Records are reviewed by Don DeMicheal, Gilbert M. Erskine, Kenny Dorha m, Barbara Gardner, Bill Mathieu, Marian McPartland, Dan Mor 11e nslar Bill Quinn, Harvey Pekar, William Russo, Harvey Siders, Pete Welding, John S. Wilson, and Michael Zwerin. Reviews are signed by !lie Wr't n, I ers Ratings are : * * * * * excellent, * * * * very good, * * * good, * * fair, * poor . ' When two catalog numbers are listed, the first is mono, and the second is stereo . times (especially on Yellow Days) · his Thad Jones-Mel Lewis •- •- -. ... touch is uncannily close to the master 's. LIVE AT THE Vl.LLAGB VANGUA.ll." Solid S1A1e SS l80l6: L/lflc Pi:<lo ll; ,1 "/l'v..,. BIG BANDS Two ringers were brought in to beef up l'reodom; Barba l'eo/i11'; Do11'1 Git Sn1ty• tltl•, /0111 Tree; Samba Co11 Gde/m. ' "' 1I. Duke Ellington the trumpet section, currently the ban.d's weakest link. Everybody was on best be­ Personnel: Jone1, flu·cgelhoro; Snooky y 0 SOUL CALL-Verve V/V6·870l: La Pim Bell• Jimmy No1tingb3m, Marvin Stamm, Rkfiard ~•• Af.-i&11l11r;IVett litdia11 Pa11caltt; Soul C111/;Slti11 Jiavior, it seems-the band sounds tight Iiams, Bill Berry. trumpets; Bob Brool<o, II, Du/I; Jan, Will, Sm11. and together at all times. The superb ·re­ Garnett Bl'owo, Tom Mclmo,h, Cliff fi~a~yer, Personnel: Cnt Anderson, Herbie Jones, Cootie irombones; Jerome Richnrdson, Jerry Dad !>tr, \Villla 'ms. M,rccer I!llingron. uumpors; Buster cord ing brings out the foll flavor of the Joe Parcell, '.Eddie Daniels, -Pepper Adams r~t• lloiaod Hannn piano; Sam Herm an, • IM • Cooper, Lawrence Brown, Chuck Connors , rrom• magnificent Ellington sound; the reeds, in 1 bonci.: Russell Procope. Johnn y Rodges, Jimmy percussion; lUcnard Davis, bass; Lewis, dru::!: Hamilcoo, l'aul Gonsalves. Harry C1cney, reeds: particular, are opulent. Rating: * * * * * lllLin11ron, pfano: John Lamb, b:tss; Snm Wood• To put it bluntly, this would have been yard, drums. To followers ~f this gr_eat band, its fir 1 Rating:*** a great album if Sinatra had been in top album, good as 1t was, did not quite fodf. The Ellington band has a predilection voice. On a few tracks, he is; at other cate just what these guys are capable of for giving off-handed performances al im­ times, one can sense that he is holding -perhaps because it was a studio effort. portant appearances. Conversely ; in some back. But he is nothing if not an old pro, This one, recorded live at the bandts small town in the corn belt, the band is and his mastery of phrasing overcomes all stomping ground, New York's Yillag~ likely to pull together and wail. potential pitfalls. Vanguard, before an enthusiastic audience These tracks are from Ellington's por­ Relaxed tempi predominate to the point does give a true picture in sound of what tion of the 1967 Antibes Festival, where that the final selection, a way-up ro:mp, I believe to be the finest and most im. one might have expected the band to be comes as a positive relief. Why was it portant big jazz band to come along since on best musical behavior. Instead, there is saved for that particular spot? Don't ask the old giants got their thing together. a general air of triteness to this album. me. Through some miraculous alchemy, this Along with Ellington's fey announce­ Quite a bit of space has been granted ensemble of men who are both soloist, me nts ("Love you madly," etc.), t.bere are the band and its key soloists, and the and section players combines the best elt• pedeslrJan solos and lackadaisical ensem­ tracks are thus longer than is customary on ments of freedom and discipline in an bles. On Indian Pancake and Soul Call, vocal albums. Cootie Williams, Gonsalves, amalgam that retains the power and ex. Paul Gonsalves is flashy and superficial. and Hodges are most frequently spot­ citement synonymous with the big band Jam With Sam is the familiar round­ lighted, and make their impact felt. jazz tradition but adds to it the freshness robin of the band soloists, none saying lrulian Summer is the album's master­ and surprise of today and now. anything of substance. Sam Woodyard's piece, and one of Sinatra's most impressive That is quite an · accomplishment, and 12-minote Skin Deep may be a good visual efforts in recent years. The mood is bitter­ it has been achieved as a labor of lovo, attraction, but it is not a memorable piece sweet, the reeds add lovely touches, Elling­ Maybe that's the secret-along with, o.f of music. ton makes the most of his keyboard course, extraordinary talent and pe):-Se• The one saving track is La Plus Belle presence, and Hodges' touching solo is verance, and teamwork in the truest sense, Africaine, based on a minor-key blues. a perfect extension of the mood set by the One could write a book about this album There is a fine bowed solo by Lamb, and singer. This one makes the whole venture and this band, but annotator Ed Beach very powerful and effective ensemble pas­ worth the effort. has done nearly that in his excellent, de­ sages. Come Back, the aforementioned swing­ tailed notes, so I'll confine myself to so.mt er, also finds Sinatra in peak form. Few I don't guarantee the accuracy of the of the highlights. personnel (which is not Listed in the album singers could sustain such a tempo, but he never loses his firm grip on the melody Pixie, composed and arranged by Thad notes), but it should be substantially cor­ Jones, stars the reeds. As a section, they· rect. -Erskine and the lyric. The band shouts and romps, with brilliant work from the trumpets, a have no peers other than their Ellington glimpse of Gonsalves, and superb Wood­ counterparts, with whom they share tho Duke Ellington-Frank Sinatra - ya.rd. (The drummer, consistentl.y low­ ability to breathe as one. And can they F.RANCTSA. & D\XIARD. K.-R cprisc PS102-i: get around their horns! Look out! l'ollow llf•; S1m11y; All 1 Noori ls tbo Girl; rated by critics, does a sterling job through­ T11tlia11 11111/lltrf I Lilu tl,e S,mrlu; YeJ/0111 Days; out.) As soloists, they have a variety a~d_in· Poor D11/ltr/1r Comt Dack to "'le. - dividuality that is equally astooishi08' Personnel: ~ina1ca, vocn.ls; Cnt Anderson, Met• Sunrise, though well sung and scored, ccr llllinswn, Cootrc Willi ams, Herbie Jo nes. and enhanced by comments from Cootie Lead man Richardson, doubler par ex· Swecu Edison, AL Porcino. trumpets; Lawrence cellence, is spotlighted here on the so­ Brown, Chuc!< Connom, Buster Cooper, trom­ and Gonsalves, does not measure up to the bo_ncs; Ru ell ProCOJlC, Johnny _H_odgcs, Jimn1y Al Hibbler original. The song's range, it prano, of which difficult horn he• is OIIO H:im_illon. l'aul Gonsalves, Harry Carney, reeds; of the prime practitioners. His cbo~ llllingron , piano; John Lamb, bnss; Sam \Vood­ appears, is more suitable for a voice deep­ yard, drums; Billy May, rtrrangcr. er than Sinatra's, though it was his own climax a round-robin of solos by, in or e~ Rating:**** choice. Farrell, Dodgion, Daniels (clarinet), :nd At first hearing, this much heralded Butterfly and Girl are set in· a mold Adams, all of them first-rate, and hall_~IC summit meeting is a bit disappointing, but that recalls the Sinatra-Basie collabora­ by a variety of rhythmic and coloris devices. it grows on you-at least it did on me. tions, and the former could have stood 41 To begin with the negatives: it seems a few solo comments. The final chorus, This track is a gas-and to me, not l~nO odd indeed that only one Ellington piece however, is top-drawer singing. because it sbows what can stiJl be dost 01 (Sunrise) was included, and perhaps even The cover, featuring photographs of the after all these years with one of the odder that the album was not arranged by two protagonists al a tender age, is a cute basic sets of changes in jazz. S'J 0 Ellington himself. Let me hasten to add, touch. Young Edward Kennedy already The album's other Jones original, S ., 5! however, that Billy May has done a great had that regal air, while young Francis has a fabulous reed passage led by ~:not job. Always an Ellington admirer (older ardson's soprano, a great Farrell ~ Albert (with bangs) hadn't yet found his 0 listeners may recall his many Dukish groove. But then, he seems to be about solo, stunning ensemble work, fine !38 et. charts for Charlie Barnet in the '40s), he 5 or so, while Duke must have been at piano, and as the filling in the P1e, must have relished this assignment, and at least 8. -Morgenstern uberant trumpet solos (with Pu1 0 32 □ DOWN BEAT mutes) by Nottingham and lead master Young. Brookmeyer's two charts are contrast­ ing in nature; both are gems. His setting Sal\' of Fats Waller's pretty Willow Tree, fea­ turing co-leader Jones in his soloistic role, is distinguished by warm, lovely voicings, l1elltt ftt colored by Dodgion's and Farrell's flutes. There is also a solo interlude by the re- ' markable Richard Davis. Thad's coda tops tllis tlnll\' it off. The other Brookmeyer opus, the pun­ ningly titled Samba, is a graduate sem­ inar in Latin. It features super b Thad, Daniels (on tenor this time, and hot), Richardson (alto) and a rare Lewis drum solo.