The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz (67 page)

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Authors: Tom Piazza

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BOOK: The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz
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Ron Carter's masterful way of playing melodic figures underneath Corea and Getz. This is a great mood album that will also repay the closest listening.
Jazz Samba
(Verve 810 061-2), which pairs Getz with guitarist Charlie Byrd, was the first and best of Getz's bossa-nova records, certainly the one with the best jazz-to-samba ratio. From the first notes of the lovely "Desafinado," this is a different kind of jazz, as refreshing as an ocean breeze. The album contains a number of moods-reflective, bluesy, joyous, urgent, just plain happy. Getz's sensuous sound is the perfect vehicle for the very romantic and sweet melodies heard here.
Getz/Gilberto
(Verve 810 048-2), recorded a year later with Brazil's major bossa-nova figures Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim, contains the original version of "The Girl from Ipanema," with Astrud Gilberto's memorable vocal. This set is a little lighter on the jazz than
Jazz Samba
, but it is very listenable.
Somewhat more challenging is the 1964 meeting between Getz and pianist Bill Evans, available as
Stan Getz and Bill Evans
(Verve 833 802-2). This set is interesting especially for the presence of drummer Elvin Jones, at that time a member of John Coltrane's classic quartet; on tunes like "Night and Day" and "My Heart Stood Still," his polyrhythmic style contrasts, not altogether successfully, with the more lyrical tendencies of the two principals. Still, there is some very good music here, including a fine performance of the ballad "But Beautiful."
Many Getz fans feel that 1961's
Focus
(Verve 821 982-2) is one of the saxophonist's great statements. Getz improvises his way around, over, under, and through music written for a large string ensemble by veteran Eddie Sauter, which was supposedly designed to be able to stand on its own as well as provide half of a stimulating dialogue for the star. This set isn't a favorite of mine; the string arrangements sound stilted, sometimes like an attempt at contemporary European classical music, sometimes like an uneasy mixture of watered-down Impressionism and movie music. Getz's playing here, to me, is ironically unfocused, since the compositions offer him no melodic meat to transform, little harmonic motion, and no rhythmic momentum.
For a taste of the young Getz at his most Lester Young-like in 1949 and 1950, playing standards like "There's a Small Hotel," "My Old Flame," and "Too Marvelous for Words," with several good bebop rhythm sections including one with pianist Al Haig and drummer Roy Haynes, check out
Stan Getz Quartets
(Prestige/OJC-121). And for evidence of his vitality in the 1970s,
The Lyrical Stan Getz
(Columbia CK 44047) offers a grab bag of the tenorist in various settings, including two tracks from 1972's
Captain Marvel
album, with Chick Corea playing electric piano, a 1977 "Willow Weep for Me," recorded at
 
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the Montreux Jazz Festival, and a beautiful version of "Lover Man," with the little-known but brilliant Albert Dailey on piano.
Tenor Madness
With all these influences - Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Don Byas, Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, and the rest-the 1950s saw a real explosion of tenor talent. The common language had incorporated Bird's additions, and it was a period of consolidation, in which many excellent players spoke the same language in a variety of voices. The 1950s culminated in the emergence of the twin colossi Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane as the dominant players on the instrument, although both had been on the scene since the beginning of the decade. Before we get to them, here's a look at some of the players who made the 1950s and early 1960s a golden age for the tenor saxophone.
In some ways, Hank Mobley was the archetypal 1950s tenorist. A strong swinger who sometimes sounded like a one-man encyclopedia of hard-bop strategies for dealing with chord changes, Mobley played with most of the best-known bands of the time, including those of Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Miles Davis, and Max Roach. Beginning in 1960, he also made a series of classic albums for Blue Note under his own name. These records have been somewhat overlooked by most critics; by the time they were made, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, and the New Thing players were dominating critical vision, and Mobley's records weren't seen as being on the cutting edge anymore. With today's perspective, though, it's obvious that they include some of the best straight-ahead, bop-rooted tenor playing ever recorded. Mobley's smoky tone, mastery of chord changes, and even-footed rhythmic attack light up his versions of popular standards (of which he chose some of the best and most neglected) as well as his own originals.
One of the best of this series of albums is the 1960 quartet session
Soul Station
(Blue Note 46528), on which Mobley has a killer rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Art Blakey. The program here is split between Mobley originals designed for cooking and two rarely done standards ("If I Should Lose You" and Irving Berlin's "Remember") that have Mobley in a certain rhythmic pocket that brings out his tastiest work. He was a master at setting exactly the right tempo for a tune, like a cook setting exactly the right amount of flame under a pan; these two are taken at slightly different medium tempos (notice that "If I Should Lose You" is just a hair faster) that make for perfect momentum. A tune taken even a bit too slowly may drag; the same tune taken just a bit too quickly may sound rushed. This sense of the right tempo is an important part of a jazz musician's equipment and is developed
 
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only with experience. The originals here include the fast romp "This I Dig of You" and the bluesy title tune. Highly recommended.
Just as good, maybe better, is
Another Workout
(Blue Note 84431), a 1961 quartet set with Kelly and Chambers again but with Philly Joe Jones on drums this time; Jones lends a certain kind of rhythmic freshness to things here that is his alone. Again, two unusual popular standards ("Hello, Young Lovers" and "Three Coins in the Fountain") are given cooking, medium-tempo treatments, and the former, especially, finds Mobley at his best in chorus after chorus of exciting but controlled swinging. The set also includes an up-tempo original, "Out of Joe's Bag," which incorporates breaks for Jones's drums into the melody and has some very strong blowing from Mobley, a fine version of the ballad I Should Care," a mostly modal Mobley original called "Gettin' and Jettin','' and Mobley's minor-key "Hank's Other Soul."
Throughout, the Kelly-Chambers-Jones rhythm section inspires the tenorist, as they do on another fine set also recorded in 1961,
Workout
(Blue Note 84080). Here, with the addition of guitarist Grant Green, the group plows through a set consisting mostly of Mobley originals. "Workout," like "Out of Joe's Bag," uses Jones's drum breaks in the head; "Uh Huh" is a funky, back-beat-flavored piece using a call-and-response figure at a surging medium tempo. "Smokin'" is an appropriately titled up-tempo blues, and "Greasin' Easy" is a walking-tempo blues. The set also includes another of those well-chosen pop tunes in medium tempo, "The Best Things in Life Are Free." Again, a very satisfying quartet outing.
Roll Call
(Blue Note 46823), recorded in 1960, is one of the most exciting jazz albums ever recorded. Mobley is joined by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard and the mighty Kelly-Chambers-Blakey rhythm section in a strongly swinging set in which Mobley's toughest edge is brought out. From the first notes of the title tune, this one takes off and keeps going, the rhythm section laying down an absolutely irresistible rolling groove. Blakey, especially, was in an explosive mood that day, and his drum interjections, rolls, and cymbal splashes goad the soloists to heights of invention. All the tunes here are Mobley originals with a strongly blues-or gospel-inflected base, with the exception of another fine medium-tempo standard, "The More I See You." Strongly recommended as an example of hard bop at its hardest.
No Room for Squares
(Blue Note 84149) is a 1963 date with Lee Morgan on trumpet and a rhythm section of Andrew Hill, John Ore, and Philly Joe Jones, featuring a variety of material, including the modal title track, a vamp blues called "Me 'N You," and a beautiful Lee Morgan ballad called "Carolyn." Listen to the fascinating accenting interplay between Mobley and Jones's snare drum on the previously unreleased "Syrup and Biscuits" (only on the CD issue).
 
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The Turnaround
(Blue Note 84186), recorded a year and a half later, features Freddie Hubbard again, and a Barry Harris-Paul Chambers-Billy Higgins rhythm section. This one consists entirely of Mobley originals, including the beautiful ballad "My Sin," and is thoroughly enjoyable.
Some of Mobley's best earlier playing may be heard on three 1954-1955 sets by the first edition of the Jazz Messengers, when it included pianist Horace Silver and drummer Art Blakey; bassist Doug Watkins rounded out the rhythm section, and trumpeter Kenny Dorham was Mobley's companion in the front line.
Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers
(Blue Note 46140) and T
he Jazz Messengers at the Cafe Bohemia, Volume 1
(Blue Note 46521) and
Volume 2
(Blue Note 46522) are all classics of hard bop and are discussed under Jazz Messengers in the Ensembles section. Some other albums on which Mobley really shines as a sideman are Lee Morgan's
Cornbread
(Blue Note 84222), Kenny Dorham's
Afro-Cuban
(Blue Note 46815), and
The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Volume 2
(Blue Note 81506). He can also be heard as a member of Miles Davis's quintet on
Someday My Prince Will Come
(Columbia CK 40947) and
In Person at the Blackhawk, Volume 1
(Columbia CK 44257) and
Volume 2
(Columbia CK 44425).
An excellent player of the time, with a somewhat similar conception to Mobley's but with his own characteristic approach to intervals and an identifiable, keening sound, was the short-lived and lesser-known Tina Brooks. Best known for his work on
The Sermon
(Blue Note 46097) by organist Jimmy Smith, Brooks also made a number of quintet dates for Blue Note under his own name, all of which are collected on a fantastic four-LP set from Mosaic,
The Complete Blue Note Recordings of the Tina Brooks Quintets
(Mosaic MR4-106). Much of the material included was heretofore unissued, for obscure reasons; certainly the music is consistently rewarding.
Brooks is featured with four different groups, recorded from 1958 through 1961, including trumpeters Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Blue Mitchell, and Johnny Coles, pianists Sonny Clark, Kenny Drew, and Duke Jordan, bassists Doug Watkins, Paul Chambers, Wilbur Ware, and Sam Jones, and drummers Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, and Art Taylor. In other words, these are truly all-star sessions. Brooks sets a fast pace with some very attractive writing for the ensembles, as well as with his deft, moving, and always swinging horn playing. Most of the tunes are Brooks originals; his playing and writing alike had a certain characteristic cry. Everything here is excellent, although I would call special attention to the legendary material from Brooks's
Back to the Tracks
album, announced by Blue Note thirty years ago but never issued. This is small-group jazz of the highest order, with a unique flavor. Brooks also has large roles in Freddie Hubbard's
Open Sesame
(Blue Note 84040), Jackie
 
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McLean's
Jackie's Bag
(Blue Note 46142), Kenny Burrell's jam session
Blue Lights, Volume 1
(Blue Note 81596) and
Volume 2
(Blue Note 81597), and the Blue Note album
Shades of Redd
included on
The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Freddie Redd
(Mosaic MD2-124).
Philadelphian Jimmy Heath is part of a musical family that includes his brothers, bassist Percy and drummer Albert; his tenor always added a welcome and distinctive voice to recording sessions. For much of the 1950s he was inactive, and he didn't record as much as some other players during that decade. But in the late 1970s and 1980s the Heath Brothers became a working band, making several very nice albums, and Heath could be heard fairly regularly in New York. One of his best albums as a leader is the hard-to-find 1975
Picture of Heath
(Xanadu 118, LP only), a straight-ahead quartet date with Barry Harris, Sam Jones, and Billy Higgins. This is a very satisfying, swinging set, which includes a great version of "Body and Soul," on which Heath plays both tenor and soprano saxes.
Really Big!
(Riverside/OJC-1799) and
The Thumper
(Riverside/OJC-1828) have Heath, variously, among trumpeters Clark Terry and Nat Adderley, trombonist Curtis Fuller, and pianists Tommy Flanagan, Cedar Walton, and Wynton Kelly, in programs that combine standards with Heath originals.
Some of Heath's most exciting work was recorded as a sideman. One classic set is on the CD issue of
Miles Davis, Volume 2
(Blue Note 81502), in which Heath is part of a 1953 sextet with Davis, trombonist J. J. Johnson, brother Percy on bass, and Art Blakey on drums. They play his composition "C.T.A.," but my favorite solos here are Heath's two choruses on each of two takes of the fast "Ray's Idea." Heath, Johnson, and Percy Heath are together also on
The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Volume 1
(Blue Note 81505), another excellent 1953 sextet set, this one featuring Clifford Brown on trumpet. Heath is also featured on two very good albums under the leadership of trumpeter Kenny Dorham,
Kenny Dorham Quintet
(Debut/OJC-113) and
Showboat
(Time/Bainbridge BCD-1043), a nice quintet workout on the melodies from Jerome Kern's musical. Freddie Hubbard's hot 1961 set
Hub Cap
(Blue Note 84073) features Heath extensively, and Heath is heard to good effect on several cuts included on Milt Jackson's 1964
Statements
(Impulse/GRP GRD-130), especially a burning version of his own fast blues ''Gingerbread Boy."
A St. Louis native with strong roots in the swing approach, Jimmy Forrest was a big-band veteran who also incorporated many of the melodic and rhythmic elements of bebop into his big-toned style, which somewhat resembled that of Illinois Jacquet. His best album is probably
Out of the Forrest
(Prestige/OJC-097), a quartet date which includes the famous "Bolo Blues," as well as cooking versions of "I Cried for You" and "This Can't Be Love" on

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