Aug - AmericanRadioHistory.Com

RECORDS
Don Elliott, Rusty Dedrick, trumpets; Dick
Hyman, piano; Mundell Lowe, guitar; Eddie
Safranski, bass; Don Lamond, drums.
RIVERSIDE RLP 2517. IO -in. $3.98.
Limiting himself to trumpet, Elliott joins
Dedrick, another fine trumpet man who is
just emerging as a solo star, in duets on
compositions by Dick Hyman, pianist in
this group. The material is bright and
moving and Elliott and Dedrick attack it
with cleanliness, clarity, and taste both in
their duets and in their alternating solos.
Although the natural open horn styles of
both men are very similar, there is no
monotony of sound. They vary open and
muted horns and wisely refrain from clinging
to any individual solo spot for long.
Hyman makes a few appearances playing
some of the live, thoughtful piano of which
he is capable (as opposed to the frightening
trash which he has produced for a few
recent recordings). The rhythm section is
one of the best that could currently be
assembled and, as a consequence, this disk
swings from first to last. When Your Lover
Has Gone and Easy to Remember are ballad
solos (for Elliott on Lover and Dedrick on
the other), both exceptionally warm and
moving performances. This is an excellent
disk - produced, performed, and recorded
with intelligence and taste.
I LIKE JAZZ
Wally Rose: Maple Leaf Rag; Bessie
Smith: Put It Right There; Louis Armstrong:
Jazz Lips; Eddie Condon: Home
Cooking; Big Beiderbecke: Sentimental
Baby; Phil Napoleon: Sensation Rag; Duke
Ellington: Merry -Go- Round; Teddy Wilson
and Billie Holiday: I'll Never Be the Same;
Benny Goodman: Jam Session; Pete Rugolo:
4 :20 A.M.; Turk Murphy: Got Dem
Blues; Dave Brubeck: Makin' Time.
COLUMBIA JZ t. 12 -in. 980.
Columbia has been advertising this as "a
fabulous record" and I will not quibble one
little bit with that description. In fact,
when the price is considered, Columbia's
advertising department might be accused of
understatement. The purpose of this disk
is to get samples from Columbia's jazz
catalogue into as many hands as possible.
It is done in the form of a hop- skip -andjump
history of jazz using, as examples,
recordings which have either not previously
been transferred to LP or not issued
at all.
The line -up assembled by George
Avakian - who continues to be the most
exciting (and excitable) jazz A & R man
now practicing - is an almost unqualified
series of gems. Armstrong's Jazz Lips is
one of his more inspired Hot Five performances,
Home Cooking is an unusually
provocative product of the Chicagoans
scuffling days, and Merry -Go -Round can
count on at least one vote as the most
solidly swinging recording in the Ellington
repertoire.
Of the new material, the standout item
is Benny Goodman's Jain Session, an exciting
1937 aircheck with an exuberant reminder
of Harry James's great days with a
horn. Brubeck, Murphy, and Rose are excellently
represented while Phil Napoleon's
Sensation Rag is a surprisingly bright and
driving performance. The only entry which
6o
is not gemlike to some degree is Beiderbecke's
Sentimental Baby and even Avakian,
in his notes, passes this off as an illustration
of the horrible surroundings in which
Beiderbecke played. This, however, in no
way detracts from the overall fabulousness
of this disk. It is the finest single- record
summation of jazz that has ever been
issued.
The recording, of course, varies widely
from excellent (the new studio recorded
material) to tolerable (the mid -Twenties
recordings).
JAZZ WEST COAST
An Anthology of California Music
Chet Baker Ensemble: Bockhanal; Gerry
Mulligan Quartet: Soft Shoe; Darn That
Dream; Clifford Brown Ensemble: Tiny
Caper; Zoot Sims Quartet: I'll Remember
April; Bud Shank and Three Trombones:
Wailing Vessel; Chet Baker Quartet: Happy
Little Sunbeam; Bill Perkins and Bud
Shank: It Had to Be You; Bud Shank and
Bob Brookmeyer: Low Life; Chet Baker
Quintet: There Will Never Be Another
You; Bud Shank and Shorty Rogers: Lotus
Bud; Laurindo Almeida Quartet: Speak
Lou; Bob Gordon and Jack Montrose: Tuo
Can Play; Lee Konitz and the Gerry Mulligan
Quartet: Oh, Lady Be Good.
PACIFIC JAZZ JWC 500. I2 -in. $3.98.
Another mélange of sides from the files of
one record company, this time Pacific Jazz.
In this case, the company is small, its history
brief and the point of the disk is to
offer examples of jazz played by the modern
school around Los Angeles. Most of the
selections are alternate masters of sides already
available. There are three previously
unreleased performances (Soft Shoe, I'll
Remember April, and There Will Never Be
Another You) and one reissue (Lotus Bud).
The theory of the alternate master is a
dubious one at best. Either the best take
is issued the first time out or else the recording
company is deliberately shortchanging
its talent and its customers. There
are times when the choice between masters
is difficult to make but probably not as
many times as there are alternate masters
on this disk. Be that as it may, the showing
in this collection is good although a
little repetitious, particularly in the work
of the pianists. The dominant figures are
Gerry Mulligan (whose previously unreleased
Soft Shoe is a rich specimen of his
meaty style) and Bud Shank who plays a
darkly moving flute on Lotus Bud and
brightens both Loin Life and Speak Lou,
with his alto. On the other newly released
numbers, Zoot Sims's I'll Remember April
develops into a smoothly flowing tenor solo
after a fiat, lifeless statement of melody
common to this school of saxophonists,
while There Will Never Be Another You
displays Chet Baker with a bigger tone
than usual and Jimmy Giuffre with a
hollower clarinet sound. The disk provides
a valid introduction to the newcomer to
West Coast jazz, but, except for Soft Shoe,
it contributes little that will be new to
those who have been there before, even
with its alternate masters. Recording, for
the most part, is extremely good.
Next issue: The vocal music
of Bach by Nathan Broder
BARBARA LEA
A Woman in Love
Come Rain or Come Shine; As Long As I
Live; Love Is Here to Stay; Thinking of
You; I Didn't Know About You; Love Me;
The Best Thing for You; A Woman Alone
with the Blues.
Barbara Lea, vocals; Johnny Windhurst,
trumpet; Billy Taylor, piano; Jimmy Shirley,
guitar; Earl May, bass; Percy Brice,
drums.
RIVERSIDE RLP 2518. to -in. $3.98.
We won't start talking about Barbara Lea
in terms of the great jazz singers yet, or
possibly for some time to come, but note
that with this disk she makes her recorded
appearance: she is here in a rough sort of
way and from where she stands great things
could be possible. What she is now is a
girl with a huskily liquid voice who is
strongly influenced by Lee Wiley and who
occasionally produces that beautifully lyric
lift which was such an important element
in Mildred Bailey's art. When she is good
- and she is very good on I Didn't Knott'
About You and A Woman Alone with the
Blues, one of Willard Robison's neglected
masterpieces -she sings with a sensitivity,
intonation, and phrasing which are wonder-
fully refreshing in this day of tortured
stylists. She misses, too - tempos throw
her off, she pushes into stridency, she loses
the sense of a lyric - but the good parts are
so right that you have to ride with them.
She is fortunate in having absolutely
superb accompaniment by Johnny Wind -
hurst and Billy Taylor's trio, accompaniment
that supports and frames her singing
with thoughtful care. If Miss Lea is still
an uncertain talent, these musicians are not,
and the disk can be highly recommended
on the basis of their work alone. The recording
is live and full although there are
times when the microphone seems to be a
mite too far down Miss Leas throat.
JOE MOONEY QUARTET
You Go to My Head: What More Can a
Woman Do ?; Prelude to a Kiss; Shaky
Breaks the Ice; Nancy; From Monday On;
A Man with a Million Dollars; Have Another
One. Not Me.
Joe Mooney, accordion, piano, vocals; Andy
Fitzgerald, clarinet; Jack Hotop, guitar;
Gate Frega, bass.
DECCA DL 5555. I'D-in. $2.98.
This is only somewhat a jazz record -
there are novelties and vocal ballads on it
which are a bit far afield from this department's
usual concern - but everything that
Mooney does is so infused with a jazz feeling
that it deserves consideration here. The
Mooney Quartet existed briefly in the late
Forties and fired up a small but fervent
following until the bass player, Gate Frega,
abandoned the group to study for the
priesthood. Mooney is an accordionist,
pianist and singer of an inventive turn of
mind and an impeccable manner of phrasing.
His quartet was a tightly knit organization
which followed his inventions and
phrasings with unusual group feeling. As
a jazz group, they get their best opportunity
on this disk in From Monday On, a
splendid sample of their special charm, and
Continued on page 62
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