LP-702

Milt Buckner – Midnight Mood

Released 1962

Recording and Session Information

Milt Buckner, organ; Johnny Pate, bass; Maurice Sinclaire, drums
Chicago, March 1961

I Almost Lost My Mind
I'm Just A Lucky So And So
If I Should Lose You
I've Got The World On A String
One For My Baby
Cocktails For Two
Little White Lies
There Is No Greater Love
Love Is The Thing
Baby Baby All The Time
A Sunday Kind Of Love
Bouncing At Dawn

Track Listing

I Almost Lost My Mind	Ivory Joe Hunter	March 1961
I'm Just A Lucky So And So	Ellington, David	March 1961
If I Should Lose You	Robin, Rainger	March 1961
I've Got The World On A String	Arlen, Koehler	March 1961
One For My Baby	Arlen, Mercer	March 1961
Cocktails For Two	Coslow, Johnston	March 1961
Little White Lies	Donaldson	March 1961
There Is No Greater Love	Jones, Symes	March 1961
Love Is The Thing	Young, Washington	March 1961
Baby Baby All The Time	Bobby Troup	March 1961
A Sunday Kind Of Love	Leonard, Belle, Rhodes, Prima	March 1961
Bouncing At Dawn	Buckner	March 1961

Liner Notes

ENOUGH praise has been heaped upon Milt Buckner to more than last a life time, and another, and another. His story has been written and rewritten. We can only project him in another phase of music, another mood.

This is Milt in a subdued, romantic profile, music for early listening music for late listening, "Midnight Mood" is music for "squares" for "hippies", for 'tsquare hippies", any way you interpret it, it's the kind of thing you can put on the turntable and relax.

From Joe Hunter's I Almost Lost My Mind to Milt's own composition, Bouncing At Dawn, it's sheer delight to hear mood pattern after mood pattern, sometimes haunting, sometimes vibrant, sometimes whimsical. Here is a musician who has gone through many changes during his long musical tenure, but always unselfishly trying to please his audiences, playing to the "people", a musicians' musician, and so another page is added to Milt Buckner's book of immortal "Musicana", and not the last.

Ralph Bass

LP-670

Milt Buckner - Please, Mr. Organ Player

Released 1960

Recording and Session Information

Jimmy Campbell, alto saxophone; Milt Buckner, organ; Reggie Boyd, guitar; Richard Evans, bass; Maurice Sinclair, drums
Chicago, May 26 & 27 1960

10228 You're looking good
10229 Sermonette
10230 Cry me a river
10231 'Round midnight
10232 Blue prelude
10233 Buck 'n' the blues
10234 Long gone
10235 Don't let the sun catch you cryin'
10236 Gee baby, ain't I good to you?
10237 This here (1) (unissued)
10238 Please, Mr. Organ player

Track Listing

Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying	Greene	May 26 & 27 1960
You're Lookin' Good	Milt Buckner	May 26 & 27 1960
Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You	Redman, Razaf	May 26 & 27 1960
Blue Prelude	Jenkins, Bishop	May 26 & 27 1960
Long Gone	Thompson, Simpkins	May 26 & 27 1960
Please, Mr. Organ Player	Milt Buckner	May 26 & 27 1960
Sermonette	N. Adderley	May 26 & 27 1960
Round Midnight	Monk, Hanighem, Williams	May 26 & 27 1960
Buck'n The Blues	Milt Buckner	May 26 & 27 1960
Cry Me A River	A. Hamilton	May 26 & 27 1960

Liner Notes

Milt Buckner could serve as the prototype of the jolly round man. Always in fine humor and chuckling incessantly, he plays music with the same buoyancy and elan he displays in day-to-day living.

A key to Buckner's personality lies in the title tune of this album, Please, Mr. Organ Player. He and alto saxist James Campbell put their heads together and did this happily swinging instrumental in one take, with Campbell providing the talk. It was done just for fun.

But another side of Buckner is revealed throughout this album, too. It is the bluesy way in which he will state a melody, yet playing with organ sound, perhaps the truest played by any organist in jazz. It is this quality that so endears Buckner to the many jazzmen who have worked With him, young and old.

Milt's skill as a musician, first as a pianist then as organist and for years as band arranger, is well-known, From his earliest days as the pianist with McKinney's Cotton Pickers through his long (1941-'48 and '50-'52) association with Lionel Hampton, then as a leader of his own group, he has won admiring looks from both listeners and fellow musicians.

As Hampton's pianist, Buckner became famous as the Hamp's Boogie-Woogie soloist and as the first to popularize the "locked hands" jazz piano style, since widely imitated. He also was One Of the first to play rhythm-and-blues on Hammond organ, and you will hear excellent examples of that here on such tracks as Long Gone and Buck'n The Blues.

His ability to play pensively, yet with strong, undoubted jazz attack probably is best heard on Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying, the old Joe Greene tune brought back to prominence recently by Ray Charles.

You're Lookin' Good is typically Buckneresque — bouncy and happy. Gee Baby, a standard in so many jazz repertoires, is treated with warm care here. "This one should really be dedicated to my cousin, Fritz Scott," says Buckner. "He's been after me to do it for years."

Gordon Jenkins' Blne Prelude is played in a manner which makes it obvious that Buckner has done a good deal of big band writing.

A tip of the hat to Nat Adderley and Thelonious Monk comes with Milt's versions of Sermoneette and 'Round Midnight, with Buckner especially pleased at the way the latter composition came out. "We get a lot of requests for that one every place we play," he adds.

Cry Me A River, a fairly recent ballad of much beauty, winds up the album.

Milt's personnel included his regulars. saxist Campbell and drummer Maurice Sinclaire, plus the addition of two talented young Chicagoans, bassist Richard Evans and guitarist Reggie Boyd, both well-known young jazzmen.

Al Portch

LP-660

Milt Buckner - Mighty High

Released 1960

Recording and Session Information

Jimmy Campbell, alto saxophone; Milt Buckner, organ; Kenny Burrell, guitar; Joe Benjamin, bass; Maurice Sinclair, drums
New York, December 2, 1959

9906 Burnt out
9907 Syncopated clock
9908 Abstractions
9909 Organ grinder's swing
9910 Two flights up
9911 D.T.'s
9912 After hours
9913 Mighty high
9914 Teach me tonight
9915 Haunting me
9916 Castle rock
9917 Willow Weep for Me

Track Listing

Mighty High	Milt Buckner	December 2 1959
Teach Me Tonight	DePaul	December 2 1959
Abstraction	Milt Buckner	December 2 1959
Two Flights Up	Buckner, Turner	December 2 1959
After Hours	Parrish, Bruce	December 2 1959
D.T.'s	Buckner, Turner	December 2 1959
Organ Grinder's Swing	Hudson, Parrish, Mills	December 2 1959
Willow Weep For Me	Ronell	December 2 1959
Burnt Out	Milt Buckner	December 2 1959
Syncopated Clock	Leroy Anderson	December 2 1959
Castle Rock	Sears, Drake, Shirl	December 2 1959
Haunting Me	Heywood	December 2 1959

Liner Notes

A CHANCE REMARK of Lionel Hampton changed Milt Buckner's career completely. It led him from the piano to organ. It changed him from an unknown pianist to one of the most widely acclaimed organists of the day.

Actually, Milt began playing piano way back in the '30s with McKinny's Cotton Pickers and Jimmy Raschell. In 1941 he joined Lionel Hampton's band and remained with him until 1948, when he left to form his own band. However, he felt that his greatest opportunity remained with Hampton and so rejoined him in 1950. It was during this time Milt became famous for his compositions and arrangements. The most famous of these was the tune titled Hamp's Boogie Woogie.

One night Lionel happened to ask Milt if he could play the organ. Milt replied, "I can't, but I'll try." After a few weeks of practicing Milt played to the public. At first he had some difficulty with the volume control, operated by a foot pedal, and as Milt says, '"Hamp would give me a funny look when my note was sustained long after the chord changed."

After thoroughly mastering the organ Milt left the Hampton band to start his own small group. The group was an immediate success and recording sessions and club dates have been plentiful ever since.

Among the tunes in this album are five Buckner originals, including the title composition, Mighty High. It's a slow-moving blues that features Kenny Burrell's guitar, in addition to Milt's powerful organ.

Abstraction is a moody ballad whose theme is stated first by altoist Jimmy Campbell.

Two Flights Up is a swinger that's voiced like a big band arrangement. The mounting tension it builds going into the final jumping chorus will remind many listeners of the arrangements Milt used to write for the Hampton powerhouse.

D.T.s does not stand for delirium tremens — it is the initials of Danny Turner, the co-writer on the tune.

Burnt Out, another finger-snapper, is dedicated to a Hammond organ of Buckner's that got caught in a night club fire one night and got '"burnt out."

Among the other tracks on the album is a particular favorite of mine, Willow Weep For Me. Milt's solo is at once humorous and bluesy and I expect it's one track on this LP that I'll wear out.

Organ Grinder's Swing, a big hit back in the mid-FOS when it was recorded by Jimmie Lunceford's band, gets a spirited swing with a touch of highland fling in Buckner's version.

Haunting Me is a new Eddie Heywood composition recorded here for the first time.

With Milt on the date are two musicians from his home town of Philadelphia, saxist Campbell and drummer Maurice Sinclaire, who are part of his traveling group. On guitar is Kenny Burrell, one of jazz' best-known plectrists and an Argo recording artist in his own right. The bassist is veteran Joe Benjamin, heard with many groups in the last few years, including Gerry Mulligan, Dave Brubeck, and Barbara Carroll.

I think that you will find much enioyment from the sounds created here by a well-groomed group. Musically it shows Milt Buckner's "locked hands" technique oil at his "feather-fingered" best. Meaning the quality truly is Mighty High.

Burt Burdeen