LP-648

James Moody

Released 1959

Recording and Session Information

James Moody - James Moody and His Orchestra
Johnny Coles, trumpet; Tom McIntosh, trombone; James Moody, alto, tenor sax, flute; Musa Kaleem, baritone saxophone; Gene Kee, piano; John Latham, bass; Clarence Johnston, drums

9668 Out Of Nowhere
9669 Darben the Redd Fox
9670 Little Girl Blue
9671 Daahoud
9672 With Malice Towards None
9673 Cookie
9674 R.B.Q.
9675 Yesterdays

Track Listing

Darben The Redd Foxx	James Moody	August 1959
Little Girl Blue	Rodgers & Hart	August 1959
Out Of Nowhere	Heyman, Green	August 1959
Daahoud	Clifford Brown	August 1959
Yesterdays	Kern, Harbach	August 1959
Cookie	Gene Kee	August 1959
With Malice Toward None	Frank McIntosh	August 1959
R.B.Q.	Gene Kee	August 1959

Liner Notes

James Moody's last album, Last Train From Overbrook, was his first recorded step back from a darkness that had engulfed the career of a distinguished jazz musician. It was made in September of 1958, following his half-year tenure at Overbrook, a New Jersey institution at which a sick and alcoholic Moody regained physical and mental health.

This album is the second step back. It was recorded almost exactly one year later, a year during which Moody had reorganized his seven-piece group and had painfully scuffled for bookings that would support it. And it was a year in which Moody established for himself a basis on which he can once more become one of the best-known names among jazz saxophonists and flutists.

It took iust a few hours to record the sides in this album. The band had just finished a weeklong engagement at the Regal theater in Chicago and was, as a result, rested and in good playing shape.

I think it is the most successful album in Moody's career. His tone retains all the soft prettiness that made him easily recognizable, but his attack and phrasing are now marked by a surety and confidence that was seldom noticeable to this degree. Moody's intonation is true, and his ideas are expressed logically and calmly. He is, in short, a jazzman who should be listened to.

During the recording session, Moody once again had a bottle as his companion — a quart of root beer. At the date's end, as he was packing his tenor saxophone, he reached into the Case and pulled out a pint bottle of cheap wine. It was sealed tight, and on the label he had scratched, "Washington, 1958."

"I always carry it with me," he said. "Just to remind me."

About The Music

Darben The Redd Foxx is done in honor of Redd Foxx, a very funny comic and storyteller. It's a blues march type of thing, with Moody's flute leading the way.

A pensive and sensitively-done Little Girl Blue follows, with Moody again playing flute.

Out Of Nowhere, arranged by Moody's trombonist, Tom McIntosh, stretches out to give solo voices to the other bandsmen. Trumpeter Johnny Coles enters first, followed by pianist Gene Kee, McIntosh, then Moody on tenor.

Daahoud, written by the late Clifford Brown, features, in order, McIntosh, the booting baritone sax of Musa (Moose) Kalliem. Coles, then Moody on alto.

Moody's flute is back again to kick off the second side with a moving solo on Yesterdays

Cookie, composed by pianist Kee, spots Coles, Moody on tenor, and Kalliem.

With Malice Toward None, composed and arranged by McIntosh, is a lovely melody and is treated with great care and tenderness by Moody playing flute.

R,B.Q., a walking blues that is started off by bassist John Lathen, winds up the album on a down home note, With eweryone getting a solo shot.

Jack Tracy