Requisites

Hawkins! Alive! At The Village Gate ~ Coleman Hawkins | By Eddie Carter

This morning’s choice from the library takes us to The Village Gate for two performances on August 13 and 15, 1962 by The Coleman Hawkins Quartet. Hawkins! Alive! At The Village Gate (Verve Records V-8509/V6-8509) hit the stores in 1963 and is the companion to Hawkins! Eldridge! Hodges! Alive! At The Village Gate. It was also recorded on August 15 with special guests Roy Eldridge and Johnny Hodges. Hawk was one of the greatest musicians during the Swing Era and a commanding presence on the tenor sax throughout his career. Hawk’s joined on stage by Tommy Flanagan on piano, Major Holley on bass, and Ed Locke on drums. My copy used in this report is the 1995 Classic Records US Stereo Audiophile reissue sharing the original catalog number.

Side One opens with All The Things You Are by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. Tommy lays the foundation on a concise introduction leading to Coleman’s melody and lively lead solo possessing one imaginative idea after another. Tommy matches him in agility on a spirited reading. Major follows with a splendid statement leading to Coleman’s return for the theme’s reprise. Hawkins introduces the next tune to the audience, the African American spiritual, Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho. Hawk takes the lead on the theme, stepping aside for Flanagan who gives a marvelous first solo. Holley makes his presence felt on a strong, personal interpretation vocally accompanying his bass playing. Hawkins puts an exclamation point on the finale preceding the group’s climax.

The quartet starts Side Two with the old favorite, Mack The Knife by Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, and Marc Blitzstein. After the ensemble’s melody presentation, Coleman lets us know we’re in for a treat with a joyful opening solo. Tommy delivers a cheerful interpretation next, then Major gets a chance to shine on a charming reading ahead of the closing chorus. The album ends with a lovely ballad, It’s The Talk of The Town by Jerry Livingston, Al J. Neiburg, and Marty Symes. Hawk opens this standard with a warm, moving melody that continues in the poignant beauty of his opening statement. Flanagan follows with a touching interpretation of his own, and Holley manages the next reading with great delicacy. Hawk reappears and gently takes the group home to appreciative applause from the crowd.

Hawkins! Alive! At The Village Gate was produced by Creed Taylor. Frank Greenwald and Tom Hidley were the men behind the dials of the original recording. This Classic Records reissue was mastered by Bernie Grundman and pressed on 180 grams of audiophile vinyl that’s dead silent until the music starts. The sound quality is breathtaking with a stunning soundstage placing the listener in the Village Gate crowd while the musicians are performing. Coleman Hawkins recorded forty albums as a leader for various labels and appeared as a sideman with some of the elite musicians in jazz. He passed away at age sixty-four from liver disease on May 19, 1969. If you’re a fan of his LPs, the tenor sax, or just love good jazz, I invite you to check out Hawkins! Alive! At The Village Gate the next time you’re out searching for vinyl treasure. Like its companion, it’s a great album that’s perfect to enjoy with your favorite beverage after a long day or week, and a record any jazz aficionado or novice fan can enjoy!

~ Hawkins! Eldridge! Hodges! Alive! At The Village Gate (Verve Records V-8504/V6-8504) – Source: Discogs.com ~ All The Things You Are, It’s The Talk of The Town, Mack The Knife – Source: JazzStandards.com © 2022 by Edward Thomas Carter

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Don Lusher was born on November 6, 1923 in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England and started playing the trombone at six years old in his local Salvation Army band, the third generation of his family to do so.

During World War II, he served as a gunner signaller in the Royal Artillery. After the war, he became a professional musician, playing with the bands of Joe Daniels making £12 a week, Lou Preager, Maurice Winnick, the Squadronaires, Jack Parnell and the Ted Heath Big Band.

Lusher spent nine years as lead trombone with Ted Heath’s Orchestra and toured the United States with him five times. After several attempts to revive the band, Don took over the leadership in 1976. He led the ‘Ted Heath Tribute Orchestra’ throughout the 1980s and 1990s until the sold-out final concert at the Royal Festival Hall in December 2000. He led the trombone section during many of Frank Sinatra’s European tours. In 1975 he gave the first performance of Gordon Langford’s Rhapsody for Trombone at London’s Royal Albert Hall, and went on to perform it around the world.

Lusher formed his own ensemble, the Don Lusher Big Band, performed with the Manhattan Sound Big Band, played with Alexis Korner and various session musicians in the big band-rock fusion group CCS, and was a founder member of the Best of British Jazz group from the 1970s onwards.

After spending some years as a Professor of the Royal College of Music he became Professor of Trombone at the Royal Marines School of Music, in Portsmouth, England in 1997, retiring in 2004.

In 2001, he recorded an album British Jazz Legends Together on the Decca label featuring Kenny Ball, Acker Bilk, John Chilton and the Feetwarmers, John Dankworth, Humphrey Lyttelton, and George Melly.

He was awarded the status of Freeman of the City of London, received an OBE for services to the music industry, and was twice president of the British Trombone Society. Trombonist Don Lusher, who with his big band played its final concert in 2007, transitioned in Cheam, England on July 5, 2006 at 82.

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Terry Shannon was born on November 5, 1929 in London, England and started playing as a young child and was completely self-taught. He relied on gleaning from records rather than academic training. Never a good sight reader, he played local gigs with the likes of Les Condon but also worked in an office after leaving school. Finally in 1955 he gave up security for music and joined clarinetist Vic Ash, joining his quartet.

He first recorded with Jimmy Deucher and became a regular on Tempo records in the 1950s working with Dizzy Reece, Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes and Victor Feldman. His harmonic sense and his superb sense of time led him to become a favored pianist. Joining the Jazz Couriers in 1957 he stayed until the group broke up two years later, but continued working with Tubby’s various groups for the next five years. During this period he became a member of the Jazz Makers, had his own trio for a period and by 1965 was a part of the Keith Christie/Jimmy  Deuchar Five.

Emerging from this period of performance as a consistent player, his career began to falter in the late Sixties through a combination of jazz vices and bitterness. A stint with the Phil Seamen Trio, leading his own trio, and a long illness eventually removed him from the jazz scene for years. He returned to jazz in the Eighties freelancing occasional gigs before moving to South Humberside in 1988. Moving back to London five years later, Shannon regularly played in various groups.

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Lawrence Benjamin Bunker was born November 4, 1928 in Long Beach, California. At first he played primarily drums, but increasingly he focused on vibraphone. He was later highly regarded for his playing of timpani and various percussion instruments.

Bunker is a dependable and in-demand studio drummer and vibist who achieved distinction recording with Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Diana Krall, and many other jazz greats. In 1952, he was the drummer in one of Art Pepper’s first groups. The next two years he played drums in some of the earliest of Gerry Mulligan’s groups.

In the 1950s and 1960s he appeared at Howard Rumsey’s Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, and performed with Shorty Rogers and His Giants and others. The Sixties had him intermittently drumming in the Bill Evans trio and played timpani with the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra.

His work in movie soundtracks spanned over fifty years, from Stalag 17 in 1953 and Glengarry Glen Ross in ‘92) to The Incredibles in 2004. Larry’s work included soundtracks by John Williams, Henry Mancini, Quincy Jones, Miklós Rózsa, Jerry Goldsmith, Johnny Mandel, Lalo Schifrin and many other composers.

Drummer, vibraphonist, and percussionist Larry Bunker, who was a central figure on the West Coast jazz scene, transitioned from complications of a stroke in Los Angeles, California at age 76 on March 8, 2005.

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Mark Kramer was born November 3, 1945 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His prelimonary tutelage came from members of the Philadelphia Orchestra who mentored him on violin from the age of five. His early jazz performances in his teens and twenties included Michael and Randy Brecker, Charles Fambrough, Stanley Clarke, and Eric Gravatt.

Over the next decades his trio went on to record a series of specialty productions including the largest known body of jazz renditions of complete Broadway shows, jazz versions of principal themes from the John Williams score of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and a compilation of jazz renditions of the music of The Rolling Stones.

Kramer has mainly been an arranger and leader of his own trios throughout his career. His numerous recordings/productions are often listed under The Mark Kramer Trio. Many works from the late Eighties with bassist Eddie Gómez are listed under Eddie Gómez and Mark Kramer or simply Eddie Gómez.

A far-ranging catalog of duo and trio recordings included the Art of the Heart on Art of Life Records. Pianist, composer, arranger, and producer/engineer Mark Kramer continues to pursue his creativity in music.

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