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, drumsChicago, 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
