LP-609

Sandy Mosse – Chicago Scene

Released 1956

Recording and Session Information

Universal Recording, Chicago, Illinois, July 6, 1956
Dave Mulholland, trumpet; Sandy Mosse, tenor saxophone; Ira Sullivan, tenor saxophone; Eddie Baker, piano; Jimmy Gourley, guitar; Leroy Jackson, bass; Dorrell Anderson, drums

8150 Straight life
8151 Let's get away from it all
8153 Dee's delight
8155 Let's go
8160 Fascinating rhythm
8161 'Tis autumn
8162 Knickerbooper
8163 Clara's blues

One of the following made it onto the album as Outville

8152 Evening in Paris (unissued)
8154 Rekinomon ? (unissued)
8156 Doin' it (unissued)
8157 Balance blues ? (unissued)
8158 Over the rainbow (unissued)
8159 John's blues (unissued)

Track Listing

Straight Life	I. Schulman	July 6 1956
Let’s Get Away from It All	M. Dennis-T. Adair	July 6 1956
Knickerbopper	D. Mulholland	July 6 1956
Dee’s Delight	Eddie Baker	July 6 1956
Let’s Go	I. Schulman	July 6 1956
‘Tis Autumn	Henry Nemo	July 6 1956
Outville	Eddie Baker	July 6 1956
Fascinating Rhythm	George Gershwin	July 6 1956
Clara’s Blues	Sandy Mosse	July 6 1956

Liner Notes

Chicago jazzmen have been in an untanable position for years. Because most of the lucrative jobs for talented musicians lie in the recording and TV studios of New York and Los Angeles and in the film studios of Holloywood, most good players head for either city.

There they form part of vast talent pools that provide literally hundreds of good musicians for jazz record dates.

As all but a handful of the firms that record jazz are in those two cities, it becomes obvious that a discery can issue many records without looking much farther than its own nose.

And thus it has been almost inevitable in recent years for most of the jazzmen in Chicago to gravitate to busier centers. Its musicians have been siphoined off at a steady rate/ The comparative few who have remained have generally found it difficult to make a satisfactory living from music.

Even the city's big clubs, which were more numerous at the beginning of 1957 than at any time since World War II, will seldom hire local men. It takes records to make a reputation, they feel, so they seek out of town groups.

This is a discouraging picture in a city which at one time was the hub of thw eowrld's jazz activity.

But few persons have ever done anything serious about trying to alleviate it.

This album is one of what will be a number of Argo LPs devoted to Chicagoans. The names may laregly be unfamiliar to you. They are men who have scuffled and worked day jobs and off-night gigs and only sometimes regaularly in order to stay in Chicago. Some have been sidemen with name bands and groups, then came back home.

All of them have worked in one or more groups in the Windy City, as the men who are able to land playing dates became leaders for a day and hire the man they worked for last week.

The men on this session in its various combinations are:

Sandy Mosse, tenor sax: at 27 a familiar horman on the Chicago scene. Lived and played in Europe in 1951-'52, worked with Woody Herman in '55. Recorded with Bill Russo on Atlantic LP. An important tenor man with seomthing to say.

Ira Schulman, tenor sax: has been a prominent Chicago saxman for nearly a decade. Led own units, played with big bands of Russo, Jay Burkhart, other.

Dave Mulholland, trumpet; also plays flugelhorn, alto horn, writes. A Russo student. Heard frequently with the Jim Lounsbury band.

Eddie Baker, piano has worked with own trio, as accompanist for Bille Holiday, and with Bill Russo on Europe tour in 1955. Also does considerable writing.

Jimmy Gourley, guitar; an unsung guitarist but one of the best. Gained considerable reputation in Europe while living in Paris in 1951-'55. Worked with Burkhart, Jackie Cain and Roy Kral, many others.

Leroy Jackson, bass: another in the long line of excellent bassists to come out of Chicago in the last few years )others: Leroy Vinnegar, Buddy Clark, Wilbur Ware, Johnnie Pate). Has played with Dinah Washington, rhythm and blues groups, many Chicago units.

Dorrell Anderson, drums: longtime member of the Chicago group. Played with Gene Ammons, tenor Johnny Griffin, et al.

Too many liner notes, I feel, claim greatness for the accompanying record when it is simply not there. This will not be one of them.

There are some exhilirating moments here - Mosse on Let's Get Away from It All, Gourley's eloquent guitar Baker's fleet piano; flashes of Schulman's tenor, etc.

But I feel the biggest value of this set lies in its presentation of jazzmen who deserve to be heard even though they are not well-known.

It is a simple matter to assemble a group of poll-winners and near-misses in a New York or Hollywood studio and do a session that figures to do well because of its name value.

It takes some courage to record men simply because you feel it should be done.

This LP is a trailbreaker in the respect that it presents some individual talents that have remained in a city which tries studiously to ignore them.

More will follow.

JACK TRACY
Down Beat Magazine
Straight Life and Let's Get Away from It All are played by a group comprising Sandy Mosse, tenor; Jimmy Gourley, guitar; Eddie Baker, piano; Leroy Jackson, bass; Donell Anderson, drums.
Knickerbooper is played by Ira Schulman, tenor; Dave Mulholland, trumpet, same rhythm section.
Dee's Delight and Let's Go is played by Mosee (1st tenor solo on Dee's Delight, Schulman (second tenor solo on Dee's Delight and only tenor solo on Let's Go, Mulholland, Dourley, and rhythm.
'Tis Autumn is by Schulman and rhtyhm.
Outville and Fascinating Rhythm are by backer, Jackson and Anderson.
Clara's Blues is by Mosse and rythhm.

Recorded on July 6, 1956 at Universal Studios, Chicago.