Hans Koller - Exclusiv (1965)

It amazes today to realize that Hans Koller's music was available on records in America before it was available in Germany. It was left to MPS records to exclusively present the "complete Koller". Here we not only get to know Hans Koller the saxophonist, on alto and tenor by the way, but also the band leader and boss of his own combo, the exponent of German jazz who played with leading Americans. Today one has to testify Hans Koller that he, without a doubt, has found his own style, although he was never in America nor was ever sent to faraway places by some cultural office. "Hans Koller Exclusive" is the definite proof that this musician is the "grand old man" of German jazz! ~ Dr. Schulz-Köhn, from Liner Notes. 

MPS/SABA Records, SB 15 024 ST, 1965
Recorded 19th February, 1959 (#A2,B2) at Studio der DFW Baden-Baden, Germany [Quartett]
26th November, 1963 (#A1,A3-B1,B3-B5) at SABA-Tonstudio Villingen, Germany [Nonett] 

Musicians:
Hans Koller - Alto Saxophone (#A1,A3,A4,B1,B3-B5), Tenor Saxophone (#A2,B2)
Dick Spencer - Alto Saxophone (#A1,A3,A4,B1,B3-B5)
Erhard Wenig, Rudi Flierl - Tenor Saxophone (#A1,A3,A4,B1,B3-B5)
Helmut Reinhardt, Ronnie Ross - Baritone Saxophone (#A1,A3,A4,B1,B3-B5)
Ira Chris - Guitar (#A1,A3,A4,B1,B3-B5)
Attila Zoller - Guitar (#A2,B2)
Hans Rettenbacher - Bass (#A1,A3,A4,B1,B3-B5)
Oscar Pettiford - Bass (#A2,B2)
Allen Ganly - Drums (#A1,A3,A4,B1,B3-B5)
Jimmy Pratt - Drums (#A2,B2) 

Tracks:
A1. Natalie {Laurindo Almeida} (2:17)
A2. Blues In A Closet {Oscar Pettiford; Arr. Hans Koller} (6:40)
A3. Egil {Hans Koller} (3:50)
A4. Painter's Lament {Hans Koller} (4:50)
B1. Plädoyer {Russell Garcia} (3:20)
B2. The Gentle Art Of Love {Oscar Pettiford; Arr. Hans Koller} (4:57)
B3. Muttnik {Quincy Jones; Arr. Russell Garcia} (3:42)
B4. It's Over {H.G. Brunner-Schwer; Arr. Russell Garcia} (3:02)
B5. Pagode {Russell Garcia} (2:34) 

Total Time: 35:12 

Credits:
Producer - Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer
Engineer - Rolf Donner
Liner Notes - Dr. Schulz-Köhn, H. Flaig

Sonny Rollins - Sonny's Time (1957)

A great compilation of Sonny’s work heralding from 1957 and his time with Riverside. He surrounds himself with an exciting array of players all well-known contemporaries of equal status. An LP full of jazz standards and two of his own tunes. The majority of the tracks come from his album ‘The Sound Of Sonny’ and two from ‘Jazz Contrasts’ led by Kenny Dorham.

Jazzland Records, JLP 972, 1962

Recorded 19^th June, 1957 (#A1-A3); 12^th June 1957 (#A4,B1);

27^th May, 1957 (#B2) & 21^st May, 1957 (#B3)

At Reeves Sound Studios, New York City

Musicians:

Sonny Rollins - Tenor Saxophone

Kenny Dorham - Trumpet (#B2,B3)

Betty Glamann - Harp (#B2)

Sonny Clark - Piano (#A1,A3-B1)

Hank Jones - Piano (#B2,B3)

Paul Chambers - Bass (#A1-A3)

Percy Heath - Bass (#A4,B1)

Oscar Pettiford - Bass (#B2,B3)

Roy Haynes - Drums (#A1-B1)

Max Roach - Drums (#B2,B3)

Tracks:

A1. Funky Blues Hotel {Sonny Rollins} (6:00)

A2. The Last Time I Saw Paris {Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern} (2:55)

A3. What Is There To Say? {E.Y. Harburg, Vernon Duke} (4:54)

A4. Cutie {Sonny Rollins} (5:52)

B1. Mangoes {Sid Wayne, Dee Libbey} (5:32)

B2. My Old Flame {Sam Coslow, Arthur Johnston} (5:22)

B3. La Villa {Kenny Dorham} (7:01)

Credits:

Producer - Orrin Keepnews

Recording & Remastering Engineer - Jack Higgins

Album Design - Ken Deardoff

Liner Notes - Joe Goldberg

Notes:

Compilation of tracks from Riverside albums:

Various - Blues For Tomorrow [RLP-243]

Sonny Rollins - The Sound Of Sonny [RLP-241]

Kenny Dorham - Jazz Contrasts [RLP-239]

Gigi Gryce/Hall Overton/Duke Jordon - Signals (24/48 vinyl rip)

A new rip in 24/48! Sounds pretty good to me.


The story of these rather extraordinary records dates back to a short lived label called Signal (thus the title). Signal was the brain child of Jules Colomby, brother of Harold Colomby who was Monk's manager. Colomby had the idea that they would make records of a soloist over a crack rhythm section and put that on one side of the record, while on the other side the soloist would be deleted, leaving space for the home player to now play over the rhythm section. Kind of a cool idea. Jules got his brother Harold and Don Schlitten to become his partners and they found a silent partner investor for capitol. The investor eventually wanted his money back and the label was folded and sold to Savoy.

Sides one and two here are the quartet sides from Jazz Laboratory - Do It Yourself Jazz, volumes 1 and 2. On side one Gryce plays in front of the jaw dropping rhythm team of Duke Jordon, Oscar Pettiford and Kenny Clarke! Side two features Phil Woods in front of Hall Overton, Teddy Kotick, and  Mick Stabulas. Both sessions are quite nice but I think Phil's tone sounds a bit muddy next to Gryce's.

The second record gets REALLY interesting. I'm not sure if these two sessions were ever presented in the format described above or even intended to be, but each is half a record so who knows what they had in mind. Side three is a lovely large band set with Gryce sounding glorious in front of a large portion of the Oscar Pettiford Orchestra of that time. Side four is the BIG payoff though...four tracks of Gryce in a quartet with Thelonious Monk, Percy Heath, and Art Blakey!!! Can you imagine if they DID make a second side without Gryce and you got to try to play over those guys? This second record was later released as Nica's Tempo.

Gigi Gryce - Duke Jordan - Hall Overton – Signals
Label:Savoy Records – SJL 2231, Format:2 × Vinyl, LP, Reissue
Country:US, Released:1978, Genre:Jazz, Style: Bop, Swing

A1         Sometimes I'm Happy        
A2         Embraceable You        
A3         Jordu        
A4         Oh Yeah!        
B1         Pennies From Heaven        
B2         Yesterdays        
B3         It's Only A Paper Moon       
B4         You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To        
C1         Speculation        
C2         In A Meditation Mood        
C3         Social Call        
C4         Smoke Signal        
C5         (You'll Always Be) The One I Love        
C6         Kerry Dance        
D1         Shuffle Boil        
D2         Brake's Sake        
D3         Gallop's Gallop        
D4         Nica's Tempo        

   Alto Saxophone – Gigi Gryce (tracks: A1 to A4, C1, C2, C4, C6, D1 to D4), Phil Woods (tracks: B1 to B4)
    Baritone Saxophone – Cecil Payne (tracks: C3, C5), Danny Bank (tracks: C1, C2, C4, C6)
    Bass – Oscar Pettiford (tracks: A1 to A4, C1, C2, C4, C6), Percy Heath (tracks: D1 to D4), Teddy Kotick (tracks: B1 to B4)
    Drums – Art Blakey (tracks: C3, C5, D1 to D4), Kenny Clarke (tracks: A1 to A4, C1, C2, C4, C6), Mick Stabulas* (tracks: B1 to B4)
    Executive Producer – Steve Backer
    French Horn – Gunther Schuller (tracks: C1, C2, C4, C6), Julius Watkins (tracks: C3, C5)
    Mastered By, Recorded By [Original Recording] – Rudy Van Gelder
    Piano – Duke Jordan (tracks: A1 to A4), Hall Overton (tracks: B1 to B4), Horace Silver (tracks: C1, C2, C4, C6), Thelonious Monk (tracks: D1 to D4)
    Producer [Original Sessions] – Jules Colomby
    Reissue Producer – Bob Porter
    Trombone – Eddie Bert (tracks: C3, C5), Jimmy Cleveland (tracks: C1, C2, C4, C6)
    Trumpet – Art Farmer (tracks: C1, C2, C4, C6)
    Tuba – Bill Barber (tracks: C1, C2, C4, C6)
    Vocals – Ernestine Anderson (tracks: C3, C5)

Side 1 Recorded In Hackensack. March 7, 1955.
Side 2 Recorded In Hackensack. February 8, 1955.
Side 3 Recorded In Hackensack. October 22 & 30, 1955.
Side 4 Recorded In Hackensack. October 15, 1955.

Teddy Charles - Three For Duke (1957) [vinyl>flac]

"As for Duke's music," Oscar concluded, "I haven't heard anything bad by him yet. In terms of adapting some of his works for a trio, I did make some suggestions; because, having worked with Duke so long, I had a kind of insight on how he does things. So I sort of pulled their coats a little from time to time. Anyway, write whatever you want about the session; I just dig playing the music." From Nat Hentoff's liner notes (Jubilee). - "There was no drum used at all. It is a lasting tribute to the genius that was Oscar Pettiford that he was able to integrate his playing into everything that was going on and still keep the tempo going." ~ from Liner Notes by Nat Hentoff.

For the "Three For Duke" session, of 1957 on the Jubilee label, Teddy Charles was reunited with his friend and mentor Hall Overton in a trio rounded out by the master bassist Oscar Pettiford. Six Ellington compositions were recorded including a nine-minute exploration of “Sophisticated Lady,” taken at very slow tempo, but notably avoiding the common ballad crutch of doubling the tempo. Charles had some trepidation about doing this album without a drummer, but Pettiford's strength and taste rendered such concerns unnecessary. With sketches by both Overton and Charles, the music is faithful to Ellington's legacy and thoughtful and moving solos are provided by all three participants. The concepts of group rapport and contextual appropriateness so important to all of Charles's work are ever present. This is an album that definitely merits reissue. Extract from New Directions Revisited - The Rich and Unique Legacy of Teddy Charles by Noal Cohen.

Jubilee Records, JLP 1047, 1958?

Recorded 29^th May, 1957 in New York

Personnel:

Teddy Charles - Vibraphone

Hall Overton - Piano

Oscar Pettiford - Bass

Track Listing:

A1. Main Stem {Duke Ellington} (4:57)

A2. Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me {Duke Ellington, Bob Russell} (5:11)

A3. Sophisticated Lady {Duke Ellington, Mitchell Parish, Irving Mills} (9:40)

B1. Don't Get Around Much Anymore {Duke Ellington, Bob Russell} (5:32)

B2. Sherman Shuffle {Duke Ellington} (6:52)

B3. The Mooch {Duke Ellington, Irving Mills} (6:11)

Credits:

Producer - Lee Kraft

Cover Design - Tom Hannan

Liner Notes - Nat Hentoff

Sammy Price and his Bluesicians, 1944

Sammy Price was similar to Lonnie Johnson in that he really defied genre classification. My friend Les, who is a trad jazz player, would describe him as a blues pianist who was at home playing jazz as well. The problem with that is he predates the introduction of the piano into Blues. Sammy is a swing and stride era pianist who continued to play effectively in the bop eras but had a special affinity for blues and boogie woogie (styles in which he is considered to be more influential). If you remember the Lucky Thompson series from a year or 2 back, Lucky played with Sammy in the mid 40's too.

These recordings were done for World Broadcasting Systems in 1944 on 16" transcriptions for broadcast purposes only. The final versions first saw public release in 1984 for 2 or 3 seconds. This is the first and only release of the entire session, warts and all. The band is astounding; Ike Quebec, Bill Coleman, Joe Eldridge (Roy's older brother), and a very young Oscar Pettiford.....WHEW!

This release produced just down the block!