Bill Harris - The Soul Of Jazz (1958) [re-rip]

This a rare and dynamic session, recorded by Rudy van Gelder in 1958, features an amazing All Stars cast. Essentially it showcases Bill Harris playing alongside Joe Wilder, Bobby Jaspar, Pepper Adams, Eddie Costa, George Duvivier and Art Taylor. These musicians truly display the essence of jazz and hence the album’s title is so very appropriate. The sound even though ripped from a well-loved old vinyl still comes across ‘alive and fresh’ even by today’s standards. The concept of this LP is masterminded by the arrangements and conducting skills of Billy Ver Plank. The choices of tunes are very complimentary and blend well, all the while giving the players plenty of room to solo. Well Recommended.

Generally speaking the men on the date fall into either a late swing or neo-modern period, as to their particular improvisatory allegiances. Yes, all bear the same "pure" approach to their performance of jazz. Bill Harris, veteran trombone star of the 1940's and the Woody Herman band has been a "preaching" jazzman of great fame for many years. Joe wilder, the early modern trumpet star, sparkles here with his growls, his various muses, and that unbelievably pure bell-tone while blowing a modern cascade of notes. Bobby Jaspar, Belgian import who has come to fame with J.J. Johnson and other combos on both tenor and flute, he is a "wailer" who plays in the Coltrane-Sims tradition these days. Pepper Adams, deserving of his nickname, bursts fierily throughout the proceedings. He is a Detroit export who rose to fame with Kenton, and has recently led his own combo in New York City. Eddie Costa, vibist and pianist once again proves his prowess as a tasty and ever-swinging keyboard man. George Duvivier can only be described as a "Rock" in a rhythm section ... with both beat, intonation, and "life" that are impeccable. Art Taylor, a usually intrepid bopper, illustrates his more quiet moods here, lapsing into the more normal "popping" style he has become noted for on two tracks. Basically, the tunes are simple harmonic changes, with tried harmony, open voiced for the horns, and usually ending with the traditional "Amen" chord resolution. The solo-work, in almost every case stays fairly close to the simple diatonic harmonies, yet conveying a combined "preaching" and "funky blues" feel. ~ Extract from Liner Notes by H. Alan Stein.

World Wide, MGS 20002, 1958

Recorded 5^th May, 1958, Hackensack, New Jersey

Personnel:

Bill Harris - Trombone

Joe Wilder - Trumpet

Bobby Jaspar - Tenor Saxophone

Pepper Adams - Baritone Saxophone

Eddie Costa - Piano

George Duvivier - Bass

Art Taylor - Drums

Tracks:

A1. You Gotta Be A Good Man {David} (8:41)

A2. Each Side Of The River {David} (4:48)

A3. Where Ya Gonna Run To? {David} (5:08)

B1. I Can't Believe It {David, Cadena} (6:33)

B2. What Should I Do? {David} (3:57)

B3. Royal Garden Blues {Williams} (6:27)

Total Time: 35:34

Credits:

Supervisor - Ozzie Cadena

Recording Engineer - Rudy van Gelder

Arranger, Conductor - Billy Ver Planck

Cover Photo - Hank Schneider

Liner Notes - H. Alan Stein

Houston Person - Broken Windows, Empty Hallways (1972) [re-rip]

This is the tenth Album by Houston Person released on Prestige Records.

This LP in many ways is atypical of the earlier albums Houston released in the mid to late sixties. In the early seventies he started moving away from smaller combos towards larger groups with a range of musical charts and at times orchestral arrangements. Jazz as we know it was under the pressure of newer forms of music; Rock and Pop music were dominating. Some musicians started to dabble in Free Jazz, Fusion and Funk. As a result many jazz artists including Houston turned their attention to interpreting some of the more popular tunes of the day. This album is one such an attempt to claw back some interest in jazz. Some jazz critics have denounced these explorations as direct commercial exploits. Forty years have passed and jazz aficionados are returning to this period with newer ears. Broken Windows, Empty Hallways contains a unique assortment of tunes, mostly pop oriented with only one penned by Houston ‘Bleecker Street ‘and another by Thelonious Monk ‘Let's Call This’. Houston steps up grandly to the challenge adding further richness to his powerful soulful tenor readings. This is especially noticeable when launching into some of the ballads. He seems to be able blow a lot more freely on his solos leaving main development of rhythm to rest of the players. This is enhanced by the orchestral arrangements of Billy Ver Planck and the musical scores of Ozzie Cadena who also contributes a tune ‘Moan Er-uh Lisa’. Houston is joined by some fine musicians including Joe Wilder & Victor Paz on trumpet, organist Ernest Hayes, Hubert Laws on flute & tenor, Cedar Walton on piano and drummer Grady Tate; to name a few. In time with repeated listens this album will prove to be of great merit amongst the rest of Houston’s vast discography. Enjoy!

Prestige Records, PRST-10044, 1972

Recorded 1^st May, 1972 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

Personnel:

Houston Person - Tenor Saxophone

Joe Wilder - Trumpet

Victor Paz - Trumpet [Solo #B1]

Hubert Laws - Flute, Tenor Saxophone

Buzz Brauner - Baritone & Tenor Saxophones, English horn, Oboe, Piccolo, Clarinet, Flute

Ronnie Jannelli - Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute

Jim Buffington - French horn

Ernest Hayes - Organ

Jimmy Watson - Organ (#B4)

Cedar Walton - Piano

Grady Tate - Drums

Bunny Briggs - Tap Dancing (#A4)

Billy Ver Planck - Orchestrations

Track Listing:

A1. I Think It's Going To Rain Today {Randy Newman} (6:05)

A2. Don't Mess With Bill {William Robinson} (3:04)

A3. Everything's Alright {Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber} (4:25)

A4. Mr. Bojangles {Jerry Jeff Walker} (4:05)

B1. Moan Er-uh Lisa {Ozzie Cadena} (6:21)

B2. Imagine {John Lennon} (5:01)

B3. Let's Call This {Thelonious Monk} (4:10)

B4. Bleecker Street [The Pimp] {Houston Person} (4:10)

Credits:

Musical Charts, Supervision - Ozzie Cadena

Recording Engineer - Rudy van Gelder

Art Direction - Tony Lane

Photography - Lee Friedlander

Ray Bryant - In The Cut (1974) [vinyl>flac]

Recorded in 1974, Ray Bryant's In the Cut is the one recording in his career that stands out from all the others - not necessarily because it is the best thing he ever cut, but because it is unlike anything in his vast oeuvre. Bryant and producer Esmond Edwards set out to make a contemporary album while the great pianist was with Cadet. No solo, no trio, no quartet - this time out, Bryant's In the Cut is recorded with a full-on big band playing everything from contemporary soul tunes (such as the Jacksons' "I'll Be There," which opens this remarkable offering) to his own hard bop blues numbers such as "Cool Struttin'" and the title track to tough line-punchers like Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man." The entire Cadet house band was involved in this baby, including Charles Stepney, who did all the horn and, yes, string arrangements (and plays some synth, too). Bryant also plays a fair amount of electric piano here, and is accompanied by, among others, guitarists Jimmy Ponder and John Tropea, bassists Stanley Clarke and Ron Carter, drummer Jimmy Johnson, percussionist and conguero Montego Joe, trumpeters Marvin Stamm and Joe Wilder, and George Marge on tenor, flute, and oboe. The sound of In the Cut is literally startling. Bryant's trademark gait on the piano is immediate from the very opening bars of "I'll Be There." When the horns enter full-force, it's a new sound world - disorienting, yes, especially if you can't let yourself get beyond what Bryant's "normal" m.o. is. But the groove - gentle, soulful, and pronounced - is everywhere in these tracks. ~ Extract by Thom Jurek, AMG.

Cadet Records, CA 50052, 1974

Recorded At Sound Exchange Studios and A&R Studios, New York City

Mastered At Sterling Sound, New York City

Musicians:

Ray Bryant - Piano, Electric Piano

Joe Wilder - Trumpet (#A1,A3-B3)

Marvin Stamm - Trumpet (#A1,A3-B3)

George Marge - Flute, Tenor Saxophone, Oboe (#A1,A3-B3)

Charles Stepney - Synthesizer [Moog] (#A1-A3,B1), Arranger [Strings & Horns]

Jimmy Ponder - Guitar [Soloist] (#A2)

John Tropea - Guitar, Acoustic Guitar (#A2)

Margaret Ross - Harp (#A1,A3-B3)

Richard Davis - Bass (#A1)

Ron Carter - Bass (#A2,A4))

Stanley Clarke - Bass (#A3,B1-B3)

Jimmy Johnson - Drums

Montego Joe - Congas

Alfred Brown, Emanuel Vardi, Julian Barber, Selart Clarke, Theodore Israel - Viola (#A1,A3-B3)

Diana Halprin, Emanuel Green, Harry Glickman, Max Polikoff, Paul Gershman - Violin (#A1,A3-B3)

Tracks:

A1. I'll Be There {Bob West, Hal Davis, Willie Hutch, Berry Gordy, Jr.} (4:59)

A2. Andalusan Nights {Esmond Edwards} (4:45)

A3. Stop, Look & Listen To Your Heart/You Are Everything {Thom Bell, Linda Creed} (6:47)

A4. Cool Struttin' {Ray Bryant} (4:44)

B1. Land Of Make Believe {Chuck Mangione} (5:41)

B2. In The Cut {Ray Bryant} (6:16)

B3. Watermelon Man {Herbie Hancock} (4:53)

Credits:

Producer - Esmond Edwards

Production Supervision - Bob Scerbo

Album Co-ordination - Gwen Williams

Engineer - Skip Juried (Sound Exchange Studios, NYC)

Engineer - Don Hahn (A&R Studios, NYC)

Art Direction - Neil Terk

Photography - P.B. Kaplan

The Commodore Years - Tenor Sax: Coleman Hawkins And Frank Wess

I am really excited to be sharing this great album of classic jazz.  This was released in 1973 as part of a reissue program at Atlantic.  They involved Milt Gabler and unlike the overwhelming (but incredible) complete discography that Mosaic released, they selected some of the best performances for this 2LP offering.  For those of you who have the Mosaic set, this post is probably not too interesting but for everybody else - you're in for a real treat!!!

                                                                                                                                                            
             

Commodore Records was a United States-based independent record label known for issuing many well regarded recordings of jazz and swing music.  Commodore Records was founded in the spring of 1938 by Milt Gabler, who in 1926 had founded the Commodore Music Shop in Manhattan, New York City, originally at 136 East 42nd Street (diagonally across the street from the Commodore Hotel), and from 1938–41 with a branch at 46 West 52nd Street – an address commemorated in Chu Berry's 'Forty-six, West Fifty-two'. The bulk of Commodore's issues were of Dixieland jazz, though other styles also sometimes appeared on the label. Eddie Condon recorded frequently for the label, with such notables as George Brunies and Pee Wee Russell often

in his band. Commodore was one of the first labels to list the full personnel of bands on the label.
Billie Holiday also recorded for Commodore (in 1939 and 1944), with "Strange Fruit" and "Fine and Mellow" first appearing on that label.
Like his UHCA label, Gabler initially arranged for recording and pressing made by ARC, then Reeves Transcription Services and Decca, so both Commodore and UHCA used various matrix number series, depending on where the session originated from.
After World War II Gabler went to work for Decca Records, and his Commodore label was later used by Decca for reissuing earlier jazz recordings on LP. In the early 1960s a series of Commodore albums were compiled by Gabler and part of the Mainstream label. Mosaic Records issued three LP sets of the label's complete output. - Wikipedia

The whole album is great, even the alternates.  My copy is mint condition and was ripped at 24/44.1 wav, dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC.  The anomolies you may hear are from the source recordings. Aside from that the fidelity on these recordings is brilliant, especially considering the age!!  I am assuming they did some
ripping of their own to get all of this music together!!  Enjoy!!

This attractive two-LP reissue (whose contents have since been reissued in Mosaic's massive Complete Commodore Jazz Recordings box set) consists of four interesting swing sessions. The first two are quite classic. The great tenor saxophonist Coleman

Hawkins is heard with a pianoless sextet in 1940 that also stars altoist Benny Carter and trumpeter Roy Eldridge. Their four selections (plus two alternate takes) are all impressive but it is this brilliant version of "I Can't Believe That You're in Love with Me" (during which Carter takes solo honors) that is most memorable. The other Hawkins date is with a septet from 1943. Trumpeter Cootie Williams and clarinetist Edmond Hall are in fine form, but it is the participation of the remarkable pianist Art Tatum that makes the set particularly historic. The other two sessions, among the final ones for Commodore, showcase Frank Wess (on tenor and 

flute) with a variety of Count Basie's sidemen (including trombonists Henry Coker, Benny Powell and Urbie Green, trumpeter Joe Wilder and pianist Jimmy Jones) on some lightly swinging modern jazz.     -  4.5 / 5  Scott Yanow/AMG

Helen Humes - Helen

Helen Humes - Helen
Muse 5233, 1981

1) There'll Be Some Changes Made
2) Easy Living
3) You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me
4) Evil Gal Blues
5) Why Try to Change Me Now?
6) Draggin' My Heart Around

Helen Humes vocals, Joe Wilder trumpet, Buddy Tate tenor sax, Norman Simmons piano, Billy Butler guitar, George Duvivier bass, Butch Miles drums

Helen Humes was one of the most appealing jazz singers of the late '30s, and of the late '70s. Her comeback in her last few years was a welcome event, and all of her recordings for Muse are recommended. This one finds her backed by a veteran sextet including tenor man Buddy Tate, trumpeter Joe Wilder and pianist Norman Simmons. Her versions of "There'll Be Some Changes Made," "Easy Living" and "Draggin' My Heart Around" are particularly memorable. AMG

Kind of an unusual date because Joe Wilder comes out of the commercial studios to play real jazz, Billy Butler also adds some lovely touches on guitar. Norman Simmons and Buddy Tate are consummate pros  but the best feature of this band is....

***********George Duvivier is an absolute monster on this album!!************