19-08-2020 > JAZZ:MiX # 33 jazz tracks on the the JAZZ_line 1959-1966

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Paul Chambers

19-08-2020 JAZZ:MiX # 33 jazz tracks on the the JAZZ_line 1959-1966 # Paul Chambers, The Joe Newman Quintet, The Curtis Fuller Sextette, Charlie Byrd Trio & Woodwinds. The Tubby Hayes Quartet, Herbie Mann, Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington, Johnny Hartman, Jimmy Smith, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon

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1959-1966

One of the top bassists of 1955-1965, Paul Chambers was among the first in jazz to take creative bowed solos (other than Slam Stewart, who hummed along with his bowing). He grew up in Detroit, where he was part of the fertile local jazz scene.
Paul Chambers
Melody (Yusef Lateef)
Retrogress (Yusef Lateef)
Blessed (Yusef Lateef)
from 1st Bassman 1961
As a lead instrument in jazz, the acoustic bass was in many ways liberated by Paul Chambers, and paved the way for many others to follow... 1st Bassman is anchored by rising stars from Detroit such as Yusef Lateef, Curtis Fuller, and adopted (from Pittsburgh) car city resident Chambers, with trumpeter Tommy Turrentine, pianist Wynton Kelly, and drummer Lex Humphries evenly balancing the session. Interestingly enough, it was recorded not in New York or the Motor City, but Chicago. Lateef wrote all of the material... The small horn inserts of "Melody" give sway to the big bass strut of Chambers, with solos from Turrentine's stoic trumpet, Lateef's advanced tenor, and Fuller's wanton but mushy trombone included... The slightly dour post-bopper "Retrogress" gives Kelly's piano his due diligence...  the ballad "Blessed" features the arco bowed bass of the leader in a mournful mood, brightened up by the effervescent and hopeful flute of the brilliant Lateef....

Joe Newman was a superb, exciting trumpeter whose style echoed the best of Harry Edison, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thad Jones, seasoned with his own flavoring. He was among a select corps who not only enjoyed playing, but communicated that joy and exuberance in every solo.
The Joe Newman Quintet
Wednesday's Blues (Joe Newman)
Jive at Five (Count Basie / Harry "Sweets" Edison)
Taps Miller (Count Basie / Luis Russell)
from Jive at Five 1960
Originally put out on the Swingville label, this CD reissue is very much in the Count Basie vein. That fact is not too surprising when one considers that the quintet includes three members of Basie's men: trumpeter Joe Newman, tenor saxophonist Frank Wess and bassist Eddie Jones. Joined by the complementary pianist Tommy Flanagan and drummer Oliver Jackson, Newman and his friends swing their way through four vintage standards and a couple of the leader's original blues in typical fashion.

A major post-bop stylist on trombone with remarkable techniques, including wide-octave leaps and whiplash phrases delivered in a relaxed manner. Curtis Fuller belongs in the select circle with J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding, and a few others who make the trombone sound fluid and inviting rather than awkward.
The Curtis Fuller Sextette
Kachin (Curtis Fuller)
Imagination (Johnny Burke / James Van Heusen)
Blues de Funk (Curtis Fuller)
from Imagination 1959
Prior to the official formation of the Jazztet with trumpeter Art Farmer, trombonist Curtis Fuller and tenorman Benny Golson made several albums together, usually with other trumpeters. This somewhat rare date has trumpeter Thad Jones, bassist Jimmy Garrison, drummer Dave Bailey, and, most significantly, pianist McCoy Tyner in his recording debut completing the sextet. Fuller arranged all five of the songs, four of which were his originals. Although the material (other than the lone standard "Imagination") is unfamiliar, the chord changes inspire the players to create some fine solos. Easily recommended to hard bop fans lucky enough to find this album.

Classically trained jazz guitarist who helped to popularize bossa nova in the U.S. Tasteful, low-key, and ingratiatingly melodic, Charlie Byrd had two notable accomplishments to his credit -- applying acoustic classical guitar techniques to jazz and popular music and helping to introduce Brazilian music to mass North American audiences. 
Charlie Byrd Trio & Woodwinds
Swing 59 (Charlie Byrd)
Keter's Dirty Blues (Keter Betts / Charlie Byrd)
Showboat Shuffle (Duke Ellington)
from Byrd In The Wind 1959
When Charlie Byrd recorded Byrd in the Wind in 1959, he was still two years away from discovering bossa nova. The guitarist had yet to interact with Astrud and João Gilberto or record anything by Antonio Carlos Jobim, and he had yet to become a major player in the Brazilian jazz field. Nonetheless, Byrd was an impressive jazzman even before he discovered bossa nova. Byrd (who sticks to the acoustic guitar on this album) already had a recognizably melodic sound -- one that underscored his appreciation of Django Reinhardt as well as Andrés Segovia and the Spanish school of classical guitar -- and he would have left behind a worthwhile catalog even if he had retired in 1960. The guitarist's classical leanings are hard to miss on Byrd in the Wind, especially when he employs woodwind players (all of them members of the National Symphony Orchestra) on some of the selections...

Top English saxophonist and an excellent hard bop stylist, whose solos were dynamic, expertly articulated, and imaginative.
The Tubby Hayes Quartet
For Members Only [Take 2] (Edward Brian Hayes)
Grits, Beans and Greens [Take 4] (Edward Brian Hayes)
Rumpus [Take 1] (Edward Brian Hayes)
from Grits, Beans And Greens: The Lost Fontana Studio Sessions 1969 (2019)
Grits, Beans and Greens: The Lost Fontana Studio Sessions 1969 is truly a "lost" album that's a jazz holy grail on par with Tubby Hayes' 1968 albums Mexican Green and 100% Proof. Cut with a smoking new band with whom he was trying to re-establish himself as a viable musician after two years of health problems, arrests, and other mishaps, this amounts to his last great album. The session reels containing it sat in boxes until 2014 when Decca/Universal hired high-end vinyl specialists Gearbox Studios to master the sessions for the first time and deliver new lacquers. While the album was assembled from multiple takes, Hayes' diary designated the final lineup's keepers.
Hayes was a consummate jazz musician -- arguably the greatest of 20th century England. His band here -- Spike Wells on drums, pianist Mike Pyne, and bassist Ron Mathewson -- roars through five mid-length to long tunes in sessions that were as loose as they were swinging.

Prolific and widely known flutist, beloved in jazz circles, has covered many world music styles.
Herbie Mann
Dearly Beloved (Jerome Kern / Johnny Mercer)
I'll Remember April (Gene DePaul / Patricia Johnston / Don Raye)
Autumn Leaves (Joseph Kosma / Jacques Prévert)
from Flute, Brass, Vibes and Percussion 1961
In 1960, flutist Herbie Mann put together a very interesting band that was in its brief existence (before Mann's interests shifted elsewhere) one of the top in Afro-Cuban jazz. Utilizing four trumpets (including Doc Cheatham), up to three percussionists and a flute-vibes-bass-drums quartet, Mann performs four standards (including "Dearly Beloved," "I'll Remember April" and "Autumn Leaves") and two originals in a style that was beyond bop and much more African- and Cuban-oriented. This LP (long deserving of being reissued on CD) is quite underrated and is one of the finest of Mann's long career.

A jazz pioneer, Louis Armstrong was the first important soloist to emerge in jazz, and he became the most influential musician in the music's history. As a trumpet virtuoso, his playing, beginning with the 1920s studio recordings he made with his Hot Five and Hot Seven ensembles, charted a future for jazz in highly imaginative, emotionally charged improvisation...
Duke Ellington was the most important composer in the history of jazz as well as being a bandleader who held his large group together continuously for almost 50 years...
Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington
It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)
I'm Beginning to See the Light
Azalea
from The Great Reunion 1962
Louis Armstrong was the first jazz superstar, a trumpeter, singer, and occasional actor who became a global American icon. Duke Ellington didn’t lead the most popular orchestra of the swing era, but he led one of the most creative, and his popularity -- and creativity -- far outlasted the days of the big bands. In 1961, the Duke sat in with Armstrong’s band, and the two got down to some serious good-time nostalgia. The session is a relaxed yet spirited one, with the leaders alternating between each other’s best-known songs. One of the best things about this configuration is the sound of the Duke’s piano -- an underrated pianist, he seldom recorded in such an intimate context.

A superior ballad singer with a warm baritone, best known for his classic full-length collaboration with John Coltrane.

Johnny Hartman
Charade (Henry Mancini / Johnny Mercer)
In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning (Bob Hilliard / David Mann)
Stairway to the Stars (Matty Malneck / Mitchell Parish / Frank Signorelli)
from I Just Dropped By to Say Hello 1963
The second Impulse! session for ballad singer Johnny Hartman followed his classic collaboration with John Coltrane. Hartman is heard in peak form throughout these 11 pieces, which include "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning," "Stairway to the Stars," and even "Charade." Tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet is on five of the songs, guitarists Kenny Burrell and Jim Hall help out on a few tunes, and Hartman is consistently accompanied by pianist Hank Jones, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Elvin Jones. This is one of his finest recordings.

A pioneer of soul-jazz who revolutionized the Hammond organ, turning it into one of the most incisive, dynamic jazz instruments of its time.
Jimmy Smith
Prayer Meeting (Jimmy Smith)
I Almost Lost My Mind (Ivory Joe Hunter)
Lonesome Road (Gene Austin / Nat Shilkret)
from Prayer Meetin' 1964
Playing piano-style single-note lines on his Hammond B-3 organ, Jimmy Smith revolutionized the use of the instrument in a jazz combo setting in the mid-'50s and early '60s, and arguably his best albums for Blue Note during this period were the ones he did with tenor sax player Stanley Turrentine. Recorded on February 8, 1963, at Van Gelder Studio in New Jersey, and featuring Quentin Warren on guitar and Donald Bailey on drums in addition to Smith and Turrentine, Prayer Meetin' is a delight from start to finish... The blues roots are obvious here, and the Smith-penned title track might even be called jazz-gospel, but the single most striking cut is a version of Ivory Joe Hunter's "I Almost Lost My Mind," with both Smith and Turrentine building wonderful solos, suggesting new pathways for organ and sax as complementary instruments.

Voted by Miles Davis as the greatest tenor ever, an inventive saxophonist and an astonishing soloist.
Sonny Rollins
On Green Dolphin Street (Bronislaw Kaper / Ned Washington)
Hold 'Em Joe (Harry Thomas)
Three Little Words (Bert Kalmar / Harry Ruby)
from On Impulse! 1965
In 1965 and 1966 tenor giant Sonny Rollins issued three albums for the Impulse label. They would be his last until 1972 when he re-emerged on the scene from a self-imposed retirement. This date is significant for the manner in which Rollins attacks five standards with a quartet that included pianist Ray Bryant, bassist Walter Booker and drummer Mickey Roker. Rollins, who's been recording for RCA and its Bluebird subsidiary, had spent the previous three years (after emerging from his first retirement) concentrating on standards and focusing deeply on intimate, intricate aspects of melody and harmony. He inverts the approach here, and digs deeply into pulse and rhythm and leaving melody to take care of itself...

One of the outstanding tenor saxophonists in jazz history, and a major figure in bop known for his heavy doses of swing.
Dexter Gordon
Manha de Carnaval (Luiz Bonfá / Antônio Maria)
Heartaches (Al Hoffman / John Klenner)
Everybody's Somebody's Fool (Howard Greenfield / Jack Keller)
from Gettin' Around 1966
Dexter Gordon's mid-'60s period living in Europe also meant coming back to the U.S. for the occasional recording session. His teaming with Bobby Hutcherson was intriguing in that the vibraphonist was marking his territory as a maverick and challenging improviser. Here the two principals prove compatible in that they have a shared sense of how to create sheer beauty in a post-bop world. Add the brilliant Barry Harris to this mix, and that world is fortunate enough to hear these grand masters at their creative peak, stoked by equally extraordinary sidemen like bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Billy Higgins, all on loan from Lee Morgan's hitmaking combo. The subtle manner in which Gordon plays melodies or caresses the most recognizable standard has always superseded his ability to ramble through rough-and-tumble bebop...