Sweetheart; Sister
Kate; The River’s Takin’ Care Of Me;
Ain’tcha Got Music?; Stringin’ Along
On A Shoe String; Shadows On The
Swannee; Yeah, Man!; King Porter
Eric Rose’s
Music Inn
42 West End Arcade, Nottingham, NG1 6JZ
Still Here, Still Swinging! Since 1919, Nottingham’s oldest record shop.
We can supply almost all issues reviewed in Jazz Journal
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(Challenge CR 73348) £13.99
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Stomp; Queer Notions; Can You
Take It? (65.59)
CD4: Queer Notions; Talk Of The
Town; Night Life; Nagasaki; The
Day You Came Along; Jamaica
Shout; Heartbreak Blues; Rhythm
Crazy; Ol’ Man River; Minnie The
Moocher’s Wedding Day; I’ve Got
To Sing A Torch Song; Hush My
Mouth; You’re Gonna Lose Your
Gal; Dark Clouds; My Galveston
Gal; Georgia Jubilee; Ol’ Pappy;
Emaline; Talk Of The Town (alt);
Jamaica Shout (alt); You’re
Gonna Lose Your Gal (alt); My
Galveston Gal (alt); (70.38)
CD5: Hocus Pocus; Phantom
Fantasie; Harlem Madness; Tidal
Wave; It Sends Me; I Ain’t Got
Nobody; Sunny Side Of The Street;
One Sweet Letter; Meet Doctor
Foo; Fine Dinner; She’s Funny That
Way; Body And Soul; Dinah; My
Buddy; Singin’ The Blues; When
Day Is Done; Sheik Of Araby; My
Blue Heaven; Bouncing With Bean;
Hocus Pocus (alt); Tidal Wave
(alt); It Sends Me (alt); Sunny Side
Of The Street (alt); When Lights
Are Low (alt); Dinah (alt) (78.02)
CD6: Sleep; Among My Souvenirs;
Fish Fry; Slow Freight; Passin’ It
Around; Serenade To A Sleeping
Beauty; Rocky Comfort; Forgive A
Fool; Bugle Call Rag; One O’Clock
Jump; 9.20 Special; Feedin’ The
Bean; Sleep (alt); Sleep (alt);
Among My Souvenirs (alt); Among
My Souvenirs (alt); Fish Fry (alt);
Fish Fry (alt); Slow Freight (alt);
Rocky Comfort (alt); 9.20 Special
(alt); Feedin’ The Bean (alt) (78.18)
CD7: Voodte; How Deep Is The
Ocean?; Hawkins’ Barrelhouse;
Stumpy; Lover Come back;
Indiana; Blues Changes; Crazy
Rhythm; Get Happy; The Man I
Love; Sweet Lorraine; All The
Things You Are; Shivers; Step On It;
Riding On 52nd Street; Memories
Of You; Willow Weep For me; Look
Here; Ghost of A Chance; Take It
On Back; When Day Is Done; Lover
Come Back (alt) (72.59)
CD8: Esquire Jump; Thanks For The
Memory; Hawk’s Variations Pt 1;
Hawk’s Variations Pt 2; Say It Isn’t So;
Spotlite; Indiana Winter; Indian
Summer; Sweet Lorraine; Sweet
Lorraine (alt); Sweet Lorraine (alt);
Sweet Lorraine (alt); Sweet Lorraine
(alt); Sweet Lorraine (alt); Sweet
Lorraine (alt); Nat Meets June; Nat
Meets June (alt); Nat Meets June
(alt); Nat Meets June (alt); Nat meets
June (alt); The Old Song; You Said
Goodbye; How Did She Look?; Under
A Blanket of Blue; Never In A Million
Years; You Were Meant For Me; April
In Paris; How Strange; Half Step
Down, Please; Angel Face; Jumping
For Jane; I Love You (78.14)
For personnels and full
discography, see
mosaicrecords.com
Mosaic MD8-251
!!!!!
First of all, there have been one or
two eccentric comments on Internet groups about the audio quality of some of Mosaic’s albums,
including this one. Please ignore
them. Mosaic’s sound recovery is
at the top level, and you’ve never
heard most of these 193 tracks in
so high a quality, whether it’s in
the horns or the rhythm instruments (Mosaic’s rhythm section
retrieval is so good that it can
change your opinion of the content and impact of the originals).
These recordings, from 20 labels
now owned by Sony and five in
the public domain, cover the main
part of Hawkins’s career throughout the 20s and into the 40s. His
European recordings of the 30s
(now owned by EMI) and the four
titles for the Joe Davis label with
Monk in October 1944 are not
here. Neither are some sides for
Commodore and Capitol, but, it
seems, most of the things that he
RECORD REVIEWS JAZZ JOURNAL
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recorded up to 1947 are, with the
notable exception of 1944. In that
year, Hawk recorded some of his
best work, mainly for Keynote
(with Buck, Shavers, Teddy Wilson et al), Apollo and EmArcy. I’ll
bet Mosaic would have loved to
have added a ninth CD of those.
During this period Hawk bestrode
the field of tenor saxophone playing and in the jazz hierarchy was
regarded as second only to Armstrong. Some people disliked his
bustling sound, saying that it was
simply Buster Bailey’s clarinet
style transferred to the tenor.
“What a relief,” said Wally Fawkes,
“when Chu Berry took over in the
Henderson band.” I can’t agree.
During his Henderson days
Hawkins honed the unique style,
which was to stand beside those of
Armstrong, Goodman and Tatum
as the landmarks for others to follow. Only from the recordings of
Armstrong could a matching collection of classics be assembled
and consequently, as most people
will agree, here is some of the best
improvised jazz you’ll ever hear.
Mentioning
improvised
jazz
reminds me that I welcome the 12
attempts at two titles by the 1946
Metronome All Stars (Sweet Lorraine and Nat Meets June), for they
were based on improvisation and
it’s fascinating to hear Hawkins,
Shavers, Hodges, Carney, Nat Cole
and the others reworking their
solos. Elsewhere Mosaic sensibly
applies their system of collecting
alternative takes at the end of each
CD. In this case I find the alternatives as absorbing as the original
issues. Some of the early Henderson tracks plod and even Hawk’s
solos on some of them aren’t brilliant, but we’re soon past them and
from the 1928 King Porter onwards
in the presence of a master.
I had thought I was familiar with
most things that Hawk had done,
but have been surprised by how
much of this collection I hadn’t
heard before. And it’s not just
Hawk who’s great. These discs are
crowded with brilliant work by
the other horns and pianists who
find themselves in his company.
The booklet, with the best assessment of Hawk’s work that I’ve
ever read, deserves an award on
its own. The notes are by Loren
Schoenberg, one of the finest
writers in the jazz field today and
are amongst the most erudite and
complementary to the music of
any of the Mosaic books. I haven’t
voted in our record poll for a couple of years, but this one’s enough
to bring me out of retirement!
Steve Voce
26 J A Z Z
FRANK HOLDER & SHANE
HILL
INTERPRETATIONS
Besame Mucho; Begin The
Beguine; You Are The Sunshine Of
My Life; Blues For John Dankworth;
Blue Moon; Careless Whisper;
Cherry; Fly Me To The Moon;
Somewhere Over The Rainbow;
Have You Seen Irene; It’s Just As
Hard From Me; Lady Be Good; Your
Temptation; I Cried For You; I’m In
The Mood For Love; Wave (75.54)
Frank Holder (v, pc); Dick Pearce
(flh); Peter King (as); Peter Cook
(vn); Shane Hill (g, uke); Val
Mannix (b); Noel Joyce (d).
London, 2011.
[email protected]
!!!
It just doesn’t seem possible that
this can be the voice of an 87-yearold man. Frank Holder was a good
singer 60 years ago, with the
Johnny Dankworth Seven, and he
has scarcely changed at all. In fact
I think he has improved, if anything, especially when it comes to
scat singing. As to the material,
there are certainly a few good ol’
good ones here, but everything is
not quite as it seems. Cherry, for
instance, isn’t Don Redman, it’s
Amy Winehouse, and I Cried For
You isn’t Arthur Freed and Gus
Arnheim, it’s Katie Melua. There’s
also a very nice Holder original and
two by Shane Hill. Add to that the
notable presence of Dick Pearce
and Peter King and some neat,
imaginative arrangements and the
result is one of the best self-produced CDs I’ve heard in a long
time. And, finally, isn’t it about
time that Frank Holder got some
kind of award? Lifetime Achievement? Human Phenomenon?
Dave Gelly
GARY HUSBAND
DIRTY & BEAUTIFUL, VOLUME 2
(1) If The Animals Had Guns Too;
(2) Rolling Sevens; (3) New Blues,
Old Bruise; (4) East River Jam; (5)
Fred 2011; (6) Rain; (7) Lock,
Stock & Two Smoking Brothers;
(8) Fuguie; (9) Sulley; (10)
JOURNAL RECORD REVIEWS
England Green; (11) Yesternow –
Epilogue (59.36)
Husband (d, kyb) with:
(1) Ray Russell (elg); Jimmy
Johnson (elb). (2) Mike Stern (elg);
Teymur Phell (elb). (3) Sean
Freeman (ts). (4) Wayne Krantz
(elg). (5) Allan Holdsworth (elg);
Jan Hammer (kyb); Jimmy
Johnson (elb). (6) Neil Taylor (g).
(7) Alex Machacek (elg, prog). (8)
GH himself. (9) John McLaughlin
(elg); Mark King (elb). (10) Jimmy
Herring (elg); Laurence Cottle
(elb). (11) Robin Trower (elg);
Livingstone Brown (elb). London,
Austria, LA, Isle of Wight, Monaco,
NY, 2011-12.
Abstract Logix ABLX 033
!!!!
Time was when fusion was
widespread and widely derided.
Still often derided, this most
musically revolutionary of jazz
genres (like many step changes, a
synthesis of innovation in style
and technology) is now an endangered species, though not if
people such as Husband (born
Leeds, 1960) and the valiant Souvik Dutta of ABLX can help it.
This second instalment of Husband’s gala fusion show presents a
set of likely and less likely scenarios. First among the surprises is an
appearance by Ray Russell, a man
with a jazz-rock pedigree but not
much heard of lately. Mike Stern,
unusually, deals with 7/4 on
Rolling Sevens and tears it up with
a fire reminiscent of his Cobham
and Miles days. New Blues introduces the highly capable, Breckerish saxophonist Sean Freeman.
East River Jam is one of the most
ostensibly contemporary tracks:
guitarist Wayne Krantz is 56 this
year but it’s hard to see any new,
equally distinctive guitar stylist on
the horizon. The same might be
said of Allan Holdsworth, whose
Fred is updated; but that isn’t AH
soloing, rather synthesist Jan
Hammer cloning a guitar solo,
string bends, wah-wah and all.
Rain is a Jan Hammer tune voiced
by Taylor’s lyrical rock guitar.
Lock, Stock takes us back to
bravura jazz-rock with guitarist
Alex Machacek. Fuguie is a lyrical
keyboard chorale before jazz-rock
returns on Sulley and England
Green, Jimmy Herring in the latter
offering some of the Holdsworthian legato absent from Fred
2011. There’s symmetry to close,
with Robin Trower, another premodern British player, mirroring
Ray Russell’s opening appearance.
What’s not to relish in music that
encompasses almost every technical and emotional expression
developed in postbop jazz?
Mark Gilbert
VIJAY IYER TRIO
ACCELERANDO
Bode; Optimism; The Star Of A
Story; Human Nature [trio
extension]; Wildflower; Mmmhmm;
Little Pocket Size Demons; Lude;
Accelerando; Actions Speak; The
Village Of The Virgins (59.43)
Vijay Iyer (p); Stephan Crump (b);
Marcus Gilmore (d). New York, 8-9
August 2011.
ACT 9524-2
!!!!
In a recent conversation with our
esteemed editor (Jazz Journal,
July 2012), Iyer spoke of his 20year quest to intuitively assimilate the rhythmic techniques of
South Indian classical music.
Whilst that distant heritage may
have been more overtly referenced on last year’s Tirtha, complex rhythmic displacements
remain strikingly apparent on
this, the first outing by Iyer’s regular trio since the highly
acclaimed Historicity (ACT, 2009).
Taking dance rhythms as its starting point, Accelerando repeatedly
displays the uncanny knack of
making difficult music approachable. On Little Pocket Size Demons,
for example, Henry Threadgill’s
characteristically churning theme
grows wings and soars over the
trio’s bouncing, lopsided grove.
Actions Speak displays Iyer’s
interest in contemporary composition, its spiky repetitions developing with the curiously drawn out
animation of minimalism. Human
Nature (associated with Michael
Jackson long before Miles got his
hands on it) gets an almost hymnal
reading before Gilmore steers it
progressively off-centre, whilst
Crump’s arco figures add a dreamy
quality to the vividly re-imagined
electronica of Flying Lotus’s
Mmmhmm.
Ellington’s Valley Of The Virgins
and Herbie Nichols’s Wildflower
take the most conventional routes
to swing, but on an album without a weak link it is the steadily
swelling crescendo of Lude and
the limping hip-hop gait of Heatwave’s Star Of A Story that are
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Record Reviews
my own particular highlights.
Undoubtedly one of the crucial
voices of his generation, Iyer with
each new release is pulling the
mainstream evermore left of centre, and an increasing range of
musical influences is passing
through his utterly unique lens.
Fred Grand
and underlines these ultramelodic improvisers’ uncanny
ability to bring a compositional
quality to their work. One detail
which distinguishes this release
from both Nude Ants and Personal Mountains is that, on Oasis,
Garbarek plays flute. Another is
that the packaging has some rare
and excellent black and white
shots of the quartet in action. For
me, it all adds up to a record of
the year.
Michael Tucker
RAHSAAN ROLAND KIRK
SPIRITS UP ABOVE: THE
ATLANTIC YEARS 1965-1976
KEITH JARRETT
SLEEPER
CD 1: Personal Mountains;
Innocence; So Tender (45.29)
CD 2: Oasis; Chant Of The Soil;
Prism; New Dance (61.31)
Keith Jarrett (p, pc); Jan Garbarek
(ts, ss, f, pc); Palle Danielsson (b);
Jon Christensen (d), Tokyo, 16 April
1979.
ECM 370 5570
More from the ECM vaults which
in 1989 gave us the Personal
Mountains April 1979 live Tokyo
set from the Belonging band, Jarrett’s so-called European (but
actually Nordic) quartet. For various reasons, many – including me
– rated that session much higher
than the band’s Village Vanguard
date of May 1979, released as
Nude Ants.
In his Keith Jarrett: The Man And
His Music (1991) Ian Carr
described Personal Mountains as
“amongst the finest live recordings in jazz”. Were this muchmissed polymath still with us, he
would surely say the same about
Sleeper – a superbly recorded
100+ minutes of free-flowing,
rhythmically potent and melodically arresting music, all written
by Jarrett and interpreted by one
of the most lucid and characterful
bands of its time. From the same
Japanese tour that generated Personal Mountains, this release has
more or less the same material,
minus the in-part shuffle fun of
Late Night Willie but with a
reflective new piece So Tender to
complement
the
purposive
grooves of Chant Of The Soil,
heard previously on Nude Ants.
While mostly familiar, the music
abounds in new accents and ideas
LP1: Making Love After Hours;
Roots; The Inflated Tear;
Lovellevelliloqui; Lady’s Blues;
Volunteered Slavery; Spirit’s Up
Above; Something For Trane That
Trane Could Have Said; Ain’t No
Sunshine; Blacknuss (41.14)
LP2: Do Nothing Till You Hear
From Me; Carney & Begard Place;
Seasons (One Mind Winter/
Summer/ Ninth Ghost); Freaks For
The Festival; Portrait Of Those
Beautiful Ladies; Three For The
Festival; Serenade To A Cuckoo
(37.37)
Collective personnel: Kirk (ts, f, cl,
bs, bar, mzo, str, ce, whistles, bells,
pc); Charles McGhee (t); Dick
Griffith (tb, bb); Harry Smiles (o);
Benny Powell (bb); Daniel Jones
(bn); Ron Burton, Sonelius Smith,
Lonnie Liston Smith, Jackie Byard,
Hank Jones (p); Hilton Ruiz,
Richard Tee, Arthur Jenkins (kyb);
Sonny Brown, Steve Gadd, John
Goldsmith, Grady Tate, Maurice
McKinley, Charles Crosby, Jimmy
Hopps, Harold White (d); Ron
Carter, Steve Novosel, Henry
Matathias Pearson, Major Holley,
Bill Salter; Vernon Martin, Francisco
Centino (b); Cornell Dupree, Keith
Loving, Hugh McCracken (elg);
Lawrence Killian, Ralph McDonald
(pc); Cissy Houston, Al Hibbler (v);
String Quintet & Gospel Choir. NYC
1965-1975, Newport Jazz Festival
1968, Montreux Jazz Festival 1972.
Warner Jazz 2564659141
(vinyl)
!!!!!
You know what, I miss Roland
Kirk. He was yet another near
CRAZY JAZZ
INTERNATIONAL MAIL ORDER CDs
PHONE 01604 716683
[email protected]
21 WAKEFIELD ROAD, NORTHAMPTON, NN2 7RW
Visit us on the web at www.crazyjazz.co.uk
CDS REVIEWED IN THIS ISSUE
JOE ALEXANDER – BLUE JUBILEE £10.95 / DOROTHY ASHBY – JAZZ HARPIST 3CD £30
AMMONS & STITT – BLUES UP & DOWN £10.95 / ROY ASSAF TRIO +...– RESPECT £14.95
BRUBECK – THEIR LAST TIME OUT 2CD £13.50 / BOOKER ERVIN – TEXAS TENOR 2CD £18
EDDIE LOCKJAW DAVIS & JOHNNY GRIFFIN – TOUGH TENORS AGAIN ‘N’ AGAIN £ 15.50
BILL EVANS – THE WAY TO PLAY 4CD £16 / ART FARMER – 4 CLASSIC ALBUMS 2CD £8.50
MAYNARD FERGUSON-CHRIS CONNOR – DOUBLE EXPOSURE + TWO’S COMPANY £10.95
GIGI GRYCE QNT 1960-1961 2CD £18 / COLEMAN HAWKINS – CLASSIC SESSIONS 8CD £150
KARIN KROG, ENRICO RAVA... – SWISS RADIO DAYS £14.50 / FLORATONE II £13.95
BREW MOORE – WEST COAST BREW £10.95 / GERRY MULLIGAN CJB – SANTA MONICA 2CD £18.00
BUCKY PIZZARELLI – CHALLIS IN WONDERLAND £13.95 / LUCY ANN POLK – BUT BEAUTIFUL £10.95
PEE WEE RUSSELL – 4 CLASSIC ALBUMS £8.50 / ZOOT SIMS – 4 CLASSIC ALBUMS £8.50
SINATRA-BASIE – COMPLETE REPRISE STUDIO £13.50 / BOB WILBER & HIS 3 AMIGOS £13.95
DAKOTA STATON – COMPLETE ’54-58 2CD £14.95 / TOOTS THIELEMANS – 90 YEARS CD + DVD £18
PHIL WOODS, STUFF SMITH, EDDIE DANIELS, LEO WRIGHT & THE JAZZ TRIO LIVE £14.50
BRITISH TRADITONAL JAZZ – A POTTED HISTORY 1936-1963 3CD £14.50
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------UK POSTAGE: 1 CD £1.25, 2-6 CDs £2.50. FREE ON ORDERS OVER £120.
genius who left us far too early
and was a unique soloist. Master
of many instruments he can be
heard on pretty well all of them at
some time during this anthology.
Who can forget the bluesdrenched sound of Roland’s
stritch and manzello, played
simultaneously and blasting out a
jazz sound that will probably
never be realised again? But to
anybody new to his music, if you
think the above made him a freak
or a fraud, think again. Kirk was
an original soloist with a sound, a
style and in his case, a totally
fresh approach to jazz. This twoLP set on 180-gram vinyl sounds
great although if you prefer you
can get it as a two-CD set on
Warner 2564659266.
Drenched in the blues and utilising
chants, calls and gospel devices on
some tracks, Kirk’s music echoes
much of what his former employer
Mingus was doing in the 50s
although Roland puts his own,
very personal slant on it all. His
flute sound is the very essence of
jazz and is pure Kirk. Feel the
blues power of Inflated Tear and
Making Love. Enjoy the emotive
blast of Volunteered Slavery. And
on the few tracks where Roland
plays just one instrument we hear
what an inventive, distinctive
tenor sax soloist he was. Ronnie
Scott said that Roland came to his
club with a nose flute and, later,
an ear flute. He wondered what
sort of flute Kirk would turn up
with next. Whatever, we may be
sure it would still have produced
great jazz.
Derek Ansell
KARIN KROG/ENRICO
RAVA/MIRIAM KLEIN/
JAZZ LIVE TRIO
SWISS RADIO JAZZ DAYS
1972/1974/1978
(1) Nightmare; Sing Me Softly Of
The Blues; Fontana Barberini;
Lament; (2) Improvised Sequence;
(3) Come Rain Come Shine; Little
Waltz; Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen; I
Love My Man (59.48)
Jazz Live Trio: Klaus Koenig (p, elp);
Peter Frei (b); Peter Schmidlin (d)
with: (1) Karin Krog (v). Zurich, 4
March 1972. (2) Enrico Rava (t).
Zurich 7 December 1974. (3)
Miriam Klein (v). Zurich, 4
November 1978.
TCB 02262
!!!!
Released on TCB, which styles
itself as The Montreux Jazz Label,
this excellent, superbly recorded
set of previously unavailable live
material from the 1970s features
radio broadcasts from Zurich. It is
number 26 in what the label calls
“Swiss Radio Days: Jazz Live Trio
Concert Series”. On this evidence,
the trio of Koening, Frei and
Schmidlin (all new names to me)
is more than worthy of such
extensive exposure. All three
come across as technically
assured, dynamically inventive
and poetically arresting players,
adroitly attuned both to each
other and the various needs of the
guests here. They caress the soulful, (middle period) Billie Holidayoriented Miriam Klein in a lovely
mainstream ballad programme
topped off by what many will
know as Billie’s Blues; help fire
up Karin Krog throughout the 20
minutes of what must rate as one
of her most satisfying blends of
the (jazz and classically-inflected)
RECORD REVIEWS JAZZ JOURNAL
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Record Reviews
avant-garde and the bluestouched mainstream – something
of a distillation of the many
achievements of her memorable,
diversely questing early 1970s
Philips release Different Days,
Different Ways, and including a
fine reading of J.J. Johnson’s
Lament – and prompt Enrico Rava
to flex muscle and mind throughout a potent 15-minute extract
from an entirely improvised piece,
as melodically inviting as it is
both dynamically arresting and
structurally satisfying. At first
glance, you might not think that
such a variegated release could be
much of an appealing listen, overall, but that is not the case here:
far from it.
Venezuela, a meteorological phenomenon offers a display of constant lightning every other
evening. As a metaphor for the
electric interplay between these
three musicians at the top of their
game, it’ll do just fine.
Dave Foxall
The whistly organ is a bugbear
that, alas, is ever present. Lytle
went on to make more saleable
albums for other labels, playing,
along the way, with, among others, Louis Armstrong, Hampton,
Wynton Kelly and Miles Davis,
but as the introductory notes indicate he never achieved iconic status in jazz. He died, aged 63, in his
native Springfield, Ohio, in 1995.
During his career he always found
time for community work and was
also involved in music education.
These early glimpses of his
fine musicianship are agreeable
despite the imperfect setting.
Mark Gardner
Michael Tucker
INGRID LAUBROCK, OLIE
BRICE, JAVIER CARMONA
CATATUMBO
Darkness Rarely Lasted Long;
Ribbons And Beads; The Fabric Of
Air; Cocuyos; Vientos Alisios (52.32)
Ingrid Laubrock (ts); Olie Brice (b);
Javier Carmona (d). London, 10
November 2010.
Babel BDV12103
!!!
Ingrid Laubrock seems to make a
habit of interesting and unpredictable collaborations and this
live set with Olie Brice and Javier
Carmona will appeal to those with
a place in their heart (or ear) for
freer jazz and improvised music.
The roots may be in the late 60s
and the free improv movement
but this trio sees that as a starting
point not a resting place and this
is an impressively exploratory yet
also pleasingly balanced performance. These are all long pieces –
no three-minute, unsustainable
frenzies here. In fact, the degree of
apparent structure in evidence
suggests the presence of elements
that are composed, however
loosely and it is this that retains
the attention in a way some live
recordings cannot.
The listener is never without a
sense of place. This is partly due
to the excellence of the production. Each instrument is so distinct in the mix that its
contributions can be clearly discerned and enjoyed – whether it’s
Brice’s thunderous yet precise
bass, Carmona’s masterful percussive interventions, or Laubrock’s
heavy yet cutting tone (particularly on Darkness Rarely Lasted
Long) which is perfectly suited to
filling the potentially wide open
spaces of the trio format. At the
mouth of the Catatumbo river in
28 J A Z Z
JOHNNY LYTLE
BLUE VIBES & HAPPY GROUND
(1) Blue Vibes; Over The Rainbow;
For Heaven’s Sake; Movin’ Nicely;
Autumn Leaves; Mister Strudel;
Canadian Sunset; (2) Lela; Secret
Love; When I Fall In Love; Tag
Along; It’s All Right With Me;
Happy Ground; My Funny
Valentine; Take The ‘A’ Train
(79.41)
(1) Johnny Lytle (vib); Milt Harris
(org); Albert Heath (d). NYC, 16
June, 1960. (2) Johnny Lytle (vib);
Milt Harris (org); William “Peppy”
Hinnant (d). NYC, 23 March, 1961.
Fresh Sound FSR-CD 696
!!!
Although not a vibes player of the
top drawer, Lytle earned enthusiastic endorsements from Lionel
Hampton and Milt Jackson, forging a moderately successful musical career having quit boxing
after notching 58 wins, suffering
only three defeats and twice
reigning as Golden Gloves Midwest champion.
The two sessions gathered on this
CD were his debut dates for Jazzland/Riverside. Unfortunately on
both, and many of his subsequent
releases, Lytle, who started out as
a drummer, favoured the trio format with organ and drums – not
necessarily the ideal showcase for
vibes. Unsurprisingly one of his
more listenable albums was a
quintet with Johnny Griffin and
Bobby Timmons. He plays spirited
blues and provides unhackneyed
views of the standards, especially
when assaying ballads like Over
The Rainbow and When I Fall In
Love, and his sound is quite individual. On Bags’s Movin’ Nicely
he does tip his cap to Milt Jackson
and appends a percussive tribute
to Hampton on Canadian Sunset.
JOURNAL RECORD REVIEWS
BREW MOORE
WEST COAST BREW
(1) [The Brew Moore Quintet]
Fools Rush In; Them There Eyes;
Tea For Two; Five Planets In Leo; I
Can’t Believe That You’re In Love
With Me; (2) Them Old Blues;
Rose; Rotation; I Want A Little Girl;
[Brew Moore] (3) Edison’s Lamp;
Nancy With The Laughing Face;
Rhode Island Red; Marna Moves;
Pat’s Batch; (4) Due’s Blues
(74.54)
down some stairs in Copenhagen
in 1973”. He was just 49. So this
album sub-titled “Quartet and
Quintet Sessions 1955-58”, reissued from two Fantasy LPs, highlights a somewhat shadowy figure
of obvious appeal who spurned
his potential. Sadly, therefore, he
might have been quite a success
on today’s jazz festival circuit, fitting naturally into the nomadic
lifestyle with his clear ability to
impart uncomplicated, swinging
enjoyment.
Of these earlier outings as a leader,
the quartet shots – particularly Tea
For Two and Five Planets – display
that warmness of tone and a legato
style that builds tension without
ever
sounding
dangerously
aggressive. He fronted a popular
West Coast combo with local
tenorist Harold Wylie, playing the
sort of music you’d be lucky to
come across on a weekend evening
when you were out for spare ribs
and beer. On tracks 10-14 you can
almost call for the barbecue sauce.
The people at the next table don’t
necessarily like jazz, but they dig
this. It’s the kind of music that
doesn’t ask too much of you
beyond a response to rhythm and
an appreciation of quality. I’m glad
it’s been preserved.
Anthony Troon
Brew Moore (ts) with:
(1) John Marabuto (p); Eddie
Duran (g, #1); Max Harstein (b);
Gus Gustafson (d). San Francisco,
August 1955 (#1) and 15 January
1956. (2) add Dick Mills (t). San
Francisco, 22 February 1956. (3)
Harold Wylie (ts); Marabuto (p);
John Mosher (b); John Markham
(d). SF, 5 November 1957. (4) Cal
Tjader (vib); Vince Guaraldi (p);
Dean Reilly (b); Bobby White (d).
LA, January 1958.
Fresh Sound FSR-CD 705
!!!
This man was a true maverick, a
wandering minstrel of the sax
with a liquid and affecting tone
and a lyrical approach suggesting
an afterlife Lester Young.
Although he had some biggerband exposure with people like
Allen Eager and Stan Getz, he
never seemed to stay in one place
for long enough to put down
roots and, as the Penguin Guide
reminds us, he “died when he fell
GERRY MULLIGAN AND
THE CONCERT JAZZ BAND
SANTA MONICA 1960
CD1: Utter Chaos; Out Of This
World; Black Nightgown; 18
Carrots For Rabbit; Piano Blues;
Bweebida Bwobbida; The Red
Door; Western Reunion (57.52)
CD2: Utter Chaos; You Took
Advantage Of Me; As Catch Can;
Sweet And Slow; Young Blood; My
Funny Valentine; Apple Core;
Come Rain Or Come Shine; Go
Home; Blueport; Utter Chaos
(63.36)
Don Ferrara, Conte Candoli, Nick
Travis (t); Willie Dennis (tb); Bob
Brookmeyer (vtb, p); Alan Raph
(btb); Gene Quill (as, cl); Bob
Donovan (as); Jim Reider, Zoot
Sims (ts); Gerry Mulligan (bar, p);
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Record Reviews
course is one of his finest ballads.
Performing it a week later in Sweden he dedicated Strayhorn to
Lars Gullin who had died a year
earlier. He called him “My friend
and brother”. His big band
arrangement of the exciting K-4
Pacific – a frequent concert closure – is brilliantly replicated here
by the sextet.
Gene Allen (bar, bcl); Buddy Clark
(b); Mel Lewis (d). Santa Monica,
California, 1 October 1960.
GERRY MULLIGAN SEXTET
Fresh Sound FSR-CD 710
For An Unfinished Woman; Line
For Lyons; My Funny Valentine;
Idol Gossip; Out Back Of The Barn;
Night Lights; Song For Strayhorn;
Satin Doll; K-4 Pacific (68.32)
!!!!!
Here at last is Gerry Mulligan’s
long awaited Santa Monica concert released in full. Go Home, Red
Door and Come Rain Or Come
Shine were included on his On
Tour album and the CJB Mosaic
box set featured those tracks
together with As Catch Can,
Young Blood and Blueport. Everything else here is now available
for the first time.
Guest soloist Zoot Sims adds a frisson of excitement whenever he is
centre stage especially on Go Home
and Apple Core. The latter, based on
Love Me Or Leave Me, finds him at
his most compelling on a barnstorming performance that soars
from one creative peak to another
over an exciting stop-time ensemble passage. The irrepressible Conte
Candoli, who left the band two
months later, makes the most of
Young Blood and As Catch Can. The
latter is a Rhythm chart with a chromatically descending bridge which
he has pretty much all to himself.
By 1960 the evolution in Mulligan’s career was complete. No
longer primarily a writer and occasional player he was established as
a virtuoso performer who contributed very few original charts to
the CJB. The arrangements were
collaborative affairs with the
leader editing other writers’ work
and prompting Bob Brookmeyer to
remark “We’re having a rehearsal
tomorrow, bring your erasers!”
LEGENDS LIVE
Inevitably Mulligan dominates
proceedings with all the authority
of an elder statesman but his colleagues make significant solo
contributions, especially Mike
Santiago on Idol Gossip and K-4
Pacific.
Gordon Jack
Gerry Mulligan (bar); Dave
Samuels (vib); Thomas Fay (p);
Mike Santiago (elg); George
Duvivier (b); Bobby Rosengarden
(d). Liederhalle, Stuttgart, 22
November 1977.
!!!!
There are many moods reflected
here from the drama of Unfinished Woman with its repeated
two-chord vamp to the trip down
memory lane represented by Line
For Lyons. Idol Gossip, which has
a delicate three-way canon after
the leader’s choruses, is a fresh
look at that old jam session
favourite Bernie’s Tune. Out Back
Of The Barn – a 16-bar sequence
with a tag – inspires some pretty
extrovert blowing contrasting
with the ethereal quality of Night
Lights. Song For Strayhorn of
ART PEPPER
THE QUINTESSENCE: LOS
ANGELES 1950 -1960
CD1: [1950 -1957] (1) Art Pepper;
(2) Dynaflow; (3) Sam And The
Lady; Over The Rainbow; (4) Surf
Ride; These Foolish Things; (5)
Tickle Toe; Everything Happens To
Me; (6) Bunny; (7) Boar-Jibu; (8)
You And The Night And The Music;
(9) Straight Life; Art’s Oregano;
What’s New (10) Walkin’ Out The
Blues; (11) Besame Mucho; (12)
Aretha; (13) Diane-A-Flow; (14)
Blues Out (70.02)
CD2: [1956 -1960] (15) Blues In;
(16) Yardbird Suite; You’re Driving
Me Crazy; (17) Imagination; You’d
Be So Nice To Come Home To;
(18) Surf Ride; Summertime; (19)
Lady Like; (20) Walkin’ Shoes;
(21) Too Close For Comfort; (22)
Anthropology; Groovin’ High; (23)
Move; (24) Violets For Your Furs;
(25) Diane (72.13)
Art Pepper (as, ts, cl, bar) with:
Five stars do not do justice to this
CD, which serves as a reminder of
what jazz lost when Mulligan disbanded the CJB in 1964 due to lack
of bookings. Ira Gitler said it best:
“If this band cannot work when it
wants to, there is something very
wrong with the state of music in
America”.
(1) Chico Alvarez, Buddy Childers,
Maynard Ferguson, Don Palladino
(t); Shorty Rogers (t, arr); Milt
Bernhardt, Harry Betts, Bob
Fitzpatrick, Bill Russo, Bart
Varsalona (tb); John Graas, Lloyd
Otto (c, frh); Bud Shank (as, f); Bob
Cooper (ts, ob); Bert Calderall (ts,
bassoon); Bob Gioga (bar); Stan
Kenton (p, cond); Laurindo
Almeida (g); Don Bagley (b);
Gene Englund (tu); Shelly Manne
(d), plus 15 strings. Hollywood, 18
May 1950.
Gordon Jack
(2) as (1) with strings out plus John
30 J A Z Z
JOURNAL RECORD REVIEWS
(3) Shorty Rogers (t, arr); John
Graas (c, frh); Gene Englund (tu);
Jimmy Giuffre (ts); Hampton
Hawes (p); Don Bagley (b); Shelly
Manne (d). Los Angeles, 8
October 1951.
(4) Hampton Hawes (p); Joe
Mondragon (b); Larry Bunker (d).
Los Angeles, 4 March 1952.
(5) Russ Freeman (p); Bob
Whitlock (b); Bobby White (d).
Hollywood, 8 October 1952.
(6) as (3) plus Milt Bernhardt (tb);
Joe Mondragon (b) replaces Don
Bagley. Hollywood, 12 January
1953.
(7) Shorty Rogers (t, arr); Tom
Reeves, Conrad Gozzo, Maynard
Ferguson, John Howell (t); Harry
Betts, Milt Bernhardt, John
Haliburton (tb); John Graas (c,
frh); Gene Englund (tu); Bud
Shank (as); Jimmy Giuffre (ts); Bob
Cooper (bar); Marty Paich (p);
Curtis Counce (b); Shelly Manne
(d). Hollywood, 26 March 1953.
(8) Bob Enevoldsen (vtb); Bob
Cooper (ts); Jimmy Giuffre (bar);
Marty Paich (p); Curtis Counce
(b); Shelly Manne (d); Bill Russo
(arr). Los Angeles, 6 April 1953.
Jazzhaus 101 700
This previously unissued CD features Gerry Mulligan performing
seven originals and two standards
with a similar rhythm section to
the one he used on his Age Of
Steam album. It is often forgotten
that the grace and elegance he
brought to the notoriously
unwieldy baritone was also
reflected in his writing because
together with Benny Golson and
Horace Silver he was one of the
finest jazz songwriters of his era.
Howell, Ray Wetzel (t), Dick Kenny
(tb) replace Childers, Palladino
and Russo. Hollywood, 28 March
1951.
(9) Jack Montrose (ts); Claude
Williamson (p); Monte Budwig
(b);Larry Bunker (vib). Los Angeles,
25 August 1953.
(10) Jack Sheldon (t); Russ
Freeman (p); Leroy Vinnegar (b);
Shelly Manne (d). Los Angeles,
August 1956.
(11) Russ Freeman (p); Ben Tucker
(b); Gary Frommer (d). Los
Angeles, August 1956.
(12) Ted Brown, Warne Marsh (ts);
Ronnie Ball (p); Ben Tucker (b); Jeff
Morton (d). Los Angeles, 26
November 1956.
(13) Bill Perkins (ts); Jimmy Rowles
(p); Ben Tucker (b); Mel Lewis (d).
Los Angeles, 11 December 1956.
(14) Ben Tucker (b). Los Angeles,
14 January 1957.
(15) as (14) but recorded Los
Angeles, 28 December 1956.
(16) Red Norvo (vib); Gerry
Wiggins (p); Howard Roberts (g);
Ben Tucker (b); Joe Morello (d).
Los Angeles, 3 January 1957.
(17) Red Garland (p); Paul
Chambers (b); Philly Joe Jones
(d). Los Angeles, 19 January 1957.
(18) Carl Perkins (p); Ben Tucker
(b); Chuck Flores (d). Hollywood, 1
April 1957.
(19) Bob Cooper (ts, o); Claude
Williamson (p); Monty Budwig (b);
Stan Levey (d). Hollywood, 8 July
1957.
(20) John Graas (c, frh); Paul Moer
(p); Buddy Clark (b); Shelly Manne
(d). Hollywood, 13 August 1957.
(21) Frank Beach (t); Stu
Williamson (t, vtb); Bob Enevoldsen
(vtb, ts); George Roberts (tb);
Vince De Rosa (c, frh); Bill Perkins
(ts); Jimmy Giuffre (bar); Marty
Paich (p); Scott LaFaro (b); Mel
Lewis (d); Vic Feldman (vib, pc).
Los Angeles, February 1959.
(22) Al Porcino; Jack Sheldon (t);
Dick Nash (tb); Bob Enevoldsen
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Record Reviews
(vtb, ts); Vince De Rosa (c, frh);
Bud Shank (as); Bill Perkins (ts); Mel
Flory (bar); Russ Freeman (p); Joe
Mondragon (b); Mel Lewis (d);
Marty Paich (arr, cond).
Hollywood, 28 March 1959.
(23) as (22) but Charles Kennedy
(as), Richie Kamuca (ts) replace
Shank and Perkins.
(24) Jack Sheldon, Al Porcino,
Conte Candoli (t); Bob Enevoldsen
(vtb); George Roberts (btb); Vince
De Rosa (c, frh); Bill Perkins (ts); Bill
Hood (bar); Russ Freeman (p); Joe
Mondragon (b); Mel Lewis (d); Vic
Feldman (vib, pc); Marty Paich
(arr, cond). Los Angeles, 7 July
1959.
(25) Wynton Kelly (p); Paul
Chambers (b); Jimmy Cobb (d).
Hollywood, 29 February 1960.
Frémeaux & Associés FA288
!!!!!
This was a restless, fickle decade
for Pepper. The quality of his
music during this period is amazing, when you consider the instability of his private life. This set
captures magnificently the sheer
variety of settings that Pepper
recorded in during this troubled
time. From the big, brassy
arrangements of the Stan Kenton
orchestra, through to more intimate quartet and duo performances, Art sounds remarkably
fluid and inventive.
Much of the material will be
familiar to Pepper aficionados,
and inevitably there are some
tracks here from two of his best
known recordings during this
period: Meets The Rhythm Section
and Plus Eleven. The comprehensive personnel listing for the various recording sessions and
combinations reads like a who’s
who of West Coast jazz, making it
a fascinating snapshot of the
wider scene as well as a comprehensive retrospective of Pepper’s
output.
Many of the songs here became
extended, reworked testaments to
Pepper’s survival later in his
career, especially during his last
years when he was recorded prolifically on the Galaxy label. By
then, he’d embellished his sound
with even more emotion and pain,
but the blueprint for those last
outpourings started here, which is
why this is such an important set.
The accompanying liner notes are
a little clumpy in translation from
the French original, but with
remastered sound and music this
good, it’s only a small niggle.
Thirty years on from Pepper’s
death, this release is a timely
reminder of just how good he was,
and just how fresh he still sounds.
John Adcock
BUCKY PIZZARELLI
CHALLIS IN WONDERLAND
(1) Sunday; (2) Sugar; (3) Challis
In Wonderland; (1) Davenport
Blues; (3) In The Dark; (3)
Romanza; (1) Singing The Blues;
(4) In A Mist; (5) Oh Baby; (1)
Sugar; (4) Candlelights; (3)
What’s New; (1) I’m Coming
Virginia; (4) Flashes (64.36)
(1) Bucky Pizzarelli (g); Jerry Bruno
(b); Dick Lieb Strings: (Aaron
Weinstein (feat. vn); Svetlana
Tsoneva (vn); Olivia Koppell (vla);
Jesse Levy (clo). NYC, 28 & 29
March 2011. (2) Bucky Pizzarelli
(g); Bruno (b); Weinstein (vn). (3)
Bucky Pizzarelli (g); John Pizzarelli
(g). NYC, 15 August 2010. (4)
Bucky Pizzarelli (g) Bruno (b). (5)
Bucky Pizzarelli (g); Weinstein
(mand); Bruno (b).
Arbors ARCD 19435
!!!!
This is a somewhat unusual album
in that it presents what is really
music from the 1920s in a very
different setting. A third of the
tracks feature veterans, Pizzarelli
and Bruno supported by a string
quartet in arrangements by Dick
Lieb with excellent violin contributions from Aaron Weinstein
who also is given plenty of solo
space on Sugar and shines on my
favourite track unusually playing
jazz mandolin on Oh Baby. Four
father and son duets are also
included with the title track, composed by Bucky, and the Zez Confrey tune, Romanza, which whilst
not associated with either Beiderbecke or Challis, originates from
the period and fits the change
from piano to a pair of guitars
perfectly. The Beiderbecke composition In A Mist is performed as
an absolutely delightful solo.
This is certainly an album which
should delight any lover of gentle,
relaxed but swinging guitar jazz
performed by a master of the art
ably supported in a variety of
settings. It also shows that the musical compositions of Bix Beiderbecke, (five compositions are
featured here), and the arrangements of Bill Challis can really stand
the test of time. The lesser known
Candlelights and Flashes are simply
lovely. Also, you do not have to be
a jazz fan to enjoy this!
Jerry Brown
LUCY ANN POLK
BUT BEAUTIFUL
(3) [Lucky Lucy Ann] Sitting In The
Sun; How About You; I’m Just A
Lucky So And So; Squeeze Me;
When The Sun Comes Out; Makin’
Whoopee; Don Cha Go Way Mad;
RECORD REVIEWS JAZZ JOURNAL
31
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Record Reviews
Just A-Sittin’ And A-Rockin’;
Memphis In June; Time After Time;
Easy Living; Looking At You; (1)
[Lucy Ann Polk] But Beautiful;
Swinging On A Star; It’s Always
You; Aren’t You Glad You’re You; It
Could Happen To You; Darn That
Dream; Imagination; Polka Dots
And Moonbeams; (2) Wrap Your
Troubles In Dreams; Memphis In
June (59.04)
Polk (v) with:
(1) Dave Pell Octet: Pell (ts, engh);
Don Fagerquist (t); Ray Sims (tb);
Ronny Lang (f, as, bar); Claude
Williamson (p); Rizzi (g); Rolly
Bundock (b), Jack Sperling (d);
Shorty Rogers, Wes Hensel (arr).
(2) Marty Paich Quartet: Paich (p,
arr); Howard Roberts (g); Ralph
Peña (b); Frank de Vito (d).
Hollywood, 6 August 1956.
(3) Marty Paich Sextet: Paich (p,
arr); Dick Noel (t); Bob Hardaway
(ts); Tony Rizzi (g); Buddy Clark (b);
Mel Lewis (d). Hollywood, 6 August
1957.
Fresh Sound FSR-CD 708
!!!
By the time of her death in October 2011, Lucy Ann Polk was all
but forgotten. In one sense, this
was her choice, because in the
mid-1950s she bowed out of her
singing career in favour of her
marriage (to trombonist Dick
Noel). Yet in another sense it is
highly regrettable that the pop
music world at large should have
allowed her to drift from mind.
Although it would stretch the definition too far to label her as a
jazz singer, Polk was one of that
number who worked extremely
well with jazz accompaniment.
Same can also be said for her
work in a swing band context,
evidenced by her admirable association with Les Brown. The two
LPs presented here certainly
demonstrate this quality. A casual
glance at the personnel of the two
bands, made up as they are of
West Coast stars and tellingly
arranged, raises expectations and
they are indeed a delight to hear.
Day, her predecessor with Brown.
In later years, Polk was remarried,
to baritone saxophonist Marty
Berman, and she made occasional
appearances at reunions of Les
Brown alumni and with Pell. The
(2) tracks are from the Stars Of
Jazz TV show; I should also mention that Lucky Lucy Ann was rereleased at one time as Easy
Livin’. Very agreeable music and
the Friends of Good Songs should
love it.
Bruce Crowther
ERIC REED
THE BADDEST MONK
(1) The Baddest Monk; (2) Green
Chimneys; Monk’s Mood;
Evidence; (3) ‘Round Midnight;
(4) Monk Beurre Rouge;
(5)Rhythm-a-ning; Epistrophy;
Bright Mississippi (53.36)
(1) Eric Reed (p). (2) Add Matt
Clohesy (b); Henry Cole (d). (3)
Add José James (v). (4) As (2),
add Seamus Blake (ts). (5) as (4),
add Etienne Charles (t). NYC, 5
December 2011.
Savant SCD 2118
!!!!
Describing the music heard here
as “sort of untamed”, Eric Reed
claims “we had our way with
Monk”. What that most egocentric of jazz giants would have
made of it one can only guess. The
truth remains that, while variants
on time-honoured interpretations
abound and Reed, whose background
includes
historical
reworkings alongside Wynton
Marsalis, rarely attempts to cover
for Monk either as soloist or when
backing the ensemble, the essential spirit of the composer keeps
shining through. As, indeed, one
should hope.
Of the trio performances, Evidence
receives the most Monkish treatment. On the other hand, Reed
romps through Green Chimneys
somewhat in the manner of
McCoy Tyner and gets rhapsodic
on Monk’s Mood. An intriguing
conjunction of tunes by the quintet, the vaguely hip-hop beat used
to underpin a rejigged Rhythm-aning seems to edge it closer to the
Polk’s voice is clear and fresh and
creates a distinct impression of
good-natured joy in singing.
Additionally, she is always rhythmic, a quality shared with Doris
32 J A Z Z
JOURNAL RECORD REVIEWS
following, and more faithfully
cast, Epistrophy than one would
expect. In place of solo sequences,
trumpet, tenor and bass interchange in short bursts alongside
the piano.
Another crafty pairing slots the
third quintet piece Bright Mississippi right after Reed’s own Monk
Beurre Rouge. Grafted on to the
former, given a 7/4 beat, is the
kind of Caribbean lilt suited to the
title’s New Orleans connotations.
This carries over from the quartet
track, a relaxed stroll on which
Blake reaches for high notes to
great effect. Taken as a whole,
recommended to Thelonious
Monk fans and well beyond.
Ronald Atkins
JIMMY RUSHING
FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS
CD1: [The Smith Girls] (1)
Arkansas Blues; Downhearted
Blues; How Come You Do Me Like
You Do; Crazy Blues; Squeeze Me;
Trouble In Mind; Muddy Water;
Gulf Coast Blues; Everybody Loves
My Baby; Shipwrecked Blues; [The
Jazz Odyssey Of Jimmy Rushing]
(2) New Orleans; Tricks Ain’t
Walkin’ No More; Baby Won’t You
Please Come Home; Piney Brown
Blues; Taint Nobody’s Biz-ness If I
Do; I’m Gonna Move To The
Outskirts Of Town; Careless Love;
Doctor Blues; Rosetta; Lullaby Of
Broadway; Old-Fashioned Love;
Some Of These Days; I Left My
Baby; Where Were You (72.23)
CD2: [Little Jimmy Rushing And
The Big Brass] (3) I’m Coming
Virginia; Knock Me A Kiss; Harvard
Blues; Mister Five By Five; Trav’lin
Light; June Night; It’s A Sin To Tell
A Lie; Rosalie; Jimmy’s Blues;
Someday Sweetheart; When
You’re Smiling; Somebody Stole
My Gal; [Brubeck and Rushing]
(4) There’ll Be Some Changes
Made; My Melancholy Baby; Blues
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Record Reviews
In The Dark; I Never Knew; Ain’t
Misbehavin’; Evenin’; All By
Myself; River, Stay Way From My
Door; You Can Depend On Me; Am
I Blue; Go Get Some More; Hi-OSylvester; The Way I Feel (71.92)
Jimmy Rushing (v) with:
(1) Buck Clayton (t); Coleman
Hawkins (ts); Buster Bailey (cl); Dicky
Wells or Benny Morton (tb); Claude
Hopkins (p); Everett Barksdale (g);
Gene Ramsey (b); Jimmy Crawford
(d). NYC, July 1960.
(2) (from) Clayton, Billy Butterfield,
Ed Lewis, Ernie Royal (t); Vic
Dickenson, Urbie Green, Dickie
Wells (tb); Tony Parenti (cl); Hilton
Jefferson, Rudy Powell (as); Buddy
Tate, Budd Johnson (ts); Danny
Banks, Dave McRae (bar); Hank
Jones (p); Milt Hinton, Walter Page
(b); Skeeter Best, Steve Jordan (g);
Jo Jones, Zutty Singleton (d). NYC,
6-7 November 1956.
(3) Clayton, Emmett Berry, Doc
Cheatham, Mel Davis (t); Frank
Rehak, Dicky Wells, Urbie Green
(tb); Earle Warren, Rudy Powell
(as); Buddy Tate, Coleman
Hawkins (ts); Danny Banks (bar);
Nat Pierce (p); Danny Barker (g);
Milt Hinton (b); Osie Johnson (d).
NYC, February 1958.
(4) Paul Desmond (as); Dave
Brubeck (p); Eugene Wright (b);
Joe Morello (d). NYC, January,
February, August 1960.
Avid AMSC1057
!!!
This Avid set, as well as amply
illustrating Mr Five By Five’s
prowess as a blues singer – and
much more – also provides
glimpses into life at the sharp end
for American blacks in the decade
before World War Two. I’ve
admired Rushing since the 50s,
and what further impresses me
about this set is all the backup
contributions by people like Buck
Clayton, Coleman Hawkins and
that somewhat underrated tenor,
Buddy Tate. Heard again after half
a century, Little Jimmy Rushing
and The Big Brass sounds just
as impressive as when I first
acquired it on black shellac.
Moving on a couple of years,
there’s a rather lighter note,
though the band got bigger. Even
though Jimmy complains that
Somebody Stole My Gal, the mood
is not quite so bleak. This was the
first Rushing disc I ever bought
and it still sounds pretty good to
me. Look at that list of participants, including people like Urbie
Green, Coleman Hawkins and Nat
Pierce. A favourite is Harvard
Blues, with some classic lines (“I
don’t keep dogs or women in my
room”). There are some fine
arrangements by Pierce, Clayton
and Jimmy Mundy. Unfortunately
Emmett Berry’s trumpet solo in
Jimmy’s Blues is almost inaudible.
The fourth disc rather curiously
partners Rushing with Dave
Brubeck. Paul Desmond on alto is
as ever elegant, but this wasn’t
really his scene. Brubeck seems
hesitant, playing minimal piano,
doing a few of his party tricks,
stabbing at the keyboard, and finishes Ain’t Misbehavin’ on a cold
and inappropriate major seventh.
“Every minute seems like an
hour” sings Rushing somewhere
along the way. Right.
John Chadwick
PEE WEE RUSSELL
FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS
CD1: [Jazz At Storyville Vol 1/2]
(1) Love Is Just Around The
Corner; Squeeze Me; Ballin’ The
Jack/; I Would Do Anything For
You; California Here I Come; St
James Infirmary; Baby, Won’t You
Please Come Home; The Lady’s In
Love With You; Struttin’ With Some
Barbecue; St Louis Blues; Sweet
Lorraine; Sentimental Journey; If I
Had You; Coquette; The Lady Is A
Tramp; [Pee Wee Russell Plays
Pee Wee] (2) Muskeegie Blues;
Pee’s Wee’s Song; Exactly Like
You (79.49)
CD2: [Portrait Of Pee Wee] (3)
That Old Feeling; I’ve Got The
World On A String; Exactly Like
You; It All Depends On You; If I
Had You/Out Of Nowhere; Pee
Wee’s Blues; I Used To Love You;
Oh No!; [Pee Wee Russell Plays]
(4) Pee Wee’s Blues; What’s The
Pitch; Dreamin’ And Schemin’;
Cutie Pie; Oh No; Pee Wee’s
Song; Oh Yes; Missy; Are You
Here?; Write Me A Love Song
Baby; This Is It; But Why?; (2) I’d
Climb The Highest Mountain
(78.55)
Pee Wee Russell (cl) with:
(1) Ruby Braff (t); Ephy Resnick
(tb); Red Richards (p); John Field
(b); Kenny John (d). Boston,
January 1952.
(2) Nat Pierce (p); Walter Page
(b); George Wettling (d). New
York, 1957.
(3) Ruby Braff (t); Vic Dickenson
(tb); Bud Freeman (ts); Nat Pierce
(p, arr); Charles Potter (b); Karl
Kiffe (d). New York, 18-19 February
1958.
(4) Buck Clayton (t); Vic Dickenson
(tb); Bud Freeman (ts); Dick Cary
(p); Eddie Condon (g); Bill Takas
(b); George Wettling (d). New
York, 23-24 February 1959.
Avid AMSC1056
!!!!!
Russell and Braff apart, the line-up
for the opening set isn’t exactly
exciting but never fear. Resnick’s
trombone is more than adequate
and great in ensembles while
Richards’ piano was a revelation to
me back then while Field’s and
John’s obvious enthusiasm is
splendid. The band gets stuck in
with great vigour and you soon get
the feeling that the crowd in the
Buckminster Hotel was very
happy.
We then move to the three tracks
which make three quarters of the
“plus” in the set’s title. Nat Pierce is
a fine pianist, Steve Jordan more
than adequate and I don’t have to
say anything you don’t already
know about Page and Wettling.
The kick-off is a Russell piece gently but firmly played as is the Song.
Exactly Like You has you aiming it
at someone for whom you have
more than a little affection. That’s
there again when you reach the
last track on the second disc.
Which brings us to a brace of good
sessions from, firstly, Braff and
Dickenson and Freeman and
excellent piano and arrangements
from Pierce. They work wonderfully with Russell on seven ballads
the men obviously enjoy playing.
There’s another heart stirrer in Pee
Wee Blues and a closing with Oh
No!, a typical Pee Wee oddment
bringing forth more chuckles. The
Yes piece in the fourth session is
just as good. Vic Dick and Bud F
are happily still there and no one
ever complains about Clayton’s
trumpet work. You can hear Condon’s reliable rhythm guitar here
and there and there are fine pianistics from Cary.
Bert Whyatt
TERJE RYPDAL
ODYSSEY IN STUDIO & IN
CONCERT
CD1: (1) Darkness Falls; Midnite;
Adagio; Better Off Without You
(41.00)
CD2: Over Birkerot; Fare Well;
Ballade; Rolling Stone (46.17)
CD3: (2) Unfinished Highballs; The
Golden Eye; Scarlet Mistress;
Dawn; Dine And Dance To The
Music Of The Waves; Talking Back;
Bright Lights – Big City (68.00)
(1) Terje Rypdal (elg, syn, ss);
Torbjørn Sunde (tb); Brynjulf Blix
(syn, org, elp); Sveinung Hovensjø
(elb); Svein Christiansen (d). Oslo,
August 1975.
(2) as (1) but Rypdal (elg, g, syn,
ss); Sunde out; Swedish Radio
Jazz Group (Georg Riedel & Terje
Rypdal: conductors): Ulf Adaker
(t, flh); Bertil Lovgren (t, flh);
Americo Bellotto (t, flh); Hakan
Nyquist (frh, t); Ivar Olsen (frh);
Claus Rosendahl (as, cl); Ulf
Andersson (ts, f, af, picc); Lennart
Aberg (ss, f); Erik Nilsson (bcl, f);
Sven Larson (btb, tu); Torgny
Nilson (tb); Bengt Hallberg (clo,
hp, mellotron); Georg Riedel (b);
Stefan Brolund (b); Egil Johansen
(d, pc). Estrad, Sodertalje, June
1976.
ECM 279 4566
Although Rypdal can be heard in
boppish mode on a late 60s track
like Wes (from his pre-ECM
Bleak House release) by the time
of Odyssey his efforts to recast
melody, harmony and rhythm in
pursuit of a broader concept
of time and space had long
embraced elements of postHendrix rock, classical music
and contemporary composition.
From the distilled adagio yearning that is the opening Falls to
the expansive rock-like repeats
of the concluding Stone, Odyssey
shows this quest for a new poetics: for fresh sounds (e.g. Rypdal’s diversely sustained tone on
guitar and the blend of it with
Sunde’s trombone) and new
rhythmic frames (hear the shifting phases in the interaction of
Blix, Hovensjo and Christiansen).
While it is good to have all of
Odyssey available again – a previous single CD reissue omitted
Stone – the real news here is the
first-time release of the Unfinished Highballs suite. Here the
Odyssey band, minus Sunde, is
joined by the 15-strong Swedish
Radio Jazz Group in an extraordinary 1976 performance of
what must rate as one of Rypdal’s most expansive or inclusive
– and successful – works. With
spot-on playing all round this
orchestrally conceived work
embraces both tonality and outside playing, jazz, classical and
rock phrasing. Blocks of savagely building sound contrast
with moments of refined lyricism; relaxed bars of swinging
albeit chromatically rinsed jazz
set up some classic passages of
“stretched” melody from Rypdal,
as in the concluding Lights.
Unmissable magic, topped off by
John Kelman’s wide-ranging and
informative sleeve essay.
Michael Tucker
RECORD REVIEWS JAZZ JOURNAL
33
Rec Revs_0812JJ
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2:59 pm
Page 34
Record Reviews
inclusion of Down Home,
arguably Zoot’s finest album as a
leader and a record which has
long been a favourite of this
reviewer. Even warhorses like Bill
Bailey are turned into something
magical and thankfully Sims’s
unflappable sense of swing isn’t
disturbed by Dannie Richmond’s
cavalier approach to time.
ZOOT SIMS
FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS
CD1: [Stretching Out] (1) Stretching
Out; Now Will You Be Good; Pennies
From Heaven; King Porter; Ain’t
Misbehavin’; Bee Kay; [Starring Zoot
Sims] (2) Captain Jetter; Nuzzolese
Blues; Everything I Love; Evening In
Paris; On The Alamo; My Old Flame;
Little Jon Special; [Down Home] (3) Bill
Bailey; Goodnight Sweetheart (79.58)
CD2: (3) Jive At Five; Doggin’
Around; Avalon; I Cried For You;
There’ll Be Some Changes Made;
I’ve Heard That Blues Before; [The
Jazz Soul Of Porgy and Bess] (4)
Summertime; A Woman Is A
Sometimes Thing; My Man’s Gone
Now; It Take A Long Pull To Get
There; I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’; Bess,
You Is My Woman; It Ain’t
Necessarily So; Medley (Minor
Themes); I Loves You Porgy; Clara,
Clara; There’s A Boat That’s Leavin’
Soon For New York; Oh Bess, Oh
Where’s My Bess; Oh Lawd, I’m On
My Way (79.51)
Starring Zoot Sims is another informal set, recorded during the Mulligan sextet’s stopover in Paris and
boasting a good helping of Jon Eardley’s perky-toned trumpet. The high
spot is Zoot’s reading of My Old
Flame, with the tenorist’s tone faithfully captured by up-close recording.
The remainder of the sessions are
representative of Sims’s work as one
of the leading session musicians in
New York during the 1950s and are
dominated by what might be termed
the East Coast studio mafia – Jones,
Brookmeyer, Woods, Quill, Farmer,
Rehak, Cohn et al. Stretching Out is
a good natured blow with a retro feel
whilst Bill Potts reworking of Porgy
And Bess, although understandably
overshadowed by the Davis/Evans
version, is a sparkling example of
the first-call talent then to hand in
the Big Apple. Remastering is up to
the usual Avid standards, although
there is some surface noise on the
Potts tracks. Recommended.
Simon Spillett
Zoot Sims (ts) with
(1) Harry Edison (t); Bob
Brookmeyer (vtb); Al Cohn (ts, bar);
Hank Jones (p); Freddie Green (g);
Eddie Jones (b); Charli Persip (d).
NYC, 27 December 1958.
(2) Jon Eardley (t); Henri Renaud
(p); Benoit Quersin (b); Charles
Saudrais (d). Paris, 16 March 1956.
(3) Dave McKenna (p); George
Tucker (b); Dannie Richmond (d).
NYC, 7 June 1960.
(4) Art Farmer, Harry Edison, Bernie
Glow, Markie Markowicz, Charlie
Shavers (t); Bob Brookmeyer (vtb);
Frank Rehak, Jimmy Cleveland,
Earl Swope (tb); Rod Levitt (btb);
Phil Woods, Gene Quill (as); Al
Cohn (ts); Sol Schlinger (bs);
Herbie Powell (g); Bill Evans (p);
George Duvivier (b); Charli Persip
(d). NYC, 13 January 1959.
Avid AMSC1061
!!!!!
Has there ever been a jazz musician to match the consistency of
Zoot Sims? The music heard on
this latest Avid is an unalloyed
joy throughout, proving yet again
that each time John Haley Sims
stepped up to a recording microphone riches poured forth. It’s
especially pleasing to find the
34 J A Z Z
FRANK SINATRA/
COUNT BASIE
THE COMPLETE REPRISE STUDIO
RECORDINGS
(1) Pennies From Heaven; Please
Be Kind; (Love Is) The Tender Trap;
Looking At The World Thru RoseColoured Glasses; My Kind Of Girl;
I Only Have Eyes For You; Nice
Work If You Can Get It; Learnin’
The Blues; I’m Gonna Sit Right
Down And Write Myself A Letter; I
Won’t Dance; (2) Fly Me To The
Moon; I Wish You Love; I Believe In
You; More; I Can’t Stop Loving
You; Hello, Dolly!; I Wanna Be
Around; The Best Is Yet To Come;
The Good Life; Wives And Lovers
(59.09)
JOURNAL RECORD REVIEWS
Sinatra (v) and Basie (p, ldr) with:
(1) Thad Jones, F.P. Ricard, Sonny
Cohn, Al Aarons, Al Porcino (t);
Henry Coker, Rufus Wagner, Benny
Powell (tb); Marshal Royal, Frank
Foster, Eric Dixon, Frank Wess,
Charlie Fowlkes (reeds); Freddie
Green (g); Buddy Catlett (b);
Sonny Payne (d); Neil Hefti (arr,
cond). 1962.
(2) Porcino, Aarons, Don Rader,
Wallace Davenport, George Cohn,
Harry “Sweets” Edison (t); Coker,
Grover Mitchell, Bill Hughes,
Henderson Chambers, Kenny
Shroyer (tb); Foster, Fowlkes, Royal,
Wess, Dixon (reeds); Emil Richards
(vib); Green (g); George Catlett
(b); Payne (d). Gerald Vinci, Israel
Baker, Jacques Gasselin, Thelma
Beach, Bonnie Douglas, Marshal
Sosson, Emo, Neufeld, Lou
Raderman, Paul Shure, James
Getsoff (vn); Virginia Majewski,
Paul Robyn, Alvin Dinkin, Stan
Harris (vla); Edgar Lustgarten, Ann
Goodman (clo); Quincy Jones
(arr, cond). 1964
Universal 0602527968872
!!!!!
A timely – and lovely – reissue.
The 1962 session was an enormous hit, and, predictably, a lot of
critics chose to be snooty about it,
especially in their accusations of
Basie “selling out”. That was just
silly, and I hope nobody out there
is dumb enough to repeat that
canard 50 years on.
Personally, I prefer the first session – but only because I know it’s
better. I remember listening to it
repeatedly in the early spring of
1965 (I don’t catch on that fast!)
and it still captivates me. Sinatra is
more obviously the “star”, but the
band, both collectively and individually, take equal honours. Their
work on I Won’t prompted Sinatra
to say, “I nearly didn’t come in on
time: I was too busy listening to
the band.” Good for him.
Wess is the most striking of the
soloists – gorgeous flute on Nice
Work and (especially) Kind Of Girl
– but everyone plays their part to
near-perfection. Arguably the
best (and certainly the most profound) track is Learnin’: all those
who still think of Sinatra as a My
Way crooner should start here,
and go away feeling properly
ashamed of themselves.
The Quincy Jones session is,
objectively, hardly less fine: dig in
particular the sumptuously fat
arrangement of Lovin’ You and
the lissom swing which was
always Q’s byword. Intriguingly,
two of the tracks – Be Around and
Good Life – are now most associated with Tony Bennett. He was/is
a wonderful singer, but there was
only ever one Frank.
Richard Palmer
MARTIN SPEAKE/
COLIN OXLEY
TWO NOT ONE
Ablution; Besame Mucho; For
Heavens Sake; I Found A New
Baby; Coleman Hawkins; If I Had
You; I’ll Never Forget You; Skylark;
Lester’s Blues; Our Love Is Here To
Stay; Happy; The Nearness Of You;
Two Not One (66.05)
Martin Speake (as); Colin Oxley
(g). High Barn Studio, 8 October
2010.
Pumpkin 004
!!!
There is a pleasing elegance in the
manner Speake and Oxley tackle
the material on this disc whether it
be on the two Lennie Tristano numbers which top and tail the repertoire, on their own originals like I’ll
Never Forget You or old warhorses
like I Found A New Baby.
The general approach is theme
statement followed by solos from
both musicians who generally
stay out of each other’s way as the
music unfolds. There is no competitive edge to proceedings, a
clear mutual respect being the
order of the day. Those who like
their duo encounters to contain
constant interplay will definitely
be disappointed for there is nothing remotely complex in these
thoughtful performances.
To choose highlights is not really
an issue although some listeners
might find the Speake/Oxley original Coleman Hawkins a welcome
diversion as it pays homage to
Body And Soul. Not a release to
excite but one that pays dividends
with repetitive airings.
Peter Gamble
CECIL TAYLOR
FLY! FLY! FLY! FLY! FLY!
T (Beautiful Young’n); Astar;
Ensaslayi!; I (Sister Young’n); Corn
In Sun + T (Moon); The Stele
Stolen And Broken Is Reclaimed; N
+ R (Love Is Friends); Rocks Sub
Amba (47.50)
Cecil Taylor (p). Black Forest,
Germany, 14 September 1980.
Rec Revs_0812JJ
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Page 35
Record Reviews
TOOTS THIELEMANS
90 YEARS
MPS 441172CD
!!!!
It’s good to see this session back
in catalogue, superbly remastered and reissued with eloquent
and illuminating notes by
Alexander
von
Schlippenbach supplementing Joachim
Berendt’s original liner note. It
may well be the best recording to
seduce Taylor-sceptics, along
with the 1960 Candid album The
World Of Cecil Taylor, which
includes his remarkable, nighimpeccable reworking of Rodgers
& Hammerstein’s This Nearly
Was Mine.
Whether or not Taylor was particularly impressed by the opportunity of using the MPS studio’s
Bosendorfer Imperial Grand, he is
on extremely good form here.
Live or on record, the power and
density of his playing is always
intimidating but this was one of
those occasions when, without
sacrificing any of his customary
intensity, the lyrical aspect of his
musical imagination was permitted to show through more than
usual. (Nevertheless, the clarity
and focus of the recording still
reveal the stress that the pianostrings are put under.)
As is so often the case with
Taylor’s compositions, most of
the pieces are founded on rather
elegant melodic cells. You can
imagine them, under other
hands, relaxing out into something much more languid
and approachable, but Taylor’s
pauses, explosions of sound,
rhythmic ferocity and see-sawing
dynamics and chords compress
the tunes and harmonies, transforming them into adrenalinsoaked adventures. This shouldn’t
deceive us into overlooking the
exceptional musical intellect and
unerring sense of form that Taylor possesses. This is visceral
music, but it is also highly coherent and controlled.
Barry Witherden
CD: (1) Waltz For Sonny; The
Dragon; Sno’ Peas; Wave; Dat
Mistige Rooie Beest; In Your Own
Sweet Way; What A Wonderful
World; One Note Samba; The
Dolphin; I Do It For Your Love; (2)
Friends (55.36)
DVD: (3) Autumn Leaves; Turks
Fruit; Midnight Cowboy; St.
Thomas; Bluesette; What A
Wonderful World (25.24)
(1) Toots Thielemans (hca); Karel
Boehlee (p, syn); Hein Van de
Geyn (b); Hans van Oosterhaut
(d); unspecified locations, 20062008 and 2011. (2) add Japanese
strings. (3) Japan, 2011.
Challenge CHR70167
!!!!
The previous release by this group
was reviewed in these columns in
February last year. As with that
CD music has been selected from
unspecified locations and dates
but the difference is the added
DVD for which we know at least
the year and country. Toots was
90 in April this year and this
release celebrates that fact by
showing how well he was playing
in his late 80s.
Of the earlier CD I said the playing
showed no sign of advanced years
but this time I’ll point out that fast
tempos are lacking, except for St
Thomas where Toots does little
more than play the theme. In
other respects his mastery of his
instrument remains supreme and
if the dominant emotion suggested is a certain wistfulness
that’s as much to do with the harmonica’s natural sound as with
Toots’s ability to play with deep
feeling. The rhythm section tends
to float rather than drive but that
makes the music sound thoroughly up-to-date and the short
shrift often given to the melodies
means that this is mostly uncompromising jazz with the leader’s
potential for intensity often on
display.
The DVD mixes concert footage
with other scenes so that we discover that Toots now needs support when walking but retains his
onstage charisma. It’s a pity the
large bass player (shaven head
contrasting with Toots’s white
mop) is so prominent in shot
behind his leader but this short
film nevertheless helps to make
up a very welcome contemporary
portrait of an indubitably great
man.
Graham Colombé
UNITED JAZZ + ROCK
ENSEMBLE / WOLFGANG
DAUNER’S UNITED 2
SECOND GENERATION
Ausgeschlafen; Capriccio Funky;
Gone With The Weed;
Feuerwerxmusik; Double Bind;
South Indian Line; Wendekreis
Des Steinbocks; Was Geht Up And
Dauner; Ganz Schön Heiß Man
(63.25)
Claus Stötter, Stephan
Zimmermann, Tobias Weidinger (t);
Adrian Mears (tb, didj); Klaus Graf
(as); Bobby Stern (ss, ts); Wolfgang
Dauner (p, elp, dir); Frank Kuruc
(g); Dave King (b); Flo Dauner (d).
Ludwigsburg, n.d.
Connector 5900
!!!
Dauner is the only remaining
member of the old UJ+RE still in
action here, but there’s a tune of
Ian Carr’s, a nice atmospheric version of Charlie Mariano’s South
India Line, something of Volker
Kriegel’s, while the drum feature
closing track is a tribute to Jon
Hiseman (geddit?), and presumably his missus, too. One immediately misses Barbara Thompson’s
lovely vocalised lines, and Ian
Carr’s dark-bright trumpet playing, and while the old group
seemed to have evolved specifically to play at European festivals,
jamming long on favoured
themes, at first hearing this one is
all studio sheen and stopwatchcorrect. The soloists are uniformly
good, just a bit . . . uniform.
Dauner doesn’t feature himself
much; just a solo spot on Feuerwerxmusik and one on the bandtheme Was Geht Up And Dauner,
which has been on the go in one
form or another for more than 40
years. He’s happier as an anchor
man. Weight for weight, the new
members do okay, though only
Frank Kuruc tries to “do” a version of his original, the still
underrated Kriegel. A nostalgia
exercise, or an attempt to push the
concept forward? Hard to say.
Scarcely matters. It’s a more than
decent record.
Brian Morton
VARIOUS
BRITISH TRADITIONAL JAZZ: A
POTTED HISTORY 1936-1963
CD1: (1) Jazz Me Blues: (2) Sweet
Sue; (3) Blue Turning Grey Over You;
(4) Smokey Mokes; (5) Bluein’ The
Blues; (6) Snake Rag; (7) Who’s
Sorry Now; (8) King Of The Zulus; (9)
Steamboat Stomp; (10) Memphis
Blues; (11) Imperial Blues; (12) That
Da Da Strain; (13) Gatemouth; (14)
Mahogany Hall Stomp; (15) Camp
Meeting Blues; (16) Get Out Of Here
And Go On Home; (17) Cakewalkin’
Babies From Home; (18) Moose
March; (19) I’ll See You In My
Dreams; (20) Carolina Moon; (21) I
Want A Girl; (22) At Sundown; (23)
You Always Hurt The One You Love;
(24) Wolverine Blues (78.28)
CD2: (25) Eccentric Rag; (26)
Milenburg Joys; (27) Everyday I Have
The Blues; (28) Joe Turner’s Blues;
(29) Shimme-Sha-Wabble; (30)
London Blues; (31) Muddy Water;
(32) Ole Miss Rag; (33) That’s A
Plenty; (34) West End Blues; (35)
Perdido Street Blues; (36) Stevedore
Stomp; (37) Tears; (38) Pete Kelly’s
Blues; (39) Lastic; (40) Sobbin’
Hearted Blues; (41) Don’t You Think I
Love You; (42) Gravier Street Blues;
(43) Tin Roof Blues; (44) Jealousy;
(45) Freeze And Mel; (46) China
Boy; (47) Don’t Go ‘Way No Body;
(48) Rockin’ In Rhythm (76.23)
CD3: (49) Tuxedo Rag; (50)
Sidewalk Blues; (51) Young
Woman’s Blues; (52) We Shall Walk
Through The Streets Of The City; (53)
Creole Jazz; (54) King Porter Stomp;
(55) Up Above My Head; (56)
Charley My Boy; (57) Potato Head
Blues; (58) Get Out And Get Under;
(59) Sensation Rag; (60) Sleepy
Time Down South; (61) Out Of The
Gallion; (62) Jeannie With The Light
Brown Hair; (63) Satchmo’s Blues;
(64) Bluebells Goodbye; (65) Creole
Bo Bo; (66) Struttin’ With Some
Barbecue; (67) Black Mare Blues;
(68) Way Down Yonder In New
Orleans; (69) I Want A Big Butter And
Egg Man; (70) Lisa; (71) Kansas
City; (72) Home; (73) Magnolia’s
Wedding Day (79.01)
RECORD REVIEWS JAZZ JOURNAL
35
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Record Reviews
(1) Danny Polo And His Swing
Stars; 11 January 1938. (2) Sid
Phillips & His Rhythm; 7 February
1936. (3) Nat Gonella & His
Georgians; 10 January 1936. (4)
Harry Gold & His Pieces Of Eight;
13th October 1949. (5) George
Webb’s Dixielanders; 5 May 1945.
(6) Yorkshire Jazz Band; 1 July
1949. (7) Archie Semple’s Capitol
Jazz Band; 4 May 1952. (8) Mick
Mulligan’s Magnolia Jazz Band; 23
January 1950. (9) Ray Foxley’s
Levee Stompers; 14 October 1949.
(10) The Original Dixielanders; 27
October 1949. (11) Mick Gill’s
Imperial Jazz Band; 13 March 1949.
(12) Carlo Krahmer – Humphrey
Lyttelton Band; 5 February 1946.
(13) Mike Daniels’ Delta Jazz Band;
5 February 1950. (14) Humphrey
Lyttelton & His Band; 8 July 1950
(15) Chris Barber’s New Orleans
Jazz Band; 26 October 1951. (16)
The Crane River Jazz Band; 15 May
1953. (17) Steve Lane’s Southern
Stompers; 26 February 1952. (18)
The Merseysippi Jazz Band; 8 May
1952. (19) Sandy Brown’s Jazz
Band. 2 July 1953. (20) Ken
Colyer’s Jazzmen; April 1954. (21)
The Saints Jazz Band; 14 July 1951.
(22) Freddy Randall & His Band; 20
September 1952. (23) The Christie
Brothers Stompers; 1st February
1952. (24) The Joe Daniels Jazz
Group; 14 July 1951. (25) Alex
Welsh & His Band; 16 May 1955.
(26) Eric Silk’s Southern Jazz Band;
29th June 1956. (27) Neva
Raphaelo with Erik Silk’s Southern
Jazz Band; 29 June 1956. (28) Cy
Laurie Jazz Band; 28 July 1954. (29)
The Avon Cities Jazz Band; 6
October 1956. (30) Steve Lane’s
Southern Stompers; 1958. (31)
George Melly with Mick Mulligan &
His Magnolia Jazz Band; Autumn
1956. (32) Terry Lightfoot’s
Jazzman; 13 December 1957. (33)
Mark White’s Dixielanders; 27
October 1958. (34) Beryl Bryden
with Alex Welsh & His Band; 20
December 1957. (35) The Zenith 6;
27 March 1956. (36) Chris Barber’s
Jazz Band; 31 April 1958. (37)
Graham Steward Seven; 2 January
1958. (38) Sid Phillips & His Band;
13 October 1955. (39) Humphrey
Lyttelton & His Band; 25 August
1955. (40) Ottilie Patterson with
Chris Barber’s Jazz Band; 5 May
1958. (41) Mike Daniels Delta Jazz
Band; 20 November 1956. (42) Ken
Colyer’s Jazzmen; 8 May 1959. (43)
Bobby Mickleburgh & His Bobcats;
28 May 1956. (44) Freddy Randall
& His Band; 13 May 1957. (45)
Second City Jazz Band; 30 March
1958. (46) Fairweather-Brown All
Stars; 25 October 1957. (47) Mr
Acker Bilk & His Paramount Jazz
Band; 2 December 1958. (48) The
Happy Wanderers Street Band; 3
June 1957. (49) Monty Sunshine’s
Jazz Band; 8 March 1961. (50)
Terry Lightfoot’s New Orleans
Jazzmen; 25 October 1962. (51)
Beryl Bryden with Monty Sunshine’s
Jazzmen; 20 October 1961. (52)
Micky Ashman & His Ragtime Jazz
Band; May 1960. (53) Mr Acker Bilk
& His Paramount Jazz Band; 21
December 1961. (54) Mike Daniels’
Delta Jazz Band; 17 March 1960.
(55) Ian Menzies & His Clyde Valley
Stompers; 15 December 1960. (56)
The Temperance Seven; August
36 J A Z Z
1960. (57) Kenny Ball’s Jazzmen; 6
May 1961. (58) Clinton Ford with
the Merseysippi Jazz Band; 14
February 1960. (59) The Big Ben
Trad Band; April 1961. (60) Bob
Wallis & His Storyville Jazzmen; 13
March 1961. (61) The MIke Cotton
Jazzmen; 27 April 1961. (62)
Humphrey Lyttelton & His Band;
Autumn 1961. (63) Nat Gonella’s
Georgia Jazz Band; 1960. (64) Dick
Charlesworth & His City Gents; July
1960. (65) Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen;
January 1963. (66) The Saints Jazz
Band; 5 February 1959. (67)
George Melly; 8 February 1961.
(68) Harry Gold & His Pieces Of
Eight; February 1960. (69) George
Chisholm’s Tradsters with Jeannie
Lamb; Spril 1961. (70) Alex Welsh &
His Band; 13 April 1961. (71) Ottilie
Patterson with Chris Barber’s Jazz
Band; 24 August 1959. (72) The
Sims-Wheeler Vintage Jazz Band;
28 September 1960. (73) Chris
Barber’s Jazz Band; 29 June 1963.
Lake LACD 300
!!!!
Being an old traddie at heart I
should say this set is just up my
street. As Paul Adams says in his
comprehensive booklet essay this is
not an attempt at either an academic exercise or a definitive
recorded history of the British traditional movement, which, of course,
is still going fairly strong. Neither
could be achieved with 73 tracks
and a 40-page booklet but it is an
excellently wide-ranging collection
of recordings illustrating a musical
phenomenon which largely started
in the late 1940s – although the
three tracks from earlier show that
“trad” did not just happen!
With a few exceptions such as
Gonella, Phillips and Chisholm, the
players who created the particular
sound of British traditional jazz
were, initially at least, amateurs new
to the music profession and on a
couple of these tracks their zest and
enthusiasm is more evident than
their technical expertise. This is not
necessarily a bad thing! Sound
quality is slightly variable which is
not surprising given the rarity of
some of the tracks but a good job
has been done to make everything
very listenable.
PHIL WOODS, STUFF
SMITH, EDDIE DANIELS,
LEO WRIGHT
AND THE JAZZ LIVE TRIO
(1) Freedom Jazz Dance; I
Remember Bird; (2) Some Day My
Prince Will Come; (3) C Jam Blues;
How High The Moon; (4) Groovin’
High; The Shadow Of Your Smile
(52.15)
BOB WILBER
AND HIS THREE AMIGOS
Limehouse Blues; The Mooche;
Avalon; In An Old Deserted
Ballroom; Basie-issimo; Blue
Horizon; The Best Things In Life
Are Free; Willow Weep For Me;
Isotope Rag; Tampa Bay Trot;
Jubilee Stomp; Passport To
Paradise; Keepin’ Out Of Mischief
Now; Black And Tan Fantasy;
Bernfest ’96. (70.46)
TCB 02272
!!!!
Bob Wilber (ss, cl); Pieter Meijers
(ss, ts, cl); Antti Sarpila (ss, cl);
Rossano Sportiello (p); Bucky
Pizzarelli (g); John Cocuzzi (vib);
Nicki Parrott (b); Eddie Metz, Jr (d).
Bradenton, Fl, 19 & 19 January
2011.
Arbors ARCD19424
!!!!
Recorded just after the Arbors 3rd
Jazz Party last year where I heard
this combo perform, this album is
a very enjoyable swinging affair
in which a group of compatible
musicians play both in tight
ensemble pieces and individually.
The title of the album is somewhat
misleading in that the group consists of eight musicians. For
example the opening Limehouse
Blues shows the complete band in
ensemble work whereas In An Old
Deserted Ballroom, Basie-issmo
and Passport To Paradise feature
individual members – Wilber,
Sportiello and Meijers respectively.
Practically everybody who was
somebody in this genre is represented here plus some slightly unexpected names. Who would have
expected to see Danny Moss as a
member of the Big Ben Trad Band?
Altogether a nostalgic trip through a
panoply of enjoyable jazz to be
savoured by all those who spent
their youth in the smoky back
rooms of pubs and other venues up
and down the country.
Most, but certainly not all, of the
tunes might be familiar but they
are given plenty of life either
through careful arrangements, eg,
Sarpila’s treatment of Avalon, or
simple head arrangements such as
with The Mooche. Like most issues
on this label there is nothing here
to push back the boundaries of the
music but that in itself guarantees
a very relaxing 71 minutes of jazz
that can be guaranteed to keep
your foot tapping throughout. A
favourite track? Difficult, but
probably my vote goes to Blue
Horizon in which three clarinets
weave
together
beautifully
throughout.
Jerry Brown
Jerry Brown
JOURNAL RECORD REVIEWS
(1) Phil Woods (as); Klaus Koenig
(p); Isla Eckinger (b); Alex Baily (d).
Montreux, Switzerland, 31 May 1969.
(2) Eddie Daniels (cl); Klaus Koenig
(p); Peter Frei (b); Alex Baily (d).
Montreux, 4 December 1969. (3) Stuff
Smith (vn, v); Klaus Koenig (p); Peter
Frei (b); Pierre Favre (d). Montreux,
27 September 1966. (4) Leo Wright
(as, f); Klaus Koenig (p); Isla Eckinger
(b); Makaya Ntshoko (d). Montreux,
21 September 1968.
Billed as the Jazz Live Trio, the
rhythm section piloted by pianist
Klaus Koenig accompanied many
top jazz visitors to Switzerland in
the 1960s, including the four
soloists highlighted in this compilation, released under the banner of
TCB’s Swiss Radio Days series. With
the contributors comprising Phil
Woods, Eddie Daniels, Leo Wright
and Stuff Smith, Koenig and colleagues had to be alert and adaptable. A pair of bracing performances
by Woods in forthright mood, especially on I Remember Bird, is followed by an exquisite clarinet
outing on Some Day My Prince Will
Come in waltz time by Eddie
Daniels.
The boss of swing violin and suspect
vocalist Stuff Smith exudes joy and
jive in C Jam Blues and How High
The Moon. That leaves the way clear
for Leo Wright to expound at true
bop fast tempo with alto on
Groovin’ High, switching to flute for
a dextrous assessment of The
Shadow Of Your Smile. As annotator Mike Hennessey observes: “This
is an album of powerfully swinging
jazz, rich in variety and played with
great verve and commitment . . . by
four outstanding and highly disparate American jazz stars.” And all
well worth hearing!
Mark Gardner
Rec Revs_0812JJ
17/7/12
2:59 pm
Page 37
Record Reviews
In brief...
ROY ASSAF
RESPECT, VOL 1 (Jazz Legacy JLP
1101017). Assaf (p); Reuben
Rogers (b); Greg Hutchinson (d)
plus guests inc. Roy Hargrove (t);
Eric Alexander (ts). NJ, 2011.
!!!!
A former student of Kenny Barron, Roy Assaf, just turned 29 at
the time of this debut recording,
displays a keen awareness of
modern jazz piano history in this
tribute which celebrates works by
Count Basie, Oscar Peterson,
Thelonious Monk, McCoy Tyner,
Herbie Hancock, Walter Davis Jr.,
Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett.
Various instrumental combinations contribute to make this an
impressive recital. Tel Aviv-born
Assaf obviously has heaps of ability and is skilled in a multiplicity
of jazz styles without losing
authority or authenticity. His own
tunes, Guardian Angels and Gozo,
are also well worth hearing. A fine
opener by a talent that promises a
fine future. (Mark Gardner)
CHET BAKER
IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU
(Phoenix 131548). Kenny Drew
(p); Sam Jones (b); Philly Joe
Jones (d); Dannie Richmond (d);
others. 1955/58. !!!
Unfortunately this one does not
work anything like as well as
Baker’s Pacific Jazz sessions from
1954/56. The voice is less secure;
more strain in there as if he is
only just able to keep in tune with
a desperate struggle. On the plus
side those quietly stated personal
trumpet statements are as good as
ever and there is strong support
from Drew, Philly Joe, Sam Jones
and Richmond on their respective
tracks. This disc is much more
voice than trumpet but the bonus
tracks offer a few of those Pacific
gems and there is one track from
the James Dean Story, seldom
heard. (Derek Ansell)
KETIL BJØRNSTAD
VINDING’S MUSIC: SONGS FROM
THE ALDER THICKET (ECM 279
1249). Ketil Bjørnstad (p); Norwegian Radio Orchestra and others.
Norway 2009. !!!!!
This 2-CD set celebrates Bjørnstad’s Vinding trilogy of novels
and his 60th birthday, a combination that has produced some
breathtakingly beautiful music.
Disc 1 is an hour of quite haunting solo improvisations. Not
being familiar with the content of
the books isn’t an issue, as it’s
possible simply to enjoy the music
for what it is: powerful, quietly
emotional compositions, often
similar in style to Satie’s work.
Disc 2 is an all-classical collection
of pieces referenced in the Vinding novels, and doesn’t feature
Bjørnstad at all. Nevertheless,
with excerpts of works from,
amongst others, Mozart, Debussy,
Ravel and Barber, it’s an exquisite
addition to an understated, gorgeous release. (John Adcock)
BILL CARROTHERS
FAMILY LIFE (Pirouet PIT3063).
Carrothers (p). 2012. !!!!
Carrothers is a subtle, original
pianistic talent who deserves to be
much better known. He’s produced a series of fine albums for
small independent labels, of
which this solo outing is the latest. I reckon his best work has
been in turning the most unlikely
material – such as songs of the
American Civil War, and the First
World War, to name two outstanding projects – into jazz vehicles. This album features almost
entirely his own mostly gentle,
introspective, sometimes wistful
or charming, occasionally dark
originals, in tribute to his family.
Always thoughtful, often deep, I’d
vote for Carrothers as one of the
most consistently involving contemporary jazz pianists. (Andy
Hamilton)
CHICAGO UNDERGROUND DUO
ACE OF ENERGY (Northern Spy
NSCD 020). Chad Taylor (d, mbira,
elec, drum machine); Rob
Mazurek (c, elec, v). 2011. !!!
Electronics have always been an
integral part of the Chicago
Underground sound; whether
duo, trio, quartet or orchestra.
However, at times the latest
from restless experimenter Rob
Mazurek sounds more like a
William Orbit composition or the
Blade Runner soundtrack than
anything that is recognisably
jazz. That said, there’s still plenty
of cornet and drums here, representing more traditional instru-
mentation and combined with the
“beeps & boops” they produce a
perfectly emotional and unfettered whole. An album of sweep,
grandeur, restraint and focus from
a project that is moving increasingly beyond any comfortablydefined territory. (Dave Foxall)
JUTTA CZURDA/THILO WOLF
BIG BAND
LOVE ME GERSHWIN (MDL JAZZ
MDL 200157 CD). Jutta Czurda
(v); Thilo Wolf (p) and others.
2010. !!!
Jutta Czurda has been on the German entertainment scene for
many years, firstly as a dance theatre choreographer and more
recently as a singer nowadays
dividing her time between her
home in Furth and San Francisco.
On this disc she is teamed with the
very fine 15-piece Thilo Wolf Big
Band working their way through
15 of the Gershwins’ songs. She is
more of a cabaret style singer in
my opinion but hints of a jazz
feel are apparent. The sparkling,
immaculate arrangements define
Thilo Wolf’s approach to the
music. An enjoyable and entertaining programme albeit a little
different to the usual perception
of a vocal jazz album. (Brian
Robinson)
Maggie Black's
London Jazz
NEAL’S YARD
FREE lunchtime concerts,
12-2pm every weekday, variously featuring
the finest in jazz piano, guitar and vocals
Neal’s Yard, London WC2, between
Monmouth Street and Shorts Gdns
Maggie Black Productions
maggieblackjazz.co.uk
www.travelsandjazz.co.uk
020 7240 8866
ences is a matter of opinion but
there is some first-rate playing
here. (Jerry Brown)
JAZZ PUNKS
SMASHUPS (Foam@The Mouth
Records 02508). Sal Polcino (g);
Hugh Elliott (d); Robby Elfman
(ts); Danny Kastner (p); Michael
Polcino (b). !!!!
This is a very gratifying form of
jazz-rock fusion. And these are
clever, confident guys to attempt
a mash-up of numbers like the
Clash’s Should I Stay Or Should I
Go and Brubeck’s Take Five and
come away with the raucous but
smiling Clash Up. Or Creep Train,
Strayhorn’s A Train fused with
Radiohead’s Creep. It is a pointlessly awkward coupling but with
the off-the-rails treatment given
to it, it is also a majorly exciting
ride. The witticisms in the titles
belie serious musicianship. Pianist
Danny Kastner says they’re trying
to “take the music out – but in the
opposite direction of free jazz”. I’ll
go with that. (Garry Booth)
HOT FINGERS
IN GLORIOUS MONO (Lake
LACD311). Spats Langham (bj, g,
uke, v); Danny Blyth (g, mand, cl,
bcl, har); Malcolm Sked (b, tu);
Emily Campbell (v, tri). 2012.
!!!
Spats Langham is establishing a
reputation as a British Eddie Lang
although some of his vocals have
more in common with a British
Cliff Edwards in the 1920s. On
this album we are presented with
an eclectic selection of music
played in a surprisingly varied
manner. As the notes suggest
there are at least 30 possible combinations of instrumentation and
many are utilised which means
the album never becomes boring.
Whether this is real jazz or nostalgic popular music with jazz influ-
TEDDI KING
FOUR CLASSIC ALBUMS PLUS
(Avid AMSC1059). Teddi King (v);
Ruby Braff (c); Jimmy Jones (p);
Milt Hinton (b); Jo Jones (d)
among others. 1956-1959. !!!
Teddi’s gamine charm camouflaged (too effectively for some
critics) a pretty formidable musi-
RECORD REVIEWS JAZZ JOURNAL
37
Rec Revs_0812JJ
17/7/12
2:59 pm
Page 38
Record Reviews
cian, whose accuracy of pitching
was brightened by her own application to piano playing and by a
long association with George
Shearing. The two best known
dates here are Bidin’ My Time,
which is too “correct” for some
tastes, and All The King’s Songs,
on which she tackled a sequence
of tunes associated with male
artists, including Nat Cole. Mildly
ingratiating in small doses, she
gains from extended exposure
and the critical seesaw might yet
tip her way. Ripe for reassessment. (Brian Morton)
FRANCIS LOCKWOOD
JIMI’S COLORS: A TRIBUTE TO
JIMI HENDRIX (Frémeaux &
Associés FA565). Francis Lockwood (p); Gilles Naturel (b); Peter
Gritz (d). 1995-96. !!!!
Lockwood was once dubbed one
of the five greatest European jazz
pianists by Jazz Hot. His playing,
and that of his colleagues, is certainly fluent, elegant and inventive. When first issued, this album
picked up an award or two and
brought him wider recognition. It
still sounds good. There are three
fine originals by Lockwood himself, but most tracks feature songs
written by or associated with Hendrix. Lockwood’s arrangements
bring out subtleties in Hendrix’s
tunes that are often smothered on
Hendrix’s own recordings. BTW,
have you noticed how similar
Third Stone From The Sun is to the
Coronation Street signature-tune?
(Barry Witherden)
JACK MILLMAN
HOLLYWOOD JAZZ (Catbone
CB2009-2). Jack Millman (t); Barney Kessel (elg); Red Norvo (vib);
Chico Hamilton (d) and others.
1958-59. !!!
The leader will probably be a new
name to many readers despite
Catbone’s enthusiastic claim – “If
you know jazz then you know
Jack Millman”. He was with Stan
Kenton very briefly in 1952 and
during the rest of that decade
recorded a number of titles with
some of the finest exponents of
38 J A Z Z
the West Coast jazz scene. He
sounds a little like Stu Williamson
without the latter’s fire and
invention but this is worth a listen
if only for curiosity value. Caveat
emptor – the sleeve note lists
some titles in the wrong order.
(Gordon Jack)
MARILYN MONROE
COLLECTION (Milan 399 408-2 ).
Jane Russell (v), various Hollywood orchestras 1953-1962. !!!
Marilyn once said that she
wouldn’t be happy until people
listened to her as a singer without
looking at her face. Well, she certainly had a good voice and knew
how to use it as these 16 tracks
from various movies as diverse as
River Of No Return, Bus Stop and
the classic Some Like It Hot
demonstrate. Best from a jazzer’s
point of view are Fine Romance
and Old Black Magic. Mostly
though, the Hollywood orchestras
swing and so does Marilyn. I
couldn’t see the point of including
Happy Birthday Mr. President but
then, with reference to the last
frame of Some Like It Hot,
“nobody’s perfect”. (Derek Ansell)
ORIOLE
EVERY NEW DAY (F-IRECD 51).
Jonny
Phillips
(g);
Ingrid
Laubrock (ts); Nick Ramm (p); and
others. 2011. !!!
London’s F-IRE Collective is often
associated with the edgier expressions of current jazz – Polar Bear,
Acoustic Ladyland, etc. – but Jonny
Phillips’ Oriole brings an altogether
more laidback mood. Heavilyinfluenced by Spanish rhythms –
although possibly more of a Cuban
touch than 2006’s Migration – there
is an unabashedly Iberian swing
throughout. The two saxes lilt, sway
and gently propel, but it is Phillips’
guitar that weaves and stitches
everything together, occasionally
surfacing for a gypsy-esque solo
but otherwise demonstrating the
quintessence of understated leadership. A languorous warm bath of an
album with inviting surface appeal
and enough intriguing detail to
ensure frequent listening. (Dave
Foxall)
EVAN PARKER/JOHN
EDWARDS/EDDIE PREVOST
MEETINGS WITH REMARKABLE
SAXOPHONISTS VOLUME 1
(Matchless MRCD81). Parker (ts);
Edwards (b); Prevost (d). 2011.
!!!
This recording of the first of a
series of concerts Prevost organised at London’s Network Theatre
JOURNAL RECORD REVIEWS
confirms that the bassist and
drummer are pretty remarkable,
too. Prevost is a thoughtful,
provocative commentator as well
as an imaginative, highly musical
percussionist, and the insert carries a typically stimulating essay.
Whether you listen to him and
Edwards as a unit or focus on
their individual work you’ll hear
explorers who are also master
craftsmen. Although he occasionally airs his still-astonishing
circular-breathing
polyphonic
routine, Parker, on excellent form,
mainly stays connected to the jazz
roots, displaying an unmistakeable, albeit stern and fragmented,
lyricism. (Barry Witherden)
STEVE PLEWS TRIO
SECRET PLACES VOL 2. (ASC CD
133). Gavin Barras (b, elb);
Michael Gilbourne (d); Andy Long
(vn); Liz Robinson (frh) 2011.
!!!!!
I reviewed Vol 1 in this magazine
in 1995 and noted Plews’ affinity
with Bill Evans and his extension
of that style. This is more of the
same with, if anything a more
esoteric set of soundscapes. Barras
and Gilbourne take over where
Tomkins and Jeff Clyne left off in
’95 and the new disc is dedicated
to the late bassist. Added in are
more synthesizer effects for a
broader musical palette, violin,
French horn and the leader’s
occasional use of organ. Plews
has an ultra light touch and a gift
for improvising over unusual patterns behind him. A totally original, well paced programme and
an innovative approach to jazz
piano trio with extras. (Derek
Ansell)
DARYL SHERMAN
MISSISSIPPI BELLE – COLE
PORTER IN THE QUARTER
(Audiophile ACD-342). Daryl
Sherman (v, p); Jesse Boyd (b);
Tom Fischer (c, ts); Banu Gibson
(v). NO, 2011. !!!
For me the delight of this album is
the chance to hear some more
unusual Cole Porter compositions
including the rather strange Tale
Of The Oyster plus the delightful
Use Your Imagination. Daryl
Sherman is predominantly a
cabaret performer and this shows
in the performance here which
consists of her singing being
accompanied by her own piano
plus the bass of Jesse Boyd with
Tom Fischer inserting apposite
clarinet and saxophone breaks. A
sterling performance from Ms
Sherman and her fellows with
nice reinterpretations of old
favourites as well. Short on playing time though. (Jerry Brown)
DAKOTA STATON
THE COMPLETE 1954-1958 (Le
Chant Du Monde 2742188.89).
Staton (v); Harry Edison (t); Budd
Johnson (ts); George Shearing (p).
1954-58 !!!!
Gilles Pétard, the man behind the
admirable Classics series, produced this comprehensive, fully
annotated 2-CD collection. At
first Dakota Staton sounded
rather like Dinah Washington but
she developed considerable individuality and moves here from the
fairly commercial openers to an
approach and material much
closer to jazz. Edison makes
plenty of pert contributions and
Shearing’s quintet is in action on
nine tracks; there’s also an
unidentified boppish trombone
player. Although the singer’s
power was at times amazing (hear
the trumpet-like note at the end of
Cherokee) she was capable of sensitivity as well and able to depart
constructively from the melodies,
confirming her jazz credentials.
(Graham Colombé)
SUMI TONOOKA
NOW – LIVE AT THE HOWLAND
(Artists Recording Collective ARC
2369). Tonooka (p). 2011. !!!!
Sumi Tonooka here presents an
entire concert vividly displaying
exceptional talent as performer
and composer. On CD1, she plays
music by Ellington, Monk and
Mary Lou Williams, avoiding the
obvious in favour of less wellknown pieces, together with some
popular standards. On CD2,
except for an encore, the music is
Tonooka’s and her compositions
stand comfortably in this distinguished company. Throughout,
her powerful yet subtle playing is
melodically captivating, intelligent and warm, and a vivid portrayal of how she has embraced
the history of jazz piano and is
helping to keep it alive and flourishing. Very warmly recommended. (Bruce Crowther)
Jazz Diary_0812JJ
17/7/12
8:03 am
Page 39
Jazz Diary
BIRMINGHAM JAZZ RECORD SOCIETY meets
every Friday at The Nautical Club, Bishopsgate
Street, Birmingham B15 1ET at 7.45pm. Further
information from Secretary: Alan Brinkworth,
37 Vicarage Crescent, Redditch, Worcs.
B97 4RG, 01527 65963.
BISHOP AUCKLAND JAZZ RECORD SOCIETY
meets on alternate Wednesdays at 8pm at
The Ship Inn, Middlestone Village, nr Bishop
Auckland, DL14 8AB. New members always
welcome. Further details from Tony Charlton
(Telephone 01325 489115) or Peter Bevan
(E-mail [email protected]).
SANDY BROWN SOCIETY For newsletter
contact John Latham, 2 Church Meadow, Reynoldston, Swansea SA3 1AF. Tel: 01792 390055.
BUXTON JAZZ APPRECIATION SOCIETY meets
on alternate Thursdays at the Buckingham Hotel,
Buxton (01298 70481). For information please
ring Brian Smith (01298 24251).
NORTH DORSET JAZZ RECORD CLUB meets
2nd & 4th Friday of the month at 7.30 at The
Royal British Legion Hall, Shaftesbury SP7 8PF.
Information from Bernard Thomas (01747
858479). Email: [email protected]
GATESHEAD JAZZ APPRECIATION SOCIETY
meets on alternate Thursdays from 5pm-7pm
in Gateshead Library, Prince Consort Road,
Gateshead. Small group welcomes new members for friendly recitals and discussions. Contact Peter Hopkins 0191 3888776 or Margaret
Barnes 0191 4884353.
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the study, appreciation and promotion of the
maestro’s musical legacy. We arrange regular
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THE ROBERT FARNON SOCIETY, two recitals
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to Mingus, alternate Tuesdays at The Druid’s
Head, Market Place, Kingston-upon-Thames.
Contact Brian Goddard (Secretary) on 020 8979
4620, email [email protected] or
Mick Butler (Treasurer) on 020 8398 8128.
LETCHWORTH JAZZ APPRECIATION SOCIETY
meets last Thursday each month except December (13) 7.30 pm at The Arts Centre, The Arcade,
Leys Avenue, Letchworth town centre for recitals
of recorded jazz from all eras. New members
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Classified
For sale
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SHEFFIELD JAZZ RECORD SOCIETY Meetings
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Common Room at The Sir Frederick Mappin
Building, Mappin Street, Sheffield on alternate
Fridays at 7.30 for 8.00 start. Further information
can be obtained from the Honorary Secretary:
John Clayton, 12 High Storrs Close, Sheffield
S11 7LJ Tel. 0114 266 7951. August meetings:
3rd, 17th & 31st.
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01780 764028.
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at 8pm at The Shoreham Centre, 2 Pond Road,
Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex BN43 5WU.
For details contact John Speight tel: 01273
732782 or [email protected].
ULVERSTON JAZZ APPRECIATION SOCIETY
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Cumbria. Meetings start at 7pm. Further
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JAZZ DIARY JAZZ JOURNAL
39
Finger Snaps_0812JJ
17/7/12
2:14 pm
Page 40
Record Reviews
One Finger Snaps
We can’t review all we receive, but it’s important to register what’s out, so here’s a complete list of recently received issues not selected for full
review, with short comments and the editor’s (or initialled writer’s) quick-taste rating out of five stars. As far as sourcing is concerned, as with
all issues we cover, please consult our regular advertisers
ARTIST
TITLE
LABEL
COMMENT
RATING
Agossi, Mina
Red Eyes
Naïve NJ621911
Soulful, melodic singer with septet plus guest sax and vox
from bossa nova man Archie Shepp
!!!
Andersson, Richard
Intuition
Stunt STUCD 12022
Bassist leads Bill McHenry (ts), Jacob Anderskov (p), RJ Miller !!!
(d) in Shorterish reflections
Bello, Alvaro
¿Y Qué Paso!
Fremeaux FA 566
Latin flavours con accordéon from Chilean guitarist Bello
y su grupo
Bilbao Syndrome
Bilbao Syndrome
Babel no number
Heavy metal guitar and vocals and free improv with Matthew !!
Bourne, Chris Sharkey et al. High energy, low contrast
Davies, Jack
Big Band
V&V Music
VAVM0003
Lugubrious Colin Towns produced set with Josh Arcoleo,
Martin Speake, Percy Pursglove
!!!
Davies, Jack
Southbound
V&V Music
VAVM0002
Minimalist, angular riffing and pointillistic improv from
trumpeter Davies with ts, p, d
!!!
Davies, Jack
Flea Circus
V&V Music
VAVM0001
Trumpeter Davies w. cl, bcl, acc, b in Euro-ethnic riffing and
reflection
!!!
Ehn, Lasse
Sound Of Polarity
Gateway no number
Familiar modal/jazz-rock landscapes with M Neset (s) and CM !!!
Ringström (g); creative and refreshingly muscular given the
Nordic location
Eriksen, Espen
What Took You So
Long
Rune Grammofon
RCD2129
PR notes shades of Gustavsen, Svensson in the diffident
hymnody of this Norwegian pianist and trio
!!!
Genest, Nicolas
Hati
Plus Loin PL4550
Bugler leads expansive multikulti septet with chant indien,
sitar, Rhodes, percussion plus strings
!!!!
Hanslip, Mark/Javier Dosados
Carmona
Babel BDV 1192
Darting, fractured free dialogues between tenor and drums
Iversen, Anne Mette
Poetry Of Earth
Brooklyn Jazz Under- Bassist leads qt in double CD of jazz settings of poetry by
ground BJUR 031
Grøn, Keats, Housman, Hardy et al
!!
Jonasson, Bertil
Jonas Plays Gullin
Prophone PCD 122
Bari and other sax interpretations from Jonasson and sextet
inc. Kjell Öhman (p)
!!!!
Loeffler, Marcel
Images
Plus Loin PL4547
Accordion leads French sextet in stylish set of Latin and swing.
Strasbourg, 2011
!!!!
Løvdal, Jesper
Jesper Løvdal & Günter ILK188CD
Baby Sommer
Danish saxophonist in free blow with German drummer that
“brings you to different musical mind stages”
!!!
Marcelli, Andrea
Sundance
Storyville 101 4275
Drummer leads piano (Thomas Clausen) and bass in ballads,
standards and originals
!!!
Miklin-Känzig-Hart
Cymbal Symbols
TCB 30902
Euro sax and bass with Billy Hart
!!!
Miller, Phil
Mind Over Matter
Crescent CD9CD
Miller’s enduring In Cahoots project w. Fred Baker, Pete
Lemer, Paul Booth et al
!!!
Minafra, Livio
Surprise!!!
Enja ENJ-9578 2
Shades of Brubeck then funk and reflection from piano-led
quartet with sax, guitar, percussion
!!!
Oltremare Quartet
Uncommon Nonsense Babel BDV12107
Uncommonly melodic if dreary modal stuff from Babel with
p, b, s, d
!!
The Splendor
Delphian Palace
Hoob CD027
Danish qt in loose, exploratory dialogues. Copenhagen 2011,
somewhat Coltrane 1965
!!!
Theo Jackson
Jericho
Wobbly Dog 00
Theo sings and plays piano on nine well thought out originals !!!
with support from boppish quartet, including Nat Facey on
alto and Jason Reeve, drums – DA
Third World Love
Songs And Portraits
Anzic ANZ-0035
Imaginative, sensitive takes on jazz, Latin, north African music !!!!
from t, p, b, d quartet with Avishai Cohen (t). NY, 2009
Toldam, Simon
Sunshine Sunshine
Or Green As Grass
ILK184CD
Danish pianist’s trio meditate and swing
!!!
Valera, Manuel
New Cuban Express
Mavo 1104
High-powered Latin charts from pianist Valera’s qnt with
Tom Guarna (g), Yosvany Terry (sax)
!!!
40 J A Z Z
JOURNAL RECORD REVIEWS
!!!
**
IBC 0812JJ
16/7/12
12:08 pm
Page 1
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