Requisites

Curtain Call ~ Hank Mobley | By Eddie Carter

Hank Mobley was one of the most productive musicians on Blue Note during the fifties, recording as a leader and with some of the label’s best artists. This morning’s subject is a recent acquisition to the library that was originally recorded in 1957 but remained shelved until a 1984 Japanese release. Curtain Call (Blue Note BST 61006) is an excellent quintet session by the tenor saxophonist featuring Kenny Dorham on trumpet, Sonny Clark on piano, Jimmy Rowser on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. My copy used in this report is the 2022 Blue Note Tone Poet Series Stereo audiophile reissue, the first US vinyl release.

Side One starts with the first of four tunes by Hank Mobley. Don’t Get Too Hip is an easy-flowing midtempo blues that Clark introduces preceding the quintet’s collective theme. Sonny is up first with an easygoing attitude on the first statement. Kenny continues this pleasant exercise with a lengthy solo spot. Hank takes center stage next and sails smoothly through the third reading. Jimmy applies the finishing touch on a short statement ahead of the group’s reprise and ending. Curtain Call is off to the races on the ensemble’s speedy melody. Hank moves with astonishing velocity in the opening statement. Kenny drives the second reading with intense emotion, then Sonny takes an exhilarating turn. Art shares the final solo with the front line briefly before the close.

Deep In a Dream by Eddie DeLange and Jimmy Van Heusen is a gorgeous quartet performance illustrating Hank’s ability to interpret a ballad. Mobley and the trio begin with a delicately tasteful melody. He continues with an exquisitely beautiful opening statement. Clark expresses great warmth to the second solo, then Hank adds the exclamation point with sensitive delicacy into the foursome’s luscious ending. The quintet raises the curtain on Side Two with The Mobe. The ensemble begins the happy theme in unison, then Hank takes off on a terrifically agile first solo. Kenny takes over, feeling right at home on the second reading. Sonny spreads some joyful enthusiasm on the next statement. The front-line reappears to exchange a few final verses leading to the finish.

My Reverie by Claude Debussy and Larry Clinton is one of the delights of the set. Dorham has the spotlight to himself on the melody and first solo, handling both with equal effectiveness. Clark comes on next with an intriguing interpretation, followed by Mobley who delivers the next statement confidently. Dorham returns to take the song out with Mobley shadowing him in the background. On The Bright Side ends the album on a cheerful note beginning with the quintet’s brisk melody. Kenny draws us into the song with a lively opening statement. Sonny gives a sterling account on the second solo. Hank endows the third interpretation with a feisty spirit, and Taylor sparkles in a brief exchange with Dorham and Mobley into the closing theme.

Curtain Call was originally produced by Alfred Lion and Rudy Van Gelder was the man behind the dials. Joe Harley supervised this reissue and Kevin Gray did the mastering. The sound quality is breathtaking with a terrific soundstage that transports the musicians to your listening room as you enjoy the album. The cover’s worthy of hanging on your wall and the gatefold photos are gorgeous. The record is pressed on 180-gram audiophile vinyl and is incredibly quiet until the music starts. If you enjoy Hank Mobley and love good Hard-Bop, I invite you to check out Curtain Call on your next vinyl treasure hunt. In my opinion, it’s one of his best fifties recordings and one listen is sure to hook you, just as one listen sold me!

~ Hank Mobley Quintet Featuring Sonny Clark (Blue Note BNJ 61006) – Source: Discogs.com ~ My Reverie – Source: Wikipedia.org © 2022 by Edward Thomas Carter

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Denys Justin Wright was born on May 6, 1924 in Deptford, London, England and grew up in Brockley. His first instrument was the piano but was soon trying to play his brother’s guitar. Known professionally as Denny Wright, he began playing professionally before World War II while at school. He nearly always used his thumb on the top E string and could only play as fast as he could sing.

Wright spent the first part of World War II playing in jazz clubs in the West End of London, doing session work and performing in bands on radio shows. He worked with Stephane Grappelli for the first time in London around 1941. At school he served with the Auxiliary Fire Service in Brockley. Classified medically unfit to serve due to a childhood injury, he joined Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), entertaining the troops.

In 1945 he started the first bebop club in London where he played piano and guitar. The late 1940s saw him touring Italy and the Middle East with the Francisco Cavez Orchestra. Throughout the 1950s DEnny provided guitar accompaniments for Lonnie Donegan, Johnny Duncan, Humphrey Lyttelton, and Marie Bryant, as well as appearing on Guitar Club on the BBC. In 1952, he accompanied Tex Ritter for a season at the Texas Western Spectacle, and with Joel David on Old Bones and added a guitar solo on Be My Valentine Tonight.

Establishing the Denny Wright Trio with violinist Bob Clarke took skiffle and jazz to the Soviet Union in 1957 for the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students. For four decades from the Forties he worked as a session musician working with the likes of Mary Hopkin, Dusty Springfield and Tom Jones. In the 1960s, he went on to record under The Cooper-Wright Quintet, and during the late Seventies formed the band Velvet with Ike Isaacs, Len Skeat, and Digby Fairweather.

Never one to not be working he continued to put bands together as well as lecturing and giving private lessons. He arranged for and fixed sessions, and was a prolific jazz and orchestra composer. He worked with Latin American, Afro-Cuban and Jamaican bands. Denny was voted the 1980 BBC Jazz Society Musician of the Year.

Guitarist, pianist, arranger and composer Denny Wright transitioned on February 8, 1992 in London after a nine-year battle with bladder cancer.

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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+

1. Landslide (Harold Land) ~ 8:37
2. Time After Time (Sammy Cahn/Jule Styne) ~ 6:32
3. Mia (Carl Perkins) ~ 4:55
4. Sarah (Jack Sheldon) ~ 11:38
5. Fifth For Frank (Gerald Wiggins/Cal Tjader) ~ 7:14
6. Big Foot (Charlie Parker) ~ 9:07
7. Sonar (Kenny Clarke/Gerald Wiggins) ~ 7:28
8. Stranger In Paradise (Robert Wright/George Forrest) ~ 7:04
9. Woody’n You (Dizzy Gillespie) ~ 6:18
10. Pink Lady (Jack Sheldon) ~ 4:41
11. Councelation (Curtis Counce) ~ 6:05

1. Love Walked In (George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin) ~ 4:56
2. Too Close For Comfort (Larry Holofcener) ~ 5:38
3. How Deep Is The Ocean (Irving Berlin) ~ 6:37
4. Complete (Curtis Counce) ~ 5:52
5. Nica’s Dream (Horace Silver) ~ 8:00
6. How Long Has This Been Going On (George Gershwin/Ira Gerswin) ~ 3:18
7. Mean To Me (Fred E. Ahlert/Roy Turk) ~ 4:31
8. I Can’t Get Started (Vernon Duke/Ira Gershwin) ~ 8:01
9. Larue (Clifford Brown) ~ 5:04
10. Carl’s Blues (Carl Perkins) ~ 5:54
11. Night In Tunisia (Dizzy Gillespie/Frank Paparelli) ~ 8:17
12. Love Walked In (George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin) ~ 2:55
13. Sophisticated Lady (Duke Ellington) ~ 4:10
14. Fifth For Frank (Gerald Wiggins/Cal Tjader) ~ 1:56
15. 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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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Henderson Chambers was born on May 1, 1908 in Alexandria, Louisiana and studied at Leland College and Morehouse College before joining the Neil Montgomery band in 1931. He played in Nashville with Doc Banks in 1932, then with Jack Jackson’s Pullman Porters, Speed Webb, Zack Whyte, and Al Sears in Kentucky.

After two years with Tiny Bradshaw in the middle of the Thirties, Chambers moved to New York City where he played with Chris Columbus at the Savoy Ballroom in 1939-40. Following this he played for the next three years with Louis Armstrong.

Later in the 1940s, he worked with Don Redman, Sy Oliver, Lucky Millinder, and Count Basie. By the 1950s he would spend time with Cab Calloway, Doc Cheatham, Duke Ellington, and Mercer Ellington. For a period he worked as a studio musician, however, after joining Ray Charles’s band from 1961 to 1963, Henderson played with Basie again until 1966.

He recorded seven albums with Count Basie, five with Buck Clayton and ten with Gene Ammons, Cat Anderson, Sammy Davis Jr., Ella Fitzgerald, Edmond Hall, Arthur Prysock & Count Basie, Jimmy Rushing, Frank Sinatra & Count Basie, and Ernie Wilkins.

Trombonist Henderson Chambers’ final performances were with Edgar Battle, shortly before his transition from a heart attack on October 19, 1967 in New York City.

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Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Willis “Gator” Jackson was born on April 25, 1928 in Miami, Florida and educated at the University of Miami. In 1948 he joined the Cootie Williams band as a teenager, and was part of it on and off until 1955.

Under his own name, Willis Jackson and His Orchestra, he recorded various rhythm-and-blues instrumentals for Atlantic Records. His most famous record for Atlantic is Gator’s Groove in 1952, with Estrellita as the B-side.

He toured as leader of the backing band for singer Ruth Brown. Publicly they were married, but privately they never were but lived together from 1950 to 1955. Joining Prestige Records in 1959, he made a string of albums with Pat Martino, Brother Jack McDuff, and Johnny “Hammond” Smith among many others. He also recorded for Atlantic, Muse, Trip, Big Chance, Verve, and Argo record labels.

Tenor saxophonist Willis “Gator” Jackson transitioned in New York City one week after heart surgery on October 25, 1987 at the age of 55.

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