LP-704

Thornel Schwartz With Bill Leslie – Soul Cookin'

Released 1962

Recording and Session Information

Bill Leslie, tenor saxophone; Lawrence Olds, organ; Thornel Schwartz, guitar; Jerome Thomas, drums; Donald Bailey, drums
Van Gelder Studio, New York, September 4 1962

U11866 Soul cookin'
U11867 Brazil
U11868 You won't let me go
U11869 Theme from "Mutiny on the Bounty"
U11870 Blue and dues
U11871 I'm getting sentimental over you
U11872 Don't you know I care ?

Track Listing

Soul Cookin'	E. Edwards	September 4 1962
Brazil	S.K. Russell, A. Barroso	September 4 1962
You Won't Let Me Go	B. Allen, B. Johnson	September 4 1962
Theme From Mutiny On The Bounty	B. Kaper	September 4 1962
Blues And Dues	T. Schwartz	September 4 1962
I'm Getting Sentimental Over You	Bassman, Washington	September 4 1962
Don't You Know I Care	Ellington, David)	September 4 1962

Liner Notes

GUITARIST Thornel Schwartz, though still a relatively young man, already seems ready to add a few new touches to anybody's ideas about how the jazz guitar should be played. He is the fresh new blood that always seems to happen along when the imitators have beat up on some innovator's good idea for so long that it starts to wilt under the punishment. But Thornel is no sudden overnight whiz (of which jazz has certainly had more than its share) who blossoms under the constant care of press agents and opportunistic disc jockeys, but who disappears just as quickly after the serious listeners have had a chance to sit with his records or in listening clubs and discover how weak he really is. Thornel has had to pay his dues and as a matter of fact, is still paying them. And he is coming into his reputation as one of the best young guitar men around now, only because he can play. He works very hard at it too, e.g., when I called him about this album and asked when he had picked up the guitar, he said, "I'm still trying to pick it up...I was practicing when you called me."

Thornel actually picked up the guitar some 13 years ago, when he was just about 19. after having been "got to" by some Charlie Christian records. Ironically, and as it turns out for us, happily, he really started getting serious about the instrument after he'd broken his leg playing ball. He really got into it while recuperating. "I bought the guitar at a pawnshop with my last six dollars and the accident really gave me a chance to settle down and practice."

Thornel worked with a lot of groups around Philly, playing at the various cabarets, dances and small night spots that are so integral a pact of the young jazzman's experience. One of the groups he played with, Chris Powell's band, even though it played mostly Rhythm & Blues oriented sounds, still had Clifford Brown on trumpet, Jimmy Heath on saxophone, and Jymie Merritt playing bass. (And that sounds like a swinging group no matter what they were supposed to be playing.) Thornel also worked with organist, Jimmy Smith around Philadelphia and on the road for almost three years. Smith has certainly been one of the most important reasons why the organ has re-emerged so strongly in jazz. And Thornel's long stint with Jimmy Smith was one big reason why he's always in demand to play behind the new funky breed of jazz organists that have sprung up recently. Thornel says about his work with Smith, "That group seemed to start the organ-guitar combination. It got very popular around the time I was with Jimmy, and a few guitarists even picked up on the way I was comping behind Jimmy, and almost everybody was picking up on Jimmy."

After working with Jimmy Smith, Thornel's different gigs with organists really began. In fact, any list of organists with whom Thornel Schwartz has worked reads like some kind of Who's Who in jazz organ playing. After Jimmy Smith Thornel worked with Johnny "Hammond" Smith, another pace setter on that instrument. Then he worked with two younger organists who have rising reputations for their fresh innovations on the instrument; Richard Holmes, who has been coming swiftly into his own out on the west coast. and one of the swingingest young organ players in the business, Larry Young, Jr.

When Thornel finally got his own group together, Larry Young, Jr. was certainly in it, and Thornel has been on most of Larry's recording dates. On this date, however, while he wasn't able to get Young because of contract commitments, Thornel did come up with a very fine replacement, organist Lawrence Olds. Old's ideas are remarkably like Young's and he does an amazing job of filling in.

Another musician who has played with Thornel on many occasions is young tenor man, Bill Leslie. Leslie is a musician who knows where he wants to go and is already causing a stir where he is now. Bill has a bluntly contemporary approach to his horn, and he always plays with no holds barred. He is quick to praise all the significant new voices on his instrument like Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, as well as the dynamite influence of this jazz epoch, Ornette Coleman. But even though Leslie is definitely in favor of the most contemporary approach to his music, he has still profited by playing with some of the old guard rhythm groups around Philadelphia and on the road. Bill Carney and Louis Jordan are two of the heavy-duty rhythm bands Leslie has made his way through, and their enriching influence is still solidly evident in his playing. So not only is Bill Leslie as quick and facile as any young tenor around these days, but he also has that solid blues background which seems indispensable for any good jazzman. In recognition of Bill Leslie's fast consolidating talents, Argo has just finished getting his first record date as a leader into the can. On that album he uses Thornel as well as Arthur Taylor and Tommy Flannagan, so it should really be something to hear.

The two drummers on this date are both fanliliar with Thornel's music. as well as the idea Of the guitar-organ-horn sound. Jerry Thomas is Thornel's regular drummer, working with him when these notes were written, at Philadelphia's Oasis Club. Donald Bailey is Jimmy Smith's regular drummer, and it is easy to see why behind his driving work on the title tune, Soul Cookin'.

As far as the music on the album is concerned, the title just about indicates what's going on. Everyone in this group plays with a deep and constant commitment to the blues. And it is a stirring blues pulse that dominates all the music on the album, the tune is a popular ballad like Don't You Know I Care, or a funky original like Soul Cookin'. Cookin' should really set the jukeboxes on fire. It has that "low down' flavor that's so much in evidence these days. And while organist Olds and drummer Bailey setting down a heavy, heavy rhythm line, Bill Leslie and Thornel Schwartz are free to stretch their blues legs. When Leslie solos, listen also to Thornel's persistent guitar broadening the entire bass line. Thornel really understands what a rhythm guitar function is, even though he is a brilliant soloist.

You Won't Let Me Go is put to a double purpose. Not only is it allowed to keep great deal of its original misty ballad quality, but it soon becomes evident that tune will be used as a vehicle for more home cookin'. Organist Olds also moves and steams on this tune, first keeping up a steady rolling line behind Thornel, and then stretching out on his own, letting Thornel comp behind him. It's a brilliant muscial relationship these two men have, and they almost always make the most of it.

But all the musicians take care of business admirably throughout the entire date. Mutiny On The Bounty, another juke box natural, has much more than that to commend it. Bill Leslie's sornetirne quietly intimate and then movingly raucous solo makes this tune more than just another movie theme put to jazz. Thornel's very pretty blues thinking gives the long blues Blues Aud Dues a kind of funky nostalgia that should certainly stir any sensitive listener with the delicacy and moodiness of its voicing.

It's true that Thornel Schwartz, Bill Leslie and the others on this album might be new voices, but they are voices that have to be heard. Their playing here is certainly into more than mere promise. These mu»icians, as young as they are, are already off and running, and in their own directions.

LeRoi Jones