Requisites
Introducing Johnny Griffin ~ Johnny Griffin | By Eddie Carter
Submitted for your approval this morning is the 1956 debut by tenor saxophonist, Johnny Griffin. Introducing Johnny Griffin aka Chicago Calling (Blue Note BLP 1533/BST 81533) is the first of three releases he made as a leader for Alfred Lion’s label. The other two are A Blowing Session (1957) and The Congregation (1958). Johnny was nicknamed The Little Giant for his small size, but he possessed a robust sound and dazzling technique that kept him recording and in demand as a leader and sideman for over sixty years. For his first album, Griff’s working with three of the best musicians in the business, Wynton Kelly on piano, Curly Russell on bass, and Max Roach on drums. My copy used in this report is the 2002 Classic Records Mono audiophile deep groove reissue sharing the original catalog number.
Side One opens briskly with Mil Dew, the first of three tunes by Johnny Griffin. Max begins the fireworks with a brief introduction. Johnny grips you right away from a fast-moving opening chorus and a wild ride on the first solo. Wynton stokes the fire with fierce heat next, then Max aggressively exchanges notes with Griff ahead of Curly’s vigorous comment during the closing chorus. Chicago Calling, also by the leader, is listed as the album’s title tune and the quintet begins the melody in a relaxed groove. Johnny eases into the opening statement leisurely, then takes the tempo up for the remainder of his reading. Wynton meets the challenge with a nimble solo that’s absolutely stunning; next Griff returns with a delightfully carefree interpretation leading to the climax.
These Foolish Things by Harry Link, Eric Maschwitz (using the pseudonym Holt Marvell), and Jack Strachey made its debut in the British musical comedy, Spread It Abroad (1936). Wynton introduces the song tenderly, segueing into a heart-warming opening chorus and lead solo by Griff. Kelly delivers a delicate interpretation that’s beautifully constructed to match Russell and Roach’s sultry support preceding Johnny’s beautiful finale. The Boy Next Door by Ralph Blaine and Hugh Martin begins with a light-hearted theme by the quartet. Griff opens the solos expressing great joy on the first interpretation. Wynton steps up next with a very satisfying performance. Griff swings soulfully for a few more verses before the foursome reassembles for the ending.
Side Two starts with the group inviting us to get comfortable and enjoy a breezy blues by Griffin that’s Nice and Easy. The saxophonist takes the listener to a notably relaxed atmosphere on the melody and opening statement. Wynton offers a carefree interpretation that’s just right, followed by Curly who gives a delightfully mellow performance into the ensemble’s finale. It’s All Right With Me by Cole Porter takes off at a blistering pace from the quartet’s opening chorus into Griffin’s ferociously speedy first flight that ascends to a peak of intensity. Kelly continues soaring into the stratosphere with equally explosive verses, then Griff comes back with a few final fiery choruses leading to the melody’s reprise and abrupt conclusion.
Lover Man by Jimmy Davis, Roger Ramirez, and James Sherman opens with a sensitive introduction by Kelly that blossoms into Johnny’s hauntingly beautiful melody. Griff swings gently on the opening solo, then Wynton enhances the song’s intimacy with a lovely reading. Johnny adds a few tenderly expressed thoughts into the close.
Introducing Johnny Griffin was remastered by Bernie Grundman who knocks it out of the park with a breathtaking soundstage from Rudy Van Gelder’s original tapes. The highs sparkle, the midrange is clean and crisp, and the bass is deep. The album is pressed on 200 grams of Quiex SV-P Super Vinyl and is quiet until the music starts. If you’re a fan of tenor sax or are new to the music of Johnny Griffin, I highly recommend Introducing Johnny Griffin for a spot in your library. It’s a great album for anyone who loves jazz that gets better with repeated listening!
~ A Blowing Session (Blue Note BLP 1559), The Congregation (Blue Note BLP 1580) – Source: Discogs.com ~ These Foolish Things, Lover Man – Source: JazzStandards.com ~ The Boy Next Door – Source: Wikipedia.org © 2022 by Edward Thomas Carter
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Lorraine Winifred Geller was born Lorraine Walsh on September 11, 1928 in Portland, Oregon. She started out with the all-female big band Sweethearts of Rhythm, based in New York. She met saxophonist Herb Geller, married him in 1951, and together they moved to Los Angeles, California where they played with many musicians on the West Coast jazz scene, such as Shorty Rogers, Zoot Sims, Stan Getz, and Red Mitchell. She also did sessions with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.
In 1957, she accompanied Kay Starr and the following year, concentrating on raising her daughter, she pared down her performances. She did, however, play at the first Monterey Jazz Festival. On October 13, 1958 pianist Lorraine Geller transitioned in Los Angeles, attributed to heart failure or pulmonary infection.
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Herman Davis Burrell was born September 10, 1940 in Middletown, Ohio and grew fond of jazz at a young age after meeting Herb Jeffries. He studied piano and music at the University of Hawaii from 1958 to 1960, then starting in 1961 he attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. 1965 saw him walking across the stage to receive degrees in composition/arranging and performance. While in Boston, he played with Tony Williams and Sam Rivers.
After graduation Dave moved to New York City, where he worked and recorded with Grachan Moncur III, Marion Brown, and Pharoah Sanders. He also started the Untraditional Jazz Improvisational Team with saxophonist Byard Lancaster, bassist Sirone, and drummer Bobby Kapp. Three years later he co-founded The 360 Degree Music Experience with Moncur and Beaver Harris, recording two albums with the group. The following year, Burrell began an association with Archie Shepp, with whom he would play the 1969 Pan-African Festival in Algiers, Algeria. They would go on to record nearly twenty albums.
Burrell’s debut as a leader was an album titled High Won-High Two that was released in 1968. This was followed by Echo and La Vie de Bohème recorded in Paris in 1969, and Round Midnight for Nippon Columbia.
In 1978, with Swedish poet and lyricist Monika Larsson he composed a jazz opera entitled Windward Passages, with an album of the same name, based on the opera, released in 1979. Their touring and recording collaborations resulted in four more albums. He would later appear on seven David Murray albus recorded between 1988 and 1993.
Burrell tours and performs as a soloist and as a leader of a duo, trio, and larger ensembles. His recordings have received high praise from Down Beat, Village Voice, Jazz Times and others. Into the new millennium he has continued to perform, record and release several albums including a live recording in Italy. In 2022, pianist Dave Burrell donated his archive to the Center for American Music in the University of Pittsburgh Library System. He continues to be active in jazz.
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Fred Stone was born on September 9, 1935 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and was the son of saxophonist Archie Stone. His initial musical studies were with his father. At the age of 14 he began studying the trumpet with Donald Reinhardt in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and spent every summer in that city from 1950–1955. At home he studied music theory and music composition with Gordon Delamont and John Weinzweig.
Commencing his performance career in 1951 at the age of 16 he played in Benny Louis’s big band. From 1955 to 1967 he was a trumpeter in various orchestras related to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, including the CBC Symphony Orchestra. During the late 1950s and 1960s he performed widely as a concert soloist with orchestras throughout North America. He was an active performer as a jazz musician, playing regularly with Ron Collier , Phil Nimmons , the Boss Brass, and Lighthouse and he toured North America and Europe with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Returning to Toronto in 1971, Stone became highly involved with his work as a teacher, and operated his own private studio where he taught improvisational theory and music composition. His performance career virtually ceased for the remainder of the decade, although he remained active as a composer. Between 1971 and 1983 he mainly focused on his work as a composer and teacher, making only periodic public performances, and often with ensembles composed largely of his students.
In 1984 he formed Freddie’s Band, a jazz ensemble in residence at The Music Gallery in Toronto. Flugelhornist, trumpeter, pianist, composer, writer, and music educator Fred Stone recorded eleven albums as a sideman before he transitioned on December 10, 1986.
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Elmer Schoebel was born in East St. Louis, Illinois on September 8, 1896. Early in his career he played along to silent films in Champaign, Illinois. After moving on to vaudeville late in the 1910s, he played with the 20th Century Jazz Band in Chicago, Illinois in 1920.
1922-23 saw him as a member of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, then led his own band, known variously as the Midway Gardens Orchestra, the Original Memphis Melody Boys and the Chicago Blues Dance Orchestra, before joining Isham Jones in 1925. After returning to Chicago, Elmer played with Louis Panico and Art Kassel, and arranged for the Melrose Publishing House.
By the 1930s, Schoebel was writing and arranging, working as the chief arranger for the Warner Brothers publishing division. From the 1940s onward he did some performing with Conrad Janis, Blue Steele’s Rhythm Rebels (1958), and with his own ensembles in St. Petersburg, Florida. He continued to play up until his death.
Schoebel wrote a number of standards, including Bugle Call Rag, Stomp Off- Let’s Go, Nobody’s Sweetheart Now, Farewell Blues, and Prince of Wails. While a member of the New Orleans Rhythm Kings he wrote I Never Knew What A Girl Could Do, Oriental, and Discontented Blues.
Pianist, composer and arranger Elmer Schoebel, who as a leader only recorded one of his own compositions in 1929 titled Prince of Wails, transitioned on December 14, 1970.
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