Requisites
Workout! ~ Greg Marvin Quintet | By Eddie Carter
I’ve loved the tenor sax since childhood, and this morning’s record from the library is Workout! (Criss 1037), a recent discovery and acquisition on Criss Cross Jazz by The Greg Marvin Quintet. Greg was born in 1956 and began playing the guitar at age seven. He later took up the soprano sax at age seventeen, then graduated to his primary instrument, the tenor sax. Workout is his third album, following two on his label, Hi-Hat Records. Here, he’s working with an excellent supporting cast: Tom Harrell on trumpet, Kenny Barron on piano, George Mraz on bass, and Kenny Washington on drums. My copy is the original 1988 Netherlands Stereo release.
The album opens with Zip, the leader’s toe-tapping melody that the front line states in unison. Marvin leads off with a lively opening statement, followed by a short, brisk walk by Mraz. Harrell keeps right on swinging in the third solo. Barron strolls into the following reading seamlessly, and Washington finishes the solos before the song’s ending. The ensemble shifts into second gear for Everything I Have Is Yours by Burton Lane and Harold Adamson. The front line delivers the melody briskly; then, Barron sets the table; next, Marvin goes to work. Harrell takes the third bite of this juicy tune, and Washington serves the finale with his brushwork into the theme’s restatement.
The quintet starts the melody of Dickie’s Dream by Count Basie and Lester Young swiftly. Barron opens the first solo rapidly. Marvin follows him just as quickly in the second statement, and then Harrell moves like mad next. Mraz and Washington share a vigorous conversation, followed by the front line’s swift finale ahead of the climax. Side Two continues the upbeat mood with the ensemble’s theme of Subconscious-Lee by Lee Konitz. Marvin takes off like a rocket in the opening statement. Harrell continues motoring along quickly in the following reading. Barron’s fingers flow with equal intensity next; Mraz gives an exciting performance preceding the group’s return.
Lover Man by Jimmy Davis, Roger Ramirez, and Jimmy Sherman begins with the front line’s bewitching introduction, which blossoms into the quintet’s melody. Kenny displays a tender touch of grace and beauty in the opening solo; next, George adds a seductive sensuality to the finale into the ensemble’s gentle conclusion. Gentle Giant is Greg Marvin’s lively tribute to Warne Marsh. The quintet swings from the start of the front line’s collective melody. The leader kicks off the opening statement, and Harrell follows with a splendid performance. Barron moves smoothly through the following reading, and then Mraz dazzles one final time into the theme’s reprise and exit.
Greg Marvin did triple duty as leader, composer and producer of Workout, and Jim Anderson was the album’s recording engineer. The sound quality is excellent, with a gorgeous soundstage that brings the musicians to your listening room with exceptional clarity. I was also very impressed with what I’ve heard from Greg Marvin and his colleagues. The music itself is excellent, as are the solos on every track. I would have loved to hear more from the saxophonist, and I’ll be hunting for his other releases. If you’re a tenor sax fan, I recommend Workout! by The Greg Marvin Quintet on your next vinyl hunt. It’s an easy album to listen to and perfect to enjoy while relaxing during the day or evening!
~ The Greg Marvin Quartet (Hi-Hat Records GM-1), I’ll Get By (Hi-Hat Records GM-2) – Source: Discogs.com ~ Lover Man – Source: JazzStandards.com ~ Everything I Have Is Yours – Source: Wikipedia.org © 2023 by Edward Thomas Carter
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Nelson Symonds was born on September 24, 1933 in Upper Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia, Canada. After pursuing the banjo at a young age he switched to the guitar. He gained his first performance experience touring on a travelling carnival from 1955 to 1958 throughout the United States. Upon returning to Canada he settled in Montreal in 1958 and played in the group The Stablemates led by Alfie Wade Jr.
During the Sixties and 1970s Nelson played mainly with bassist Charlie Biddle and drummer Norman Marshall Villeneuve at The Black Bottom, Rockhead’s Paradise and other similar venues. The 1970s saw him and Biddle performing as a duo in numerous Laurentian resorts. Throughout his 30-plus year career, he played at all of the major jazz venues in Montreal including Upstairs, Biddles and Cafe La Bohème among others.
Symonds reportedly resisted recording until the 1990s, cutting three collaborative albums, and one as leader. Unfortunately for the jazz world, in 1996 he underwent a quadruple bypass that put an end to his musical career.
Guitarist Nelson Symonds transitioned on October 11, 2008 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada due to a heart attack at the age of 75.
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Tiny Bradshaw was born Myron Carlton Bradshaw on September 23, 1907 in Youngstown, Ohio. Graduating from high school he went on to matriculate through Wilberforce University with a degree in psychology, then turned to music for a living.
In Ohio, he sang and played drums with Horace Henderson’s campus oriented Collegians. Relocating to New York City in 1932 he drummed for Marion Hardy’s Alabamians, the Charleston Bearcats, and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band, and sang for Luis Russell. Two years later Bradshaw formed his own swing orchestra, which recorded eight sides in two separate sessions for Decca Records that year in New York City. The band would go on to record in 1944 for Manor Records with the music leaning more towards rhythm and blues than jazz or swing. In 1947 he recorded for Savoy Records.
The band recorded extensively for the rhythm and blues market with King Records between late 1949 and early 1955. His influence as a composer is evidenced in the rock world with his 1951 song The Train Kept A-Rollin’ that has been recorded by Johnny Burnette & The Rock and Roll Trio, The Yardbirds with Jeff Beck, Aerosmith, Motörhead and performed by Jimmy Page as the first song played, at the very first rehearsal of the band that would become Led Zeppelin.
Returning to R&B with Soft and Heavy Juice, he brought along with him on both of these 1953 hits, Red Prysock on tenor saxophone. Tiny’s later career was hampered by severe health problems, including two strokes, the first in 1954, that left him partially paralyzed. However he made a return to touring in 1958.
As a bandleader, he was an invaluable mentor to important musicians and arrangers including Sil Austin, Happy Caldwell, Shad Collins, Wild Bill Davis, Talib Dawud, Gil Fuller, Gigi Gryce, Big Nick Nicholas, Russell Procope, Red Prysock, Curley Russell, Calvin “Eagle Eye” Shields, Sonny Stitt, Noble “Thin Man” Watts, and Shadow Wilson.
Weakened by the successive strokes as well as the rigors of his profession, bandleader, singer, composer, pianist, and drummer Tiny Bradshaw, who was important to the development of rock and roll, transitioned from a final stroke on November 26, 1958 in Cincinnati, Ohio at 51 years of age.
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Robert Falk was born in Paris, France on September 22, 1953 but soon moved to Brussels, Belgium where he studied guitar at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He started playing folk-music, then jazz-rock before getting interested in computer-aided musical composition.
He played in several bands in the 80’s such as Spring with Michel Delory and François Garny, and Falklands with Alain Rochette and Sam Mc Kinney. In 1989 he visited Zaire giving him the opportunity to get acquainted with African music.
He became active as a producer-arranger for various African artists in the Nineties and has produced Embowassa, Dominic Kakolobango, Malick Pathé Sow & Welnere, and early in the new century Diariyata and Pas Mal +.
He recorded and released his debut album Muzungu as a leader in 2006 featuring his afro-jazz compositions. Mixing intello jazz with african rythms that mainly come from the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.
His sophomore project is afro-jazz centered around West~African music but includes Brazilian influences as in a congolese samba. It is titled Xelu Sowu, which translates to The Spirit of the West in wolof.
Guitarist and composer Robert Falk continues to perform and record.
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Born on September 21, 1927 Ward Lamar Swingle grew up in Mobile, Alabama and studied music, particularly jazz, from a very young age. He learned clarinet, oboe and the piano as a child and played in Mobile-area big bands before he was out of high school. He continued his music studies at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, graduating summa cum laude in 1950.
Moving to France in 1951 on a Fulbright scholarship, he studied piano with Walter Gieseking and worked as a rehearsal pianist for Les Ballets de Paris. He met a French-born violin student, Françoise Demorest, and got married in 1952. 1959 saw Swingle as a founding member of Les Double Six of Paris, which specialised in scat singing of jazz standards.
This concept of scatting to Johann Sebastian Bach was the foundation for The Swingle Singers, which became fully established by 1962. They released their albums Jazz Sebastian Bach and Bach’s Greatest Hits in 1963 and their early recordings won five Grammy Awards. Disbanding the original Swingle Singers in 1973 he moved to London, England and formed a new group, and expanded their repertoire to include classical and avant-garde works along with the scat and jazz vocal arrangements.
Returning to live in America in 1984 he remained musical advisor for his London-based group, but devoted most of his time to workshops, guest conducting and the dissemination of his printed arrangements through his publishing company, Swingle Music. He went on to conduct several chamber and philharmonic choirs, and conduct workshops and seminars at universities in Europe and North America.
In 1994 he moved back to France, where he continued his work in arranging, composing and guest conducting. He wrote an autobiography and treatise titled Swingle Singing, in which he defined ‘Swingle Singing’ techniques with illustrations from his arrangements and compositions.
Vocalist, pianist and arranger Ward Swingle, who was named Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French Minister of Culture and Information, transitioned in Eastbourne, England, on January 19, 2015.
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