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

LP-678

Art Farmer - Art

Released 1960

Recording and Session Information

The Art Farmer Quartet
Art Farmer, trumpet; Tommy Flanagan, piano; Tommy Williams, bass; Albert "Tootie" Heath, drums
New York, September 21-23 1960

10439 I'm a fool to want you
10440 Out of the past
10441 That ole devil called love
10442 The best thing for you is me
10443 So beats my heart for you
10444 Goodbye old girl
10445 Younger than springtime
10446 Who cares?

Track Listing

So Beats My Heart For You	Ballard, Henderson, Waring	September 21-23 1960
Goodbye Old Girl	Adler, Ross	September 21-23 1960
Who Cares	George and Ira Gershwin	September 21-23 1960
Out Of The Past	Benny Golson	September 21-23 1960
Younger Than Springtime	Rodgers, Hammerstein	September 21-23 1960
The Best Thing For You Is Me	Irving Berlin	September 21-23 1960
I'm A Fool To Want You	Herron, Sinatra, Wolf	September 21-23 1960
That Ole Devil Called Love	Roberts, Fisher	September 21-23 1960

Liner Notes

FOR ALL the insistent cannonade of "new names" in jazz, relatively few players actually do become thoroughly and firmly established so their reputations are secure throughout all the dust storms of changing jazz fashions.

Art Farmer, for example, has arrived. He is no longer a "promising" player. Over the past few years, he has demonstrated a maturity of personal style and a consistency that make him unmistakably one of the major jazz trumpet players.

Because of his total lack of complacency and his pride as a professional, Art will certainly continue to grow, but he has already accomplished the most difficult task for any jazzman — the attainment of a wholly individual voice.

This album, moreover, is the fullest and most complete evocation yet of Art Farmer as a soloist.

Art had been thinking about and planning for this set for a year before he went into the studio. "I wanted," he explains, "to do a very intimate session. I wanted it to sound as if I were just sitting and talking to someone with the horn, talking to just one person. The feeling was to be as if the horn were in the room, right next to the listener."

Over a long period of time Art picked tunes he liked, including several that are rarely if ever performed in a jazz context. "I wanted to be free though," he adds, "without tight, set arrangements. It was when we got into the studio that we worked out the form for each tune."

It's customary in a liner note to emphasize that the leader of the given album exploded in euphoria at how well the date came out. As it happens, Farmer is indeed very pleased by the session, but in his case, approval is a rare phenomenon. Art is incorrigibly self-critical.

In the past, I've been associated with him in the production of albums and in writing the liners for some of his sets. Invariably, he has pointed to places that could have been improved, tunes that should have been redone, and other imperfections in performances that many other trumpet players would have prized. This time, however, he feels he accomplished what he set out to do.

"One thing that helped a great deal," he adds, "is that Benny Golson and I have been working very regularly with our lazztet for the past year. As a result, I had a chance to try a lot of things I wanted to try from night to night. Some worked out; some didn't. But it's very important to get that chance to explore yourself and your horn from night to night before an audience. That added knowledge paid off when the time came to make this album."

The experience of being a co-leader with Benny Golson in che growingly successful Jazztet has been a further stimulus to Art, musically, after working so many years as a sideman with such musicians as Gerry Mulligan and Horace Silver.

In addition to mulling over the tunes, Farmer took great care in the selection of his rhythm section. "Tommy Flanagan's approach to the piano," says Art, "is quite like mine to the horn. He's a reflective player, and he's always lucid."

Albert (Tootie) Heath and Tommy Williams are members of The Jazztet. Tootie is the youngest of the three Heath brothers (Percy and Jimmy being the rest of the trio). He has worked with J. J. Johnson, among others, and for several years I've heard him discussed with respect and affection by New York jazzmen who are much diffcult to impress than the flintiest of critics.

"I enjoy working with Tootie," Farmer says flatly, "more than with any other drummer. He's an exceptionally sensitive drummer; he doesn't bomb you out of the place. He's very conscious of dynamics and can play just loud enough to do all that he wants to do. There are several other drummers I like, but when they come to the thing they do best, they invariably come on a little too strong. Tootie never does."

Tommy Williams, already firmly endorsed by musicians who have heard him, is one of the most impressive bassists of the past several years. He used to play alto, piano, and guitar, and Art feels that Tommy's experience on these other instrumnts have made him particularly attuned as a bassist to a hornman's phrasing. "And," notes Art, "his own phrasing on his solos is remarkable. If a horn player isn't careful, Tommy will be saying more than he does. He's constantly varying his attack, and makes the instrument much more expressive and personal than most other bassists."

The man in the foreground here, however, is Farmer. Off the stand Art is laconic and introspective, although he has a dry, pungent sense of humor and a fierce sense of independence. Farmer, therefore, is simultaneously gentle and strong of purpose.

His playing accordingly is often poignantly lyrical but it is never lachrymose, sentimental, or flabby. He is part — and one of the most satisfing exemplars — of that jazz tradition that has combined extraordinary sensitivity with equally intense musical integrity and inner-directedness.

His performances here are so clear and fully formed that little comment is needed. This is music that reaches the listener immediately without the need for detailed exegesis. I should note, however, how superbly engineer Tommy Nola has reproduced a thoroughly natural intimacy and aliveness of sound. It is, in fact, as if the quartet were in the room and yet the presence of all the instruments has none of the exaggerated larger-than-life-size heavy breathing so beloved by some other engineers.

And, to underline the obvious, there is the Art Farmer tone. It's not only that he gets a full, vibrantly-warm sound but also that his sound is never overly round. "I don't like a shrill sound," Art explains, "but I also like a sound with some backbone to it. I like a real trumpet sound." And that's what he has.

Farmer's sound and phrasing, moreover, change through many gradations to meet the expressive needs of each piece. In So Beats My Heart For You, he's bright and briskly buoyant. The attack is crisp and the mood optimistic. Goodbye, Old Girl, a strangely neglected song from Damn Yankees, was suggested to Art by trombonist Tommy McIntosh of the Jazztet. Art practically sings the song on his horn in a that is both wistful and appreciatively nostalgic. As in all his performances in the album, the solos are constructed with a flowing sense of inevitability, as if the lines could have unfolded no other way. Who Cares? is assertively declaratory with Art indicating how fluently assured he has become in his control of the horn.

Out of The Past is by Benny Golson. "It's one of his best, I think," says Art. "I don't know how he came by the title, but that title puts a picture in my mind, a picture with a bittersweet quality." Art's performance is penetratingly evocative. By never overstating the emotions of the piece, Art creates — at a medium tempo besides — a deeply expressive feeling of yearning. Characteristically, the notes are chosen with consummate taste and economy. "You have to pace yourself," says Art. "I want each note to count; I don't want an endless chain of notes. Similarly, I don't usually like to play 10 or 20 choruses. I'd rather play two good ones."

Younger Than Springtime is performed with thoughtful, singing tenderness. Here, as elsewhere, note how Art shades his attack in the way a superior singer would. In addition to his feeling for dynamics, there is an intense clarity and fullness of sound and the technical capacity to really sustain a note when necessary.

In The Best Thing For You Is Me, Art pursues his campaign with blithe confidence. I'm A Fool To Want You is for me one of the most affecting ballad performances in recent recorded jazz. The impact is so personal that one feels as if be were reading a diary the writer had forgotten to lock. And yet there is no pathos in the performance. This is the essence of jazz lyricism — intimacy without self-pity.

The final Old Devil Called Love projects the wry romanticism of which Art is also capable. Art is a highly intelligent participant in the tragi-comedy of existence. He is too reflective and experienced to be conned by the shiny shibboleths many of us juggle in place of values. Art is an unusually aware man and musician, but his acute perceptiveness has made him neither brittle nor bitter. There is a rare capacity for direct emotion and spontaneous tenderness in the mar, and his music is the man.

Art meanwhile continues to study and learn. He is back again with the teacher, Maurice Grupp, with whom he first studied 15 years ago. "I want to get a better tone and more technique on the horn so I can do more things." Having already reached a level of excellence that few jazzmen can equal, Art is incapable of coasting. But, as this album vividly demonstrates, his current achievement is large — and memorable. This is a set that grows with repeated hearings.

Nat Hentoff

About The Cover
The portrait of Art Farmer on the cover is by the distinguished artist, Ernest Fiene. Born in Germany in 1894, Fiene emigrated to the United States in 1912, and became citizen 16 years later. He has had no less than 20 one-man shows in New York City in oil, tempera, water color, etching, and lithography in addition to other one-man shows in museums throughout the country.

Fiene has exbibited in most of the major national and international exhibitions, and has been shown throughout Europe in addition to Japan, Israel, South Africa, Canada, and South America. He has had many commissions, has illustrated several books; and among his numerous awards have been a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Pennell Purchase Prize, and the First Pennell Award Of the Library of Congress.

Fiene's work is represented in a sizable nutnber of the leading museums and public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Art Institute of Chicago.