Bunky Green – Testifyin' Time
Released 1965
Recording and Session Information
Walter Strickland, trumpet; Bunky Green, alto saxophone; James Meyertenor, baritone saxophone; Billy Wallace, piano; Cleveland Eaton, bass; Marshall Thompson, drums
Ter Mar, Chicago, February 18 1965
13754 When the sun comes out
13755 Testifyin' Time
13756 Tweedlee dee
13757 My Ship
13823 Silver Dollar
13824 Tamra
13825 Orbit Six
13826 On Green Dolphin Street
Track Listing
| Testifyin' Time | Edith Green | February 18 1965 |
| Silver Dollar | Jack Palmer / Clark Van Ness | February 18 1965 |
| Tamra | William Wallace | February 18 1965 |
| On Green Dolphin Street | Bronislaw Kaper / Ned Washington | February 18 1965 |
| Tweedlee Dee | Winfield Scott | February 18 1965 |
| My Ship | Kurt Weill / Ira Gershwin | February 18 1965 |
| Orbit Six | Edit Green | February 18 1965 |
| When The Sun Comes Out | Harold Arlen / Ted Koehler | February 18 1965 |
Liner Notes
CHICAGO's line of internationally-recognized saxophonists is irnpressively small. It includes such talents as Gene Ammons, Johnny Griffin, Eddie Harris, and by adoption, Sonny Stitt. The release of this, his very first Argo album, will most assuredly add Bunky Green's name to the list. Actually, considering Bunky's amazing musical prowess, it is little short of amazing that it has taken so long for him to emerge as a recorded leader. During 1956/57 he played in New York with Charlie Mingus. Chicagoans began to admire his playing shortly thereafter when he began to frequent the original Monday night Gate of Horn sessions from 1957 till 1959. During that time he locked horns with such stellars as Ira Sullivan, John Gilmore, and the late Nicky Hill, and more than held own with all of the above-mentioned musicians.
Bunky's personality in part may be responsible for his delayed entry into the recorded field, for Bunky Green likes to be ready. He always has stressed schooling and readiness and this album is undeniable evidence of that readiness! No last-minute rehearsals during studio time, or sidemen who couldn't fathom the arrangements.
As a result of winning the "Best Instrumentalist" and ' 'All Around Musician" awards at the 1964 Notre Dame Jazz Festival, Bunky has tucked away in his 'hip' pocket a scholarship to Berkeley's famous School of Music. Also as a result of being heard at that festival he was invited to do a State Department-sponsored tour of Algiers, which he completed last summer. "There," Bunky says, "I heard what those eastern musicians really are doing."
Bunky takes a realistic view of the music profession. When jazz jobs are not available in suf%cient abundance to permit sole dependence upon them, he works with the fine Latin band of Manny Garcia or, as was the case when this album was cut, plays tenor in a big show band. Bunky is now attending the music school at Chicago's Roosevelt Universlty, where he occasionally strengthens their Jazz Lab Band during rehearsals. Safely, Bunky Green might be described as a very talented, superb young modern musician who knows where his musical tastes lie, and plays like he knows it.
Bunky chose perfect sidemen for this recording. Pianist Billy Wallace, the only other featured soloist, is and has been a trio leader in his own right. Billy derives so much pleasure from a job with horns, however, that he has often taken those in preference to a higher-paying trio gig. His experience is widespread, including a tout with the famous Max Roach Quintet in the late '30s. Most recently he's been working with Bunky and he has also done short stints with Chet Baker and a Louis Bellson big band. Billy's beautiful original, "Tamra", and his arrangement of "When The Sun Comes Out" reveal that he has truc insight into what arranging is all about. His solos and 'comping' speak for themselves. Certainly he is another major talent.
Two very top musicians complete the rhythm section: bassist Cleveland Eaton and drummer Marshall Thompson. Marshall is a permanent member of the London House-ensconced trio of pianist Eddie Higgins. Cleve teaches days in Chicago's public school system for a long time was featured with the Larry Novak Trio at Mr. Kelly's.
Trumpeter Strickland and baritone saxophonist Jim Meyer fill out the big-sounding sextet with their all-important playing of the exciting shouts and figures of Bunky's excellent arrangements.
Opening side one with "Testifyin' Time", preacher Bunky makes the clarion call and the congregation answers heartily. They generate that jump and shout feeling that a tree rnee:tng Slings to mind. 'Silver Dollar", that old, old warhorse, is driven relaxedly through its "Baby, Won't You Please Come Home"-like chord structure with Bunky's fat lower register registering strongly. "Tamra" undoubtedly is one of the album's highlights. The feeling and rapport between Billy Wallace and Bunky Green is joyous to hear. It's almost as though their solos were duets with one another, so tight is their musical thought. "On Green Dolphin Street" piles in with a frantic ear-opening bagpipish intro by Bunky, which is cut off by Billy, who then sets the tempo at almost half that of the intro. It's a finger-popper. Bunky builds naturally to his multiple-note runs and alternates them with stretches of singing melody. Marshall Thompson's large musical ears are very apparent on this one and Billy's solo is very tasty.
Unlikely though it may be, Teresa Brewer's old hit, "Tweedlee Dee", was chosen as vehicle for jazz improvisation. Bunky's wailing of the bridge between the tongue-in-cheek corning of the theme gives the direction his version is to take. His original line on the theme that follows has got to be the hippest thing written in years. He screams on his solo with no holds barred and carries into that same figure which gives Billy Wallace a great springboard for his contrastingly light-touched and reserved solo. "My Ship", the lately rediscovered Kurt Weill beauty, is given its ballad due by Bunky, who shows here just how much he still admires and respects the musical heritage given him by Charlie Parker. An old stomp-time blues figure permeates "Orbit Six" whose main feeling is in 6/8. This original, Bunky tells me, pictorializes several cats on the corner holding a discussion to decide which way all are to go. All speak simultaneously, interrupting each other, till finally the direction is set. Then they all forge ahead swinging their heads off with Bunky in the lead. Billy's locked hands solo is one to remember. By way of contrast. the album's closer, "When The Sun Comes Out", is taken at a very relaxed tempo with Cleveland Eaton walking strongly beneath Bunky as he states the theme and shifts to harmony under the trumpet for the bridge. Bunky gets to cookin' before the piano solo and a nice key change leads the group out with a Hollywood-type scene-changing retard.
This is the kind of album you'll play over and over. You'll have a difficult time picking favorites within it, for all of the selections are marvelous. All of the musicians are topflight professionals who know their apples. I think you'll agree that Vernice "Bunky" Green is, right now, a major jazz talent and an important voice to be heard. He plays styles and has that wonderful cutting edge that identifies such great musicaans as Sonny Stitt and Cannonball Adderly. He also proves here that he is more than capable of wandering, with strong direction, into the baffling world of "free form" jazz. And he swings like a hip Ray Charles band. Bunky Green is ready, I hope you are!
—JOE SEGAL
