Even something as simple as a count-in oozed with ethusiasm when Terry Gibbs was at the helm. This is not your typical big band however, and certainly not your typical big band album. Desert island album? Pretty damn close. This one has it all. An incredible energy, translated from the live performance to us, the listener. All star line up of players. The best in composers/arrangers, with originals wrote just for Terry, and by Terry. To top it all off, this has to be one of the best recorded, live big band shows on record.
This side is quite rare. It's not that it's impossible to find, but to find one in reasonable condition is another story. In the late 80's and early 90's, Contemporary began releasing a series of albums with this group. They changed the name to "The Terry Gibbs Dream Band". Certainly an appropriate name when one looks at the roster. But this group is more than just a bunch of star power and hype...much, much more.
They were called the "Exciting" big band for a reason. This group could do it all, but always with a flare for fun and excitement. Clearly, with the skill level available, the arrangers went to town. Bill Holman, Al Cohn, Shorty Rogers and Manny Albam spun these tunes into absolute gold. Gibbs could lead his group to huge dynamic heights - glorious, crisp brass soaring overtop a driving and pulsing swing. But he could strip it down to a quiet calm, enough to make you forget that there are 17 players getting ready to pounce! In my mind, the Gibbs big band are up there with Eckstine and Basie in terms of dynamics.
Stylistically, the tunes range nicely, from slow pokin' blues, to high flying, dance worthy swing. Gibbs takes many solos, but always in great taste. We also hear from the saxes, probably more so than the trumpets which is unusual for a big band. The best part of this album is it's undeniable live energy, best defined by the soul callin' between Gibbs and the rest of the band. Audible are the shouts of joy, encouragement and just plain fun the band is clearly having.
I worked really hard on this one guys, and it paid off big time. I am really proud of the finished product, albeit not perfect. I think you'll agree, the fidelity is incredible making this a dynamite listen. This original Verve (V-2151) was ripped at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC, there is little to no noise here folks. Just 100% swingin jazz...enjoy!!!
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Recorded Live At The Summit, Hollywood, CA
January, 1961
Bass – Buddy Clark
Drums – Mel Lewis
Piano – Pat Moran
Saxophone – Bill Perkins, Charlie Kennedy, Jack Nimitz, Joe Maini, Richie Kamuca
Trombone – Bob Edmondson, Frank Rosolino, Vern Friley
Trumpet – Al Porcino, Conte Candoli, Frank Huggins, Ray Triscari, Stu Williamson
Vibraphone – Terry Gibbs
Drums – Mel Lewis
Piano – Pat Moran
Saxophone – Bill Perkins, Charlie Kennedy, Jack Nimitz, Joe Maini, Richie Kamuca
Trombone – Bob Edmondson, Frank Rosolino, Vern Friley
Trumpet – Al Porcino, Conte Candoli, Frank Huggins, Ray Triscari, Stu Williamson
Vibraphone – Terry Gibbs
https://mega.co.nz/#!ItQiCbpB!S86OAzvgHjrg1VzFGMd9QCiP-gBwkmAm3pE_S0aa8Qs
ReplyDelete-OR-
http://www58.zippyshare.com/v/14034098/file.html
http://www58.zippyshare.com/v/64500254/file.html
THIS is why music blogs exist! The Gibbs band was a wonder. This is simply the most exciting big band ever recorded. There's an edgy excitement that lifts you off your feet like no other band. Remember when the common wisdom was that the West Cost studio musicians were burned-out hacks? This absolutely gives the lie to that. This stuff needs no introduction,no explanation. Like all truly great music it transcends genre and generations. Adrenaline is universal. And you did a GREAT job of cleaning it up and bringing this lost treasure back to us. THANKS!!!
ReplyDeletethat stuff about West Coast jazz players was always nonsense promulgated by New Yorkers who figured, rather mistakenly, that they were the cream of the crop. Sorry boys, but the best players were always in LA where they could make decent livings doing TV and movies!
ReplyDeleteTo Larry and the Doc:
ReplyDeleteWELL I am unfortunately not old enough to have witnessed the late 1950s in L.A. but in the late 1970s/early 1980s ,L.A. indeed was the place for burned out hacks . And Doc, REAL Jazz players DON'T earn their money doing T.V. and movies ! ! !
Those are are the ones that gave up the dream and sold out.
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At that time there were of course lots of exceptions - Harold Land, Harold Tapscott, JIMMY ROWLES(!)(!), Billy Higgins when he was in town, the great late bassist Eric Von Essen, Donald Dean, Carl Burnette, Bobby Hutcherson when he was down from S.F. visiting his mother in Pasadena or after Frank Butler and Art Pepper FINALLY got out of jail...were all great palyers living in L.A. But when I was growing up in L.A., I heard incredible amounts of lame and sorry music at Dontés and Carmelos by HACK-has-beens from the Tonight Show band/ex-Kentonites etc.: music that couldn't hold a candle to what was happening in N.Y.C. played by self satisfied players who thought they knew everything - that is, everything BUT the spirit of Jazz (i.e. with a capital 'J'.). Never NEVER was it "As Serious As Your Life" to quote the title of a book about our music.
The best decision I ever made in my life was to leave that 2-horse town. The majority of the cats from L.A. that could really play from my generation all left: among them: Scott Colley, John Pattituci, Ted Nash and later Willie Jones III. Joey Baron also was in L.A. in the early 1980s.
Once Mel Lewis realized what L.A. was about (circa 1964-65 ?) he took the first bus out of town and back to the Apple, and the rest is history. The dedication (i.e. w/out substantial financial reward and to the non commercial aspects of jazz artistry) of the amazing players in the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band throughout the years is just something that Mel couldn't find in L.A. Of course, Mel is the force behind the music on this Terry Gibbs album. Jim Hall, Paul Bley, Scott LaFaro and Elmo Hope all left L.A. too.
Freddie H did "Ready For Freddie" in N.Y.C. he recorded "Windjammer" (if you've never been forced to listen to it: a horrible album - but with 10x the budget of "Ready4F"- )
i could go on and on but you get the picture…
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"Most exciting Big band ever recorded ? P-L-E-A-S-E ! Don't even get me started…
BUT THANKS TO POPPA CHUBBY (SERIOUSLY ! ! !) for putting this rare record on line … always like to listen to Bill Holman's and Al Cohn's writing
I meant to say that Windjammer was recorded in L.A. (as one might have guessed…)
ReplyDeleteHava nice day (as all my old friends from CA say)
Funny - I have never heard any musician bitching about East versus West coast like it is represented here. There are great players everywhere. All over. Terry Gibbs is one of them. The myths seem to me more the product of fandom than of the real world, where making a living as a musician on whatever coast or continent involves boring economic pragmatism and personal compromise.
ReplyDeleteEast and West coasts may be different working cultures, with jazz dialects as stylistically different as those of Norwegian players, or Italian, or Spanish, or Dutch, or German. But most bullshit arts-borders like that have been transcended by now. Everyone still seems to use making-it in New York as the ultimate proof of jazzoid credibility, because it is still the practical centre of the scene, and because everyone still wishes for that status level of peer-recognition - but I still know players in Bruxellss, for instance, who are easily the equal of those in the Apple.
But basically, wherever they live, freelance jobbing players face the same daily hustle of keeping snow off the calendar.
Money's everything.
Playing any gig that comes.
Whores, we are all whores.
Thanks Chubbs. Gibbs is great and Holman is hot.
Maybe Lazz but at least some of the source was the musicians too - In the Mingus biography he mentions the attitude that guys like Lucky Thompson envinced when in LA, and that he ran into some of the same when he first came to NY too. Guys like Dex and Al Haig began to break that down when they came west and found plenty of talent to gig with. In the age when Bird and Diz first came west, however, there was still clear Eastern predjudice.
ReplyDeletePolarizing views in jazz are so passe... I can't be bothered to argue about how things were in 1950. Bottom line for me?? I like what I like when I hear it. This band was smokin hot. As for ES quoting "the most exciting big band ever recorded"... if this was quoting me this was incorrect - not even implied because only a complete newbie could possibly think that. An excellent big band recording?? Hell yah!! But there lies the distinction. I was speaking to the recording itself. The most exciting record ever made?? Not in my opinion, but damnit what more do you want from a big band side?!?!
ReplyDeleteHope everybody enjoys the music...
What is there to say, but thank you poppachubby thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteHey Y'all !
ReplyDeleteSorry about ruffling anybody's feathers ! My intention was only to stir up a little bit of conversation/discussion with a few facts and not ONLY categorical statements. And if ruffling feathers provokes people to exchange opinions and ideas (w/out anyone getting hurt in the process) then it's good in my book.
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King Cake is completely right when he says there were/are players capable of ably accompanying soloists from N.Y. I have no problem with that statement,.
But when Doc said:
"the best players were always in LA "
That just isn't true.
but I guess that depends if you prefer Tom Scott to Jim Pepper or Arthur Blythe (ANOTHER So. Cal transplant to N.Y.C.)
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@POPPA:
Polarizing views are so passé? Not if they haven't yet been resolved.
You've got to admit that there is a lot more to our music than "I like it when I hear it": there is a historical context and the experience is richer for all of us when that is discussed and an effort is made to understand it. Which of course is why you noted the recording date and the musicians on this session.
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@ LAZZ
I know lots of musicians for whom money ISN'T everything. And it's their music that interests me the most.
Do you think that John Coltrane, if he had lived, would have recorded on CTI in the 1970s? Did he record "Interstellar Space" while thinking about his mortgage ?
There is often a very fine line between what is a blatantly commercial recording and an artistic endeavor. I remember talking with the late Don Pullen in the 1980s about how he felt that the critics misunderstood his one jazz/rock album Tomorrow's Promises(1977ATLANTIC)And from time to time there is something that IS commercial and is great art at the same time. (Songs In The Key Of Life or some of the great R&B/Jazz/gospel oriented offerings on this blog, >>> Houston Person for example). But is Stevie's artistic contribution as great as that of John Coltrane ? It's too easy to say "well, they're different…" Let's open up the discussion.
Of course there are great players everywhere - up above I cited a ton of them that were active in L.A. in the late 1970s/1980s. But it is a fact that more of them (at least that are principally dedicated to the Art of Jazz) did their most important work in N.Y.C..
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And I love the Crypt as much as anybody, and that's why I spent so much time and thought on my post. Too bad it's got to be peace & love-everything's beautiful all the time 24/24 because there are a lot of things to discuss and opinions to share.
(Unfortunately I only have the luxury of such long posts during the month of August…)
(Once again, sorry if I've been polemical and verbose.)
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BTW Al Porcino, tha amazing lead TPT on this album, who at 88 years old is living in Munich and still playing, is in all probabilty in agreement with most of what I've said.
last note: I was just transcribing some Leroy Vinnegar bass lines last week- nothing against L.A. players…I'm just hoping for a more global and realistic perspective of our music.
No apologies needed from this quarter, I'm ALWAYS happy to see opinions expressed, Even our drummer friend who frequently stirs up hornets nests with his comments. My only sore point is when complete disrespect for the artists or others opinions is demonstrated. I am reminded of one visitor who completely dismissed Hank Jones and Lucky Thompson as unworthy hacks devoid of talent and creativity. I have to admit that that one set me off and required an angry reply (I occasionally have anger issues because I normally suppress it,advancing age has made me less controlled in that aspect, piss me off and I DO react!)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah and to you and all others, feel free to be as verbose as you please, it is far superior to silence
ReplyDeleteHey E S
ReplyDeleteMy point – obviously poorly expressed – is simply that there is great distance between myth and reality. And I also know lots of musicians – none of whom could I imagine disagreeing with such a non-contentious observation.
My quoting of what is perhaps my favourite of all the jazz haiku was intended to capture and express the circumstances in which making a living, paying the rent, filling the tank, eating, can become pressing considerations when work is offered – more pressing than asking “What would Coltrane do?”
Its universal resonance is certainly NOT intended to mean that money is everything, but more a basic satirical recognition that sometimes you just have to do what you have to do, however distasteful. Hanging and working with Teo Macero, for instance, also in the ‘80s, I learned that he had flown direct from producing an album project for fifty banjos. Not sure whether that stuff gets normally listed in any discography of his proud moments, but it all helped, he said, with alimony payments.
Myth and reality.
I, too, would wish for a more global and realistic perspective.
ES:
ReplyDeleteMy point was that it's ridiculous for us to debate about East vs West, a debate that DOESN'T hold anything too important historically as far as I can tell. Exchanging opinions or ideas about the music is of course the whole point of this place. You can make as much noise as you like, I was a bit concerned that the tone was going to go south.
Frankly "I Like It when I hear it" is a perfectly excellent mantra because it allows me to keep respect for others. It also sheds any of the "cool" factor which plagues the fanbase of jazz. It's not cool to dig on Dixie or 40's big band, etc, etc. Of course it is for some, but I think you understand my point.
The "passe" part of what I was trying to convey is not that we shouldn't be exchanging opinions and ideas... oh no. But that with the few of us jazzheads out there today, we need to band together and RESPECT each others ideals. The Crypt manages to bring together fans of all types with very little discord. I have posted many albums which have had poor response, low interest and sometimes critical reaction. That's cool.
I think the fact that we don't know you YET had us a little bit surprised. We aren't used to thought provoking comments around here but frankly, I applaud the input ES. No feathers ruffled here and I really hope you can put your two cents in more often.
ES:
ReplyDeleteWe are not peace and love 24/7, but I would much rather be than discuss who is more artistic, Coltrane or Stevie Wonder. Why must every discussion be a vs. debate? It's possible to discuss differing opinions or views without entering a boxing ring every time. Commerce and art are indeed seperate entities but can exist together. Sure, there are "artists" out there who are trying to copy something in order to make it. But I think we can keep assumptions strictly concerning artists with integrity.
What do you say about somebody who writes a song, and then by a stroke of luck it becomes a hit?? Of course, there have long been formulas. But don't you think it's an art in itself to be able to sit down and say "I am going to write a hit song" and have it happen??!!?? Think of some of the greatest writing partners like Lennon/Macca, Lieber/Stoller, Holland/Dozier, etc, etc. This was their goal when writing, and they would easily achieve it.
I think there's a line and for many so called artists, they can be easily seen on one side of it. However for the others, it's not so cut and dry. Overall, I will never fault an artist for trying to make money and after all, it's the listening public who will ultimately decide if it has any merit at all. Quite often shitty music sinks like a stone - as it should.