The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz (56 page)

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Authors: Tom Piazza

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BOOK: The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz
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ously, has a luscious tone that seems to owe a lot to Parker's "Bird with Strings" sound. McPherson's language comes straight out of Bird's, and he has perhaps mastered and absorbed the nuances of Parker's style better than anyone, yet he is instantly identifiable. His set
Bebop Revisited!
(Prestige/OJC-710) pairs him with his mentor, Detroit bebop professor Barry Harris, on piano, and the gifted trumpeter Carmell Jones in a selection of tunes drawn from the heart of the bop repertoire - Tadd Dameron's "Hot House," Fats Navarro's "Nostalgia," Bud Powell's "Wail,'' Charlie Parker's seldom-played "Si Si," and the ballads "Embraceable You" and "If I Loved You." The set also includes a tune titled "Variations on a Blues by Bird," learned by McPherson from a rare Charlie Parker record which recently surfaced, for the first time since 1952, on the Verve ten-CD Charlie Parker box under the name "Passport (Tune Y)."
Bebop Revisited!
is an energetic and authentic set of classic bop; McPherson soars throughout, showing off his hardest-driving side. Everyone else contributes importantly as well to this extremely satisfying disc.
McPherson's more romantic side is in the foreground on
Siku Ya Bibi
(Mainstream MDCD 713), a set of tunes associated with Billie Holiday on which McPherson is again backed by Barry Harris and, on half the tracks, a string section. The altoist is at his singing best on fine standards like "For Heaven's Sake," "I'm a Fool to Want You," and "Good Morning Heartache." Two sets recorded for Don Schlitten's Xanadu label in the mid-1970s may be available in imported versions:
Beautiful!
is a brilliant collection of choice standards like "But Beautiful," "This Can't Be Love," and "It Had To Be You," on which McPherson, at his most inventive and lyrical, is accompanied by a rhythm section of Duke Jordan, Sam Jones, and Leroy Williams. If you can find it, buy it. As good, maybe even better, is
Live in Tokyo
, another quartet date, again with Barry Harris, on which they perform a couple of blues, a samba, good ballad versions of "These Foolish Things" and, especially, "East of the Sun," and a broiling version of Bud Powell's "Bouncing with Bud."
McPherson and Harris are together for a great 1973 album by trumpeter Red Rodney,
Bird Lives!
(Muse MCD 5371). Rodney spent a good amount of time in Parker's quintet, and the repertoire here consists entirely of tunes either composed by or associated with Bird - his blues "Big Foot," his breakneck line on the chords of "Indiana" called "Donna Lee," the popular standard "I'll Remember April," Thelonious Monk's "'Round Midnight," and others. This is a small masterpiece of an album; the rhythm section, which includes bassist Sam Jones and neglected giant Roy Brooks on drums along with Harris, couldn't be much better, and Rodney and McPherson consistently inspire each other to heights of fire and invention. For an example of the possibilities in the bop approach to group playing, listen to the interplay between
 
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piano, drums, and soloists on "I'll Remember April," an example of improvised group counterpoint at its best; Rodney's and McPherson's two choruses of exhilarating four-bar exchanges at the end of this track are a high point of a set that can't be recommended highly enough.
McPherson spent several years, on and off, with Charles Mingus's bands, in which he was always pushed to do his best. He took part in a few of the sessions included on
The Complete Candid Recordings of Charles Mingus
(Mosaic MD3-111), including the one that produced "MDM," a jumping blues on which McPherson has an exciting dialogue with Eric Dolphy. Probably the best recording the altoist made with Mingus is
Mingus at Monterey
(Prestige P-34001), recorded at the 1964 Monterey Jazz Festival, on which McPherson plays a long solo on "Orange Was the Color of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk," during which an unforgettable mood settles. McPherson would have an honored place in jazz history even if he had never recorded another thing.
Two very little known altoists of the post-Parker era are Sonny Red and John Jenkins. Sonny Red's melodic conception was very close to Parker's, as was his tone. His 1961 album
Images
(Jazzland/OJC-148) is a recommended set for any bebop fan. Red is not just a scale-pattern player; his solos consist of real ideas. He is joined on
Images
by trumpeter Blue Mitchell and pianist Barry Harris, among others. Red is also featured on Curtis Fuller's excellent album
New Trombone
(Prestige/OJC-077), a quintet date featuring Hank Jones on piano. John Jenkins also followed Bird's conception very closely, adding a strong Jackie McLean influence. Jenkins can, in fact, be heard on a couple of albums with McLean -
Alto Madness
(Prestige/OJC-1733) and
Bird Feathers
(New Jazz/OJC-1735) - on which they are hard for even a practiced ear to tell apart.
Sonny Stitt, unquestionably one of Parker's foremost disciples, is discussed with the tenor players, since his main influence was felt on the larger instrument. But he made at least two records exclusively on alto that must be mentioned here.
Stitt Plays Bird
(Atlantic 1418-2) is a virtuoso ride through a program of eleven Parker standards - from the slow blues "Parker's Mood" to the lightning-fast "Ko Ko," by way of "Scrapple from the Apple,'' "Yardbird Suite," and others - accompanied by John Lewis, Richard Davis, and Connie Kay, with Jim Hall along on guitar. Stitt's playing on Dizzy Gillespie's
For Musicians Only
(Verve 837 435-2), on which Stan Getz rounds out the front line, is even better, a staggering display of technique and presence of mind on "Bebop," "Dark Eyes," "Wee," and "Lover Come Back to Me," all of which except "Dark Eyes" are taken at breakneck tempos.
Stitt also plays mostly alto on
Sonny Stitt Sits In with the Oscar Peterson Trio
(Verve 849 396-2), a set of material from two sessions in 1957 and 1959 in which
 
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swing is the key word on standards like "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "I'll Remember April," Charlie Parker's blues "Au Privave," and more. Ray Brown's bass puts a deep keel in the water here. Stitt's early alto solos with Gillespie's 1946 band ("That's Earl, Brother" and "Oop Bop Sh'Bam'') can be heard on
Dizzy Gillespie and His Sextets and Orchestra: "Shaw' Nuff
" (Musicraft MVSCD-53).
Cousins
Art Pepper was highly regarded by many jazz fans for his sweet tone and jaunty, bouncing rhythmic feeling. The natural comparison was with Bird, but when he switched to tenor from time to time one could hear a large helping of Lester Young in his style, too. His autobiography,
Straight Life
, is a lurid look at the West Coast jazz scene of the 1940s and 1950s. Later in life his sound became more penetrating, even harsh sometimes, yet he could play ballads beautifully.
One Pepper set that everyone should own is
Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section
(Contemporary/OJC-338), where pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Philly Joe Jones take a brief holiday from Miles Davis's 1957 quintet to accompany the altoist on a very satisfying, laid-back program consisting mainly of popular and jazz standards like "Imagination," "Tin Tin Deo," and "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To." The set has a fresh, spontaneous feeling to it and is highly recommended. Three years later he had a rendezvous with another Miles Davis rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb (
Gettin' Together
[Contemporary/OJC-169]), with trumpeter Conte Candoli added. This is a less interesting date, by and large, although two ballads, "Diane" and "Why Are We Afraid?," are fine. Wynton Kelly was having an especially good day, and
Gettin' Together
is recommended for Kelly fans. One set to stay away from, although it looks very promising, is
Art Pepper
+
Eleven: Modern Jazz Classics
(Contemporary/OJC-341), on which the altoist plays jazz standards by Parker, Gillespie, Monk, and others, accompanied by a big band consisting of crack West Coast men. The arrangements, by Marty Paich, are unfailingly corny, and nobody sounds particularly interested, with the exception of drummer Mel Lewis, who broils away behind the lackluster proceedings.
Lee Konitz is a master of improvisation, with an instantly identifiable sound that has broadened since his late-1940s days with Stan Kenton's big band (of which Pepper, too, was an alumnus). He was one of the archetypal cool players, involved in Miles Davis's
Birth of the Cool
sessions as well as recording as a guest with Gerry Mulligan's pianoless quartet in the early 1950s. He was involved, also, with pianist and theorist Lennie Tristano, with whom
 
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he made some interesting 1949 sides, available on
Lee Konitz
(Prestige/OJC-186). Also included on this set are several highly intuitive and contrapuntal sides with tenor player Warne Marsh. Konitz teams up with Tristano again for five exceptional live tracks from 1955 on
Lennie Tristano/The New Tristano
(Rhino/Atlantic R2 71595), on which the altoist and pianist engage in some truly inspired improvised counterpoint.
Konitz loves collective improvisation and spontaneous counterpoint; his
The Lee Konitz Duets
(Milestone/OJC-466), which includes unaccompanied duets with tenor saxophonists Richie Kamuca and Joe Henderson, violinist Ray Nance, drummer Elvin Jones, and others, is a very rewarding album that runs the stylistic gamut from Armstrong's "Struttin with Some Barbecue" to totally spontaneous "free" playing. My favorite Konitz album is the 1976
Figure and Spirit
, originally issued on Progressive Records and available again on CD as a Japanese import. It may be a little tough to find, but it is worth any effort. Konitz and tenorist Ted Brown match wits backed by a great rhythm section of pianist Albert Dailey, bassist Rufus Reid, and drummer Joe Chambers on a swinging and extremely supple set of essays on disguised standards like "I'll Remember April" and "You Stepped Out of a Dream.'' Konitz and Brown sometimes engage in simultaneous improvisation that sounds like a bebop version of New Orleans polyphony. The seven-minute-long title cut (a meditative, profound, themeless improvisation on the harmonic structure of "Body and Soul") is a bona fide masterpiece.
Paul Desmond, usually identified with pianist Dave Brubeck's small group, is in some ways an alto saxophone version of tenorist Stan Getz. His tone is very pure and cushioned, sweet and sometimes ironic, and never strident. He was a stranger to the blues, but he was a fine ballad player. His most famous recording is unquestionably "Take Five" from the Dave Brubeck album
Time Out
(Columbia CK 40585), a collection of pieces in unusual meters. But the ballads and coolly swinging standards that make up Desmond's own
Easy Living
(RCA/Bluebird 2306-2-RB) will be appreciated by any fan of sweet, romantic playing on high-quality tunes like "Easy Living," "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," and "Here's That Rainy Day." Desmond is accompanied here by guitar master Jim Hall, among others. This is not the most challenging music, but it is a warm and mellow, cognac-on-a-fall-afternoon set.
Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean arrived in the early 1950s very much under the influence of Bird, but he was destined to grow far beyond the status of mere disciple. McLean is one of the best players in jazz to this day, a serious artist who has
 
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constantly challenged himself. His sound is full, broad, and urgent; sometimes he almost sounds more like a tenor than an alto. His swing can be irresistible, especially on straight-ahead, bebop-influenced material, on which his long lines of eighth notes ride the harmonic contours like a surfer timing a wave perfectly. He has recorded prolifically, covering a spectrum of styles from the straight-ahead bebop that he grew up with through the modal approach of the early 1960s and even the "free" experiments of that time. McLean's playing is nearly always of a very high quality; the differences in his recordings have to do mainly with the accompanists and the material.
McLean's many recordings for Prestige/New Jazz are uneven in quality. He plays extremely good bebop on
Jackie's Pal
(Prestige/OJC-1714), on which McLean and trumpeter Bill Hardman are backed by Mal Waldron, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones in a program including four originals and an exciting version of Charlie Parker's seldom-played "Steeplechase." The originals are all interesting, especially the minor-key "Dee's Dilemma," which puts the set in a different class from some of McLean's other Prestige recordings, in which familiar standards are given an unrehearsed, workaday treatment. McLean plays very fresh melodic lines in his solos; this is an excellent example of what he can do in this kind of setting when he is at his best.
McLean's Scene
(New Jazz/OJC-098) is an example of a session in which familiar standards are given an unrehearsed, workaday treatment. The altoist relies, for the most part, on stock phrases, although he plays a startlingly hot solo on "Gone with the Wind."
Makin' the Changes
(New Jazz/OJC-197) is better overall because of three tracks recorded with an expanded group, including trumpeter Webster Young and trombonist Curtis Fuller, to which a little more care and planning were obviously devoted. "Jackie's Ghost" is a fine, up-tempo, minor-key original arranged well for the three horns, with interludes between the solos, and "Chasin' the Bird'' is one of Parker's two contrapuntal compositions, with an extra line added here for trombone.
4, 5 and 6
(Prestige/OJC-056) is a solid album of straight-ahead blowing, in which McLean leads a quartet, a quintet, and a sextet (hence the title). This one includes a nice medium-tempo, cooking quartet performance of the rarely played standard "Why Was I Born?" and a version of Bird's "Confirmation" on which McLean is joined by tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley.
Lights Out
(Prestige/OJC-426) has McLean with trumpeter Donald Byrd and pianist Elmo Hope. This is one of the best of the Prestiges, largely due to Hope's supportive playing behind McLean. The title cut is a blues recorded in a darkened studio. Despite the absence of anything above a medium walking tempo,
A Long Drink of the Blues
(New Jazz/OJC-253) is also one of the best in this series. The second side consists of three slow ballad performances

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