After the demise of the CBBB,
Francy Boland plucked some of its best players for this 1971 date. While
ostensibly a Benny Bailey outing it really is a Boland/Tony Coe production,
with strings added to every cut. Bailey provides some nice, bluesy commentary
along the way on trumpet, with his highly identifiable style. The namesake
opener, Mirrors, immediately tells us what we're in for. With absolutely
ravishing string-section support, Bailey dazzles on mute as does Boland on
acoustic piano. An immersing experience and a great entry into this wonderful
record. The next cut, Effluves, takes us right into the 12-tone area previously
explored in Change of Scenes (and which pissed off Stan Getz no end). With Jean
Warland's muscular walking underneath, this theme leads to a long disquisition
by Bailey. Coe joins the 12-tone party on the next cut, Flunkania, and dazzles.
Bailey really cannot match him in harmonic and melodic sophistication, but gamely
tries. Boland punctuates nicely with electric piano. They slow things down a
little on Sub Umbra, with long commentary by Bailey and Boland and by Shihab on
flute. What a great player he was. Then comes Every Happens To Me, the Matt
Dennis tune, that Bailey makes into the baldest statement of fact. Then Boland
takes over on acoustic piano with a ringing, gorgeous solo. Finally comes the
raucous At Ronnie's, a barn-burner from a few years earlier. Shihab gives off
sparks on electric baritone (!) whilst Bailey finally gets to play the blues
(about time!). Coe covers the universe with his staff-spanning gymnastics and
Boland plays a fully Bolandesque solo on electric piano. ~ George Kaplan,
Amazon.com.
Freedom Records, FLP 40163,
1975
Schema Records, RW132 CD, 2013
Recorded 11th September,
1971 At Cornet Studios, Cologne, Germany
Musicians:
Benny Bailey - Trumpet,
Flugelhorn
Tony Coe - Tenor Saxophone,
Clarinet
Sahib Shihab - Baritone
Saxophone, Flute
Francy Boland - Piano,
Arranger, Conductor
Jean Warland - Bass
Tony Inzalaco - Drums
plus 12 strings section
Tracks:
1. Mirrors {Benny Bailey}
(6:51)
2. Effluves {Francy Boland}
(5:51)
3. Flunkeyania {Francy
Boland} (5:43)
4. Sum Umbra {Francy Boland}
(6:44)
5. Everything Happens To Me
{Matt Dennis} (5:21)
6. At Ronnie's {Benny Bailey}
(7:29)
Total Time: 37:59
Credits:
Producer - Gigi Campi
Engineer - Wolfgang
Hirschmann
Photography - Bob Richards
Design - Heinz Bähr
Reissue
of this 1971 album from the Jazz trumpeter. To share in his return to the
studios as a leader, Bailey naturally looked to his colleagues in the Clarke -
Boland Big Band. From the wealth of resources there he plucked Tony Coe, Sahib Shihab
and bassist Jean Warland. As drummer, he brought in another expatriate, Tony
Inzalaco, a young man with a very broad vision of what music is about. Between
them, Coe and Shihab handle various flutes, tenor saxophone and clarinet,
enough of a tonal palette for arranger Boland to feel free and unhindered. ~
Rearward.
