Kenny Drew - This Is New

“‘This Is New’ happens to be more than just one of the song titles here, more even than a visually evocative phrase that suggested a photographic cover idea too good to be passed by. It also happens to be a quite apt description of what is taking place musically in this album:

“This is current jazz played by musicians who are young, but have considerable playing experience. All of them also have much the same sets of jazz roots and attitudes. They are men to whom the jazz revolution preached by Bird and Dizzy and Monk at the start of the 1940s is the important starting point. But in referring to the music that developed primarily out of the early-‘40s experimentation, it must be noted that roughly a decade and a half has gone by since Minton’s. And that is actually more calendar time, for example, than elapsed between the issuance of King Oliver’s earliest records and Benny Goodman’s!

“The fact is that at least a full jazz generation has grown up in that time, and that jazz has changed considerably. But, perhaps because it takes a good deal of time to get perspective on such things, or perhaps because there has been no violent upheaval of -form- (certainly nothing comparable to the differences between Swing or Dixieland and Bop), there is a strong tendency to lump everything recent together as ‘modern’. Well, not quite everything: there is a wide variety of experimentation, and there is the music of the West Coast jazzmen, and most of this gets called ‘cool’, as distinguished from the sort of music you hear in this album, which is usually tagged as ‘post-bop’ or ‘hard bop. Sometimes of course the lines get blurred, as will happen with any over-simplification: Miles Davis’ man-walking-on-eggshells trumpet tone is often singled out as the starting point of cool jazz, yet by background and continuing jazz context he belongs to the boppers, and his influence is surely importantly felt in the work of younger horn men like Donald Byrd.

“But the major point to be made is that by now the music of the disciples of bop has emerged as an entity, as a self-contained style. Giving it names like ‘post-bop’ may obscure this point, making it seem as if this is more-of-the-same, but it’s not all like that. This is jazz with basic distinctive qualities of its own, and these qualities seem to be very effectively and excitingly in evidence here.

“Above all, this is ‘funky’ jazz, taking that word in its current meaning of earthy, almost gutbucket, with a decided overall feeling of the blues. It is a far less frenetic and self-conscious music than much of early bop (which often failed to conceal its dogged determination to be ‘different’). Some critics complain that there is excessive attention to top-speed tempos, but I find a high and effective proportion of swinging middle-tempo material. Wholehearted, unembarrassed ballads are rather rare; but there are occasions, as with ‘You’re My Thrill’ here, when everything jells beautifully and soulfully. It is a rhythmically sound jazz (whereas early bop, busily working out new concepts of the functions of rhythm instruments, was not always so), and one reason for this may well be the emergence of a large crop of outstanding bassists, of whom Wilbur Ware is one of the most impressive. This is a music aware of newer harmonic ideas without being pretentious about it, and capable of re-exploring the basic and ‘old-fashioned’ jazz art of ensemble playing: listen particularly to the big sound of Byrd and Hank Mobley together on ‘This Is New’; and also on ‘It’s Your or No One’, which they had recorded, but quite differently, when both were member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. (The Blakey group, incidentally, has been something of a post-bop training school: its frequently shifting personnel has also included Drew and Ware.)

“Kenny Drew is rapidly maturing into one of the significant younger pianists. Born in New York City in 1928, he has worked with a wide variety of major jazz performers [...]. Although his approach indicates the influence of Bud Powell and, to an extent, Thelonious Monk, he is almost unique among modernists in also appreciating and making use of the heritage of such pre-moderns as Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller. Donald Byrd, still in his very early twenties, is quite clearly the coming young man on trumpet; Hank Mobley is among the most highly regarded of current tenor men. Wilbur Ware, since coming to New York from Chicago about a year ago, has quickly established himself as among the more formidable bass players, both in solo work and as a rhythm man. G.T. Hogan, who has worked with Illinois Jacquet and Stan Getz, considers this his jazz record debut, and it is a promising one.” (Orrin Keepnews. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Kenny Drew (pi), Donald Byrd (tp), Wilbur Ware (bs), G.T. Hogan (dr)

A1. This Is New

A2. Carol

A3. It's You Or No One

B1. You're My Thrill

B2. Little T

B3. Paul's Pal

B4. Why Do I Love You

mp3/320kbps

Johnny Griffin - A Blowing Session

“In the liner notes for his first Blue Note album (BLP 1533), Johnny Griffin was quoted as saying that he preferred to ‘make it at home’ (home being Chicago). Since the time of that LP’s release, Johnny has changed his mind at the urging of Art Blakey, and, with his presence in the drummer’s Messengers, he has swelled the group to sextet size.

“When the augmented Messengers came to New York, it so happened that several other of the top small groups were also in town, either playing or laying off. Most of the musicians in these combos are friendly with each other and enjoy playing together. When someone like Johnny Griffin comes to town and causes much comment, the others are quite anxious to blow with him. What you hear here is exactly that… a blowing session among the various leading lights of some of the East’s important jazz organizations.

“At the center of the session is the tenor sax triumvirate of Griffin, John Coltrane and Hank Mobley.

“Mobley is the former Messenger star who is now doing his shining with the Horace Silver quintet while Coltrane is the young man who rose to prominence in 1956 with the now disbanded Miles Davis quintet.

“The three have similar backgrounds in many ways. All of them have paid their dues in rhythm and blues bands. They also played with orchestras, Griffin with Lionel Hampton and Coltrane with Dizzy Gillespie. Trane also played with a Gillespie combo as did Mobley. Hank was with Max Roach before that and Griffin spent two fruitful weeks with Thelonious Monk in Chicago.

“Despite the fact that they grew up musically in the same environment and have been influence, in general, by some of the same musicians, the three tenors have very different conceptions, however forceful they may all be.

“Griffin is more extrovert in a raucous manner and his rapid fire delivery stamps him as one of ‘the fastest guns alive’. Mobley has a big, round-edged sound and an even, logical conception. Coltrane is the most unconventional of the three with his vocal tone and very personal idea patterns.

“To add some brass bit to the session comes Lee Morgan, the extremely youthful trumpeter from the Dizzy Gillespie band. Lee is a newcomer, but through his Blue Note records (BLP 1538, 1540, 1541, 1557) and solo appearances in the Gillespie organization he has already carved out a reputation for himself. He comes from the tough, brilliant side of the modern trumpet tree out of Gillespie, Navarro and Clifford Brown.

“Another member of the Gillespie organization who lends his ample talent in both solo and ensemble is pianist Wynton Kelly. Wynton, who has been with the Art Farmer-Gigi Gryce group and accompanist to Dinah Washington, is another of the many modern musicians who made their solo debuts on Blue Note. Here he offers several sparkling solos in the Bud Powell idiom and blends perfectly into the rhythm section sparked by Messenger chieftain Art Blakey and former Miles Davis bassist Paul Chambers.

“Two originals and two standards comprise the raw material for the blowing. As in any session, the standards are those which are familiar to all and facilitate improvisation. The originals are by Griffin.

“Johnny opens a breakneck tempo version of Jerome Kern’s ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ with a chorus of melody before going into three febrile improvisatory cantos. Lee has two swift, brassy one before Hank takes over for one quick chorus. Coltrane comes sailing in for two before Griffin and Art Blakey enter into a heated exchange that highlights each one’s virtuosity. Johnny then carries the theme out with the rhythm section coming to the top for the bridge.

“Coltrane has the first solo on ‘Ball Bearing’ and makes the most of the intriguing harmonic pattern. Morgan follows in a wonderful groove as the rhythm section lays down a straight and wide carpet to walk on. Griffin then has two choruses that will awaken your senses and Mobley continues the excellent mood. All the tenormen are in fine form on this one. Kelly, who has the next solo spot, is no less effective. After a short bit by Blakey, the last part of the theme is restated.

“Another Jerome Kern evergreen, ‘All the Things You Are’, opens side two. Griffin carries the melody chorus again in a medium up setting. He then has three choruses of improvisation, reaching a peak in number three. Coltrane follows with his singular interpretation and Morgan’s trumpet sings a couple before Mobley states his case clearly and emotionally. Kelly’s chorus is a joy both rhythmically and melodically. Chambers than has his first solo of the session before Griffin and Blakey have a brief word or two and Johnny takes it out.

“‘Smoke Stack’, a blue, has an introduction by Kelly followed by its simple line and an immediate catapult into action by Griffin who is both fast and funky. Morgan, cooking hotly, is next followed by eight choruses of Mobley and seven of Coltrane. Kelly has four before four by Chambers. Griffin and Blakey then converse tersely and the theme is riffed to completion.” (Ira Gitler. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Johnny Griffin (t-sx), Lee Morgan (tp), Hank Mobley/John Coltrane (t-sx), Wynton Kelly (pi), Paul Chambers (bs), Art Blakey (dr)

A1. The Way You Look Tonight

A2. Ball Bearing

B1. All The Things You Are

B2. Smoke Stack

mp3/320kbps

Yusef Lateef - Before Dawn

"“In the past few years, a caravan of impressive young jazzmen have departed from Detroit. Most were born there: all received their jazz apprenticeship in the city of giant industry, the dauntless UAW, and a police chief who tried to ban John O’Hara. It is also a city with strong jazz roots, particularly in the modern idiom. This newest generation of jazzmen took it as natural that they grew up in an inner community of sessions, music talk, and the religion that jazz can become. Their older brothers, those that had them, had also experienced the same milieu. Sonny Stitt knows Detroit as do Thad and Elvin Jones and Billy Mitchell and Art Mardigan.

“The younger corps is composed of musicians who skill, individuality and vigor are rather rare - in complete combination - for jazzmen that young. The wider jazz world has come to recognize, respect and enjoy bassists Paul Chambers and Doug Watkins, guitarist Kenny Burrell, pianist Tommy Flanagan, baritone saxist Pepper Adams, pianist-vibist Terry Pollard (who left before most of those in the paragraph), trumpeter Donald Byrd and drummer Louis Hayes.

“Back home, other jazzmen remain. Pianist Barry Harris, for one, who encouraged and influenced a number of his contemporaries; and an older pianist, Willie Anderson whom most of the Detroit jazz musicians feel could have been one of the few titans.

“One of those who has remained, and has been working for over a year at Klein’s on the west side, one of the few jazz rooms in the city, is Yusef Lateef. Born in Tennessee in 1920, Lateef moved to Detroit with his parents, and went to school in that city. While at Miller High, he became involved with the alto saxophone. It was 1937, and he played alto for a year before switching to tenor. By 1946, he was in New York, a member of Lucky Millinder’s band. Lucky Thompson, another Detroiter, had introduced him to Millinder.

“After playing with Hot Lips Page, Roy Eldridge, Ernie Fields and other units, Lateef (then known as Bill Evans) made a cross-country tour with the Dizzy Gillespie band in 1949. (Discographies indicate, for example, that Evans was on the 1949 RCA Victor ‘Swedish Suite’.) In 1950, Yusef returned to Detroit and worked with various groups until he formed his own quintet in 1955.

“Lateef is intrigued by the possibilities of including what he terms an ‘East Indian-African flavor’ in some of his arrangements; and Lateef plays, as well as tenor, the flute, gourd, tambourine, finger cymbals and arghool (oriental flute). Farrow doubles on the rehab, a one-string guitar-like instrument.

“Lateef admires Sonny Stitt for his technical ability; Billie Holiday for her expression of emotion; Dizzy Gillespie for his creativity; and Charlie Parker for all these qualities. Lateef continues to study, and is currently at Wayne State University with Valter Paole, Assistant Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

“Kenny Burrell, to many ears including this one the best of the younger guitarists, describes his former Detroit colleague, Lateef, as having ‘a very full sound. There’s lots of body to it. And his approach is individual. It isn’t a thing you can detect immediately, but I’ve been listening to him a long time. You can only vary so much anyway, but as you get to really hear him, you’ll feel a definite style. His thinking, incidentally, is like that of Coleman Hawkins. There are no wasted notes, and he usually builds into logical climaxes. There’s nothing showy in his work; just sincere playing.’

“I would add that Lateef is clearly conversant with modern tenor theory and practice, he also brings Hawkins and Don Byas to mind in the virile romanticism with which he can play (as on ‘Love is Eternal’). His is a strong, driving tenor in whatever context. All of the compositions here are his, and in some places there is a touch of exoticism as on the introduction to ‘Open Strings’ and the closing of ‘Before Dawn’. The flute on the LP is also played by Lateef. A further note about Lateef is by Paul Chambers who says of his playing that it is is ‘very soulful. It’s modern and yet there’s a lot of oldness in it, seasoning. A lot of roots.’

“Trombonist Curtis Fuller, not yet 25, is now in New York where he has interested Miles Davis and other musician-arbiters. Curtis has, it would appear from his playing here, been considerably influenced by J.J. Johnson. In Detroit, he worked with his own group and also with Lateef. Bassist Ernie Farrow, approaching 30, has played with Terry Gibbs, Stan Getz and Lateef. Pianist Hugh Lawson, in his early 20s, is described by Chambers as ‘full of fire and life’ and Burrell notes that Lawson indicates he has heard Flanagan and Barry Harris, and maybe is a little more funky than they. Louis Hayes is only 20; at the age of 19, he was recommended to Horace Silver by Burrell and Chambers. Louis has been a stirring part of the Silver quintet ever since. He is a crisp, stimulating and certainly swinging young drummer who should become a major figure, poll-winning or not poll-winning, before he’s 30.

“It’s difficult to determine the complex factors that make a city like Detroit produce so valuable a contingent of young players in a few years. A primary reason, however, is probably that advanced by Paul Chambers. ‘There was very much more jamming in Detroit than there is, for example, in New York. We’d jam at houses and at clubs. They were the kind of sessions where a lot could be learned. Everybody was closely knitted together, and actually, in the course of time, almost everybody worked with everybody else around town. Certain groups did stick together, but in many cases you could be a leader one night and a sideman the next.

“Kenny Burrell agrees about the fructifying advantages of the pervasive jam session in Detroit during the years of his growth. ‘The spirit seemed to be there,’ he recalls. ‘And in addition to the playing, there has always been, so far as I can remember, a certain amount of people in Detroit that appreciated and tried to promote jazz. There was never a time when no jazz was being played. There was always something happening to keep a man’s spirit up and to give him a chance.

“The musicians themselves were sometimes focal forces in organizing jazz appreciation and study. Burrell, for example, founded the New Music Society in March, 1954, which lasted for nearly three years. Other musicians and dedicated laymen helped in the organization and administration and there were concerts, workshops and other pragmatic jazz activities.

“For those Detroit musicians who remain at home, it’s probably quite heartening to hear of the impact made in this country and abroad by the voices of their former colleagues. And for those who intend eventually to leave, there is the corollary realization that when they do arrive on the Apple or in Los Angeles or elsewhere, other Detroiters have prepared a welcome for them. In other circles it helps establish instant contact to say you’re from Princeton or Mount Holyoke. In the more open terrain of jazz, it still helps these days to say you know Burrell or Chambers or Byrd, because if you do know them and have played with them, the resultant conclusion is that you’re qualified to join in and are apt to know the changes and not be intimidated by the tempo. Detroit has turned into an exacting school for other besides Walter Reuther and his associates.” (Nat Hentoff. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Yusef Lateef (t-sx/fl), Curtis Fuller (tb), Hugh Lawson (pi), Ernie Farrow (bs), Louis Hayes (dr)

A1. Passion

A2. Love Is Eternal

A3. Pike's Peak

A4. Open Strings

B1. Before Dawn

B2. Twenty-Five Minute Blues

B3. Chang, Chang, Chang

B4. Constellation

mp3/320kbps

Jackie McLean - McLean's Scene

“You can take the word scene, man, and make it means almost anything you want. A scene can be a place, man; a scene can be a setting, man, or a scuffle. A scene can be active or static, moving or unmoving. A scene can evan be a thing. This scene is many of those things, man; this scene Jackie McLean’s Scene.

“I first became aware of Jackie McLean on night five or six years ago in one of New York’s upholstered gin-mills. The nightclub, which is named after a famous jazz alto saxophonist, was fast falling asleep. The waiters, with nothing to do, stood off in corners and griped about tips. The famous altoist, who, paradoxically, was self booked into the joint that bore his name, was on the bandstand to play his last set. Just then, a tall, rather lean kid with nervous mannerisms climbed unto the band stand. The kid played alto too. When he played he stood with his legs wide apart; his shoulders were hunched to such a degree that his neck disappeared into the cavern between them. He held his horn pointed down, and he wrestled with it, moving it from side to side and up and down with the inflections of the line he was playing. He played long ribbons of cascading eighth-notes, violent ‘blue’ notes and familiar ‘quotes’. It was embarrassingly obvious that he had listened to and watched Charlie Parker with avidity.

“Jackie was little more than a teenager then. He was the apprentice working side by side with his chosen ‘master’. And it’s quite natural for someone that young, and that impressionable to be overwhelmed by the huge ability, imagination and strength of Charlie Parker.

“The next, impressive, time I heard Jackie he was one of the front-line craftsmen in Charlie Mingus’ Workshop and Foundry. The difference in his playing was amazing; what had once been a rather aggressive reproduction of the sound and the fury of Charlie Parker had spread in all directions; even the sound of his horn had changed somewhat. This was roughly three years ago, when Mingus’ arrangements and compositions were sensitizing audiences and musicians alike with their unusual ferocity and moodiness. The overwhelming influence in every facet of Jackie’s playing was still Parker, but something else had happened. As Mingus said of him, ‘Jackie’s got some new things to play.’ I’m sure the Workshop must have been an awesome, a frightening and a frustrating thing for him, but playing with Mingus seemed to open Jackie’s ears a little more, and it gave him the assurance to take some harmonic chances.

“There’s much of the ‘hung lover’ in Jackie’s playing these days. This is a quality of feeling that has to do with loss, with hurt and with raw tenderness. In this respect, his playing has a relationship with the singing of Billie Holiday. Of course their individual approach to music is entirely different, but in their quality of feeling, in their emotional projection, both seem to be carrying a ‘torch’ for life.

“The quality of suffering that is projected in the music of both these artists is a quality that exists beneath the tough, worldly veneer that they musically affect. In Billie’s singing, this veneer is projected as a strange kind of stoicism; in Jackie’s playing, it’s an angry defiance. What’s underneath the sound and the style, in both cases, is something distinctly human, distinctly perplexed and perplexing. Their music is a crystalization of ‘hard’ living, of pleasure without joy, of disappointment and, in some respects, frustration. Underneath the hard and ‘jaded’ exterior of their music is a deep sensitivity for what’s right with the world through an expression of what’s wrong in the world.

“When Jackie plays, he expresses himself in hard clipped phrases that, superficially, act tough and rude, but that in themselves are an expresxsion of grief. He is asking, he is wondering, he is anxious. With the notable exception of ‘Old Folks’ tension is the main ingredient in his playing. The phrases push and pull; they climb and jab with a brittle vitality that has a sharp acuteness. His sound is that of a skirling piper who cries defiance, raw compassion and human frailty in one breath. This is McLean’s Scene as I hear it.

“‘Gone with the Wind’: Hardman, Chambers, Garland… Everyone solos. Bill Hardman makes some funny remarks, Jackie wails his lament with a high brittle quality.

“‘Our Love Is Here to Stay’: Waldron, Phipps and Taylor - Jackie’s sound has broadened somewhat here, he’s less aggressive, more contemplative.

“‘Mean to Me’: Hardman, Chambers and Garland are back again. Paul plays excellently on his plucked choruses, notice how he gets a ‘rhythm guitar’ sound on some of his notes, not only on this track on the others too.

“‘McLean’s Scene’: A blues by Jackie. Hardman, Garland, Chambers all solo at an easy, quick-step tempo. Jackie’s sound is looser, more pliable but he enunciates in an emphatic staccato fashion. Going out, the two horns blend splendidly.

“‘Old Folks’: This ballad has a broad nostalgic quality to it that is unusual for Jackie. There’s a plaintive wideness to his playing.

“‘Outburst’: An original by Jackie that should have been dedicated to all the Lord’s little ones. It has a hard, punching vitality at a mad tempo.

“Jackie McLean is a 27 year old New Yorker. He has played with Bud Powell, Mingus, Art Blakey and any other number of ‘name’ groups and musicians. He has appeared on Prestige with Miles, Gene Ammons, Hank Mobley and has four other albums of his own: ‘Lights Out’, ‘Jackie’s Pal’ (with Bill Hardman), ‘Jackie McLean & Co.’ and ‘Alto Madness’ with John Jenkins.

“Bill Hardman has played notably with Mingus and Blakey (both with Jackie). He too is 27, is from Cleveland and this is his third recorded excursion for the Prestige-New Jazz combine. The other two are on the ‘Pal’ and ‘McLean & Co.’ albums.

“Mal Waldron is something of a house pianist for Prestige. He has recorded with any number of different groups from Gene Ammons to Teddy Charles and has three albums of his own on Prestige and one on New Jazz. He’s from New York and will soon be 32.

“Red Garland is originally from Dallas, Texas; he was born there May 13, 1923. His most fruitful days were spent in Philadelphia, where he backed practically every kind of jazz style. He has played and recorded with Miles Davis on Prestige, has four albums of his own on Prestige, and has been an integral part of many dates on both Prestige and New Jazz.

“Art Taylor has had many dates with all sorts of Prestige and New Jazz outfits and one album of his own: ‘Taylor’s Wailers’. He is 30 and a New Yorker.

“Paul Chambers is from Pittsburgh, but moved early to Detroit. He plays with Miles most and records with many outfits from Prestige.

“Arturo Phipps (as he prefers to be known) has been in and around jazz since he first came to New York with the Three Bips and a Bop. This same group brough Babs Gonzales to national prominence. During those days he gigged all over 52nd Street, with as he puts it, ‘Just about everybody.’ Some of those people were Sonny Rollins, Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz; of a later date have been Don Elliott and Gigi Gryce. Arturo has a photography business of his own and still gigs all over New York. This is his first appearance on the current New Jazz series.” (Jack Maher. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Jackie McLean (a-sx), Bill Hardman (tp), Mal Waldron/Red Garland (pi), Paul Chambers/Arthur Phipps (bs), Art Taylor (dr)

A1. Gone With The Wind

A2. Our Love Is Here To Stay

A3. Mean To Me

B1. McLean's Scene

B2. Old Folks

B3. Outburst

mp3/320kbps

Jackie McLean & Co.

“The members of Jackie McLean & Co., a young but active concern, may, at times, dress in a quasi-Madison Avenue style but their product may never be termed ‘gray flannel’.

“At the least board meeting (‘Jackie’s Pal’, LP 7068), Bill Hardman was appointed to the presiding body and in this present session, Ray Draper is taken in as a junior partner.

“Ray is a young New Yorker who will reach the age of 17 on August 3, 1957. During the winter of 1956-57 he led his own group of youngsters at the Sunday afternoon bashes which a Brooklyn organisation, ‘Jazz Unlimited’, was sponsoring at The Pad and Birdland. It was in this setting that he came to the attention of the older musicians around town, some of whom brought him to the attention of Bob Weinstock. Nat Hentoff, New York editor of ‘Down Beat’ heard Draper and commented in his ‘Counterpoint’ column, ‘he blows the hottest modern jazz tuba I’ve yet heard.’

“Currently attending the High School of Performing Arts, Ray expects to continue his studies at the Manhattan School of Music after graduation in June of 1958.

“Here, Ray is heard on ‘Minor Dream’, ‘Help’ and ‘Flickers’. In his first album as leader, scheduled for release in the near future, you will hear more of Ray and also learn more about him. Among other things, you will learn that Jackie McLean is one of Ray’s favourite musicians.

“It seems that Jackie is a favorite of a lot of the young, up and coming musicians. From this statement, people who are not familiar with him might surmise that he is a jazz veteran and perhaps in his thirties. They would be right in the first part of their assumption but Jackie started very young and when he cut his first records with Miles Davis in 1951 (‘Dig’, Prestige LP 7012) he was only 19. In the last year he has started to really mature in many ways. The compelling statements emanating from his swooping, biting, hotly flowing horn have earned the admiration of his elder as well as younger cohorts.

“Bill Hardman has been Jackie’s front line associate in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messenger during the latter part of 1956 and 1957. Although the same age as Jack, he is only come lately to big league jazz and is still a rookie, albeit a highly promising one. He comes to play and the very exuberance in his playing illustrates how much he enjoys his work. Bill’s is a punching, staccato style, brassy as the instrument on which it is played.

“Head ‘idea man’ of the firm, Mal Waldron, in addition to his piano solos, had contributed two originals to this meeting. ‘Flickers’, background music for a modern silent screen melodrama, was first heard in ‘All Night Long’ (LP 7073). Here it is done at a slower tempo. ‘Mirage’ is a melancholy ballad somewhat in the vein of ‘Abstraction’, a Waldron composition which appeared in Jackie’s ‘4, 5 and 6’ (LP 7048).

“Doug Watkins and Art Taylor weld their talents together to form a solid rhythmic base as they have many times in the past. Doug has also added to the raw material for the date with his minor blues, ‘Help’, in which Ray’s lugubrious tuba portrays the creeping evil and Jackie and Bill cry for assistance.

“The tunes that round out the session are Draper’s ‘Minor Dream’ with an introduction similar to Waldrons’s ‘Dee’s Dilemma’ but with different thereafter and McLean’s ‘Beau Jack’, a blues of funky dimensions with -beaucoup- Jackie.

“After consulting the stock reports and calling my broker, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s on thing for you to do - buy a share of Jackie McLean & Co.” (Ira Gitler. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Jackie McLean (a-sx), Bill Hardman (tp), Ray Draper (tu), Mal Waldron (pi), Doug Watkins (bs), Art Taylor (dr)

A1. Flickers

A2. Help

A3. Minor Dream

B1. Beau Jack

B2. Mirage

mp3/320kbps

Jackie McLean - A Long Drink of the Blues

“For some reason, it has become traditional to apologise for the release of a blowing session. This is mostly due, I feel, to the growing influence on jazz of critics who judge the music by standards that have nothing whatever to do with it. Jazz has been judged, more and more increasingly, by standards that are most pertinent when the subject under discussion is European classical music, and it is only natural that it does not meet those standards. In the same way, if the great classical saxophonist Marcel Mule were to be judged by standards meant to apply to Jackie McLean, he would not measure up.

“All of which is to say that the little tune of the record, ‘A Long Drink of the Blues’, -is- a blowing date. As such, it is representative of the talents of the six musicians involved, how they felt at the time, and how well they played on the particular afternoon the session was recorded. The interest it holds is determined only by how well those six men play the blues. Curtis Fuller is one of the two or three of the young trombonists who have made any contribution to the instrument. Webster Young seems to have a greater understanding of Miles Davis than those countless young trumpeters who play like Miles simply because it is fashionable. Gil Coggins is a rarely recorded pianist, and this situation is somewhat inexplicable when you consider how much he has contributed to the few dates he has been on. Paul Chambers is, of course, one of the founders and the only remaining member of the great Miles Davis rhythm section. Louis Hayes is the drummer who has added so much to the groups of Horace Silver and Cannonball Adderly. And, in the area of special interest, Jackie McLean, of whom more in a moment, takes his first solo here on that instrument.

“You will also hear, under the guise of ‘A Long Drink of the Blues (take 1)’, something of what went on in the studio that afternoon. Obviously, formal organization of the type preferred by certain critics was not held in a very high esteem. Since Jackie McLean has made a very successful debut in ‘The Connection’, in which he revealed himself as an incisive naturalistic actor, it is with a certain amount of justifiable pride that we present here his first recorded performance in a speaking role.

“The other side of the LP requires, I think, slightly more extended commentary. It consists of three ballads performed by McLean on alto, Mal Waldron, Arthur Phipps and Art Taylor. Much has been made of musical empathy, and deservedly so, but apparently this quality is only considered worthy of discussion when it is possessed by recognized stars. Regardless of whether or not you happen to like their kind of music, it goes without saying that Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond play extraordinarily well together, one serving as perfect contrast for the other. And reams of copy have been written about the musical affinity that exists between Miles Davis and Gil Evans. It is my opinion that this quality, which is certainly to be desired, can be found nowhere more perfectly expressed than in the music of Jackie McLean and Mal Waldron.

“Both of them have a great understanding of dance music. Now I know that term is tossed around by writers when they wish to deprecate something (most often, they speak of a big band jazz date that didn’t quite come off as a good dance record), but the sense of dance is present in the music of some of our most important modern musicians: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins. The three ballads played here are, I think, much more danceable than many records specifically released for that purpose, and it is to the credit of McLean and Waldron that this should be the case.

“But their affinity goes much beyond that. Both men are as deeply committed to jazz as it is possible for musicians to be. As such, they have rejected certain stylistic elements that might have made their music more universally acceptable, but they have remained better jazzmen for it. Both of them, in sound and approach, project what can only be called a feeling of intense loneliness. It is that quality, I think, which is so grippingly attractive to some listeners and frightening to others. They do not play happy music, but certainly they do play an accurate reflection of the world in which they find themselves. In achieving this, they have abandoned some of what the critics are pleased to call ‘technique’, but they are both consummate musicians in that the style they have worked out is perfectly suited to the statement they have to make. This is something else they have in common with the previously mentioned Davis, Rollins and Coltrane (at an early point in his career, Jackie’s solos sounded like transcriptions for alto of Miles Davis trumpet phrases) as well as the musicians who have most directly shaped their styles: in Jackie’s case, that would be Charlie Parker; in Mal’s, without neglecting the influence of Bud Powell, it would be Thelonious Monk.

“Perhaps I have given the mistaken impression that these two men have been completely neglected in their careers. That is definitely not the case. At least part of Jackie’s situation has been a matter of personal difficulty, and for a time he was denied a New York cabaret card. But one does not need a card to perform in a theatre, and so he was able to join the cast of ‘The Connection’. Although the group which played that show was billed as the Freddie Redd Quartet, it was alto and rhythm, and it was Jackie who made the greatest impression, both as soloist and actor. Whatever merits the play itself may have had, it did prove that jazz could be an integral part of a theatrical evening, and, for once, the music used to prove such a point was uncompromising in its honesty. Surprisingly enough - or not, depending on your point of view - the critics (drama critics, this time) went for the jazz as much as for the play, and gave a much more accurate appraisal of both than the majority of jazz writers who commented on it. And one thing that was certainly accomplished was a turning point in Jackie McLean’s career.

“Mal Waldron’s is a different situation. For the last few years before her death, he was Billie Holiday’s accompanist. Although he learned much from that experience for which he is grateful, musically and otherwise, and although Billie always left a set open in the evening for Mal’s trio, the job did mean that he was absent for a while from New York’s battleground of young musicians. He is back now, and playing again, and has even more to contribute than before.

“When the smoke of the jazz battles have cleared away, when flash-in-pans have been forgotten and proper assessments have been made, I think it will be found that Jackie McLean and Mal Waldron have made some of the most valuable and durable music of their time. These three ballads will be an important part of that contribution.” (Joe Golberg. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Jackie McLean (t-sx), Webster Young (tp), Curtis Fuller (tb), Gil Coggins/Mal Waldron (pi), Paul Chambers/Arthur Phipps (bs), Louis Hayes/Art Taylor (dr)

A1. A Long Drink Of The Blues (Take 1)

A2. A Long Drink Of The Blues (Take 2)

B1. Embraceable You

B2. I Cover The Waterfront

B3. These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)

mp3/320kbps

Johnny Griffin - The Congregation

"Johnny Griffin is a symbol of jazz energy. The most immediately obvious components of this energy are his extraordinary technical dexterity and hard, muscular sound. But what seems to generate this significant method of projection is a power plant which has roots in the traditional - primitive forms of jazz. Like his contemporary Sonny Rollins (who has had a strong influence on him), Griffin draws on basic jazz elements as the essence of his playing. His strident voice has a raw, virile quality and it shouts, at times, with a strength of expression in the Bessie Smith or Mahalia Jackson manner.

"It is this analogy in Griffin's music that lifts him above the classification of just 'hard bopper'. While there is a great deal of Bird in Griffin, his tenor sax conception relates more emphatically to an earlier era than bop. Coleman Hawkins, Don Byas and Lester Young have made no small impression on him and he seems also to have listened closely to Dexter Gordon, Wardell Gray and Rollins.

"Thelonious Monk also draws 'especial bows' (as Joe Segal cited in his notes for Johnny's first Blue Note album, BLP 1533) and the reasons behind Griffin's predilection for Monk are understandable. Monk's awareness of his musical ancestry is evident in everything he plays and Griffin seems to be motivated by what are essentially the same factors. Johnny is going in the same general direction of Monk - carrying on the jazz tradition without losing sight of its basics.

"Now an intermittent member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Griffin, who was born and brought up in Chicago, has worked with, among other, Lionel Hampton, Clark Terry and Monk. This is his third Blue Note LP, BLP 1559 featured expressive 'battles' with John Coltrane and Hank Mobley.

"Sonny Clark, the blues-influenced pianist from Pittsburgh, who, until recently, spent the bulk of his career in California with the Light House All-Stars and Buddy Delfranco, provides sympathetic and firm comping and solos in a consistently interesting fashion. He says his first two most important influences have been Monk and Bud Powell - stylistically the latter's impression, filtered through Horace Silver, is the more apparent.

"Paul Chambers, who recent 'Bass on Top' album (BLP 1569) elevated him to the realized high-potential class, is represented on almost a dozen Blue Note LPs. He is equally creative as both an arco and pizzicato soloist and is, on this record as always, a strikingly intuitive accompanist.

"Kenny Dennis is a Philadelphia-born drummer who makes his recording debut here. For some time an associate of Sonny Stitt's, Kenny shows himself to be a steady, working drummer of impressive skills.

"The title tune, 'The Congregation', by Griffin, has him bouncing along in a blues-happy, foot tapping, hand clapping groove. Clark, in a Silverish vein, and Chambers solo with similar effect. This tune proves that it is possible to be funky without being angry.

"John Jenkins, the Chicago altoist and another of the gifted reedmen (Griffin, Cliff Jordan and John Gilmore are only a few of the others) who have emerged from that aread within the past several years, contributed 'Latin Quarter' which has a melody line based on that of 'Tangerine'. After the Latinesque opening Griffin takes off on the changes with a strong-toned, moving solo. Clark and Chambers deliver a pair of typical statements before Johnny returns to wail some more before finishing up with an extended ending.

"The very pretty 'I'm Glad There Is You' is taken at an unusual medium tempo but retains the aforementioned quality. Johnny's pair of solos, which precede and follow a Clark statement, are stimulating and show a mature, cohesive flow of thought.

"'Main Spring' by Griffin is a down-home blues with Johnny blowing new life into what might have been just another down-home type blues. Clark, a well oriented exponent of this sort of thing, excells in the fashion of his school and Chambers succeeds him with one of his patented and absorbing bowed solos.

"'It's You or No One' is rendered a medium-up treatment and, as the closing number of the set, gives everyone a chance to stretch out a bit: Johnny, Clark, Chambers (bowed), then Johnny again to trade some fours with Dennis before taking it out.

"That Johnny Griffin's roots are immersed in the funky earth of spirituals and the blues (and have grown from there) is what provokes and enables him to make basic statements in what can be described as an 'up to date' way. Perhaps the primary fault with too many of today's musicians is that they are only concerned with contemporary concepts. But jazz did not begin with Bird, and Griffin along with a handful of other suggest that it will not end with him either." (Robert Levin. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Johnny Griffin (t-sx), Sonny Clark (pi), Paul Chambers (bs), Kenny Dennis (dr)

A1. The Congregation

A2. Latin Quarter

A3. I'm Glad There Is You

B1. Main Spring

B2. It's You Or No One

B3. I Remember You

mp3/320kbps

Vincenzo Bellini - La Sonnambula

"In several respects 'La Sonnambula' is one of the more surprising operas to find in Callas's repertoire. Her stage presence, for one thing, had normally a grandeur about it and, by 1955 when she first sang the part, a sophisticated elegance, both foreign to the simple village girl she plays here. Vocally, Amina is associated with light, pretty voices of the Galli-Curci or Toti dal Monte type and neither of those delightful singers could easily be thought of in Callas's great role of Norma, any more than her predecessors in that role, such as Rosa Ponselle or Gina Cigna, could very well be billed as Amina. It is true that Bellini wrote both roles for the same singer, Giuditta Pasta, and in the same year too; true also that most of the leading nineteenth-century sopranos sang both parts without seeming to court disaster. Still, in Callas's time it was a daring step to take, and among her admirers there must have been many who echoed the prayer of the villagers as Amina crosses the water-mill bridge: 'Bonta divrna, guida l'orrante pie!' 

 

"If so, their prayer was answered. 'The Sonnambula' at La Scala was a resounding success in 1955 and the triumph was repeated at its revival in 1957, the year of this recording. 'Callas mirabile Sonnambula,' 'nccoglienza trionfali,' pubblico in delirio,' ('Callas a wonderful Sonnambula,' 'a triumphal reception,' 'the audience in ectasy') ran the headlines. Writing in the magazine Opera, Claudio Sartori described her as having 'created a personality composed of nuances and half tones, persuasive and of the utmost delicacy'. He also admired Visconti's production, which 'succeeded in conjuring up a dreamlike atmosphere surrounding the graceful story, still set in a fourteenth-century Arcadian background.' The same critic credited the tenor Nicola Monti with 'a most charming voice, well-controlled if not of great volume, but true and penetrating, agile and responsive,' while 'interpretations of the highest order warn given by Zaccaria (Rodolfo) and Eugenia Ratti (Lisa), both most ably supported by the experienced in action of Antonino Votto.' All, then, was set fair for the recording which started the day after the first performance and ended one day before the third. 

 

"During rehearsals for the new production in 1955 Callas had queried Visconti's idea that she should wear her jewellery. She objected that she was a village girl and that it would be out of character. His reply as recorded in Adrienne Stassinopoulos's biography of Callas ran as follows: 'No, you are not a village girl. You are Maria Callas playing a village girl and don't forget that'. Perhaps there is some wisdom here that one fails to grasp, but certainly as far as the recording is concerned a marvellous feature of it is the absence of any suggestion that she is 'Maria Callas playing a village girl'. At the start she establishes the voice which she hears in her mind's ear as the girl's, and from then onwards everything is in proportion. When misfortune strikes, Amina does not suddenly become Tosca or Norma or simply Maria Callas. The voice continues, as it were, to 'think upwards' and she is still young and inexperienced in soul. It was part of Callas's achievement to provide the Scala. where they probably knew the opera as well as, if not better than, any other audience in the world, with a revelation: as one of the critics put it, the girl was endowed not just with movement and,a voice, but with a soul of her own. 

 

"No doubt the degree of depth and the power to communicate it were made possible by the fact that she was 'Maria Callas playing a village girl.' The point is well put by John Ardoin in his study of Callas's recordings, 'The Callas Legend,' where he writes: Only when one hears Amina in a voice which endows Norma with its proper humane dimensions is one aware of the depth to be found in Sonnambula.' The remarkable thing, though, is that when the afflicted girl cries out 'Ah! me infelice. Che feci io mai? Oh mio dolore,' it is still in the voice of Amina; grief which would seem vocally lightweight if sung in that way by Norma at a similar point in her drama is perfectly scaled in relation to the simple happiness that irradiated the girl a lithe earlier. It is exactly the sort of thing which gives substance beyond more pious platitude to talk of Callas's artistic integrity." (John Steane. From the liner notes.) 

 

Performers: Orchestra e Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Antonino Votto, Maria Callas, Nicola Monti, Nicola Zaccaria, Eugenia Ratti, Fiorenza Cossotto

 

1.1. Atto I, Scena I: 'Tutto È Gioia, Tutto È Festa...'

1.2. Atto I, Scena I: 'In Elvezia Non V'ha Rosa'

1.3. Atto I, Scena I: 'Care Compagne'

1.4. Atto I, Scena I: 'Come Per Me Sereno...'/'Sempre, O Felice Amina'

1.5. Atto I, Scena I: 'Sovra Il Sen La Man Mi Posa...'

1.6. Atto I, Scena I: 'Io Più Di Tutti, O Amina'

1.7. Atto I, Scena I: 'Perdona, O Mia Diletta'

1.8. Atto I, Scena I: 'L'anel Ti Dono'

1.9. Atto I, Scena I: 'Scritti Nel Ciel Già Sono...'/'Ah! Vorrei Trovar Parole'

1.10. Atto I, Scena I: 'Come Noioso E Lungo Il Cammin'

1.11. Atto I, Scena I: 'Il Mulino... Il Fonte... Il Bosco!...'/'Vi Ravviso, O Luoghi'

1.12. Atto I, Scena I: 'Contezza Del Paese'

1.13. Atto I, Scena I: 'A Fosco Cielo, A Notte Bruna'

1.14. Atto I, Scena I: 'Basta Così. Ciascuno Si Attenga'

1.15. Atto I, Scena I: 'Elvino! E Me Tu Lasci'

1.16. Atto I, Scena I: 'Son Geloso Del Zefiro Errante'

1.17. Atto I, Scena II: 'Davver, Non Mi Dispiace'

1.18. Atto I, Scena II: 'Elvino... Elvino...'

 

2.1. Atto I, Scena II: 'O Ciel! Che Tento?'

2.2. Atto I, Scena II: 'Osservate: L'uscio È Aperto'

2.3. Atto I, Scena II: 'È Menzogna'

2.4. Atto I, Scena II: 'D'un Pensiero E D'un Accento'

2.5. Atto II, Scena I: 'Qui La Selva È Più Folta Ed Ombrosa'

2.6. Atto II, Scena I: 'Reggimi, O Buona Madre'

2.7. Atto II, Scena I: 'Vedi, O Madre... È Afflitto E Mesto...'

2.8. Atto II, Scena I: 'Viva Il Conte!'

2.9. Atto II, Scena I: 'Ah! Perchè Non Posso Odiarti'

2.10. Atto II, Scena II: 'E Fia Pur Vero, Elvino'

2.11. Atto II, Scena II: 'Signor Conte, Agli Occhi Miei'

2.12. Atto II, Scena II: 'Signor?... Che Creder Deggio?'

2.13. Atto II, Scena II: 'Oh! Se Una Volta Sola'

2.14. Atto II, Scena II: 'Ah! Non Credea Mirarti'

2.15. Atto II, Scena II: 'No, Più Non Reggo'

2.16. Atto II, Scena II: 'Ah! Non Giunge Uman Pensiero...'

 

flac/16-bit

Duke Ellington - Such Sweet Thunder

This is a twelve part suite composed by Ellington based on the works of Shakespeare, dedicated to the Shakespearean Festival in the Canadian city of Stratford, Ontario. Written in just under three weeks in 1956 and recorded the following year, there is an excellent sense of creative drive and focus here: much like Verdi Ellington shows how much musical life is in Shakespeare's words. There is a sound here that only Ellington's bands could produce, with such synergy between musicians and their director that ideas can flow directly out from the great bandleader's mind. 

A1. Such Sweet Thunder
A2. Sonnet For Caesar
A3. Sonnet To Hank Cinq
A4. Lady Mac
A5. Sonnet In Search Of A Moor
A6. The Telecasters
B1. Up And Down, Up And Down (I Will Lead Them Up And Down)
B2. Sonnet For Sister Kate
B3. The Star-Crossed Lovers
B4. Madness In Great Ones
B5. Half The Fun
B6. Circle Of Fourths

mp3/320kbps

Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt & Sonny Rollins - Sonny Side Up

Dizzy Gillespie heads this famous all-star horn frontline, backed by brothers Ray and Tommy Bryant on piano and bass respectively and veteran be-bop player Charlie Persip on the drum stool. Gillespie, of course, invigorates things with a fluent energy, a sense of effortless fun that no one else but a prince regent of jazz could muster. As his chosen lieutenants grapple for position through their extended (and impeccable) solos, Gillespie is content to soar above without a care in the world, blasting out wonderful vocals that shine like the sun on the title track.

Performers: Dizzy Gillespie (tp), Sonny Stitt/Sonny Rollins (t-sx), Ray Bryant (pi), Tommy Bryant (bs), Charlie Persip (dr)

A1. On The Sunny Side Of The Street
A2. The Eternal Triangle
B1. After Hours
B2. I Know That You Know

flac/16-bit

Red Garland - Soul Junction

"There's no grunting or pounding the blues into soul-for-sale music. This is simply unpretentious blues, the common jazz language, carried on through the decades by thousands of players", Nat Hentoff writes of Garland's playing on the title track in the liner notes of this album. He goes on: "Red gets a 'sound' from the piano that's refreshing and thoroughly pianistic. He's not one of the drummer-pianists." Certainly, we do hear the understated brilliance of Red Garland in top form here, rounded out by an excellent group. John Coltrane's blisteringly fluent and intricate playing is what land's this date a place in the history books, but Donald Byrd was of course in top form as a young hard bop player in 1957, and the combination of the stalwart George Joyner with the "steadiest and most swinging" (Garland's words) drums of Art Taylor lifts this music far beyond the ordinary.

Performers: Red Garland (pi), Donald Byrd (tp), John Coltrane (t-sx), George Joyner (bs), Art Taylor (dr)

A1. Soul Junction
A2. Woody'n You
B1. Birks' Works
B2. I've Got It Bad And That Ain't Good
B3. Hallelujah

flac/16-bit