The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
Contrary to the announcement that the pandemic is over and the unmasking the country has clearly exhibited, a variant is still present and this Jazz Voyager is getting out remains distant from crowds and enclosed spaces. So we will continue to listen to great music.
My selection this week is the Complete Studio Recordings, a two compact disc set whose songs were recorded between 1956 and 1958 by the Curtis Counce Quintet composed of Counce, Jack Sheldon, Harold Land, Carl Perkins and Frank Butler went into the studio of Contemporary Records and recorded twenty-four songs. Though the group was short~lived, their impact produced a powerhouse two-disc set of music comprising the main recordings on the Contemporary label.
The group’s expressed purpose was to develop a West Coast answer to the soulful, hard-bop East Coast sound. Each of the musicians was among the most gifted on his instrument, yet the focus was always on a collaborative result that would reflect undiscovered possibilities within a familiar post-bop idiom. Seldom does a group of musicians come together and play so seamlessly that they sound like one voice speaking. The contribution of each of the five principals, therefore, invites close scrutiny.
The beauty of the recorded disc is that it is a lasting tribute to the musicians who performed on this recording. Lester Koenig at Contemporary Records was known for extremely high audio standards and turned out some of the best-sounding records of the day thanks to the expertise of engineer Roy DuNann. The audio on these Contemporary dates is rich in depth and detailing, allowing the listener to pick out each of the subordinate motifs and subtle moving harmonies. The engineering created a naturally ambient soundscape inviting the listener to partake of the worthy.
The caveat is that this music appeared on previously released albums by Curtis Counce and this is an opportunity to pick up the excellence of 24 tracks of music in a one~stop shop. This represents African-American indigenous art of the highest order. Released by Gambit Records in 2007 and definitely one for the collector.
Track Listing | 150:00+
Disc 1- Landslide (Harold Land) ~ 8:37
- Time After Time (Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne) ~ 6:32
- Mia (Carl Perkins) ~ 4:55
- Sarah (Jack Sheldon) ~ 11:38
- Fifth For Frank (Gerald Wiggins/Cal Tjader) ~ 7:14
- Big Foot (Charlie Parker) ~ 9:07
- Sonar (Kenny Clarke/Gerald Wiggins) ~ 7:28
- Stranger In Paradise (Robert Wright/George Forrest) ~ 7:04
- Woody’n You (Dizzy Gillespie) ~ 6:18
- Pink Lady (Jack Sheldon) ~ 4:41
- Councelation (Curtis Counce) ~ 6:05
- Love Walked In (George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin) ~ 4:56
- Too Close For Comfort (Larry Holofcener) ~ 5:38
- How Deep Is The Ocean (Irving Berlin) ~ 6:37
- Complete (Curtis Counce) ~ 5:52
- Nica’s Dream (Horace Silver) ~ 8:00
- How Long Has This Been Going On (George Gershwin/Ira Gerswin) ~ 3:18
- Mean To Me (Fred E. Ahlert/Roy Turk) ~ 4:31
- I Can’t Get Started (Vernon Duke/Ira Gershwin) ~ 8:01
- Larue (Clifford Brown) ~ 5:04
- Carl’s Blues (Carl Perkins) ~ 5:54
- Night In Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie/Frank Paparelli) ~ 8:17
- Love Walked In (George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin) ~ 2:55
- Sophisticated Lady (Duke Ellington) ~ 4:10
- Fifth For Frank (Gerald Wiggins/Cal Tjader) ~ 1:56
- The Butler Did It (Frank Butler) ~ 4:39
Personnel
- Jack Sheldon ~ trumpet
- Harold Land ~ tenor saxophone
- Carl Perkins ~ piano
- Curtis Counce ~ bass
- Frank Butler ~ drums
- Gerald Wilson ~ trumpet (replaces Sheldon on three tracks of disc 2)
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The Quarantined Jazz Voyager
The Jazz Voyager is still practicing social distancing and masking at unknown vac gatherings because the airlines have extended my eCredit another year. The news is talking about another variant and this voyager is vigilant in remaining safe.
This week I am pulling from the library Phineas Newborn Jr. Plays Harold Arlen’s Music from Jamaica. It is an album by the pianist, produced by A. K. Salim, and recorded on September 7, 8 & 9, 1957 in New York City and released on the RCA Victor label. The album features his interpretations of compositions from the Broadway musical Jamaica.
Track List | 38:00 All compositions by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg
- Savannah ~ 4:10
- Little Biscuit ~ 3:03
- Cocoanut Sweet ~ 4:23
- Push De Button ~ 4:23
- Napoleon ~ 4:20
- Hooray For De Yankee Dollar ~ 3:31
- For Every Fish ~ 3:47
- Take It Slow, Joe ~ 4:20
- Pity the Sunset ~ 4:07
- Pretty to Walk With ~ 2:52
- Phineas Newborn Jr. ~ piano
- Ernie Royal (tracks 2, 4 & 6-9), Nick Ferrante (tracks 1, 3, 5 & 10) ~ trumpet
- Jimmy Cleveland ~ trombone
- Jerome Richardson ~ tenor saxophone, flute
- Sahib Shihab ~ baritone saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
- Les Spann ~ guitar
- George Duvivier ~ bass
- Osie Johnson ~ drums
- Francisco Pozo, Willie Rodriguez ~ congas, bongos, timbale
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Bryan Carrott was born in Queens, New York on April 23, 1959. After graduating from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and continued at the Manhattan School of Music before studying percussion with Morris Lang at Brooklyn College, then studied vibraphone with Dave Samuels at William Paterson University, receiving his Bachelor of Music degrees in Jazz Studies and Jazz Performance.
He has toured and/or recorded with David Fathead Newman, Ralph Peterson, Henry Threadgill, Muhal Richard Abrams, Sam Rivers, Don Byron, Dave Douglas, Charlie Hunter, Bob Moses, Roy Campbell, Herbie Mann, Cassandra Wilson, John Lurie & the Lounge Lizards, Greg Osby, Tom Harrell, Bennie Wallace, Steve Kroon, Joe Batan, and Kip Hanrahan, among others.
Carrott is an assistant professor and coordinator of percussion instruction at Five Towns College. He is a clinician and has led educational performances across the United States, Taiwan and Taipai. A featured soloist with Cologne, Germany’s WDR Orchestra conducted by Gunther Schuller, he was a mallet percussionist for Disney’s Broadway production of The Lion King.
For seven consecutive years, Bryan was cited in DownBeat Magazine’s International Critics’ Poll in the vibe category for Talent Deserving Wider Recognition, and has been featured on several film soundtracks, including 3 A.M. with Branford Marsalis. He currently serves as coordinator & professor of percussion studies at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, N.Y.
Vibraphonist and composer Bryan Carrott, who also plays marimba, piano, and leads his own trio, quartet and quintet, has yet to record as a leader but continues to perform and teach new generations of musicians.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Susanna Lindeborg was born on April 18, 1952 in Gothenburg, Sweden and began classical training on piano at a young age which turned into work with jazz and improvisation, showing to be her right element. She started her professional musical career in the middle of the Seventies.
Susanna went on to mix acoustic and electronic instruments, which has been known most of all through the group Mwendo Dawa, which she leads and tours together with saxophone player Ove Johansson. Writing her own music for the group, she also toured with the female jazz group Salamander during the beginning of the 1980s. Both Mwendo Dawa and Salamander attracted a lot of attention on the European continent and in the United States.
She currently tours with her Lindeborg/Johansson Duo and Natural Artefacts. Her performances are both in the world of improvisation music, the world of electro~acoustic music, and solo improvisations. With the release of her first solo compact disc in 1989, she parlayed the acceptance into some work in Germany with some radio and TV recordings. Avant~garde pianist Susanna Lindeborg continues to push the boundaries of her music.
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The Jazz Voyager
Two years ago the Jazz Voyager commenced lockdown against a very serious pandemic that was taking lives without discretion. Though I am beginning to get out and experience life outside with talks, films and music in open air spaces, the airlines has sent another important message by extending my eCredit another year until December 2023. Still aware that the pandemic is not over, I remain vigilant with mask wearing and social distancing in enclosed spaces such as markets, doctor’s offices. It is our duty to keep others safe as well by doing our individual part.
This week we are traveling musically back and taking down off the shelves to listen to We Three, the 1958 recording led by Roy Haynes by a trio of players who made their mark on the genre. Though the group was short-lived, the trio made the best of the time they spent together and delivered this album.
The album was recorded on November 14, 1958 at the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, produced by Esmond Edwards, and was released in May the following year on the New Jazz record label.
Track List | 39:29- Reflection (Ray Bryant) ~ 4:24
- Sugar Ray (Phineas Newborn, Jr.) ~ 6:25
- Solitaire (King Guion, Carl Nutter, Renee Borek) ~ 8:54
- After Hours (Avery Parrish) ~ 11:21
- Sneakin’ Around (Bryant) ~ 4:24
- Our Delight (Tadd Dameron) ~ 4:01
- Roy Haynes – drums
- Phineas Newborn Jr. ~ piano
- Paul Chambers ~ bass
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