LP-692

John Young Trio - Themes and Things

Released 1962

Recording and Session Information

John Young Trio>
John Young, piano; William Yancey, bass; Phillip Thomas, drums>

Ter Mar Studios, Chicago, June 6, 7 1961

10948 Fever>
10949 Playboy theme>
10950 Weaver of dreams>
10951 Mr. Lucky>
10952 Young blues>
10953 Slow blues (unissued)>
10954 Theme from "Peyton Place">
10964 Theme from Spartacus>
10965 One-eyed Jack>
10966 Take five>
10967 Portrait of my love>
10968 My romance>
10969 When Sunny gets blue>
10970 This could be the start of something big (unissued)>
>

Track Listing

Portrait Of My Love	Ornadel, West	June 6, 7 1961
When Sunny Gets Blue	Fisher, Segal	June 6, 7 1961
Take Five	Desmond	June 6, 7 1961
Peyton Place	Yuffy, Halyate, Bass	June 6, 7 1961
Fever	Glover	June 6, 7 1961
Mr. Lucky	Henry Mancini	June 6, 7 1961
Spartacus (Love Theme)	North	June 6, 7 1961
Weaver Of Dreams	Young, Elliott	June 6, 7 1961
My Romance	Rodgers, Hart	June 6, 7 1961
Playboy Theme	Cy Coleman	June 6, 7 1961
One Eyed Jacks (Love Theme)	Friedhofer	June 6, 7 1961
M J R Blues	Thompson, Wilson, Evans	June 6, 7 1961

Liner Notes

THEMES AND THINGS is the music John Young is most apt to be called upon to play at any given moment during his usually extended stays at one or another of Chicago•s smart intimate clubs. The themes included herein, I'm sure are quite familiar to you. Their interpretation, however, is more different than ordinary, for John Young is not an ordinary performer of music. He is, rather, an astute student of awareness, whose talent lies in his ability to garner from even the most uninteresting compositions the most important elements. This is the same talent that made greats of Billie Holiday, Fats Waller, Lester Young. etc, John Young has the talent to enhance ordinary or hackneyed themes, to seek out their inner beauty, and has the taste to embroider them properly so that new life may spring from their tired tones. This is not to say that all of the this album lies in this category, although undeniably some of it does! Most the lovely "love theme" from Spartacus stands on its own merit, as does Peyton Place and One Eyed Jack.

"Things" include several standard ballads, My Romance, Portrait Of My Love, When Sunny Gets Blae, and the unusual Weaver Of Dreams. The original blues, MJR, was co-composed by three fine Chicago musicians, all of whom appear regularly on Argo; Marshall Thompson, drums; Jack Wilson, piano; and Richard Evans, bass. And its theme is not too unlike the famous Bags Groove.

A few of the musical highlites for you to pay particular attention to include the Tatm-like intro and beautiful milking of the sweet melody of When Sunny Gets Blue: the parody onsumptuous movie grandioseness in the introduction of the Peyton Place selection, and the subsequent humorous approach, through interpolation, and the tender mood-setting approach John gives the theme.

Through all of the tunes in this, John's second Argo album, he and his superb trio (Phil Thomas and William Yancey) gives forth a steady swinging sparkle that bespeaks their professionalism and as a rhythm unit. As such. I am fortunate to have been able to call upon this trio many times to propel top artists such as Sonny Stitt, Howard McGhee, Gene Ammons, Bennie Green, Ira Sullivan, and many others through their creative paces. Playing as trio is one thing. Being a successful rhythm section is quite another. John Young's trio has both attributes in abundance.

To those of us in the Chicago area, where John practices most of his musical magic, his style is quite recognizable, and his exhuberant personality continuaIIy bubbles through his musical expressions. Having had his fill Of the road early in his career, with such as the Andy Kirk band, Eddie Chamblee combo, and others, John now prefers the comparative security of Chicago club work to the uncertainty of fame-seeking around the world. That he is the dean of Chicago's modern swing pianists is generally acknowledged. "Young' John Young, now forty, is not getting any younger, high time that nation-wide recognition be his, despite his reluctance to actively it. This album and the others that follow will undoubtedly help toward this end.

John Young is one of the major mainstays of that happy style of piano playing that is too quickly dying, I, for one, am very happy to have been able to continually hear John in person through the years. Your chance is through this album. Dig it!

Joe Segal

LP-691

Ahmad Jamal - All Of You

Released 1962

Recording and Session Information

Ahmad Jamal Trio
Ahmad Jamal, piano; Israel Crosby, bass; Vernel Fournier, drums
Live "The Alhambra", Chicago, IL, late June 1961

For full set list, see LP-685

11102 Ahmad Jamal You're blase
11103 Ahmad Jamal You go to my head
11106 Ahmad Jamal All of you
11108 Ahmad Jamal What is this thing called love?
11109 Ahmad Jamal Star eyes
11115 Ahmad Jamal Time on my hands
11116 Ahmad Jamal Angel eyes

Track Listing

Time On My Hands	Adamson, Gordon, Youmans	June 1961
Angel Eyes	Brent, Dennis	June 1961
You Go To My Head	Gillespie, Coots	June 1961
Star Eyes	Raye, DePaul	June 1961
All Of You	Cole Porter	June 1961
You're Blase	Sievier, Hamilton	June 1961
What Is This Thing Called Love	Cole Porter	June 1961

Liner Notes

The Ahmad Jamal Trio was formed in May - 1951. At that time we were using Guitar - Ray Crawford and Bass - Tommy Sowell.

We started recording in 1952. I had been trying to sell the idea spasmodically since 1949, when I made certain efforts in this direction toward some of the most likely recording companies at that time...unsuccessfully.

I will always remember my very dear and long time acquaintance Chris Powell (whose group most of you "informed afflcienados" wouldn't remember the late Clifford Brown being a part of). Chris' group made the first demonstration pressings with me in Toronto . where he was working at the time and I was accompanying a group of singers called "The Caldwells."

Since then much has taken place....recording and otherwise, including some "5" Star record ratings (whatever that means....Ahmad's Blues, etc.,...Down Beat Magazine) as early as 1952 when the group was virtually unheard of.

I was fortunate enough to grow up with and around such musicians as Thomas Turrentine, Joe Harris, Harold Holt, Joe Kennedy, Sam Johnson, Edgar Willis, and also share the rich heritage that Pittsburgh Roy Eldridge, Erroll Garner, Dodo Marmarosa, Ray Brown, Art Blakely, Earl Hines, Billy Eckstein, Billy Strayhorn and many many others, including some personalities that are synonymous with Pittsburgh....LeRoy Brown, Honey Boy Minor, William Hitchcock, Joe Westray, etc.

Pittsburgh was and still is a formidable territory for transient musicians, with sessions going on into the early hours of the morning. Such musicians as Jerry Elliott, Billy Lewis, Bass McMahon and the musicians who hadn't started playing then and are doing so well now (Stanley Turrentine and others) playing Host.

This present L. P. was recorded in one of the most enjoyable and most compatible atmospheres that I have ever known, as far as clubs go.....The AlHambra.....not saying this because we own same, but because so many club owners and promoters could take a lesson from the Artist's approach toward working facilities for the musicians and singers.

The acoustics; the piano, the lighting, the atmosphere, could only be conducive to one thing.......a happy result and here it is.

AHMAD JAMAL

LP-690

Dorothy Ashby

Released 1962

Recording and Session Information

Dorothy Ashby, harp; Herman Wright, bass; John Tooley, drums
Chicago, August 8, 1961

11126 Booze
11127 I'll remember April (unissued)
11128 Lonely melody
11129 John R.
11130 Django
11131 Secret love
11132 You stepped out of a dream
11133 Satin doll
11134 Li'l darlin'
11135 Gloomy Sunday
11136 Stranger in paradise
11137 Aeolian groove (unissued)

Track Listing

Lonely Melody	Arranged By – O. McLaughlin	August 8 1961
Secret Love	Webster, Fain	August 8 1961
Gloomy Sunday	Javor, Seress, Lewis	August 8 1961
Satin Doll	Ellington	August 8 1961
John R.	D. Ashby	August 8 1961
Li'l Darlin'	Neal Hefti	August 8 1961
Booze	D. Ashby	August 8 1961
Django	J. Lewis	August 8 1961
You Stepped Out Of A Dream	Lane, Washington	August 8 1961
Stranger In Paradise	Forrest, Wright	August 8 1961

NB: You Stepped Out Of a Dream wrongly attributed to Lane, Washington rather than Gus Kahn, Nacio Herb Brown

Liner Notes

A JAZZ HARPIST is a rare thing. First of all the harp is a rather unlikely instrument to swing. It's an awfully difficult instrument to play really well and it demands technique that is incongruous With swinging. Perhaps as important is the thinking that the harp, by the very nature Of the instrument, is likely to attract musicians who, in themselves, are improbable swingers. Dorothy Ashby is, then, a rare thing. She is indeed a jazz harpist and she does swing.

I first became aware of Dorothy some years ago when hearing her front small groups of really exceptional musicianship. I heard her with Frank Wess playing flute, and with Ed Thigpen on drums, and with a great many men who's musicianship is, I think, a commentary on Dorothy as a woman in jazz. Frank Wess is regarded by many as having been the first jazz flutist, which might get you an argument in some quarters but not many. He has been an important contributor to the Basic band for nearly ten years. Ed Thigpen, now of the Oscar Peterson trio, is perhaps the ideal trio drummer and an infinitely respected one. That Dorothy has worked and recorded with these men and has performed consistently for such a long time with men of this stature suggests, I think, a rather unique position in music, not unlike that of Melba Liston. Melba was, for a time, an important part of the Dizzy Gillespie hand and the Basie band. She has sat side by side in trombone sections with such men as Brookmeyer and has worked among men who are real giants. This is not because a woman playing trombone is a novelty, but because she plays that well. Dorothy, too, has long worked among men of real stature, not because jazz played on a harp by a woman is a novelty, but because she plays that well.

Dorothy is a Detroit musician and in some circles that, in itself, is some claim to fame. Detroit has produced an uncommon group of splendid musicians...Milt Jackson, Paul Chambers, Kenny Burrell, Pepper Adams, all those Joneses, Frank Rosolino and many more — rather a strong group to stand out among, Cannonball Adderley recently made the remark that any musician who makes it among that Detroit crowd has got to be saying something, Dorothy is much loved and respected among her Detroit contemporaries and has surely distinguished herself in their company.

This is a trio album. With Dorothy are Herman Wright playing bass, and John Tooley on drums. Again Dorothy is with men of stature. Herman Wright has been a firmly established musician for a long time and appears in an enormous number of albums, but is probably best known for his work with Terry Gibbs and more recently with George Shearing. John Tooley's credits include that coveted experience of accompanying Billy Holiday.

Most of the music in this set is familiar, even if seldom heard. I think particularly of Gloomy Sunday, done so many years ago by Shaw. While rarely heard now, the tune is virtually a legend and so well remembered for the impact of its lyric that the beauty of its melodic line was all but overlooked at the time. And Diango, the wonderfully interesting John Lewis tune that is too rarely heard. Lonely Melody is borrowed from the theme music of the motion picture Goodbye Again and the Goodbye Again people rowed it from Brahms' Third Symphony. Much more familiar are three that have been very big pop hits, You Stepped Out of A Dream, Stranger in Paradise from and Secret Love, done here at a tempo that is a complete surprise. Ellington's Satin Doll and Neal Hefti's are two very charming things that belong to the jazz world because of their association with the Ellington and Basie bands, but have been adopted by the rest of the world for their simple and quite beautiful melodic lines. And there are two originals here, John R. and Booze. John R. is named for John R. Street in Detroit which, like Chicago's Rush Street, has been an important street in Detroit night club life. Dorothy has long been a regular performer on John R. Street. I don't know why Booze is called Booze!

This is not hard jazz. This is an album that says jazz can, after all, be melodic, that a thing can be gentle without being weak and can be sweet without being saccrine. What is done here is done well, the improvisation is creative, and in typical Dorothy Ashby thinking—it's done in beautiful taste. She is indeed a jazz harpist and she does swing.

Jim Rockwell