The Colorful Strings Of Jimmy Woode
Released 1958
Recording and Session Information
Chicago, September 2 1957
Clark Terry, trumpet; Mike Simpson, flute; Porter Kilbert, alto saxophone; Paul Gonsalves, tenor saxophone; Ramsey Lewis, piano; Jimmy Woode, bass, vocals; Sam Woodyard, drums
Falmouth Recollection
The Way You Look Tonite
Foofy For President
The Man From Potter's Crossing
Dance Of The Reluctant Drag
Empathy, For Ruth
| Falmouth Recollection | J. Woode | September 2 1957 |
| The Way You Look Tonite | J. Kern, D. Fields, TB Harms | September 2 1957 |
| Foofy For President | J. Woode | September 2 1957 |
| The Man From Potter's Crossing | J. Woode | September 2 1957 |
| Dance Of The Reluctant Drag | J. Woode | September 2 1957 |
| Empathy, For Ruth | J. Woode | September 2 1957 |
Liner Notes
Concerning the tunes:- most of them were written, at least in sketch form, a few years prior to my joining the Ellington band, when I was first married and spending summers at an "on-the-job-vacation" in Falmouth, Massachusetts, Cape Cod...a good period and one of the calmer times in my life, so far.
1. Falmouth Recollections — There's San Francisco and there's New England — everything else is mere real estate. New England includes breath-taking expanses of white beach, and blue ocean dotted with salt-box structures and surf-washed boulders, lobster fishing and an easy pace of life.
My first few summers out of the service were spent here relaxing, loving, living and "collecting my parts;" getting purpose and direction before entering the field of music in a professional status; anxious lest so many of the values and standards I had come to believe in be sacrificed in a world in which it is so easy to lose these things. Anxiety, doubt, acknowledgement, and finally, the first infant steps toward now...all part of my Falmouth Recollections.
2. The Way You Look Tonight — I imagine everyone has a song within his heart — at least I hope so, for singing is such a great outlet. Originally, I had planned to use my fiddle to "breech" the statements on this track, but this has always been one of my favorite lyrics and melodic contours. When no hue and cry was raised at the suggestion I sing it, I couldn't resist the urge. As Dave Usher of Argo Records has so kindly put it, "This isn't a vocal, it's a sing-song."...courageous people, these men at Argo.
3. Foofy For President — I'm always secretly amused when I imagine the incessant and irrelevant chatter that would accompany a political campaign in which the presidential candidates were two women. Starting out to be a speech of rash promises — "Sure I'm in office" and "green stamps with every vote", it winds up close to a hair-pulling contest (the exchange between Simpson and Terry), Woodyard stomps the campaign drum and they're off again and running true to form...
4. The Man From Potter's Crossing — If an experienced world traveler were asked, "Where is Potter's Crossing?" he'd probably counter with a blank stare. Be that as it may, Potter's Crossing, New Jersey has given the jazz world the person of Sam Woodyard. "Bus" has been my roomate since he first joined the Ellington organization 3 years ago, and has had a profound effect on me as a person and as a musician. The rest of the band calls him "Boneyard" and I like to feel that this little 12 bar phrase captures some of the easy, loping nature that is Sam's, while not detracting from the fire and spirit that is so much a vital part of "the man from P.C." 5. The Dance of The Reluctant Drag — A very observant relative once told me of the many people who "get in a compatible rut, think it's a groove when actually, it's a grave the only difference being in the dimensions!" The awkward harmonic and rhythmic structure of this piece is somewhat of a mute testimonial to those 'hesitaters" (of whom I've met so many), who seem to spend the whole of their time procrastinating, daring to get their toes wet in the waters of living (end of Gonsalves chorus), but wanting to swing back to the conditioned comfort of "the mould", blissful in their refusal to be, but apprehensive about not being!
6. Empathy, For Ruth — This ballad was written for my wife, "Foofy", during one of those wonderful Falmouth, Cape Cod summers. However, empathy is a very relative term and should you ask ten people for a plausible explanation of the word, you'd be sure to get ten dogma-bitten variations. I am wont to believe that the profound comfort, unloneliness, and togetherness we were able to hold within our hands, many people spend a lifetime laboring at and never quite experience. This was our "Empathy" an inadequate tribute to the one to whom I owe so much.
Concerning my group - I selected these men not only for their great craftsmanship, but also because I had confidence in their interpretive ability. I am continuously pleased and amazed at the job they have done. I'll always be indebted to each one for their translations for the original and making a mountain of what was my own mountainous molehill.
—JIMMY WOODE
About Jimmy Woode — Jimmy Woode was born September 23, 1927 in Philadelphia, but spent most of his formative years in Camden, New Jersey which he really calls home. Jimmy was educated in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Boston, starting his first music lessons on a studio upright piano which he bought with his own savings when he was thirteen. In 1948, he switched from the study of piano, harmony and theory to the study of bass. He says he owes his first inspiration to Mose Allen whom he first heard in 1934 later to Blanton, playing with the Lunceford band Pettiford, and Ray Brown; more recently, to Duvivier, Paul Chambers, and Richard Davis.
Jimmy Woode could be termed the ('habitual scholar", for in addition to his music, he is caught up in the study of language, philosophy, and religion. At present, he is still with the Ellington band completing a tour of Europe.
