/.0 .1.1 and ~omc of Lcviev·, blues playi ng). But however . the e lec tric inMrument perhaps issued four title s (Big, Su1111y. B11mpi11, Tr. the humor (as o n Tean. 11/uex i11 £/Ji. an serves his purp ose better. There is no denying qui/a) in other packages . Sunny is an alternate clemen t too often lacking injan (c,pecia lly in that it gives a contemporary \Ound to the take of the master issued on the C a/if<,rt1ia big ba nds). and the improvi,ation help make mu sic. and it blend~ well with the elect ric Drc•t1111i11' LP and th e other s are probably thi, album what it is- fre,h. invigorating and guitar and ba-s . Additionally. Ra ndy Brecker altern ates from We s' Tequila LP. full of uninhibited crea tivity. at time~ plays elec trica lly a mplified trump et T o my knowledge. the remainder is new (One might ques tion how succc~sfu l thi~ with pedal atlac hmcnt. material. Win 's is up and very good until the approach wa, ju, t by virtue of the fac t that But the navor is not electroni c. overall. end, when We s run s out of idea s. My Ot1r is Ellis i, no longer employing it. But it\ no t Thi~ is free -flowi ng melodic of a sort not pretty , wi th stri ngs added, while the really fair. of cour,e. to judge this album on readily categoriz ed . blendin g natural and elec­ Smith-Montgomery 'R o1111dha s a that ba,is. Ellis may want to ex peri ment with tric sound s. free and time playing. It is atlrac ­ und er Oliver Nel so n. The string s show up many new concepts. as he undoubtedly will. tive music. th oug h hear ing the album in its agai n on Wal/..in', a groovy All Night before decid ing which one to co nce ntrat e on entir ety is a slightly monotonou s expe rience. Lo11g-type blues. or. pos,ibly. o n how to combi ne eleme nt , of I liked best the moody 8/ac/.. Night with its In ge neral . there are slight imperfections in Concept A with 8. C. and D. etc. Or none of intri guing bass line: Rise a11d Fall , which these perform ances (an unre solved ending.an the above.) make s good use of sca le patlerns. and the out-of-bala nce . a misse d note or Some cap~ule comment s: The woodwinds stro ng so lo work on Call and Point of Viell' by melody ) that wo uld have pre cluded release. ofte n ,tea l the show from the string s when the leader . Mike Brecke r on both his horn s. In the case of Montgomer y, noth ing here adds bot h are to the fore but the strin g, arc used to and Rand y Brecke r on trumpet (his Call solo to his prodigiou s repu tation, but no &Teat good advantage. T hey play very effective en­ gets into a thing. with goo d use of harm is done either . ,e mble ro le,. espec ially on 514 Ge1t1w11yand th e pedal gimmick). No po ints to Verve for a sloppy production Soup. one of Elli,' best co mpositio n, to date . Both drumm ers play throughout , but don't (no per so nne l and no recording dates) . But which is also highlighted by an enchanting get into each other's way (the recor ding bal- enough good material to intere st the Mont­ ,olo by Leviev. who is one of Bulgaria's gomery fan s. -por ter leading pia nists and composers. But. on the debit side. some of the pate nted Ellisia n en­ semble clima xes tend to sou nd alike and are often rather a letdow n after the writing and blowi ng brillian ce that preceded them. CLARKTERRY/ Thi s album conta ins some of the finest writ­ BOB ing Ellis ha, done to date . One of th e band's QUINTET-Mainstr ea m 320: Tete a Tete; Pretty prime a,sets is th at th e nature of th e materi al Girl; Blue China ; Hum ; Blindman, Blindman: is ,uch that it demands total involvement on Step Right Up; Weep; Straight No Chaser; Some­ the part of all playe rs. When you have that. time Ago ; (The) Hymn. along wit h fine writing and good ,o lo work. Personnel : Terry , trumpet , fluegelhorn; ance doe sn't favor them). The c hora le-like Brookmeyer, valve : , you have extraordi nary jau regardles, of ensemb le on Drea m co mes off we ll. In all, piano ; . bass : , drums. idiom. - ,:11111or pleasant and quite origi nal mu sic with an im­ Rating: **** ½ pre ss ionistic navor . Reco rds like this are rarely made any more, Dreams gives the Brecker~ les~ of a c hance so the reissue of the se 1964 sides is especially to stretch out. but ther e is a fine muted trum ­ we lcome. pet solo on Surprise. and Mike shows he ca n The program consists of good jazz stan­ play co nvincing soul ten o r on Wisdom, a da rd s and originals, and the play ing is full of THE GUERILLABAND - Mainstrea m MAL 337: wit, maturit y an d so ul. Call ; Figure Eight ; Black Night ; Welcome To My blue, . Barry Rogers has a nice tromb one bit Dream ; Rise and Fall ; Point of View. with plunger on I/ ere, and the horn ensemb le The on ly demerit for this set is the very Personnel : , trumpet , flueg el­ work is very good on the entire album. short (less than 30 minute s) pla ying time . Still, horn : Mike Bracker, tenor&soprano saxes : Gal­ Khyt hm1c dnve 1s ab und ant ly ~upplied by the rating makes it clear that brevity is no per , electric piano : Bob Mann, guitar . Vic Gaskin, handic ap to th ese men. bass : Steve Haas. Charles (Don) Alias. drums . Billy Cob ham. a marve lou s jazz drummer Thank you. Main stream . and don't forget Rating : **** who ca n make rock rhythm s ,wing more than any other percu ss ioni st I know of. th e rema ining album by this happy part ner­ DREAMS In per so n. this band can be quite a musical ship . - porter expe rience. but the a lbum at times almo st IMAGINEMY SURPRISE-Columbia C30960: Calico Baby; Why Can' t I Find A Home ; Child of makes them sou nd bland. Eddie Vernon is a Wisdom ; Just Be Ourselves ; I Can' t Hear You; tasty lead singer in a les~ then extreme soul Here She Comes Now ; Don 't Cry My Lady; Medi­ vein. while Lee's voice has a contrasting light­ cated Goo ; Imagine My Surprise . er folk quality . Randy Brecker's ~inging on Personnel : Randy Brecker , trumpet , fluegel­ S11rpri.1e will not send any voca lists to the A TIME IN MY LIFE- Mainstream MRL-340: horn. vocal: Barry Rogers, trombone, alto horn, Imagine ; On Thinking It Over ; Inner City Blu81; , vocal : Mike Brecker. tenor&soprano saxes, woods hed. but it is engagingly natural a nd the Sweet Gingerbread Man; Magical Connection; flute: Don Groln1ck. keyboards: vocal : Bob Mann. so ng has hum or. That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be; guitar. fluegelhorn. voca l; Will Lee. bass, vocal : Tomorrow City ; Universal Priso ner; Trouble; If . drums, perc ussion : Edward Ver­ Nothi ng on the album shou ld offe nd any­ one. includi ng rock hate r,. and per hap s that' s Not For You . non . lead vocal. On track 1. add Steve Cropper . Personnel : Ms Vaughan , vocal; Buddy Child• guitar : Angel Allende. . the probl em. It's musica l. nice and not very ers . Al Aarons, Gene Goe, tr1Jmpets; George Rating : *** ½ exciting . Bohanon . Benny Powell. trombon es ; Jerome The prc~ence of the gifted Breckcr Brot h­ Co lumbi a', recording quality is far supe rior Richardson . Bill Green , Jackie Kelso. reeds : Willy Mays, piano: Joe Pass , Al Vescovo, s:,uitars; Bob ers and guitari,t Boh Mann provides a link to Main~trea m·s. by the way . - mor11e1111,,m Magnusson , bass : . drums : Alan between these very different album s. Estes. . percussion: , Ga lper·, date. though it take, in a lot of arranger. condu ctor. musical area, . i, ha~ically a straigh t-ahead Rating: ** * ** ' *** contemporary jazz outin g. Dream ~. of course. Five star s for Sassy and the pleasure or is a ~o-called ja1.2-rocl.. group. th ough in this hav ing her back on records after an absence ca,c the empha,i, is on the lat1er ingredient. JUST WALKIN' -Verve V6-8804: Wives and that is an indictm ent of the record industry: Ga lper. a nu ent. inventive pianist who·, Lovers ; My One And Only Love ; The Big Hurt ; barely th ree stars for a di sappointipg album Sunny ; Bumpin' On Sunset ; Just Watkin'; Te­ worked with a num her of es ta blished ja1.1 quila ; Round Midnight. that misguided ly atlempts to give her a "now" greats. wrote all hut one of the pie c.:, and Person nel : Montgo mery. guitar : . image. cho~e to play elec tric piano exclusive ly. He organ (track 8 only). Others unidentified There can be no doubt that Sassy has the hand les th e instru ment expert ly. gelling a va­ Rating : * * *'h greate st voice of any singer in the popu lar riety of aura ctive sound s from it. but to these My co llection due s not con tain all the Wes field . It is an instrument of rare bea uty and ea rs it remai ns a le,s expressive vehic le than Montgom er y on Verve . T hus it i, hard for me astonishing range: had she gone in that direc­ its acoustic ancestor . to tell with much certa inty whether the "prc­ tion. , he co uld have been a great opera singer. In the contex t, Ga lper ha, fa,hione d here. viou~ly unreleased" claim is a fact. Verve ha, It is our good fortune that she didn 't. for she is 24 D down bea t