LP-605

 Dick Lane's Quartet - Without Sauce

Released 1956

Recording and Session Information

San Francisco, August 1956
Don Lusiani, accordion, arrangement; Jim West, bass; Dick Lane, clarinet; Pat Richards, vocals

8094 'S wonderful
8095 When you're smiling
8096 After you've gone
8097 Love is here to stay
8098 Tangerine
8099 Bye bye, blackbird
8100 Autumn leaves
8101 Moonglow
8102 I've got you under my skin
8103 You're driving me crazy
8104 A foggy day
8105 That old feeling

Track Listing

When You're Smiling		August 1956
Autumn Leaves		August 1956
'S Wonderful		August 1956
Our Love Is Here To Stay		August 1956
You're Driving Me Crazy		August 1956
Tangerine		August 1956
Foggy Day		August 1956
After You've Gone		August 1956
Moonglow		August 1956
Bye Bye Blackbird		August 1956
I've Got You Under My Skin		August 1956
That Old Feeling		August 1956

Liner Notes

"Without Sauce" marks the initial recording effort of the Dick Lane Quartet, organized in San Francisco little more than eighteen months ago. Dick formed a cocktail trio in 1951 and expanded to a quartet in 1955. His original quartet appeared on the Arthur Godfrey "Talent Scout" show and worked club dates in California.

The new group, heard on this album, organized in October 1954 with the purpose of making some definite mark among vocal quartets.

This album presents the "Dick Lane Quartet" offering a new fresh modern vocal treatment to a dozen old standard tunes. The arrangements were written with the deliberate purpog of utilizing the accordian in conjunction with the voices to create a new sound

Of interest, is the frequent interpolation of the lyrics, changed at times, to create a definite musical effect. For instance, the introduction to "After You've Gone," simulates a modern saxophone section. The group, sometimes uses the Count Basic band brass section "shake," as in "Moon Glow" and "S Wonderful."

"I've Got You Under My Skin" was created primarily as a production number with frequent changes of tempo. This use of temp change occurs in many of the arrangements, i.e. "You're Driving Me Crazy," "Tangerine." "After You've Gone," and the ballad, "Our Love Is Here To Stay." On the latter selection, the introduction recreates the sound of children at play.

Probably the most important aim of the group is to present a modern vocal group sound that combines freshness with interesting listening!

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DICK LANE QUARTET

The leader and clarinetist, before joining Ted Weems and Jack Fina's bands for "road-duty" had a background as a legitimate musician, having as soloist with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra. He formed his first group, with brother Don, in 1931 and worked in the San Francisco Bay area in night clubs and TV.

DON LUSIANI

Younger brother of Dick, is the group's arranger! In addition to doing of the arrangements on this album, Don is quitc an accomplished accordionist. He studied for years with Ernest Gloe, the only accordionist to have appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. If there has been any one paricular influence upon his arranging style, it has been perhaps, the sound of the Woody Herman band.

PAT RICHARDS

The young blonde girl with the group, though having studied voice for a number of years, is new to vocal groups and to the music business. Her legitimate training, plus her wide vocal range makes her especially versatile in vocal group work.

JIM WEST

The bass player, originally studied clarinet and bassoon, but was pressed into service as a bassist while in the army. After attending the University of California, he left to become as he puts it, "a bass plucker!"

LP-604

 Pinky Winters - Lonely One

Released 1956

Recording and Session Information

Los Angeles, CA, 1956
Pinky Winters, vocals; Gerald Wiggins, piano; Jim Wolf, bass; Chico Hamilton, drums; Howard Roberts, guitar

8037 Jeepers creepers
8038 I've got plenty of love
8039 Gone with the wind
8040 Pennies from Heaven
8041 My heart's a child
8042 October's dream
8043 Lonely one
8044 Polka dots and moonbeams
8045 Cheek to cheek
8046 It never entered my mind
8047 You smell so good
8048 Easy living

Track Listing

Lonely One	Smalley - Grove	1956
Polka Dots And Moonbeams	Van Heusen - Burke	1956
Cheek To Cheek	I. Berlin	1956
It Never Entered My Mind	Rodgers - Hart	1956
You Smell So Good	Stone - Wolf	1956
Easy Living	Rainger, Robin	1956
Jeepers Creepers	Warren, Mercer	1956
I've Got Plenty Of Love	Smalley, Grove	1956
Gone With The Wind	Bowman, Boland	1956
Pennies From Heaven	Johnson - Burke	1956
My Heart's A Child	Smalley - Grove	1956
October's Dream	Smalley – Grove	1956

Liner Notes

IN this day and age of out-of-tune, out of breath, and out of sight singers, it is like that Well known breath of spring to welcome Miss PINKY WINTERS of Michigan City, Indiana, to the over-populated, but under-talent- ed ranks of modern vocaldom.

Her offerings are sure to be counted among the affirmatives. Swinging easily, as she does on the standards, "Jeepers Creepers", "Pennies From Heaven", and "Gone With The Wind"; or creating a warm, sometimes melancholy mood, as on the originals, "Lonely One" (Jack Smalley and Dick Grove), and "Octobcr's Dream" (Jack Smalley and Dick Grove), Pinky demonstrates the necessities of any good vocal work... a feel for each particular song, an idea of what the COMPOSER had in mind when creating the tune, the ability to take "liberties" with the melody that enhance rather than completely alter the original idea, and an inate sense of humor (dig the happy buoyancy on "You Smell So Good", and the newcomer "My Heart's A Child" (Jack Smalley and Dick Grove)...All of these assets does Miss Winters possess and all of these does she magically display on this, her first LP album for CREATIVE...

CREATIVE welcomes PINKY WINTERS to its fold, and we are sure your record collection will also glory in her intelligent, swinging vocalizings...

About the Fine Musicians accompanying Miss Winters:

The best known among Modern Jazz devotees is CHICO HAMILTON, a superb drummer, who's new quintet has really been knockin' 'em dead on the West Coast; GERALD WIGGINS, piano, has worked with Chico and many times has led his own groups; JIM WOLF, bass, provides a fine steady and tasteful foundation for Pinky to work from; and HOWARD ROBERTS ably demonstrates in his chording and solo spots why he is one of the most sought after guitarist in the music business.

Notes

Cash Box Review 4 May 1957
Argo has given Pinky Winters her first LP spin, an opportunity Miss Winters takes full advantage of. The stylist posseses a vocal warmth, and story-telling quality making such fine song tales as “It Never Entered My Mind,” “Polka Dot And Moonbeams,” and “Gone With The Wind” as beautiful as ever. Also note some excellent swinging sessions here (“Cheek To Cheek,” “Pennies From Heaven”). A crew headed by drummer Chico Hamilton accords the artist expert backing. Highly recommended vocal work.

LP-603

 James Moody - Flute 'N The Blues

Released 1956

Recording and Session Information

Chicago, November 1 1956
James Moody, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, flute; Johnny Coles, trumpet; William Shepherd, trombone; Pee Wee Moore, baritone saxophone; Jimmy Boyd, piano, peck horn; John Latham, bass; Clarence Johnston, drums; Eddie Jefferson, (tracks 2, 4, 7)
8049 Flute 'N The Blues
8050 Breaking The Blues
8051 Birdland Story
8052 Parker's Mood
8054 Boo's Tune
8055? I Cover The Waterfront
8056 It Could Happen To You
8057 Easy Living
8058 Body And Soul
8060 Richard's Blues

Track Listing

Flute 'N The Blues	Newboldt, Moody, Boyd	November 1 1956
Birdland Story	Jefferson, Moody	November 1 1956
It Could Happen To You	Burke, Van Heusen	November 1 1956
I Cover The Waterfront	Heyman, Green	November 1 1956
Body And Soul	Heyman, Green, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton	November 1 1956
Breaking The Blues	Acoa	November 1 1956
Parker's Mood	Charlie Parker	November 1 1956
Easy Living	Robin, Ranger	November 1 1956
Boo's Tune	Pleasent	November 1 1956
Richard's Blues	Moody, Newboldt	November 1 1956

Liner Notes

WHEN A musician as high up on the musical ladder of success as JAMES MOODY completes a two-day recording session, sandwiched between two distant in-person engagements, with a glowing look of satisfaction, you listeners and legion fans can be assured that the finished product, herewith enclosed, is a real "gasser"....

The true essence of Jazz is maintained throughout the 10 tunes on this LP ...Swing...Creativeness...Indivduality of Conception...Positive, Professional approach...AND...the ability to Interpret the Composers Original Idea, so that even he may recognize it!!!How rare this last talent, Indeed...

Material wise, the music here-in is either "Blues" or a "Standard." The title tune of the album. "FLUTE N' THE BLUES" showcases MOODY on his newly conquered instrument, the ever-lovin' Flute...(Evidently a new-found necessity in todays Modern Jazz Scene). The way James gets down into it should have "flautists" galore hitting the wood-shed trail. On "Flute 'N" and "BOO'S TUNE," with just the rhythm section behind him, J. Moody really does what he so aptly calls, "The Thing"...I think you'll agree that, "The Thing" is really it!

There are two long grooves, one on the end of each side. On, "RICHARD'S BLUES," and the one and only, "BODY AND SOUL," MOODY is featured throughout, with some sparkling spots by a new trumpet talent, JOHNNY COLES, now a permanent member of the organization...Tenor on the 8 minute "Body," and, to coin a little used phrase, "Funky," Alto on the 7 minute, "Richard's"...

"I COVER THE WATEFRONT," "THE BIRDLAND STORY," and "PARKER'S MOOD" (with much less ominous lyrics), provide our vocalist, EDDIE JEFFERSON, with some groovy material upon which to work his particular magic. And swing away he does inventing his own words to two of Moody's previous instrumental solos on, "Waterfront," and, "Birdland." This cut of Bird's tune, incidentally, is the first to include his last chorus solo and also features more fine Johnny Coles trumpeting.... < /br>
JOHNNY really comes into his own on his featured number in the alburh, the beautiful, "EASY LIVING." The warmth and genuineness of his approach, and the peerless manner in which he carries it off, are indications that much more of lasting musical value will undoubtedly emanate from his horn in the near future...

Pianist, arranger, JIMMY BOYD, picked a peck of "Peck Horn," on which to show his wares, on another fine standard, "IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU." The mellowness, almost velvet-like quality of this horn presents a new musical field in which to explore. Not as harsh, or difficult, as a French horn, not tinny as a mellophone, it, along with his fine piano spots throughout many of the sides, provides JIMMY with a real spring-board from which to enchant his many new fans...(After you hear him that is)...

The only tune left to discuss is the lead-in one on side B, "BREAKIN' THE BLUES." No discussion is necessary...It just SWINGSsssss...

PEE WEE MOORE, on Baritone, and WILLIAM SHEPHERD, on Trombone, along with Moody and Coles; complete the front line of the band...The men behind them are some of the most cohesive, and we don't mean sticky, rhythm merchants on the present day Jazz scene; BOYD on Piano, JOHN LATHAN, on Bass, and CLARENCE JOHNSON, on Drums...Their evenness and pulsating blend provides the terrafirma, as it were, from which the explorers could search the unknown, ...

"CREATIVE" is the most happy to welcome JAMES MOODY his FLUTE, TENOR, ALTO, MIND, and BAND into our select group of JAZZ ARTISTS...The recording date was a ball to do, and I'm sure those of you who "ear" this LP, the finished High Fidelity Product, will also have a glowing look of satisfaction upon your happy faces...js...

Joe Segal
Chicago Columnist, Metronome Magazine

LP-602

 Ahmad Jamal - Chamber Music of the New Jazz

Released 1956

Recording and Session Information

Chicago, May 23rd, 1955
Israel Crosby, bass; Ray Crawford, guitar; Ahmad Jamal; piano
P 55236? New Rhumba
P 55237? A Foggy Day
P 55238? All of You
P 55239? It Ain't Necessarily So
P 55240? I Get a Kick out of You
P 55241? Jeff
P 55242? Darn That Dream
P 55243? Spring Is Here
P 55244? Medley

Track Listing

Title	Author	Recording Date
New Rhumba	Jamal	May 23 1955
A Foggy Day	G. Gershwin	May 23 1955
All Of You	Cole Porter	May 23 1955
It Ain't Necessarily So	G. Gershwin	May 23 1955
Medley		May 23 1955
I Get A Kick Out Of You	Cole Porter	May 23 1955
Jeff	Roy Crawford	May 23 1955
Darn That Dream	J. Van Heusen	May 23 1955
Spring Is Here	R. Rodgers	May 23 1955

Liner Notes

Ahmad Jamal, though only twenty-five, is probably the most original musical talent to come out of Chicago since the war, although born and educated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. With the recent issue of his first LP record he has strengthened his position as an integral part of the new jazz. It has been Jamal's job to show, in his own special way, that the new style can be as delicate and subtle as a glass thread. It is amusing to notice, in this respect, that Errol Garner influenced Jamal in the beginning; however, judging from recent releases, we see that the distinct style of the young master is now influencing Garner himself.

If we stress the delicacy of Jamal's style, we do not mean that this quality is absent from his contemporaries, they all have it in varying degrees, but no one has pushed the quiet tone to its limit as he has done, for example, in the opening strains of his PERFIDIA, or WILL YOU STILL BE MINE. and his records on Okeh, which made him famous. His recent releases on Argo seem to point to a second Jamal phase, a new development of the quietly rhythmic. In passing it might be said that his first LP has one side superior to the other, the one with I GET A KICK OUT OF YOU, JEFF, DARN THAT DREAM.

In this accent on the delicate beat Jamal is as different from his contemporaries as a Mozart trio is from Beethoven's ninth symphony. In introducing the light lyric, one might almost say the "pastoral" tone, into the new jazz Jamal has found a style as original as any of his contemporaries. The predominance of the high register, played softly but with great rhythm, and in simple swing patterns without a great deal of chording and fireworks, is probably the leading formal aspect of his style. His combo, whose most noticeable feature is a guitar doubling for a high-pitched bongo effect, also has a distinct style. This bongo effect is very successful. At its best, it is like listening to a bubbling brook on a jazz kick.

In addition to the new style there is a great mood in Jamal. His contemporaries are spectacular and complicated in comparison to the quiet joy, the fairylike simplicity and ease of this young pianist. In his tremulous lyrics we find something of a friendly child, something natural and clear. This music, however, is not cheaply relaxing. Its simple beauty is born of a tender sadness, the wonderment of a lost child in short, this music has that rarest form of vibrancy and joy, the kind that knows of tragedy.

At this point Jamal is just starting his musical career. He has been recording for four years and is now only twenty-five years old. He is highly regarded by fellow musicians, like Dave Brubeck, and has the same agent as Louis Armstrong. He has played in many of America's finest night clubs, from coast to coast, including our own Blue Note. Talking with Jamal on the eve of his recent departure for Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and then New York, one had the impression of talking to a large child, yet to someone far beyond simple innocence. At times he seems at once young and a century old. Soft-spoken, grave, calm, and ascetic who does not even smoke. He still has something of the elegant and precious about him that is not at all puritanical—he talks with a light humor, but keeps about him a quiet dignity and strength most impressive in this age which counts So heavily on the spectacular. His personality is reflected in his music, which in its Clarity, calm and subtle joy, deserves to be called the cham ber of contemporary jazz.

HERBERT C. LUST

LP-601

 Al Hibbler - Melodies by Al Hibbler

Released 1956

Recording and Session Information

New York, early 1947
Al Hibbler, vocal; Ray Nance, trumpet; Jimmy Hamilton, clarinet; Al Sears, tenor saxophone; Harry Carney, baritone saxophone; Billy Strayhorn, piano; Junior Raglin, bass; Fletcher Jackson, drums

EB1001A Fat and Forty
EB1002 Solitude
EB1003A My Little Brown Book
EB1004 Feather Roll Blues

Detroit, November 1947
Al Hibbler, vocal; Taft Jordan, trumpet; Johnny Hodges, alto saxophone; Al Sears, tenor saxophone; Harry Carney, baritone saxophone; Billy Strayhorn, piano; Oscar Pettiford, bass; Sonny Greer, drums

SU-2029 Trees
SU-2030 Lover Come Back to Me

Chicago, 1948-1949
Al Hibbler, vocal; Ray Nance, trumpet; Tyree Glenn, tuba, vibraphone; Ben Webster, tenor saxophone; Billy Strayhorn, piano; Junior Raglin, bass; Fletcher Jackson, drums

SU-2135 It Don't Mean a Thing

Chicago, April 1949
Al Hibbler, vocal; unknown trumpet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, piano, bass, drums

SU-2140 What Will I Tell My Heart?
SU-2141 Poor Butterfly
SU-2142 I Love You

Track Listing

Title	Author	Recording Date
What Will I Tell My Heart	P. Tinturin/J. Lawrence	April 1949
Poor Butterfly	R. Hubbell/J. Golden	April 1949
My Little Brown Book	Billy Strayhorn	Early 1947
Feather Roll Blues	unknown	Early 1947
I Love You	Cole Porter	April 1949
Solitude	D. Ellington/E. De Lange/I. Mills	April 1949
Lover Come Back To Me	S. Romberg/O. Hammerstein III	Early 1947
Trees	O. Rasbach/J. Kolmer	November 1947
It Don't Mean A Thing	D. Ellington/I. Mills	1948
Fat And Forty	Skeets Tolberts	Early 1947

Liner Notes

Individual stature is likely to come for a vocalist after he leaves the band and has "been on his own" for a time. Al Hibbler was an artist who achieved much of this stature during the time he WdS connected integrally with a band - the Duke Ellington organization. Not every singer profits from long association with a band but not everyone has the good fortune of being part of a good band. And not every singer has the ability to profit from it.

The union of Hibbler and Ellington was one complimentary to singer and to band and both respected the other and the use was wise. As a result, Al was able to absorb and learn from the band. He took on some of its nuances and his thinking musically began to emulate it in several ways. Perhaps the greatest quality the band imparted to Hibbler's voice was that of a sophisticated iazz. Al possessed a wonderful feeling for the blues, an instinctive natural way of singing and an uninhibited approach that bespeaks the folk singer. He had also been influenced, very probably, by the Kansas City style as there was that too in his voice. This was the background he brought to the Ellington band and it was all these things that were to make of him one of the great iazz singers of the contemporary music world.

Al Hibbler was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. He began his music career as a professional in 1939 when he got a job on a radio program in Memphis, Tennesssee, singing with the Dub Jenkins band. He left Memphis to go with a midwest territory band, Boots and his Buddies. The next step was to the famous Jay McShann Kansas City band and it was with Jay that Al came to New York. In 1943 he joined Duke Ellington.

Quite a few years later, he appeared with Johnny Hodges' group in a series of nightclub performances. The latest (1955) and possibly most interesting detail in his professional history has to do with the cutting of a ballad considered almost wholly a pop tune and without sacrificing any of his good taste or personal interpretation the record sold and is still selling to the large audience that is the popular record collector. The song is, of course, "Unchained Melody".

The unique qualities of Al's voice are well-known to the jazz world. They are now familiar to the larger mass of music listeners. He has a remarkable range, is noted for a use of scooped pitch and displays ready control of his voice. He is one of the earlier singers to use the voice in jazz as an instrument and make it pleasant and provocative to hear.

His approach and his interpretation to a song is always a musicianly one. When you see him perform, this comes more clearly in view because his presence is unobtrusive...the song becomes the obtect of the listener's attention. The album is particularly good in that it showcases some Hibbler standards...compositions he made well-known and that served to illustrate his special talents. You will hear Al sing a blues from that Kansas City tradition, you will hear him sing up-tempo swing that is vibrant and exciting and you will hear Hibbler, the balledeer - probably the best-known and praised.

Shirley Hoskins Collins

Notes

From the fantastic Chess history site hosted by Robert Campbell.

https://campber.people.clemson.edu/chess1.html
https://campber.people.clemson.edu/chess2.html

For their first 12-inch microgroove release, on Marterry, [the Chess Brothers] turned to the singer who had saved the label commercially back in 1951. This was the first item on Marterry, released in early November 1955 (plans had been made earlier; the matrix numbers indicate that the LP sides were mastered in August). The name changed to Argo so fast that the Marterry version of the LP is hard to find nowadays (the Billboard reviewer, November 12, 1955, p. 94, noticed that the tracks were old and the sonics of variable quality, but some were of "truly historical interest"). The Al Hibbler LP (matrix numbers 7881A for Side A, 7881B for Side B) was a straight reissue of the five Chess singles that had featured him. "Feather Roll Blues," an instrumental by Billy Strayhorn and band from Hibbler's first session for Sunrise, was included in the LP because it had been the flip side of Chess 1457. There was more from Sunrise and Miracle in the Chess vaults, but none of it was used on this occasion. Argo also released a 45-rpm EP consisting of four of the Hibbler items.

Melodies by Al Hibbler

Original matrix number	Title	Recording Date	Original release	First Chess release	LP release
EB1001A	Fat and Forty	early 1947	Sunrise 2001A	Chess 1569	Marterry LP 601, Argo LP 601
EB1002	Solitude	early 1947	Sunrise 2002-A	Chess 1457	Marterry LP 601, Argo LP 601
EB1003A	My Little Brown Book	early 1947	Sunrise 2001B	Chess 1481	Marterry LP 601, Argo LP 601
EB1004	Feather Roll Blues	early 1947	Sunrise 2002-B	Chess 1457	Marterry LP 601, Argo LP 601
SU-2029	Trees November	1947	Miracle M-501	Chess 1456	Marterry LP 601, Argo LP 601
SU-2030	Lover Come Back to Me	November 1947	Miracle M-501	Chess 1456	Marterry LP 601, Argo LP 601
SU-2135	It Don't Mean a Thing	1948	Chess 1455		Marterry LP 601, Argo LP 601
SU-2140	What Will I Tell My Heart?	April 1949	Chess 1455		Marterry LP 601, Argo LP 601
SU-2141	Poor Butterfly	April 1949	Sunrise 503	Chess 1569	Marterry LP 601, Argo LP 601
SU-2142	I Love You April	1949	Sunrise M-515	Chess 1481	Marterry LP 601, Argo LP 601

Reviews

Cash Box 19 October 1956
It is very fortunate that sooner or later the great jazz singers are “discovered” by the non-jazz conscious record buyer — the pop music enthusiast. This year A1 Hibbler made the jump when he clicked with his smash waxing of “Unchained” and he’s proving that he’s not a one-timer as the tune “He” continues to climb the lists. On this album, we hear Hibbler as he sounded some years ago, singing standards, blues and swing numbers. The record could be tagged a collector’s item and should reveal to all of Hibbler’s newer enthusiasts, the many facets of the singer’s great talent. Hibbler’s former fans should also enjoy this greatly.