LP-611

Ramsey Lewis and his Gentle-men of Swing

Released 1956

Recording and Session Information

Chicago, Illinois 1956
Ramsey Lewis, piano; Eldee Young, bass; Redd Holt, drums

8242 Carmen
8243 The wind
8244 Bei mir bist du schon
8245 I'll remember April
8246 My funny Valentine
8247 Steeplechase

Chicago, Illinois 1956
8324 Fantasia for drums
8325 Jumpin' Jaque (unissued)
8326 Dee's new blues
8327 Trees
8328 Limelight
8329 Untitled (unissued)

Track Listing

Carmen	Public Domain	1956
I'll Remember April	Raye, De Paul, Johnston	1956
The Wind	Russ Freeman	1956
Bie Mir Bist Du Schoen	Jacobs, Cahn, Chaplin, Secunda	1956
My Funny Valentine	Rodgers, Hart	1956
Fantasia For Drums	Ramsey Lewis	1956
Dee's New Blues	El Dee Young	1956
Tres	Ramsey Lewis	1956
Limelight	Gerry Mulligan	1956

Liner Notes

Drums: Isaac "Red" Holt

A fine drummer from Chicago's West Side who studied at the Chicago School Of Music. While working at Union Park Temple he completed rhythm section for jazz luminaries James Moody, Lester Young and the late Charlie Parker.
"Red" tries to show, in his playing, that the drum is not just an instrument to pound on or carry a rhythm, but that it can also be played melodically. That it can "speak to you in melody."

Bass: El Dee Young

A young bassist whose intricate work reveals his early guitar study.
He studied bass at the American Conservatory of Music.
El Dee is trying to exploit the full potentials of the bass – not simply confine it to the rhythm section. In this he follows the tradition of Percy Heath, Ray Brown and Oscar Pettiford.

Piano: Ramsey Lewis

A Chicagoan who has won awards for his piano artistry from the National Federation of Music Clubs and American Society of Musicians as well as scholarships to Roosevelt University and Chicago Musical College.
At first a classical pianist who, after hearing such moderns as Art Tatum, Bud Powell and John Lewis turned to modern jazz.
While Ramsey plays a superb solo piano, his aim – visibly apparent in this LP – is to present the trio as a unified musical unit.

RAMSEY LEWIS ALBUM

You lovers of modern sounds...this is a pleasure...we treasure...beyond measure. Introducing Ramsey Lewis amd his gentle, gentlemen of modern swing.

Upon first hearing this group we felt that all to long they had languished in jazz spots where no one listened. This group need the "ears" of the more astute jazz listeners, because their work is in the modern tradtion of the Chico Hamilton group, and the Modern Jazz Quartet. with this thought, notice the extremely wrought arrangements, the delicate instrumental balance and the superbly unified effect their work gives.

This L.P. was designed with you...the discriminiating music lover in mind.
Hearing this group is like meeting a beautiful woman...each meeting a unique and delightful experience.
Now for some musical excitement and delightment...open the arms of this L.P...and let the subtle sounds of the trio caress your ears.

Your musical host who loves you the most.

Swingcerely yours,

Holmes Daddy-O Daylie
W.M.A.Q
N.B.C. Chicago

Billboard - April 29, 1957:

As a jazz pianist, classically trained Ramsey Lewis plays much in the economical introspective style of another Lewis – John. His trio is the chamber-soft tradition of the other Lewis' group, the MJQ. It's a deft, unified musical unit, but the "blowing" is limited. However, this LP is recommended for the sheer competence of the players, and its almost certain sales appeal to buyers on the jazz-classical periphery – those attracted by thoughtful, if somewhat restrained, jazz packages.

LP-610

Ahmad Jamal – Count 'Em 88

Released 1956

Recording and Session Information

Chicago, IL, September 27, 1956
Ahmad Jamal, piano; Israel Crosby, bass; Walter Perkins, drums

8258 Spring will be a little late this year
8262 On Green Dolphin Street
8263 Beat out one
8264 Maryam
8266 How about you?
8267 It's easy to remember
8268 Jim loves Sue
8269 Volga boatman
Also recorded at this session:

8259 I know
8260 Cheek to cheek
8261 Speak low
8265 Makin' whoopee

Chicago, IL, October 4, 1956
Ahmad Jamal, piano; Israel Crosby, bass; Walter Perkins, drums

8283 I just can't see for lookin'

Also recorded at this session:

8282 I wish I knew (unissued)
8284 But not for me (unissued)

Track Listing

Volga Boatmen	Traditional	September 27 1956
On Green Dolphin Street	Bronisław Kaper, Ned Washington	September 27 1956
How About You?	Burton Lane, Ralph Freed	September 27 1956
I Just Can't See for Looking	Nadine Robinson, Dok Stanford	October 4 1956
Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year	Frank Loesser	September 27 1956
Beat Out One	Ahmad Jamal	September 27 1956
Maryam	Ahmad Jamal	September 27 1956
It's Easy to Remember	Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers	September 27 1956
Jim Love Sue	Ahmad Jamal	September 27 1956

Liner Notes

For some years now, Chicago has been fortunate enough to be the home base for the operations of pianist Ahmad Jamal.

A succession of engagements at various of the Windy City's spas, interrupted only occasionally by dates elsewhere such as New York's Embers, has made Ahmad one of the most celebrated of that city's many talented jazzmen.

A slim, guileless-looking, fastidiously-dressed gentleman whose boyish look belies his 26 years. Ahmad first burst into prominence when Down Beat's Pat Harris reported him as a new find when he worked the Blue Note in 1950, heading a group called the Three Strings.

Previous to that he had left his native Pittsburgh to work with the George Hudson band out of St. Louis, which also contained saxist Ernie Wilkins, now better known for the enormous amount of composing and arranging he does for bands and record dates.

Ahmad returned to Pittsburgh to join a group called the Four Strings, which became a forerunner to the Three Strings which did so well at the Blue Note and other Chicago spots.

It was in the spring of 1952, when he played the Embers, that noted critic John Hammond hailed the Jamal trio as "prodigious" and "Unbelievably subtle."

Jamal is indeed subtle, and he is dart-quick in facility, with a firm-yet-delicate touch that enables him to skim through figures that is charted on graph paper would look like the ups and downs in the career of Yellow Kid Weil.

It is obvious at first hearing that Ahmad approaches a piano as a skilled fisherman might a mile-long lake teeming with fish. He has a lot of room to get a lot out of it, and he casts about with sure skill, utilizing the entire area to achieve his results.

This is a long way to go about saying that Jamal is a two-handed pianist, a species sometimes difficult to find. It is demonstrated neatly here, however, as is his good taste and droll sense of humor. You might be as happy as I aha that he chose to include I Just Can't See for Lookin', a Nat Cole vocal effort a decade ago.

Easy to Remember is a good example of the unit feel the trio achieves, and their romping qualities come out on Beat Out One.

Ahmad is offered the sturdy support here of bassist Israel Crosby, for years a well-known figure in jazz, and drummer Walter Perkins, whose credits include work with Ben Webster. He frequently was the drummer for Jutta Hipp when he was stationed in Germany a couple of years ago.

They provide friendly atmosphere for Jamal, who is content that this is the best set of sides he has yet recorded.

I will have to agree with him.

JACK TRACY
Editor, Down Beat Magazine

Recording Engineer: BERNIE CLAPPER
Cover Photography - Design: DON BRONSTEIN
Supervision: PHIL CHESS
Date Recorded: 10/4/56
Universal Record Corp.
CHESS PRODUCING CORP. 2120 SO. MICHIGAN

LP-609

Sandy Mosse – Chicago Scene

Released 1956

Recording and Session Information

Universal Recording, Chicago, Illinois, July 6, 1956
Dave Mulholland, trumpet; Sandy Mosse, tenor saxophone; Ira Sullivan, tenor saxophone; Eddie Baker, piano; Jimmy Gourley, guitar; Leroy Jackson, bass; Dorrell Anderson, drums

8150 Straight life
8151 Let's get away from it all
8153 Dee's delight
8155 Let's go
8160 Fascinating rhythm
8161 'Tis autumn
8162 Knickerbooper
8163 Clara's blues

One of the following made it onto the album as Outville

8152 Evening in Paris (unissued)
8154 Rekinomon ? (unissued)
8156 Doin' it (unissued)
8157 Balance blues ? (unissued)
8158 Over the rainbow (unissued)
8159 John's blues (unissued)

Track Listing

Straight Life	I. Schulman	July 6 1956
Let’s Get Away from It All	M. Dennis-T. Adair	July 6 1956
Knickerbopper	D. Mulholland	July 6 1956
Dee’s Delight	Eddie Baker	July 6 1956
Let’s Go	I. Schulman	July 6 1956
‘Tis Autumn	Henry Nemo	July 6 1956
Outville	Eddie Baker	July 6 1956
Fascinating Rhythm	George Gershwin	July 6 1956
Clara’s Blues	Sandy Mosse	July 6 1956

Liner Notes

Chicago jazzmen have been in an untanable position for years. Because most of the lucrative jobs for talented musicians lie in the recording and TV studios of New York and Los Angeles and in the film studios of Holloywood, most good players head for either city.

There they form part of vast talent pools that provide literally hundreds of good musicians for jazz record dates.

As all but a handful of the firms that record jazz are in those two cities, it becomes obvious that a discery can issue many records without looking much farther than its own nose.

And thus it has been almost inevitable in recent years for most of the jazzmen in Chicago to gravitate to busier centers. Its musicians have been siphoined off at a steady rate/ The comparative few who have remained have generally found it difficult to make a satisfactory living from music.

Even the city's big clubs, which were more numerous at the beginning of 1957 than at any time since World War II, will seldom hire local men. It takes records to make a reputation, they feel, so they seek out of town groups.

This is a discouraging picture in a city which at one time was the hub of thw eowrld's jazz activity.

But few persons have ever done anything serious about trying to alleviate it.

This album is one of what will be a number of Argo LPs devoted to Chicagoans. The names may laregly be unfamiliar to you. They are men who have scuffled and worked day jobs and off-night gigs and only sometimes regaularly in order to stay in Chicago. Some have been sidemen with name bands and groups, then came back home.

All of them have worked in one or more groups in the Windy City, as the men who are able to land playing dates became leaders for a day and hire the man they worked for last week.

The men on this session in its various combinations are:

Sandy Mosse, tenor sax: at 27 a familiar horman on the Chicago scene. Lived and played in Europe in 1951-'52, worked with Woody Herman in '55. Recorded with Bill Russo on Atlantic LP. An important tenor man with seomthing to say.

Ira Schulman, tenor sax: has been a prominent Chicago saxman for nearly a decade. Led own units, played with big bands of Russo, Jay Burkhart, other.

Dave Mulholland, trumpet; also plays flugelhorn, alto horn, writes. A Russo student. Heard frequently with the Jim Lounsbury band.

Eddie Baker, piano has worked with own trio, as accompanist for Bille Holiday, and with Bill Russo on Europe tour in 1955. Also does considerable writing.

Jimmy Gourley, guitar; an unsung guitarist but one of the best. Gained considerable reputation in Europe while living in Paris in 1951-'55. Worked with Burkhart, Jackie Cain and Roy Kral, many others.

Leroy Jackson, bass: another in the long line of excellent bassists to come out of Chicago in the last few years )others: Leroy Vinnegar, Buddy Clark, Wilbur Ware, Johnnie Pate). Has played with Dinah Washington, rhythm and blues groups, many Chicago units.

Dorrell Anderson, drums: longtime member of the Chicago group. Played with Gene Ammons, tenor Johnny Griffin, et al.

Too many liner notes, I feel, claim greatness for the accompanying record when it is simply not there. This will not be one of them.

There are some exhilirating moments here - Mosse on Let's Get Away from It All, Gourley's eloquent guitar Baker's fleet piano; flashes of Schulman's tenor, etc.

But I feel the biggest value of this set lies in its presentation of jazzmen who deserve to be heard even though they are not well-known.

It is a simple matter to assemble a group of poll-winners and near-misses in a New York or Hollywood studio and do a session that figures to do well because of its name value.

It takes some courage to record men simply because you feel it should be done.

This LP is a trailbreaker in the respect that it presents some individual talents that have remained in a city which tries studiously to ignore them.

More will follow.

JACK TRACY
Down Beat Magazine
Straight Life and Let's Get Away from It All are played by a group comprising Sandy Mosse, tenor; Jimmy Gourley, guitar; Eddie Baker, piano; Leroy Jackson, bass; Donell Anderson, drums.
Knickerbooper is played by Ira Schulman, tenor; Dave Mulholland, trumpet, same rhythm section.
Dee's Delight and Let's Go is played by Mosee (1st tenor solo on Dee's Delight, Schulman (second tenor solo on Dee's Delight and only tenor solo on Let's Go, Mulholland, Dourley, and rhythm.
'Tis Autumn is by Schulman and rhtyhm.
Outville and Fascinating Rhythm are by backer, Jackson and Anderson.
Clara's Blues is by Mosse and rythhm.

Recorded on July 6, 1956 at Universal Studios, Chicago.