LP-690

Dorothy Ashby

Released 1962

Recording and Session Information

Dorothy Ashby, harp; Herman Wright, bass; John Tooley, drums
Chicago, August 8, 1961

11126 Booze
11127 I'll remember April (unissued)
11128 Lonely melody
11129 John R.
11130 Django
11131 Secret love
11132 You stepped out of a dream
11133 Satin doll
11134 Li'l darlin'
11135 Gloomy Sunday
11136 Stranger in paradise
11137 Aeolian groove (unissued)

Track Listing

Lonely Melody	Arranged By – O. McLaughlin	August 8 1961
Secret Love	Webster, Fain	August 8 1961
Gloomy Sunday	Javor, Seress, Lewis	August 8 1961
Satin Doll	Ellington	August 8 1961
John R.	D. Ashby	August 8 1961
Li'l Darlin'	Neal Hefti	August 8 1961
Booze	D. Ashby	August 8 1961
Django	J. Lewis	August 8 1961
You Stepped Out Of A Dream	Lane, Washington	August 8 1961
Stranger In Paradise	Forrest, Wright	August 8 1961

NB: You Stepped Out Of a Dream wrongly attributed to Lane, Washington rather than Gus Kahn, Nacio Herb Brown

Liner Notes

A JAZZ HARPIST is a rare thing. First of all the harp is a rather unlikely instrument to swing. It's an awfully difficult instrument to play really well and it demands technique that is incongruous With swinging. Perhaps as important is the thinking that the harp, by the very nature Of the instrument, is likely to attract musicians who, in themselves, are improbable swingers. Dorothy Ashby is, then, a rare thing. She is indeed a jazz harpist and she does swing.

I first became aware of Dorothy some years ago when hearing her front small groups of really exceptional musicianship. I heard her with Frank Wess playing flute, and with Ed Thigpen on drums, and with a great many men who's musicianship is, I think, a commentary on Dorothy as a woman in jazz. Frank Wess is regarded by many as having been the first jazz flutist, which might get you an argument in some quarters but not many. He has been an important contributor to the Basic band for nearly ten years. Ed Thigpen, now of the Oscar Peterson trio, is perhaps the ideal trio drummer and an infinitely respected one. That Dorothy has worked and recorded with these men and has performed consistently for such a long time with men of this stature suggests, I think, a rather unique position in music, not unlike that of Melba Liston. Melba was, for a time, an important part of the Dizzy Gillespie hand and the Basie band. She has sat side by side in trombone sections with such men as Brookmeyer and has worked among men who are real giants. This is not because a woman playing trombone is a novelty, but because she plays that well. Dorothy, too, has long worked among men of real stature, not because jazz played on a harp by a woman is a novelty, but because she plays that well.

Dorothy is a Detroit musician and in some circles that, in itself, is some claim to fame. Detroit has produced an uncommon group of splendid musicians...Milt Jackson, Paul Chambers, Kenny Burrell, Pepper Adams, all those Joneses, Frank Rosolino and many more — rather a strong group to stand out among, Cannonball Adderley recently made the remark that any musician who makes it among that Detroit crowd has got to be saying something, Dorothy is much loved and respected among her Detroit contemporaries and has surely distinguished herself in their company.

This is a trio album. With Dorothy are Herman Wright playing bass, and John Tooley on drums. Again Dorothy is with men of stature. Herman Wright has been a firmly established musician for a long time and appears in an enormous number of albums, but is probably best known for his work with Terry Gibbs and more recently with George Shearing. John Tooley's credits include that coveted experience of accompanying Billy Holiday.

Most of the music in this set is familiar, even if seldom heard. I think particularly of Gloomy Sunday, done so many years ago by Shaw. While rarely heard now, the tune is virtually a legend and so well remembered for the impact of its lyric that the beauty of its melodic line was all but overlooked at the time. And Diango, the wonderfully interesting John Lewis tune that is too rarely heard. Lonely Melody is borrowed from the theme music of the motion picture Goodbye Again and the Goodbye Again people rowed it from Brahms' Third Symphony. Much more familiar are three that have been very big pop hits, You Stepped Out of A Dream, Stranger in Paradise from and Secret Love, done here at a tempo that is a complete surprise. Ellington's Satin Doll and Neal Hefti's are two very charming things that belong to the jazz world because of their association with the Ellington and Basie bands, but have been adopted by the rest of the world for their simple and quite beautiful melodic lines. And there are two originals here, John R. and Booze. John R. is named for John R. Street in Detroit which, like Chicago's Rush Street, has been an important street in Detroit night club life. Dorothy has long been a regular performer on John R. Street. I don't know why Booze is called Booze!

This is not hard jazz. This is an album that says jazz can, after all, be melodic, that a thing can be gentle without being weak and can be sweet without being saccrine. What is done here is done well, the improvisation is creative, and in typical Dorothy Ashby thinking—it's done in beautiful taste. She is indeed a jazz harpist and she does swing.

Jim Rockwell

LP-689

The Al Grey-Billy Mitchell Sextet

Released 1961

Recording and Session Information

Al Grey-Billy Mitchell Sextet
Henry Boozier, trumpet; Al Grey, trombone, baritone horn; Billy Mitchell tenor saxophone, alto saxophone; Gene Kee, piano, alto horn; Art Davis, bass; Jual Curtis, drums; Ray Barretto, conga
Live "Museum of Modern Art", New York, July 6, 1961

11030 African lady (unissued)
11031 Bantu
11032 Just waiting (unissued)
11033 Melba's blues
11034 Nothin' but the truth (unissued)
11035 Maggie's theme (unissued)
11036 On Green Dolphin Street
11037 Wild deuce
11038 I got it bad (unissued)
11039 Bluish grey
11040 Home fries
Grey's blues

Track Listing

Bluish Grey	Thad Jones	July 6 1961
Wild Deuce	Gene Kee	July 6 1961
On Green Dolphin Street	Kaper, Washington	July 6 1961
Bantu	Randy Weston	July 6 1961
Melba's Blues	Melba Liston	July 6 1961
Home Fries	Gene Kee	July 6 1961
Grey's Blues	Al Grey	July 6 1961

Liner Notes

WHEN AL GREY AND BILLY MITCHELL appeared on one of the afternoon programs at Newport '61, they blew up such a storm that they were instantaneously retained for a return engagement on the highly competitive evening bill. Needless to say, Al and Billy broke it up under the kleig lights, just as they had in the bright sunshine. These two graduates summa cum lande from Count Basie's Advanced Academy of Swing know how to put the jazz message across.

Al and Billy made the trip to Newport alone. The budget which allowed for Judy Garland with 30 pieces could not be stretched to accommodate Al and Billy plus 4. The full sextet was launched on the nation's jazz scene, after spring training in Pennsylvania and a warmup at a Village Vanguard Sunday session, at the event which has been preserved in essence on this album. It was the second concert of the second season in Metronome's 'Jazz in the Garden" series at New York's Museum of Modern Art. We booked the Grey-Mitchell Sextet because we believe that one of the main functions of the concerts, presented in surroundings and under auspices considerably nobler than usually accorded to jazz, is to present new and exciting groups and musicians to the public and the jazz world. (And undeservedly neglected veteran talent as well.)

Metronome is pleased and proud to have had a hand in the successful launching of this hne new group, and doubly pleased that Argo Records shared our feelings about it. These feelings were echoed by our good colleagues on Down Beat, who said that the sextet has "that special, immediate and warm quality that will make it successful."

One of the nice things about this band is that it is a band. It has a unity of purpose and a cohesiveness which is, sadly missing in many of the current assemblies hastily gathered in the recording studios. Considering the background of the co-leaders, this doesn't seem odd at all. Al Grey's biography was outlined in inimitable style by Jon Hendricks in his liner-notes to Al's second Argo album. "The Thinking Man's Trombone" (Argo LP 677). Suffice it to say here that Al has paid his dues with a veritable Who's Who of great jazz bands: Benny Carter, Jimmie Lunceford, Lucky Millinder, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie—and Of course, Count Basie. In early 1961, Al decided to split from the Count's fold, joining a sudden exodus that had begun with Joe Williams and Joe Newman. Billy Mitchell, who had joined Count at almost the same time as Al, made the leap with him. Billy, though born in Kansas City, grew up in that spawning-ground for contemporary jazz talent: Detroit, the Motor City. He, too, has considerable major league jazz experience under his belt. including service with Lunceford, Millinder, the famous territory band of Nat Towles, Woody Herman, and Dizzy Gillespie (the latter when Al was also on the band). In between, Billy headed his own groups in Detroit. Among his sidemen were such current luminaries as Thad and Elvin Jones and Tommy Flanagan.

Both men have found their own personal voices. Al Grey is famed for his plungermute work, continuing a tradition which is most closely identified with Duke Ellington's immortal Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton. Aside from his expertise with the plunger, Al is a master of modern trombone with few peers in the realms of speed and control. On this album, Al also returns to his first instrument, the Baritone Horn, on which he displays a big, warm and mellow sound.

Billy Mitchell was Basie's star tenor voice during his tenure with the band, and with good reason. He is a true master of the tenor. Though strongly rooted in mainstream tradition, his style is no eclectic amalgam of influences. Billy is strictly his own big-toned, aware and swinging self. On this album, you will also hear him on alto, during the proceedings on Home Fries. Billy also plays clarinet when the occasion requires.

The co-leaders are not only 'doublers" in the band. In Gene Kee, the sextet has a quadruple-threat man who plays piano and Alto Horn (or "Peck Horn," as it is commonly known), and is a gifted composer and arranger as well. This album reveals all aspects of his talents excepting one: Gene Kee is also a trained audio technician. Trumpet man Henry Boozier cuts the arrangements in style, and in Jule Curtis Al and Billy have found a young drummer who keeps time instead of indulging himself in displays of gymnastics. On this album, his team-mate is one of the outstanding young bassists of the day, Art Davis. On two of the selections, the group is augmented by Ray Barretto, whose congas are jazz-educated.

In today's highly restricted jazz market, it is no easy thing to launch and sustain a new group. But we believe that the Al Grey-Billy Mitchell Sextet has what it takes for the major leagues, Blue is Grey, a Thad Jones original, opens with soft locked-hands piano over a beat straight from Father Basie's good book. Al leads the neat opening sermonette, then launches into some straight talk with the plunger. Billy enters on a blue phrase, stretches it for size and delivers some impassioned blues. Ensemble prepares for the landing, accomplished with a final plunger roar.

The sextet's varied palette of sounds and moods is next displayed on Gene Kee's Goose. which corncs on like a whole flock. A neatly scored ensemble opening sends Billy into a succinct statement with both roots and antennae. Al emerges from the background riff for a mellow but stern message on baritone horn, whereafter a commendably brief drum solo sets the stage for a short visit to Cuba — and out we go. This performance is together, with Curtis' drumming in the groove.

Green Dolphin Street is a romantic locale. Kee's arrangement, showcasing him on alto horn, has a sound and feeling reminiscent of the great Tadd Dameron. (Another nice thing about this band is that things keep happening behind the soloist — maintaining both his and the listeners' interest.)

An intriguing aspect of contemporary jazz-orientation is aired on Bantu, the third movement of Randy Weston's "Freedom, Africa" suite, here scored by the gifted Miss Melba Liston. After a mysterioso opening, the Bantus emerge in full cry. Al, again on baritone horn, delivers the call to arms, where-upon Ray Barretto, with solid support from Curtis, sends out the signals. The ending is a gas.

Side Two opens with another contribution from Miss Liston, this time in the dual role of composer and arranger. (Melba was in Dizzy's talent incubator along with Al and Billy.) Melba's Blues is blue indeed, opening with Art Davis walking like a natural man with nothing but the blues on his mind. The tempo is one which challenges the group's ability to swing — playing slow is harder than racing. They come through with applomb. Al's sermon is almost ominous in mood; Billy is both tough and lyrical. Art Davis' plucked solo is the blues with a smile. Art continues to the fore during the concluding ensemble.

Gene Kees Home Fries are a species of soul food not recommended for ulcer diets. The harmonic climate is minor. The solos flash by: Kee comes on like a French Horn, Billy's alto soars, Boozier's only solo of the date is brief but literate, and Al's contribution includes a quote from "Summertime' plus a characteristic coda.

The session ends with a happy opus by Grey, Ray's Blues, dedicated to congaist Ray Barretto. Drums and conga set the stage for a riff; a call-and-response sequence pits Al's trombone against the ensemble and sends him off on a wild and wooly ride. The riff returns to launch Billy on a free and rousing romp which dumps the listener right into the percussionist's lap. Messrs. Barretto and Curtis have a ball, and a brief restatement of the theme wraps up the concert in style.

Dan Morgenstern

LP-688

The Jazztet At Birdhouse

Released 1961

Recording and Session Information

Art Farmer, trumpet; Tom McIntosh, trombone; Benny Golson, tenor saxophone; Cedar Walton, piano; Tommy Williams, bass; Albert "Tootie" Heath, drums
Live "Birdhouse", Chicago, IL, May 15, 1961

11208 Junction
11209 Farmer's market
11210 Darn that dream
11211 Shutterbug
11212 'Round midnight
11213 A November afternoon

Track Listing

Junction	B. Golson	May 1961
Farmer's Market	A. Farmer	May 1961
Darn That Dream	E. DeLange, J. V. Heusen	May 1961
Shutterbug	J.J. Johnson	May 1961
Round Midnight	B. Hanighen, C. Williams, T. Monk	May 1961
November Afternoon	T. McIntosh	May 1961

Liner Notes

THIS is the fourth album by the Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet, and it's happy I am that I can tell you in all truth it continues their record-breaking Argo cavalcade.

How long it will go on the Lord only knows, but as for the present, they've once again come up with something new as well as another first-rate program of jazz music.

Not to keep you in suspense, but to tell the story from the start, the first record was set by Meet The Jazztet (Argo LP 664). Since this was the group's initial album it necessarily was something new. Even better, according to The Jazztet's manager, Kay Norton, is that the LP turned out to be a consistent good seller.

The second Jazztet album, Big City Sounds (Argo LP 672), presented a reorganized lineup, with only the leaders remaining from the original unit.

The unusual feature of the third album, The Jazztet And John Lewis (Argo LP 684), is the material: Six compositions by the internationally-famed musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet which he arranged specifically for The Jazztet.

The Jazztet's newest album — the one you're holding as you read this — is the first ever made by the group during a public performance. It also marks Art Farmer's recording debut on the fluegelhorn.

The six extended numbers that comprise this set were taped a few months ago while The Jazztet was at the Birdhouse, a jazz club on Chicago's Near North Side. Farmer and Golson have a particular fondness for the club, not only because The Jazztet opened it about a year ago, but also because of the room's superior acoustics. Hence the suggestion that Argo tape the group during performance at the Birdhouse was quickly accepted.

So far as this observer is concerned, the decision was both wise and highly rewarding. Studio sessions can eliminate the occasional fluffs and clinkers to which even the best jazz instrumentalists are subject while in the throes of spontaneous creation, but at the same time such sessions lose the emotion-gripping quality that is instilled by a performance for paying customers. Evidences of this energizing situation are to be found here in the listeners' applause for soloists and the group, in occasional out-cries by the musicians, and in the music itself.

Before dealing with the individual selections, something about The Jazztet should be noted for the benefit of those still unacquainted with the group. The Jazztet was conceived in the summer of 1959 when Farmer and Golson, separately planning to organize their own combos, each broached this idea to the other. It soon became apparent that their aims were similar: Creation Of a group that would strike a musical balance between organization, as exemplified by fresh, thoughtful writing, and extemporization, the heart of jazz. That they have been eminently successful in steering a safe course between the Scylla of a "jamming band" and the Charybdis of an "arranger's band" is the firm belief of this writer.

The Music

Jünction, an easy rocker that evokes the Count, is a Golson composition and arrangement. Benny slips into the forefront smoothly and lightly to launch a flowing tenor solo that becomes assertive near its end. Farmer joins in with some clipped observations before proceeding to speak his piece, a somewhat fragmented discourse that has the rhythm section commenting.

Farmer's Market is Golson's arrangement of the composition that Art created some ten years ago and which received its most notable expositions in the late Wardell Gray's tenor solo and in the 1952 vocal written and recorded by Annie Ross. In the present version the tune is taken at racetrack tempo. There are cooking solos by both Benny and Art. Pianist Cedar Walton, who takes the spotlight after a drum break and stage-setting ensemble passage, contributes an exceptional solo that contains some notable phrasing and intriguing shifts of meter.

Darn That Dream, the only "pop" standard in the album, is a showcase for the Farmer fluegelhorn and proves that the months Art has devoted to this instrument were well spent. It is evident that he has accomplished the unusual feat of transferring his own wide, warm trumpet sound to the horn, a quality that adds to the effectiveness Of ballads such as this. The tender mood that Farmer creates and the beautiful coda with which he ends the piece further confirms the belief that he has few peers in this romantic realm.

Shutterbug is the J.J. Johnson tune and he arranged this uptempo version for The Jazztet. A staccato introduction heralds Farmer's solo during the course of which he demonstrates his fine control of sound as well as his ability to play hot. With the rhythm section stoking the fire to keep the pot bubbling, Golson moves in for a solo that exhibits his command of high-speed technique and, more importantly, his talent for improvisation. Drummer Albert Heath gets a brief solo before the minor.feeling number is concluded with a senerous ensemble.

'Round Midnight is the longest and, to this listener, the most rewarding number on the album. Golson's arrangement of Monk's lovely composition an The Jazztet's playing of it attain the group's aims to the fullest extent. The opening horn note and brief piano passage establish the mood, which is most movingly amplified by the succeeding segment that has a passage by fluegelhorn, a three-horn voicing, a brief, rhapsodic tenor interlude and another ensemble bit. Farmer introduces a new element with a trumpet solo which seems to hint that the sun will again be shining a few hours hence. The mood changes again as Golson comes on with a tenor solo that begins with a beautiful singing quality that gradually is transformed into a soul-wrenching cry. As the rhythm moves into a more propulsive groove, the sound of the tenor expands to climax its tale of loneliness. I believe this to be one of Benny's finest recorded solos. The arrangement makes further effective use Of the instruments before conduding its provocative story.

November Afternoon was written and arranged by trombonist Tom McIntosh. A delightful piece, it hints at a ballad as it begins but quickly shifts into a romping vein. While the number gives a fine display Of McIntosh's work, Farmer and Golson are not neglected. Here too, as throughout the album, the support of bassist Tommy Williams, Walton and Heath is of high value.

Russ Wilson

LP-687X

Ramsey Lewis Trio - Sound of Christmas

Released 1961

Recording and Session Information

Ramsey Lewis, piano; Eldee Young, bass; Redd Holt, drums
Chicago, 1960

10513 Santa Claus is coming to town
10514 Winter wonderland
10515 Hey Mr. Ray (unissued)
10516 Teardrops from my eyes (unissued)

Chicago, October 1961
11248 Christmas blues
11249 Merry Christmas
11250 Here comes Santa Claus

Addtional 10 unknown strings added, Riley Hampton, arranger

11251 What are you doing New Year's Eve?
11252 The sound of Christmas
11253 God rest ye merry gentlemen
11254 Sleigh ride
11255 The Christmas song

Track Listing

Merry Christmas Baby	Charles Brown	October 1961
Winter Wonderland	Smith, Bernard	October 1961
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town	Gillespie, Coots	October 1961
Christmas Blues	Ramsey Lewis	October 1961
Here Comes Santa Claus	Autry, Aldeman	October 1961
The Sound Of Christmas	Lewis, Hampton	October 1961
The Christmas Song	Torme, Wells	October 1961
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen	Arranged By – Ramsey Lewis	October 1961
Sleigh Ride	Anderson, Parish	October 1961
What Are You Doing New Year's Eve	Frank Loesser	October 1961

Liner Notes

MERRY Christmas to everyone and especially jazz lovers, but more especially to Ramsey Lewis Trio lovers.

Ramsev and his piano, along with Eldee Young on bass and Red Holt on drums, have put together some of the greatest Christmas sounds ever waxed in the jazz vernacular. And the best part of this album is that it won't go out with the season, because the sounds on many of the cuts such as Christmas Blues and The Sound of Christmas, which by the way are originals, are good jazz 365 days a year.

On Side l, you will hear typical Ramsey Lewis piano. (I would imagine the piano had to be tuned after each track)! They start off with Merry Christmas Baby, with a beautifully melodic introduction, and Ramsey's strong touch taking over as it progresses. Winter Wonderland and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town are two numbers that the trio have done before, and Here Comes Santa Claus swings in the same light cheerful style. Christmas Blues, however, is something else. This tune, along with The Sound Of Christmas, stands out in my mind as the two best pieces of work in the album.

Having already jumped to Side 2, I would like to mention that if Mel Torme and Leroy Anderson, who wrote The Christmas Song and Sleigh Ride, in that order, were to hear the performances of their labors as done by Ramsey, Eldee and Red, they would have to admit "Like it ain't never been done like this before". I hope Mr. Torme and Mr. Anderson will excuse the paraphrasing, but I just can't find better words to describe the interpretation given these two cuts.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, one of the most beautiful Christmas carols ever written, will satisfy the "Carol Singers" as well as the "Hippys". And closing out the album is one of my all-time favorites, What Are You Doing New Year's Eve. I don't mind saying it absolutely "flipped" me.

This album marks the first time the trio has recorded with strings. Side one features the trio only, but on Side two, they are accompanied by a beautiful string section, conducted by Riley Hampton. After you've listened to this side, I'm sure you will agree that the trio should continue to utilize strings in the future in at least a portion of each album.

While you're listening to The Ramsey Lewis Trio's SOUNDS OF CHRISTMAS, please keep in mind that all of us wish all of you a very Merry, Swingin' Christmas.

Nelson Noble

LP-686

The Ramsey Lewis Trio - Never On Sunday

Released 1961

Recording and Session Information

Ramsey Lewis Trio
Ramsey Lewis, piano; Eldee Young, bass; Redd Holt, drums
Chicago, August 10 & 11, 1961

11138 The ripper
11139 I got plenty o' nuttin'
11140 Water boy
11141 Thanks for the memory
11142 Cielito lindo
11143 You just don't care
11144 Never on Sunday
11145 You've changed
11146 The breeze and I
11147 Exactly like you

Track Listing

The Ripper	Ramsey Lewis	August 10 & 11 1961
I Got Plenty Of Nothing	Gershwin, Gershwin	August 10 & 11 1961
Waterboy	Arranged By – Ramsey Lewis	August 10 & 11 1961
Thanks For The Memory	Robin, Rainger	August 10 & 11 1961
Ceilito Lindo	Arranged By – Isaac Holt	August 10 & 11 1961
You Just Don't Care	El Dee Young	August 10 & 11 1961
Never On Sunday	Hadjaidakis	August 10 & 11 1961
You've Changed	Carey, Fischer	August 10 & 11 1961
The Breeze And I	Stillman, Lecuona	August 10 & 11 1961
Exactly Like You	Fields, McHugh	August 10 & 11 1961

Liner Notes

THERE are two kinds of music listeners in the world of jazz as in all other kinds of entertainment. First, there is the social devotee who spins his "sides" whenever the notion strikes his fancy. He has the discretion of selecting what he wants to play, when and for how long. His record collection is the bona fide guide to his personal taste in waxing pleasure. There is little room for pretense or pretext here. The social devotee shells out cash on the line for his records and each niche filled on his record shelf represents a corresponding void in his bank account.

On the other hand, there is the professional listener. He listens, literally, for years on end. At times it seems as though the mountain of music to be listened to is never-diminishing. His collection is multitudinous. It is comprised primarily of records he has had to play. Few of the dozens of records received regularly ever reach that special corner in the record library rcscrved for those albums one wants to listen to again, if ever that mountain diminishes!

As a jazz disc jockey for some several years, I suppose I have developed a tolerant ear of the professional listener. Occasionally, a musical unit along which has that spark of vitality and freshness, mixed with just the proper portion of talent and musical presence, to stand these rather blasé old ears on their ---s, to put it precisely.

The Ramsey Lewis Trio story is one of those made-in-Hollywood tales heard much too infrequently in real life. The three, healthy young men of the same environment decide to improve their lot through playing music. They band together and find that the trio has an unbelieveable, scintillating cohesion right off the bat. They receive influential backing from prominent entertainment leaders, and are booked into and play to SRO audiences in a sophisticated downtown nightclub. A record contract follows and their albums plummet them into the national spotlight. A successful trip around the jazz circuit and growing audience appeal firmly establish the trio as one of the jazz units which is here to stay in an era when groups crop up, blossom and die like an Ephemerida.

This album will give ample evidence of why the trio has continually renewved its lease on public appeal. All of the spontaneous, alive, animation which characterizes the Ramsey Lewis Trio is here faithfully reproduced. As you listen, note that accepted traditions in jazz serve only as guideposts for these three, adventuresome young musicians. Mood, rhythm, instrumentation, utilization of personnel are skillfully manipulated to show off the tune to its best advantage. The material recorded here is deliberately varied and comprehensive. This unit has no "groove" in which they are compelled to play. True, the one word most often associated with their efforts is "funky," this is a treatment rather than a restrictive style. The selections here range from showtunes to folk songs to gutty, earthy blues. Each tune is treated with its own special. portion of the Lewis magic; and becomes an infectious, delightful listening experience.

It is really no wonder that the Ramsey Lewis Trio is the mutual choice of both the social and the professional listener when one wishes to listen for sheer delightful enjoyment.

There must be one word of caution added. Much has been said of the carefree ease with which the unit rollicks through its chores. This is a deceptive ease acquired from mastery of their instrumnents and the material hand. At times, one is startled at the precision and unity of musical approach which marks their work. The interplay between instruments, the uncanny complimentary support, the deliberate dips into rhythmic variety; all indicate the self assurance and musical maturity which grows more evident with each recording.

This is their latest offering and by virture of the above stated reasoning, it must be conceded that this is their most challenging. They approached the task with responsibility, and the recording will undoubtedly find a haven in the preferred record nooks of listeners of all types.

LP-685

Ahmad Jamal's Alhambra

Released 1961

Recording and Session Information

Ahmad Jamal Trio
Ahmad Jamal, piano; Israel Crosby, bass; Vernel Fournier, drums
Live "The Alhambra", Chicago, IL, late June 1961

Full set list. Released as LP-685, LP-691 and LP-786
11092 Ahmad Jamal We kiss in the shadow
11093 Ahmad Jamal Sweet and lovely
11094 Ahmad Jamal The party's over
11095 Ahmad Jamal Love for sale
11096 Ahmad Jamal Snowfall
11097 Ahmad Jamal Broadway
11098 Ahmad Jamal Willow, weep for me
11099 Ahmad Jamal Autumn leaves
11100 Ahmad Jamal Isn't it romantic?
11101 Ahmad Jamal The breeze and I
11102 Ahmad Jamal You're blase
11103 Ahmad Jamal You go to my head
11104 Ahmad Jamal Desert sands
11105 Ahmad Jamal I get a kick out of you
11106 Ahmad Jamal All of you
11107 Ahmad Jamal Where or when
11108 Ahmad Jamal What is this thing called love? 11109 Ahmad Jamal Star eyes
11110 Ahmad Jamal Isn't is a lovely day
11111 Ahmad Jamal Don't worry 'bout me (unissued)
11112 Ahmad Jamal I can't get started
11113 Ahmad Jamal You're driving me crazy
11114 Ahmad Jamal Let's call it a day
11115 Ahmad Jamal Time on my hands
11116 Ahmad Jamal Angel eyes
Ahmad Jamal Medley: (unissued)
11117 Ahmad Jamal With the wind and the rain in your hair
11118 Ahmad Jamal You are my springtime
11119 Ahmad Jamal There is no greater love (unissued)
11120 Ahmad Jamal My heart stood still
Ahmad Jamal Poinciana (unissued)
Ahmad Jamal We kiss in a shadow (alt) (unissued)
Ahmad Jamal Stella by starlight (unissued)
Ahmad Jamal The lady is a tramp (unissued)

Track Listing

We Kiss In A Shadow	Rodgers, Hammerstein	June 1961
Sweet And Lovely	Charles N. Daniels, Arnheim, Tobias	June 1961
The Party's Over	Byrne, Comden, Green	June 1961
Love For Sale	Cole Porter	June 1961
Snow Fall	Thornhill	June 1961
Broadway	Woode, McRae	June 1961
Willow Weep For Me	Ronell	June 1961
Autumn Leaves	Prevert, Kosma	June 1961
Isn't It Romantic	Rodgers, Hart	June 1961
The Breeze And I	Stillman, Lecuona	June 1961

Liner Notes

ARTISTS are, by and large, a dreaming lot. Musicians are no exception; in fact, some of the world's most prolific jazz creators ply their melodic trade while envisioning castles rising high into the sky. It is the privilege of each of us to dream and dream and dream again. It falls the lot of a few of us to equip that dream with spurs of driving, realistic ambition and hardwork. And here, the sky watchers are sifted from those solid bricks, out of whom come the pillars of our society.

Reaching modestly for the sun, there stands on Chicago's once elegant Michigan Boulevard, a new structure ironically reminiscent of the old splendor. This edifice is more than a brick and mortar symbol; it is the gossamer culmination of a dream — a dream spun of webs of inspiration and talent, hung together by threads of disappointments and health-sapping devotion. Yet watching the slight, bearded owner walking with quiet pride throughout the elaborate room, one knows instantly that he is savoring the sweet smell of success, and triumph over strife.

Ahmad Jamal was at home regularly at the turn of the 5th decade. Crowds had not yet begun to for his tinkling, happy piano. He played infrequently in clubs. There stirring within him that frustrating, incomplete feeling of not knowing the total acceptance of the mass populace; yet, he was playing music and remaining at home (an ideal situation for the family man). All that was lacking was financial fruit and the broadened horizon. In the mid 50's "The Hit" was cut and with the subsequent popular demand, Jamal took to the road to become the itinerant musician.

To offset his longing for the warmth and security of his home in Chicago, travelling Jamal began spinning his dream. Cities and countries of the world began to fascinate him and he mentally catalogued the most appealing attributes of each. Of all the lands he visited, actually and vicariously, the far and middle east most impressed the pianist.

In 1960, Ahmad returned to the Windy City to begin the fulfillment of the dream. In 1961, the doors of Ahmad Jamal's Alhambra were opened to the public. Beautifully appointed, boasting a completely imported interior, continental cuisine; the club elegantly speaks of its eastern heritage. There was never a more receptive audience than the members of the press who came out that extra-warm summer afternoon to offer best wishes to the owner-musician.

It was natural and appropriate that the first musical attraction at the new Alhambra should be the Jamal Trio. It was also fitting that, during Jamal's stay there, this session should be cut. The warmth and communion of spirit which prevades throughout the club is reflected here in the harmony and togetherness of the unit. Actually, time and its passage may show that the flow of this unity went in the opposite direction. In other words, this closeknit unit might have instilled into the Alhambra a healthy shot of its own oneness. If this be true, Alhambra is extremely fortunate.

The tunes recorded here constitute music heard and enjoyed each night during the trio's engagement. Artistically, this is one of the best on-the-spot recordings the group has yet produced. All elements seemed to be right and at the right time.

We share with Jamal and Argo, extreme pleasure and pride in the production of this album which is a lanmark in the annals of jazz recording. A prominent jazz artist of national and international acclaim sits at his own piano in his own club and plays own groove; and he records the event proudly for all posterity. We doff our hat to Ahmad at the Alhambra.

Sid McCoy

LP-684

The Jazztet and John Lewis

Released 1961

Recording and Session Information

Art Farmer/Benny Golson Jazztet & John Lewis
Art Farmer, trumpet; Tom McIntosh, trombone; Benny Golson, tenor saxophone; Cedar Walton, piano; Tommy Williams, bass; Albert "Tootie" Heath, drums
New York, December 20-21, 1960 & January 9, 1961

10626 Django
10627 Milano
10628 Bel
10629 Two degrees east, three degrees west
10630 New York 19
10631 Odds against tomorrow

Track Listing

Bel	John Lewis	December 20/21 1960, January 9 1961
Milano	John Lewis	December 20/21 1960, January 9 1961
Django	John Lewis	December 20/21 1960, January 9 1961
New York 19	John Lewis	December 20/21 1960, January 9 1961
2 Degrees East, 3 Degrees West	John Lewis	December 20/21 1960, January 9 1961
Odds Against Tomorrow	John Lewis	December 20/21 1960, January 9 1961

Liner Notes

The idea of John Lewis writing for the Jazztet seems, at first blush, an improbable one.

Lewis' jazz writing in recent years has been confined largely to the Modern Jazz Quartet, of which group he is pianist and musical director. His other work — movie scores and similar large-orchestra music — has required a different palette than that available in small jazz groups.

The Jazztet, furthermore, is utterly unlike the MJQ in instrumentation, conception, and flavor. The MJQ is based on two percussion-melody instruments, vibraharp and piano, which dictates one kind of sound. The Jazztet is based on three horns — trumpet, tenor saxophone, and trombone — which dictates a vastly different one.

The one area of similarity between the two groups would appear to present a danger, rather than an advantage: both are integrated, controlled units whose music has sometimes tended to the conservative. They stand at the other end of the pole from all the tiresome freeblowing groups of today.

But what would happen when you put the conservative John Lewis together with the Jazztet? I must confess that when Art Farmer mentioned that John Lewis was writing album for the group, I had reservations. I feared the collaboration would produce some sort of apotheosis of gentlemanly reserve. Control there would surely be. But spontaneity and fire?

It gives me considerable pleasure to discover that my fears were groundless. For the John Lewis Album is, I feel, far and away the best, the freest, and the gutsiest album the Jazztet has yet made.

It came about in this way:

One evening early in 1961, Lewis went to the Village Gate in New York, where the Jazztet was working. He was asked to write an arrangement for the group. He pondered it during the course of the evening, no doubt in that quietly preoccupied way of his, and then told Benny Golson and Art Farmer that he'd rather write a whole album.

The scores were not long arriving. Lewis delivered the first of them while the group was still at the Village Gate, and had completed the remainder within a month. And yet you will find no hint of haste in them, They are beautifully-wrought pieces of jazz writing, with everything in its place — and they are full of fire.

"Benny and I have always had a great deal of respect for John's writing," Art said. "But I was surprised and delighted when wc got the scores."

"I'm intrigued by the way John reworks his material over the years, as Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk do. John will take something he wrote some time ago and do something completely different with it. Django is an example."

It is a particularly interesting example. If you know the MJQ's original version of it, you'll probably be shocked by this one, at first. The original is slow and delicate and poignantly lyrical; from the first measures of this version, you know it's a cooker. "In fact," Benny said. "the first time we played it, we thought we had it wrong. We asked John 'Is this really the tempo you want? He said, 'That's right.'"

2 Degrees East, 3 Degrees West, on the other hand, is fairly similar to the original except for the instrumentation. The other works in this set will be found to resemble the originals in varying degrees — though always the basic color is different. Bel is a new work: Lewis wrote it especially for this album.

If I may venture a personal comment (and I'd rather make it clear that it's personal, since have a growing distaste for those who try to pass off their personal observations as esthetic absolutes that they could prove to be objective realities, if only they could the right logarithmic tables), I think this album is the most moving and satisfying - in fact, exciting — piece of jazz writing that John Lewis has done in years.

Note how skillfully he will use horns behind soloists; note how nicely the lines of ensemble passages fit together; note particularly how he gets a sound much larger than the instrumentation, which is always the mark of the gifted and developed writer. While we're at it, note also the humor of which Lewis is capable, particularly in the opening track.

This album ends up being a sort of mutual showcase: the Jazztet sets a facet of Lewis' ability (after all, he was once arranger for Dizzy Gillespie's bis band) that some of us had tended to forget; and Lewis' writing in turn sets off facets ot the Jazztet's ability that many persons may previiously have been unaware of.

Certainly the group is in prime form.

In Tom Williams and Albert Heath, it has a rhythm team that works in powerful, comfortable tandem. In Cedar Walton, it has a pianist of feeling coupled with technical resourcefulness. There is no need to say to him, "Yeah, but what he was thinking is what matters." What Walton thinks, he executes and you hear.

Trombonist McIntosh is the third member of the horn team that constitutes the Jazztet's front line. A talented arranger himself he is revealed in this album to have the ability, both as soloist and ensemble player, that Art and Benny thought he had when they asked him to join the group.

As for Art and Benny themselves, it seems to me that they have found the freedom and individual expression they were looking for when they formed the Jazztet.

Reviewing a Golson album (Take a Number from 1 to 10; Argo 681) in a recent issue of Down Beat, critic John S. Wilson said of Benny, "His warm, gentle, lyrical playing...has been fairly well established for some time. What is relatively new is what appears to be some resolution of the grappling Golson has been going through to find a proper expression of himself at fast tempos. He appears to have cleared away the streaming runs that he contended with for quite a while, and now has a lean attack at up tempos that is attractively propulsive and is much more to the point than his earlier work was."

You'Il note this greater economy in Benny's playing, and the consequent increased clarity of his lines, in his fiery solo on Django.

Reviewing an Art Farmer record (Art; Argo 678) recently, Ira Gitler wrote, "Farmer is a mature, personal, sensitive lyrical trumpet artist. His sound, delicate and strong simultaneously, is integrated perfectly with the beautifully phrased content of his playing."

I would add to that the observation that Art has become increasingly individual in recent years. Whatever the tempo, there is a sort of smoked quality to his tone that reminds me, curiously enough, of Lawrence Brown's trombone. Thoughtful without being a navel-gazer, Art manages to bring the sensitive inner man out to the light of day.

The idea behind the Jazztet was to achieve organization and spontaneity at the same time.

I feel that this is urgently necessary if jazz is to retain its appeal to the public — and jazz must retain appeal if it is to survive and flourish, since jazz, unlike classical music, is not a subsidized art; it has to pay its own way or starve to death.

It seems to me that the time is fast approaching when the public will weary of 190 choruses of tenor solo followed by an equally interminable trumpet solo, all of it framed between ensemble passages that are nothing more than fore-and-aft unison statements of the melody. That is why there must be thought-out shiftings of voicing and coloration within a given piece. And that means writing.

At the same time, writing that stifled the extemporaneous spark that is the essence of jazz, would be disastrous. The Jazztet, I believe, is finding the necessary delicate balance between the two. The group's growing pains are over and, because of the balance it is achieving, it has genuine significance. It is to be hoped that other groups will get the message.

Never has the group seemed more appealing than in this set of compositions and arrangements by John Lewis. I have no hesitancy in commending it to you. It knocked me out.

Gene Lees

LP-683

Sonny Stitt - At The D.J. Lounge

Released 1961

Recording and Session Information

Sonny Stitt, alto, tenor saxophone; Johnny Board, tenor saxophone; Eddie Buster, organ; Joe Shelton, drums
"D.J. Lounge", Chicago June 1961

U11018 McKie's
U11019 It all depends on you
U11020 Blue moon
U11021 Jay Tee
U11022 I'm in the mood for love
U11023 Free chicken

Track Listing

McKie's	Sonny Stitt	June 1961
It All Depends On You	DeSylva, Brown, Henderson	June 1961
Blue Moon	Rodgers & Hart	June 1961
Jay Tee	Sonny Stitt	June 1961
I'm In The Mood For Love	Fields, McHugh	June 1961
Free Chicken	Sonny Stitt	June 1961

Liner Notes

BY THE middle of 1961, a club on Chicago's south side lying directly adjacent to the Tivoli theater and right across the street from the well-known Pershing Lounge had developed into what many considered the city's hippest jazz room.

Called McKie's Disc Jockey Lounge, it had for some months been steadily presenting the sort of talent and atmosphere that one used to be able to find in large quantity on the south side — Gene Ammons, Shirley Scott, Eddie (Lockjaw) Davis, and many perhaps lesser-known but hard-swinging musicians.

On this Saturday night in early June, Sonny Stitt was the featured attraction, and Sonny has a lot of followers in Chicago. With him on-stand was another in a long line of tough, big-toned tenor players that Chicago has developed — players like Ammons and Johnny Griffin — Johnny Board.

Board served a long apprenticeship with the Lionel Hampton orchestra, and from that affiliation alone it is obvious that not only is he a capable musician but is also well-schooled in devices designed to get a crowd to patting its collective foot. He has a good-sized trick bag. as they say.

It would seem unnecessary to mention Sonny's qualifications as an audience-waker-upper, in that he has completed nearly two decades of a most prominent jazz career.

The set recorded here starts out in fine warm-up fashion as Sonny and Johnny work over a medium-paced blues, with Sonny soloing first, then Board, then a long exchange of choruses, much in the manner of a couple of boxers staying pretty much with left jabs and hooks and an occasional exploratory right hand in the first round of a fight.

Sonny picks up the alto for It All Depends On You, stating the melody on the first chorus, then giving way to Board for the first solo. They then exchange eights for a chorus before Stitt comes back on the melody to begin what develops into a long, sinuous solo.

Blue Moon finds Stitt spelling out the melody on the first chorus with Board taking the first solo again. Sonny's entrance is coolly Getz-like, then warms up.

The tempo goes upstairs on Jay Tee, as both men begin to get their shoulders into the matter at hand. Board solos first, excellently, after which Sonny coasts in, then opens up his sound and begins to cook. A furious battle of eights between the two horn brings the performance to a climax.

I'm In The Mood For Love follows, with Sonny back on alto for a lovely solo performance that weaves beautifully through a splendid ballad.

The set-capper, Free Chicken, develops into a furiously Stormy get-together, as Board's solo triggers a bristling bunch of exchanges and hard rights that leaves the audience limp.

It is the finishing touch to an album that almost physically drags you into an old-fashioned blowing session between two tenor saxists who know what it's all about and who do not hesitate to jump into some deep musical waters to prove it.

You'll dig it.

Jack Tracy

LP-682

Lorez Alexandria - Sing No Sad Songs For Me

Released 1961

Recording and Session Information

Lorez Alexandria, vocals; strings, arrangement led by Riley Hampton
Chicago, 1960

10672 Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
10673 Trouble in mind
10674 Gloomy Sunday
10675 Lonesome road
10676 Who

Chicago, 1961
10828 A losers lullaby
10829 All my love
10830 No sad songs for me
10831 I'll remember April
10832 They can't take that away from me

Track Listing

A Loser's Lullaby	Edwards, Wayne	1960, 1961
Trouble In Mind	R.M. Jones	1960, 1961
Sing No Sad Songs For Me	Dino Courreay	1960, 1961
Gloomy Sunday	Javor, Seres, Lewis	1960, 1961
Motherless Child		1960, 1961
Who	S. Lewis	1960, 1961
I'll Remember April	Raye, DePaul, Johnson	1960, 1961
Lonesome Road	Austin, Shilkret	1960, 1961
They Can't Take That Away From Me	George & Ira Gershwin	1960, 1961
All My Love	S. Lewis	1960, 1961

Liner Notes

EVERY BODY knows that the record reviewers don't know what they're talking about. If they give rave reviews, they have no taste or they're prejudiced in favor of...If they don't like the record, they have no taste and they're prejudiced against...If they are luke-warm. they have no taste and they are copping out.

With this succinct, pacifying attitude the average entertainer eagerly thumbs through every minute line of type relating to appraisal of his or her work, vindicating those discerning idiots who accidentally recognized talent and damning deaf, unready idiots who missed the entire point.

About a year ago I had occasion to review Lorez Alexandria/Early In The Morning (Argo LP 663). I liked it, but I bemoaned the fact that much of the beautiful, soulful Lorez I remembered from those early lean days in Chicago was missing. In an historic meeting of the minds, the artist agreed. She went further. She decided to really and truly "sing what ever I feel, as I feel it." The in-person performance results have been nothing short of devastating. This recording contains some captivating moments of Lorez Alexandria at her natural best. Stripped naively bare of worldliness and suavity, Miss Alexandria breathes warmth and conviction throughout the album.

Listeners and writers often casually toss out the word flexibility. There is nothing casual about the unusual gift of flexibility. Hearing Miss Alexandria run the gamut of expression, phrasing and vocal mechanics here is Lesson No. 1 toward understanding the significance of the value of flexibility in singing.

Don't waste precious time critically analyzing the warm, good feeling that just oozes out when she sings; but for a brief moment hear her make the subtle shift from voice as singing equipment on the string background numbers to voice as vocal hornlike instrument on the trio tunes.

As a vocalist, she is diligently word conscious and at all times faithful to message communication. As an instrumentalist, she is equally music conscious, free wheeling, and capricious, using words and phrases mainly as guideposts to get around the changes. This album contains some of her best work at combining the two arts into a charged, emotion packed whole. Trouble In Mind, the eerie, fascinating Gloomy Sunday, the bright, crisp phrasing in I'll Remember are cases in point.

The encompassing scope of her material is a model showcase for her many sparkling facets. The general tone of the album is quiet; yet the undercurrent of excitement and smoldering embers never allows the mood to sink into maudlin self pity. At her heartbroken bluest, there is that rosy lilt in her delivery which promises that everything is going to be all right, after all.

The entire album was, for this listener, a happy reunion with a voice styling which I had beliwed was lost forever to model urbanity. There are moments recorded here typat I am jealously reluctant to share. Gloomy Sunday contains many of them. The beauty captured here, particularly in the bridge, is priceless. There are, of course, highlights which absolutely must not pass your attention. Since much of the joy of listening rests in personal discovery, permit me to tantalize you with a single word about each tune.

Loser's Lullaby — reflective; Trouble Blind — groovey; Sing No Sad Songs — philosophical; Gloomy Sunday — haunting; Motherless Child — meditative; Who — Lorez?; I'll Remember April — fresh. Lonesome Road — saucy; They Can't Take That Away Me — imaginative; All My Love — surprise!

The extra goody in the pie is the fact that all we have here are bits of the best of Lorez. There seems to be so much more to hear. But until she records another, sit back and enjoy this one as we borrow the words of jazz trumpeter Harry (Sweets) Edison and warn you to stop looking, "you iust can't get one no better than this."

Barbara J. Gardner

LP-681

Benny Golson - Take A Number From 1 To 10

Released 1961

Recording and Session Information

Benny Golson And His Orchestra
New York, December 13, 1960

Benny Golson, tenor saxophone
10575 You're my thrill

Benny Golson, tenor saxophone; Tommy Williams, bass
10576 My heart belongs to daddy

Benny Golson, tenor saxophone; Tommy Williams, bass; Albert "Tootie" Heath, drums
10577 The best thing for you is me

Benny Golson, tenor saxophone; Cedar Walton, piano; Tommy Williams, bass; Albert "Tootie" Heath, drums
10578 Impromptune

Freddie Hubbard, trumpet; Benny Golson, tenor saxophone; Cedar Walton, piano; Tommy Williams, bass; Albert "Tootie" Heath, drums
New York, December 14, 1960
10579 Little Karin

Freddie Hubbard, trumpet; Curtis Fuller, trombone; Benny Golson, tenor saxophone; Cedar Walton, piano; Tommy Williams, bass; Albert "Tootie" Heath, drums
10580 Swing it

Freddie Hubbard, trumpet; Curtis Fuller, trombone; Benny Golson, tenor saxophone; Sahib Shihab, baritone saxophone; Cedar Walton, piano; Tommy Williams, bass; Albert "Tootie" Heath, drums
10581 I fall in love too easily

Nick Travis, trumpet; Bill Elton, trombone; Willie Ruff, french horn; Benny Golson, Hal McKusicktenor saxophone; Sol Schlinger, baritone saxophone; Tommy Williams, bass; Albert "Tootie" Heath, drums
New York, April 11, 1961
10582 Out of this world

Nick Travis, Bernie Glow, trumpet; Bill Elton, trombone; Willie Ruff, french horn; Benny Golson, Hal McKusicktenor saxophone; Sol Schlinger, baritone saxophone; Tommy Williams, bass; Albert "Tootie" Heath, drums
10583 The touch

Art Farmer, Nick Travis, Bernie Glow, trumpet; Bill Elton, trombone; Willie Ruff, french horn; Benny Golson, Hal McKusick, tenor saxophone; Sol Schlinger, baritone saxophone; Tommy Williams, bass; Albert "Tootie" Heath, drums
10584 Time

Track Listing

You're My Thrill	Lane, Washington	December 13 1960
My Heart Belongs To Daddy	Cole Porter	December 13 1960
The Best Thing For You Is Me	DeSylva, Henderson, Brown	December 13 1960
Impromptune	Benny Golson	December 13 1960
Little Karin	Benny Golson	December 14 1960
Swing It	Benny Golson	December 14 1960
I Fall In Love Too Easily	Styne, Cahn	December 14 1960
Out Of This World	Arlen, Mercer	April 11 1961
The Touch	Benny Golson	April 11 1961
Time	Benny Golson	April 11 1961

Liner Notes

BENNY GOLSON is already strongly established as one of the most consistently fresh and personal composer-arrangers in jazz. What this uniquely challenging album accomplishes - in addition to re-emphasizing his writing capabilities — is to focus on Benny's equally individual power and warmth as a player.

It is by far his most impressive achievement on record as a tenor saxophonist as he ranges from an unaccompanied solo to the leadership of a 10-piece band.

When I first became particularly aware of Benny's playing in Dizzy Gillespie's big band five years ago, I was struck by the invigorating fact that he was one of the very few of the younger players with a big, full tone and a surging lyricism. Although modern in conception, he recalled the richness of Don Byas and the sinewy linear imagination of Lucky Thompson. For a time in recent years, Benny's playing style became less distinctive. There were explosive, multi-noted passages and less concern than before with melodic improvisation.

Now, however, Benny has decided on the direction he prefers; and this album heralds not only the return of his basic, warmly lyrical style but also marks its strengthening. He hasn't lost in any degree his adventurousness, but all elements in his work now part of an integrated, thoroughly distinctive whole.

"We all go through stages," Benny explains. "There are, after all, so many roads to take. Now I'm on the right track for myself. I know what I want to do. I've been working hard during the past year, for example, on an even bigger tone with more roundness and warmth — even in the extreme high register. I want to make the horn sound warm, I also want to play melodically, instead of just running over the horn as I was at one time; but I'd still like to have a command of velocity at my fingertips when I need it. I feel very much better about my playing these days. At one time, I didn't know whether I was coming or going, but I guess it was necessary to try different ways to be sure of my own."

The format of the album is unlike any that Benny — or any other player — has attempted before. Beginning with one instrument, Benny's, an instrument is added on each track culminating in the exciting 10-piece arrangement, Time. The idea was conceived by Benny's manager, Kai Norton, as a frame for Benny's talent as an instrumentalist as well as a composer-arranger.

'It's not a gimmick," Benny emphasizes. "I did all of these with a strong conviction and feeling, because wanted to try them. I'd never recorded before all by myself or with a duo or a trio. And on the last three numbers, there were several techniques I wanted to develop for the first time on records."'It's not a gimmick," Benny emphasizes.

I can only think of Coleman Hawkins and Sonny Rollins as having accepted before the most radical challenge for a soloist — the entirely unaccompanied performance. Benny succeeds nobly on You're My Thrill, retaining a firmly implied pulsation, improvising with sweeping imagination, and demonstrating his particular eloquence at rhapsodic romanticism that docs not, however, become saccharine. It's a bold triumph.

Bassist Tomnmy Williams, a regular member of the Farmer-Golson Jazztet, was added for "My Heart Belongs To Daddy. "Tommy," says Golson, "is one of the very few bassists I'd attempt this with. He has a more melodic approach to his instrument than any bassist I've known except for Oscar Pettiford antl Ray Brown. In fact, he can put some horn players to shame. With Tommy behind you, you really have to be alert in matching melodic imagination." Note, too, Williams' big, round tone and remarkably steady time. Golson plays with a soft but insistent urgency and the two generate an infectious beat while maintaining an overall tenderness of mood.

Drummer "Tootie" Heath, who enters next, is also an associate of Benny in the Jazztet. "He has," Golson emphasizes, "the best cymbal-beat feeling since Art Blakey and Kenny Clarke. He's so sympathetic a drummer, moreover, that the soloists can lay back and rely completely on him." In The Best Thing For You Is Me, Golson plays with resilient lyricism. He communicates a breathy intimacy at the same time as a great feeling of latent power and thrust. The track is also worth replaying just to concentrate on Tommy Williams" solo.

Pianist Cedar Walton completes the Jazztet's regular rhythm section. "He does so much," says Golson, "in the way of getting in and out of those chords. He has the chordal resourcefulness I've always been aiming at in my playing." The instrumentation is now four, and Benny plays one of his originals, Impromptune, which succeeds in connoting spontaneity and a spiraling intensity by all four players through a series of crackling climaxes. The Golson melodic line is characteristically strong and supple.

Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard makes the band a quintet for Little Karin. The darting, insatiably curious Karin of the title is three-year-old Karin Sylvester, daughter of Kay Norton. "Karin," explains Benny, "symbolized childhood to me, and I wanted this tune to reflect those qualities in her that make me want to hug and kiss her."

With Swing It, the first side ends as the band has grown to a sextet. Trombonist Curtis Fuller and Freddie Hubbard were certain, Benny felt, "to bring the spark and drive I wanted for this tune. Freddie is impressive for his feeling and sound. among other qualities. Listen to what he does at the end of phrases. His long, sustained notes end with that slight, vibrato-like shake (somewhat like Howard McGhee's) that makes you feel he's putting his all into it. And Curtis Fuller has grown enormously. He's one of the best out there now." The performance is bristlingly heated with incisive solo contributions by all.

Sahib Shihab, currently with the Quincy Jones band, comes aboard on baritone saxophone in I Fall In Love Too Easily. "The tune," says Benny, "had been going through my mind for a while. It hasn't been overdone, and also, I couldn't recall having heard it used as a vehicle for a jazz tenor. I really enjoyed working with it." Golson's interpretation is soft yet passionate, and flows with unerring logic and swing.

On Out Of This World. the horns are Benny, baritone saxophonist Sol Schlinger, tenor Hal McKusick, trombonist Bill Elton, trumpeter Nick Travis, and Willie Ruff on French horn in addition to Al Heath and Tommy Williams.

Benny had recorded the tune with Jimmy Cleveland and Art Farmer on a Cleveland album. "I like it, but didn't get a chance to really get into it then. Also, it was done in 6/8 on that date, and I heard other possibilities. I wanted an 'out of this world' feeling on the opening: hence the voicings and the changing meters — 5/4 and 2/4 — in the opening rubato section. Also, I used a series of tension chords — half-steps followed by whole steps followed by half steps. It's a close, clashing chordal series with dissonance moving into dissonance rather than resolving into consonance."

Golson meanwhile plays a forcefully assertive solo, followed by Willie Ruff. "At the the verv end," Benny concludes, band plays rhythmic patterns over which I play superimpositions that resolve in and out of the chords."

The Touch has the same personnel as Out Of This World, except for the addition of Bernie Glow on trumpet. "The feeling I tried for," says Benny, "was nostalgic, but lightly so. Structurally it's in 32 bars but harmonically, it moves around in a very unorthodox manner. The chords are likely to go anywhere." As is characteristic of Benny the melody line sounds inevitable, so natural as to be easily remembered and so as to be quickly identified as Golson's.

Art Farmer makes the tenth man On Benny's Time, the first time Art has recorded as a sideman in a year and a half. It's Art who has the trumpet solo. The title has several connotations. "In its broadest sense," Benny points out, "I mean the time that is now, living time, day-by-day time. It's meant to be a real experience of the present. I also meant the flexibility of time within the piece.

"It's in 32 bars. In the first eight bars of each half, I try for mood. There's a rhythmic figure in the bass; the drums ad-lib, fluttering around on the cymbals. The same thing happens in the first eight of the second half. On the second eight each time, we go into strict rhythm — a real swinging-time feeling. The first eight leads up to and accentuates the more directly swinging sections.

"In several places in the album, incidentally, my own playing is concerned with the almost limitless possibilities of superimposition. I mean going out of the key temporarily and resolving back smoothly. Almost anything you play, I've come to find out, can be resolved. Recently, I discovered Dizzy Gillespie has also been working along the same line."

In this program, Benny Golson has subjected himself to one of the most severe tests any jazz player and/or composer has undergone in a single album. In terms of his playing, he gives himself no place to hide in the opening Uou're My Thrill, and then continues to pyramid rhythmic and harmonnic challenges in succeeding tracks.

As a writer, in the last three numbers, he has taken the opportunitv to express himself harmonically in searching ways that have not previously been possible for him with small combos. The album strikingly prove how many parts there are to Benny Golson. It should also illumunate more clearly than ever the singular entity these parts make when finally, as here they're all put together.

Nat Hentoff

LP-680

Ramsey Lewis Trio - More Music From The Soil

Released 1961

Recording and Session Information

Ramsey Lewis Trio
Ramsey Lewis, piano; Eldee Young, bass, cello; Redd Holt, drums
Chicago, February 16 & 17 1961

10699 Around the world in 80 days
10700 Since I fell for you
10701 Hello cello
10702 I'll wait for your love
10703 Volga boatmen
10704 Blues for the night owl
10705 Smoke gets in your eyes
10706 Autumn in New York
10707 Gonna set your soul on fire

Track Listing

Around The World In 80 Days	Adamson, Young	February 16 & 17 1961
Since I Fell For You	B. Johnson	February 16 & 17 1961
Hello, Cello!	Young, Lewis, Holt	February 16 & 17 1961
I'll Wait For Your Love	Davis, Head	February 16 & 17 1961
Volga Boatman	Arranged By – Young, Lewis, Holt	February 16 & 17 1961
Blues For The Night Owl	Bernard, Thompson	February 16 & 17 1961
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes	Kern, Harbach	February 16 & 17 1961
Autumn In New York	Vernon Duke	February 16 & 17 1961
Gonna Set Your Soul On Fire	Young, Lewis, Holt	February 16 & 17 1961

Liner Notes

THE seeds of this musical bumper crop were planted long ago when Ramsey Lewis, bassist Eldee Young, and drummer Red Holt played together in a teen-age band in high school days. They grew musically into manhood weed-fast and corn high, and, not long after their trio was formed in late 1956, Jack Tracy, then editor of Down Beat foresaw: "This group could hit the heights of acclaim achieved by such as Shearing, Brubeck, and Garner.

High and mighty, you will hear on this album the finest argument for such a reality and, if you're not careful, the glorious force of it will knock you down. Here is their musical philosophy, their product of maturity, the synthesis of their lives and loves and academic training, their hopes, dreams, and fears boldly stated by young giants at the top of their emotions; unashamed and unafraid to bare hearts as big as the Empire State building. It definitely establishes them as a major force in jazz.

I have been privileged to watch the growth of this trio from close vantage point. I have seen them in north side Chicago cellars when the trio was new and the crowds were small and their names unknown. And I have seen crowds four abreast and rounding a block to hear them at Detroit's Minor Key. I have seen big tears well in the eyes of Ramsey when he takes a little bit of melody up in his finger tips, caressing each note with heartbreaking tenderness. And I have seen Eldee so overcome with his bass that he had to go someplace and sit down. And I have seen Red go mad from the sheer joy of swinging. It is no wonder to that this musical trinity, each of them infused into each other, speaks so eloquently as single voice.

I was also at the birth of this album. Then Ramsey was seated at a big seven-foot Steinway, and five-foot-nothing Eldee, dwarfed by his bass, was made two inches higher because Ramsey had put a pillow under his right foot to muffle the sound of its tapping, They had put an enclosure around Red and sometimes you could see the flash of his teeth bctwccn the 22-inch and 15-inch cymbals. Ramsey had a chart of only 21 bars (some of the changes to Autumn In New York) for the entire session and it rested on the piano top along with Eldee's Austrian rosin, crushed pack of filter tip smokes, and the calling card of an optometrist who had repaired Ramsey's broken glasses that day.

In the control room, engineer Ron Malo mixed the sound from the three microphones and Jack Tracy called out the first tune on side one: "Take One, Around The World In 80 Days." Ramsey kicked it off up tempo. They did it six or seven times before they were satisfied with it and Eldee said quite frankly after it Was over: "I don't have anything to say about this one. It didn't offer much challenge except for the solo, because I hadn't prepared myself for it. I felt I met it, though. I felt it was a completely improvised solo, representing the best I could do at that time. But then I've never played any solo that I didn't think I could improve on." Put in Ramsey: "I found this one exciting but not the best on album." Red just smiled.

Ramsey had a special feeling about the blues ballad I Fell For You because it was written by Paul Gayten, former pianist and now Argo's west coast representative, who encouraged him throughout his career and was one of the first to champion his cause. Hello, Cello! was written by the trio and marked Eldee's recording debut on that instrument, which, with stand extended, was exactly his same height. What you hear on this is an excellent statement, but an earlier take might have been better. It was never completed, however, because in the middle of it Eldee became so emotionally involved he had to put his instrument down for a minute. Eldee liked it, but had little to say of the chosen take. Said Ramsey: "After Eldee irons out himself he will place second only to Oscar Pettiford if not extend him on that instrument." Red just smiled.

I'll Wait For Your Love is a ballad which Ramsey dedicated to the writers, Elizabeth Davis and Robert Head of Pittsburgh. "It's part of our book, one of our most popular tunes and the lyrics are just as effective as the music," Ramsey said, confessing: "I love to play ballads best of all. I'm an incurable romantic and I don't care who knows it." It shows through on this one. The side ends on The Song Of The Volga Boatmen, interesting and up-tempo.

Side 2 opens with Blues For The Night Owl. "I think this is one of the highlights of the album," Ramsey said. "I relate this to high school days. I would finish my homework and go to bed to that tune. It was disc jockey Sid McCoy's theme song. But then most of the things we did on this album have special meaning to us."

Perhaps of equal effect is Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, done here in 3/4 time. And after it was over Ramsey confided: "You know I gave Red a nickname that describes the way I feel about him, I call him Old Ironsides. I can be tired and don't feel like I have it during some sets and he'll come through with all the spark. We've never found his battery down." Eldee nodded his agreement. Red just smiled.

Autumn In New York was truly inspired. And Ramsey was feeling that way. The ending, heavy and dramatic, is all the more effective because of his insertion of a Manhattan phrase.

Gonna Set Your Soul On Fire, which completes the album, was in effect the Second Baptist church of their childhood revisited. Nobody can touch them on this one. It is fire and brimstone.

This album to me suggests jazz at its best. There is nearly a quartet of a century of conservatory training invested in this trio, but the academic devices serve only to facilitate the outpouring of soul. It is a perfect marriage. It is more music from the soil.

Marc Crawford

LP-679

James Moody – Moody With Strings

Released 1961

Recording and Session Information

Ray Alonge, John Barrows, Jimmy Buffingto, flugelhorn; James Moody, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, flute; Joe Soldo, Leon Cohen, Phil Bodner, woodwinds; Tommy Flanagan, piano; George Duvivier, bass; Charlie Persip, drums; Torrie Zito, arranger
New York, July 5 & 6 1960, February 16, 1961

10677 Another day
10678 Dorian mood
10679 Fools rush in

James Moody, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, flute; Hank Jones piano; John Beal, bass; Osie Johnson, drums; Leon Cohen, woodwinds; + large string orchestra, Elaine Vito, harp; Torrie Zito, arranger

10680 Dorothee
10681 A song of love
10682 All my life
10683 I remember Clifford

Burt Collins, Marky Markowitz, Don Stratton, trumpet; Tom McIntosh, Fred Zito, trombone; Ray Alonge, Richard Berg, flugelhorn; Don Butterfield, tuba; James Moody, tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, flute; Torrie Zito, pinao, arranger; George Duvivier, bass; Tom Gillen, drums

10684 Love walked in
10685 Love for sale
10686 Somerset
10687 I'm old fashioned

Track Listing

Dorothee	Torrie Zito	July 5, 6 1960 / Feb 16 1961
Love For Sale	Cole Porter	July 5, 6 1960 / Feb 16 1961
Another Day	Torrie Zito	July 5, 6 1960 / Feb 16 1961
All My Life	Davis, Akst	July 5, 6 1960 / Feb 16 1961
I'm Old Fashioned	Kern, Mercer	July 5, 6 1960 / Feb 16 1961
Fools Rush In	Bloom, Mercer, Bregman	July 5, 6 1960 / Feb 16 1961
Somerset	Torrie Zito	July 5, 6 1960 / Feb 16 1961
I Remember Clifford	Benny Golson	July 5, 6 1960 / Feb 16 1961
Love Walked In	George and Ira Gershwin	July 5, 6 1960 / Feb 16 1961
A Song Of Love	Torrie Zito	July 5, 6 1960 / Feb 16 1961
Dorian Mood	Torrie Zito	July 5, 6 1960 / Feb 16 1961

Liner Notes

In the late and early 1940s, the music of Glenn Miller marked the end of an era; but simultaneously another era was underway. Modern jazz began to take form and was moving in many directions, Young musicians, restless and searching, were determined to extend the expressive range of this music.

Jazz musicians found a different of inspiration in the ideas of Stravinsky and Bach and blended these with the traditional jazz forms to produce a combination of musical elements which the world has never before heard, a combination which made possible a more extensive projection of the musicians own personal feelings. James Moody was one of those musicians.

The story of James Moody is a simple one, but it's the story of jazz — jazz here in America and around the world. Moody's life grew with jazz from an early age in Savannah, Ga., where he was born 36 years ago. His stay with Uncle Sam was from 1943.'46. Upon leaving the armed services, his services were employed by Dizzy Gillespie, with whose big band he played until 1948. He then went to Europe where he had series of record sessions in Stockholm and Paris. His record of I'm In The Mood For Love proved him to be one of our present day jazz giants.

Moody's flute work would be considered a recent venture, but a rapidly developing one. Moody's contributions to jazz has made it fertile music, exciting, alive, and stimulating to the mind as to the heart.

In this album you will find three moods of Moody — the happy mood, the mood to be wooed, and the sad mood. This comes aboue as the result of the meeting of jazz two most important elements; the message carrier and the writer of the message. In this case James Moody meets Torric Zito. Zito, a young New Yorker, supplies Moody with three different combinations (brass and rhythm, strings and rhythm, and woodwinds-horns and rhythm) to prove his talents as writer, arranger, and conductor. Of the eleven selections in this album' five are Zito's originals, the rest are standards arranged by Torrie to set up the three moods Moody displays here.

The album opens on soft and romantic note as Moody is heard on alto on Dorothee. Love, For Sale follows, and it's the real swinger of the lot as Moody moves deftly and chargingly on tenor through its changes. The brief but effective piano solo is by Zito.

Another Day is an amazing alto saxophone performance by James, played with beautiful tone and sensitive command. It is among his very finest recordings.

All My Life, which I have not heard done by a jazz artist for years, has more Of Zito's remarkable writing for strings and good tenor from Moody. I'm Old-Fashioned, with brass backing, and Fools Rush In, spotting thc wood- winds, complete the first side.

Side 2 opens with Somerset, a jazz waltz that swings compulsively, contains a chorus a Tom McIntosh's trombone, and finds Moody on alto again.

The salute to the late Clifford Brown is heartfelt on I Remember Clifford. Zito's writing is exactly right and Moody's tenor nothing short of beautiful.

Love Walked In is taken at slow trot as Moody turns to flute, then stays with that instrument on Zito's Song Of Love. Dorian Mood ends the album on an exhilarating note.

This is James Moody at his xery finest, and heard in a setting that supports him wonderfully well — the orchestra and arranging of Torrie Zito.

Al Clarke