The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz (60 page)

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Authors: Tom Piazza

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BOOK: The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz
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"Stuffy" and "Rifftide," the latter of which showed up later in Thelonious Monk's repertoire as "Hackensack."
Body and Soul
(RCA/Bluebird 5717-2-RB) contains two 1947 tracks with electric Fats Navarro solos, "Half Step Down, Please" and "Jumping for Jane.''
A fascinating but probably hard-to-find album of material recorded slightly later is
Coleman Hawkins - Disorder at the Border
(Spotlite 121, LP only), which features two 1952 broadcasts from the New York nightclub Birdland. On one, Hawk's front-line partner in the quintet is Howard McGhee; on the other, more explosive one it's Roy Eldridge. Despite what the notes say, Art Blakey, not Connie Kay, is the drummer on the evening with Eldridge; Kay is the drummer on the McGhee tracks. This set contains some of the most ferocious Hawkins to be found anywhere, due in large part to the exhilarating drive of the rhythm section, which includes pianist Horace Silver and bassist Curly Russell on both nights. The rhythm section of Blakey, Silver, and Russell is the same one that powered Blakey's fantastic
A Night at Birdland, Volume 1
(Blue Note 46519) and
Volume 2
(Blue Note 46520), with trumpeter Clifford Brown and altoist Lou Donaldson.
Late Hawk
Hawkins made some of his best records in the 1950s and 1960s. His tone had aged like fine cognac; his ballad performances grew more reflective, but he could still turn up the heat as high as ever. One of his best sets of the 1950s is
The High and Mighty Hawk
(London 820 600-2), an extremely well recorded 1958 session with trumpeter Buck Clayton, pianist Hank Jones, bassist Ray Brown, and drummer Mickey Sheen. Brown, especially, gives lustre to this varied set by his imaginative and melodic accompaniment; listen closely to him throughout. "Bird of Prey Blues" is a swinging, medium-tempo blues riff by Hawkins on which the leader tears off no fewer than seventeen mean, swaggering choruses, and Hawk's ballad interpretations of "My One and Only Love" and "You've Changed" are both lyric masterpieces. Two bouncy Hank Jones originals elicit good playing from everyone as well. This is an example of mature musicians playing in a style with which they are completely comfortable, having a ball, telling stories, swinging.
Hawk Eyes!
(Prestige/OJC-294), from 1959, contains some more roaring Hawk in a sextet with trumpeter Charlie Shavers, guitarist Tiny Grimes, and pianist Ray Bryant. Standouts are the churchy title track, the midnight blues "C'mon In," which Hawk begins accompanied only by George Duvivier's bass (Hawk really plays a mess of blues here), and the hollering "Stealin' the Bean." Also excellent is 1958's
Soul
(Prestige/OJC-096), with guitarist Kenny Burrell
 
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and with Bryant again on piano, a mixture of blues, ballads (a great version of "Until the Real Thing Comes Along"), and an up-tempo riff. This set includes a haunting version of the ballad "Greensleeves." But fans of Hawkins's ballad playing will love
At Ease with Coleman Hawkins
(Prestige/OJC-181) above all. Hawkins plays with a rhythm section including pianist Tommy Flanagan, doing gorgeous and uncommon standards like "Trouble Is a Man," "For You, for Me, for Evermore," "Then I'll Be Tired of You,'' and Alec Wilder's "While We're Young." This is one of the finest things Hawkins recorded.
The Genius of Coleman Hawkins
(Verve 825 673-2) is an outstanding date with Hawkins playing standards like "I'll Never Be the Same," "Ill Wind," "There's No You," and "You're Blase" in front of the Verve house rhythm section of Oscar Peterson, Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, and Alvin Stoller. Hawk is at ease and very inventive in this relaxed and happy set. A mellow mood also prevails on
Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster
(Verve 823 120-2), which features the two in front of the same Verve rhythm section. This is a loose, laid-back conversation between the two big-toned horns, mostly on familiar material. No fireworks here. The two tenor men lock horns again on
Ben Webster and Associates
(Verve 835 254-2), on which they are joined by trumpeter Roy Eldridge and a third tenorist, the undersung Budd Johnson, who outplays both Hawkins and Webster! This one is a real feast for tenor fans.
A live nightclub recording from 1959,
Roy Eldridge and Coleman Hawkins at the Bayou Club
(Stash ST-CD-531) has exciting work by both horn players despite a pretty dull rhythm section. This set contains seventy-five minutes of full-bodied blowing on Hawkins/Eldridge favorites such as "Rifftide," "How High the Moon," and "Just You, Just Me." Just as good are two late-1950s studio dates with his 1930s trumpet partner Henry "Red" Allen, combined on one CD called
Coleman Hawkins and Red Allen: Standards and Warhorses
(Jass CD-2). Don't be put off by the corny-looking repertoire (it includes things like "Bill Bailey" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic"); this has Hawk (and Allen) blowing at full throttle. Best of all, though, is
World on a String
(RCA/Bluebird 2497-2-RB), a 1957 set originally issued as
Ride, Red, Ride in Hi-Fi
, featuring both horns playing fantastic stuff throughout a program of standards and blues. Hawkins is in dangerous shape on this one; his solo on "Algiers Bounce" alone is worth the price of the disc.
Hawk is truly in top form as well on four tunes recorded at a German jazz festival in 1960 with pianist Bud Powell, who was living in Europe at that time, bassist Oscar Pettiford, and drummer Kenny Clarke. Available under Powell's name as
The Complete Essen Jazz Festival Concert
(Black Lion BLCD 760 105), this set has Hawk swinging through medium-tempo versions of "All the
 
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Things You Are" and his riff "Stuffy" as if his life depended on it, accompanied by one of the best bop-oriented rhythm sections imaginable. Essential stuff.
Ben Webster
Ben Webster, only four years Hawkins's junior, was perhaps Hawkins's greatest disciple, with a sound so identifiable and a sensibility so inimitable that the notion of discipleship is misleading. He was without peer as a ballad player, having learned as much, or more, about phrasing from alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges (his sectionmate in the Duke Ellington orchestra, where Webster was a star member from 1940 to 1943) as from Hawkins, and his blues playing was also hard to match. This big, hard-drinking, pool-playing man, one of whose nicknames was "The Brute," was in fact one of the greatest lyric voices in the history of the music. His playing on ballads could have a tenderness and a romantic quality that were all the more moving for the sense of strength that lay behind them. Flip the coin and his sound could swell with passion and force.
For an example of Webster at his all-time best, proceed directly to
Soulville
(Verve 833 551-2). The 1957 set consists of a slow, after-hours blues (the title track), a charging, medium-tempo blues, three stunningly lyrical ballads ("Time on My Hands," "Where Are You," and "Ill Wind" - on this kind of material Webster was unbeatable), and relaxed readings of the standards "Lover Come Back to Me" and "Makin' Whoopee.'' He is accompanied by Oscar Peterson's piano, Herb Ellis's guitar, Ray Brown's bass, and Stan Levey's drums. This is one of the most cohesive "mood" albums ever recorded. For good measure, Verve included three informally recorded piano solos by Webster - two stride pieces and a boogie-woogie - that break the deep mood of the rest of the album but which are fun to have anyway.
For more Webster on this level, pick up
Art Tatum: The Tatum Group Masterpieces, Volume 8
(Pablo PACD-2405-431-2), from a series of group recordings that Tatum led in the mid-1950s with such guests as Benny Carter, Lionel Hampton, and trumpeter Roy Eldridge (the Eldridge set runs the Webster a fairly close second).
Volume 8
features Webster with Tatum, bass, and drums in one of the very best encounters of this sort in the history of the music. Where some of Tatum's other guests in the series tried to match him technique-for-technique, run-for-run, Webster underplayed it, singing the gorgeous melodies with his fullest sound, a perfect complement to the pianist's florid, multinote approach. Together they play the most beautiful of popular standards, like "Gone with the Wind," "Have You Met Miss Jones," "My
 
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Ideal," and "Where or When," and produce one of the music's masterpieces. Don't miss this.
Early Ben
Webster came to New York City in December 1932 with the great Kansas City orchestra of Bennie Moten (which included young Count Basie and trumpeter Hot Lips Page), stopping off in Camden, New Jersey, to make some famous recordings available now as
Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra (1929-1932): Basie Beginnings
(RCA/Bluebird 9768-2-RB). This was one of the great bands of its time, and you can hear its spirit blasting through the seven tracks included on this set (the other tracks here are by earlier incarnations of the band). Webster takes several solos, sounding very much like Hawkins. Through the rest of the decade Webster was much in demand as a sideman for the best big bands of the 1930s, including Fletcher Henderson's and Cab Calloway's. He also played saxophone on many of the small-band dates led by pianist Teddy Wilson and featuring the vocals of Billie Holiday; some of the best of these may be heard on
The Quintessential Billie Holiday
,
Volume 1
(Columbia CK 40646) and
Volume 3
(Columbia CK 44048).
But Webster really hit his stride as a voice on recordings during his years with Duke Ellington's orchestra, beginning in 1940. The classic recordings by this band are all on
Duke Ellington: The Blanton-Webster Band
(RCA/Bluebird 5659-2-RB), a three-CD set that is one of the basics of any jazz library. The up-tempo showpiece "Cottontail" features Webster in one of his most famous performances, tearing up the track on "I Got Rhythm" chord changes. ''All Too Soon" and the brooding "Blue Serge" contain unforgettable ballad interpretations by the tenor player, and "Conga Brava," "Bojangles," "Raincheck," "Main Stem," and "Just A-Settin' and A-Rockin'" all have favorite Webster statements. He was one of the most distinctive, strongest voices in a band that placed a premium on individuality.
You can hear this band recorded live in 1940, in full roar, on the two-CD set
Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra: Fargo, North Dakota, November 7, 1940
(Vintage Jazz Classics VJC-1019/20-2). One of the miracles of jazz history, this set was recorded on acetate discs at the Crystal Ballroom by a young fan and shows the band on an unmistakably "on" night just after cornetist-violinist Ray Nance joined. (This set includes every scrap of music recorded that evening, not just the tracks that have been available in helter-skelter form until now. The sound is the best so far, too.) Webster plays hard throughout, but nowhere harder than on the finale, "St. Louis Blues," on which he follows singer Ivie Anderson's vocal with five choruses that will clear your sinuses. Webster also took part in some small-group studio dates in 1940 and 1941 led
 
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by fellow Ellingtonians Rex Stewart and clarinetist Barney Bigard. Collected on
The Great Ellington Units
(RCA/Bluebird 6751-2-RB), they are small-group jazz at its best. Webster scores with a charging, cogent solo on "Linger Awhile," a smoldering blues solo on "Poor Bubber," and an intriguing passage on the minor-key "Lament for Javanette.''
Webster was a sideman on countless recording dates in the 1940s and a leader on quite a few more.
Ben Webster/Don Byas: Giants of the Tenor Sax
(Commodore 7005) contains some excellent 1944 sides by Webster with drummer Big Sid Catlett and is well worth owning. But Webster did his best playing in the 1950s and 1960s. He had arrived at a point at which his control of nuance and sound was absolute; sometimes he would trail out his notes on ballads until all you hear is the air going through his mouthpiece - it was one of the most human sounds ever produced.
Webster got better and better as he got older. Three sets from the 1950s-1960s period are absolutely essential for anyone who likes his playing.
Ben Webster with Strings: "The Warm Moods"
(Discovery DSCD-818) is one of the best things he ever recorded, Webster in front of a fine string section arranged by ace orchestrator Johnny Richards, playing rarely done and beautiful romantic standards like "The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi," "Time After Time," and "With Every Breath I Take." It is hard to beat this set for a mixture of strength and tenderness.
King of the Tenors
(Verve 314 519 806-2) shows both the fierce and the lyrical sides of Webster's temper in sessions with an Oscar Peterson rhythm section and, on several tunes, added commentary from trumpeter Harry Edison and altoist Benny Carter. Big Ben surges through his solo on "Jive at Six," one of his hardest-swinging solos ever, and makes definitive ballad statements on "That's All" and "Danny Boy."
See You at the Fair
(Impulse/GRP GRD-121) is a 1964 collector's item, dedicated to the 1964-1965 World's Fair, that is as good as
King of the Tenors
, with Webster in his fullest roar on the medium-tempo-blues title track and at his gentlest on Duke Ellington's rarely done "Single Petal of a Rose." The rhythm section features pianist Hank Jones.
Ben Webster and "Sweets" Edison: Ben and "Sweets"
(Columbia CK 40853) is an excellent 1962 set pitting Webster against the pungent playing of the ex-Basie trumpeter, in front of a fine rhythm section including Hank Jones. The swinging, buoyant blues "Better Go" is a standout (Ben really surges along here, a definitive solo), as are the ballad readings, especially "How Long Has This Been Going On?" The set is almost worth having for the cover photo alone, which shows Webster, listening to Edison, in a dark blue suit with a starched white shirt open at the neck, French cuffs, a cigarette angled down from his mouth, and a gray hat perched on his head.

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