Requisites

Free Wheeling ~ The Ted Brown Sextet Featuring Warne Marsh and Art Pepper | By Eddie Carter

I first heard a track from Free Wheeling (Vanguard VRS-8515) by The Ted Brown Sextet a few years ago on Sirius XM’s Real Jazz. I’ve loved the tenor sax since I was a child, so I was ecstatic to discover a new musician and finally get a copy. It was Ted’s first release as a leader, and the music within it is an excellent representation of West Coast jazz. During his career, he recorded with Lee Konitz, Hod O’ Brien, and Lennie Tristano, and on this date, he’s joined by Art Pepper on alto sax, Warne Marsh on tenor sax, Ronnie Ball on piano, Ben Tucker on bass, and Jeff Morton on drums. My copy is the 1975 King Record Company Japanese Mono reissue (Vanguard GXC 3121M).

Side one starts with the front line’s brisk introduction to Aretha by Ronnie Ball. Ronnie infuses the first solo with energy and agility. Art and Warne follow in successive order, hitting an ideal groove. Jeff is up next with a brief but lively finale ahead of the sextet’s theme’s restatement and climax. The ensemble moves the needle upward for Long Gone by Warne Marsh. The front line sets the mood in the opening chorus; then, Ted makes his entrance first for an exciting solo. Warne steps up next and takes the reins. Ronnie follows with a swift reading; then Art gets right to work and cooks. Jeff signals the end with a brief comment into the closing chorus and ending.

Once We Were Young by Walter Gross is a lovely song that Ted begins with a dreamy melody that Warne picks up in the background. Ronnie comes in for a short, sensitive interlude until both horns return for a beautiful theme restatement and tender climax. Foolin’ Myself is the creation of Andy Razaf and Thomas “Fats” Waller. The rhythm section starts with a mid-tempo introduction, segueing into the catchy melody. Ronnie takes the lead and gives an enchanting interpretation. Ted begins the second statement, then is joined by Art and Warne in succession for a hauntingly sincere reading that concludes softly.

The sextet takes us to Avalon by Al Jolson, Buddy DeSylva and Vincent Rose. The song’s title comes from a California city, and the front line kicks off the lively melody together. Ted goes first and makes a vigorous opening statement. Jeff succeeds him and delivers the goods in a spirited conversation with the leader before the group reconvenes to take the song out. On a Slow Boat To China by Frank Loesser starts Side Two with the sextet slowing the beat slightly for the opening chorus. Ted is thoroughly at ease in the first interpretation, and then Ronnie takes a few lovely choruses. Ted and Ronnie have a short exchange preceding the song’s conclusion.

Crazy She Calls Me by Carl Sigman and Bob Russell begins with the ensemble’s moving, deeply satisfying theme. Warne is the first soloist, and from his horn, notes of velvety softness flow. Ronnie expresses the song’s sentimentality next. Ted handles the following reading with a good deal of warmth, and then Warne returns to help bring the song to a gorgeous climax. Broadway by Wilbur H. Bird, Teddy McRae and Henri Woode opens with the front line’s collective melody. Warne, Art, and Ted are the first three in the solo spotlight, followed by an ensemble chorus together. Ronnie takes a splendid reading next, then Ben has a short summation as Jeff keeps perfect time toward the finale.

Arrival by Ronnie Ball is our final stop in this cool jazz session, and it’s off to the races from the start of the melody. Art leads the way with a swift opening statement. Warne delivers the second solo fleetingly; then, both horns make quick work of the finale in an exchange with Jeff before taking the song out. Alfred Marx supervised the original session, and the Vanguard Recording Society, Inc. recorded it. The sound quality of this reissue is exceptionally good and for a vintage fifties recording, exceeded my expectations. The music is also excellent, as is the pressing, and the vinyl is noticeably quiet.

There is one error on my copy, which doesn’t appear on the original album. The composers for Crazy She Calls Me are incorrectly listed on the Side Two label as the team of Cahn and Mayer but actually are Carl Sigman and Bob Russell. The album cover is also one of the strangest I’ve ever seen, but don’t let that dissuade you from checking out Free Wheeling by The Ted Brown Sextet on your next record hunt. If you’re a fan of cool jazz or West Coast Jazz, it’s a great-blowing session with Warne Marsh and Art Pepper and a wonderful introduction to a musician deserving of wider recognition. To borrow a quote from the great Vin Scully in game one of the 1988 World Series, “Not a bad opening act!”

More Posts: choice,classic,collectible,collector,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Booker Pittman was born on March 3, 1909 in Fairmount Heights, Maryland, was the son of Portia Pittman and a grandson of Booker T. Washington. He became an accomplished jazz clarinetist and played with greats like Louis Armstrong and Count Basie in the US and Europe in the 1920s and 1930s.

Leaving the States for the first time in 1933, he went with Lucky Millinder’s orchestra to France and stayed there for four years. During that period, he met a Brazilian musician named Romeo Silva, who took him on a tour of Brazil along with other musicians. They sailed to Bahia aboard the Siqueira Campos.

In 1937, Booker moved to Brazil, where he was known by the nickname “Buca“, and continued his musical career there, playing at the Urca Casino. He lived in Copacabana and befriended Jorge Guinle and Pixinguinha. He also played in Argentina and other countries.

He performed and recorded with his singer/actress stepdaughter Eliana Pittman. On October 19, 1969 clarinetist and saxophonist Booker Pittman, sometimes spelled Pitman, transitioned in his home in the São Paulo quarter of Vila Nova Conceição of laryngeal cancer at the age of 60. On behest of his wife Ofélia he was transferred to Rio de Janeiro and there laid to rest at the Cemitério São João Batista in the quarter of Botafogo.

More Posts: clarinet,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone

JESSE JONES JR.

The Miami native is a virtuoso saxophonist who started his first band, the Melt-Jess Jazz Quintet, in high school with trumpeter brother Melton Mustafa, who later left to play with Count Basie. Jones formed his own quartet and remains a longtime fixture in Miami’s jazz scene.

He continues to be at the forefront of a burgeoning jazz renaissance in South Florida. He is renowned for his mastery of the saxophone and captivating vocals, has left an indelible mark on the genre over decades.

More Posts: adventure,concert,genius,jazz,music,preserving,saxophone,travel,vocal

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Jesse Powell was born in Smithville, Bastrop County, Texas, on February 27, 1924. He received his formal music training before he began his professional career at age eighteen, when he toured with fellow Texan, Oran “Hot Lips” Page beginning at the age of eighteen during 1942–43.

During the war years he went on to play with Louis Armstrong in 1943–44, then with the Luis Russell Orchestra in 1944–45. He replaced fellow Texas tenorist Illinois Jacquet in the Count Basie Band for a tour of California in 1946. At this time Powell also worked with blues singers Champion Jack Dupree and Brownie McGhee.

1947 saw Jesse joining Curly Russell’s band, and in 1948 he formed his own band in New York City. That same year he performed with trumpeter Howard McGhee at the first international jazz festival in Paris. In 1949–50, he was a member of the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band, with whom he recorded a solo on Tally Ho. In 1953 he once again formed another jump-rhythm band, and in 1964 a Powell quintet played at Birdland in New York City.

Tenor saxophonist Jesse Powell died on October 19, 1982 in New York City.

More Posts: bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,saxophone

Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Thomas Penn Newsom was born in Portsmouth, Virginia on February 25, 1929 and earned degrees from the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary, the Peabody Conservatory of Music, and Columbia University. He went on to serve in the United States Air Force during the Korean War where he played in the band.

He toured with the Benny Goodman Orchestra and performed with Vincent Lopez in New York. Newsom joined the Tonight Show Band in 1962, and left it when Carson retired in 1992. In addition to Carson’s orchestra, he performed with the orchestra for The Merv Griffin Show.

Well known within the music industry as an arranger as well as a performer, he arranged for groups as varied as the Tonight Show ensemble and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and musicians Skitch Henderson, Woody Herman, Kenny Rogers, Charlie Byrd, John Denver, and opera star Beverly Sills.

He won two Emmy Awards as a music director, one in 1982 with Night of 100 Stars, and in 1986 for the broadcast of the 40th Annual Tony Awards. He also recorded six albums as a bandleader and another four as a sideman.

On April 28, 2007 saxophonist Tommy Newsom, who was nicknamed Mr. Excitement by Johnny Carson and was the band’s substitute director, died of bladder and liver cancer at his home in Portsmouth. He was 78 years old.

More Posts: arranger,bandleader,history,instrumental,jazz,music,music director,saxophone