small or large, scored or impromptu­ ing speed-as perfectly poised as ever. musical lyric deft appro.;ch material of this genre with as rarely set him off like tho se Ellington and Echoes fails to conjure up the mysterious 11 You Off a fine inft mucb intelligence and taste as Heath. Strayhorn devised for him. mood of the composit ion, but Hodg es' dy Waters. And sim Hancock's writing generally is idiomatic This fact. which takes not one inch from statement of the second strain is something cad reme mbers the but there are inspired moment s, as on the Hodges' stature but is rat her an aspect of else. uitar, as witness his ballads and the closing section of the the primacy of Ellington, is pointed up Empty Ballroom, like R ockin', is just on Joumey's E11d ucki~h Brother. p Th Fat Alberts around may thrive here by the inclusion of six pieces of El­ a mite too fast; one misses the relaxed ery on Sugar. lingtonia . Nel son (an d of course, Hodges) bou nce of the original Ellington-Hodges Dunbar remain the on such albums-but how about the Weird do well by them, but the originals remain riff. Randy Brecker takes a nice solo here, nd . Eyre's keyboa r Harolds-- the kooks who dig music. And the measure . sou nding surp risingly like Lee Morgan. The Dunbar contribu tes mus,, is what the Hancock group produced Th e stro ngest evoca tion of the Ellington 193 1 It's Glory is fresh in its new clothes, mming lately hear d. until this LP. Therefore, let us hope that spirit, however, come on two Nelson origi­ and there is a brisk, inventive Earl Hines n Auger, Eyre ada this LP is just a minor derailment. -Szalllor nals, the pretty Yearnin g and the •touching piano solo-his only spot (I'm almost sure ective, from the Black, Brown and Beallli/ul (the latter has it's his comping on Love Call). Hank Ride to the intros a Strayhorn touch tha t suits Hodges to per­ Jones has his only outing on Ballroom, and the clerical intro and JOHNNY HODGES fection). On both these pieces, Hodges Marvin Stamm takes a fluegelhorn solo on Journey's. TH REE SHADES OF BLUE-Flying Dutchman shines. Both are intensely lyrical and have on Y eam ing; nice enough, but following not merely keep ti FDS· O: Emp ty Ballroom Blues• Dult.t' s Place; singable melodie s. Hodges it seems oddly void of content. ects the mu sical pr E,b ots Of Harlem; Disillusion Blues; Yearning; w, 1,, .,,, to New Yorlt.; Black., Brown and Beauti­ Which only proves, perhaps, that a mas­ Joh nny always told a story. nder curre nt on U ful; Ko, kin' In Rhythm ; Cr,ole Lov, Call; It's ter's touch remain s unt ouchable, but that The presence of singer Leon Thomas on w bell lead on Su G/$;:-,_,nnel: Ernie Royal, Snooky Young, Mar vin music touch ed by his spirit can attain its three tracks makes sense from the stand ­ ith percussion a S!1Ullm Randy Brecker, trumpets , fluegelhoms; own mast ery. point of his being groomed for stardom by which his sidem Al (;.cy . Quentin Jackson, Garnett Brown, Thomas Mircliell, trombones; Hodges, alto saxo­ Of the Ellington pieces, Creole Lo1•e the record company. He's a good singer hesive musica l dim phone Bob Ashton, Jerome Ricbar<lson , Frank Call comes off best. The clarinet ensembles (and has been for quite some time), and 10ng most rock ba n Wess, Jerry Dodgion, Joe Farrell, Danny Bank, reeds: Hank Jones or )larl Hines, pian o· David (how rare a sound these days, and how shows his good time when doing the lyrics certainly deserves Spinona,,_ ffUira!i Ron Cart er, bass; Grady Tate, pretty!) are a right touch, the H odges to Duke's Place (our old friend C Jam drum~· \Jllver Nelson, arranger, conductor; Leon Thom,,, vocals (tracks 2, 4, 5). stop-t ime solo is splendid , and Al Grey's Blues with words). H is new bran d of scat­ or imperfections, plunger part akes of the Nanton message ting, which follows, seems less appea ling to date is surely one db/R C Rating: * * * * This is Johnny Hod ges' last album (not (though, with Quentin Jackson, who has me than his earlier style in the idiom. In of this current his la,,t date ; some Ellington band sessions come closer to Tricky Sam than anyone, in fact, it sounds quite a bit like gargling . On ug. were done after it) , recorded less than two the band, one wonders why he didn't get his own two blues, he tries too hard to get months befor e his death last May 11. the solo) . down home on Disi//usio11;the Hod ges solo A ,vr tunate event , then , brin ging us a Rockin' is a sparRling arrangement and sta nds out in contrast by its utt er relaxation COCK bonus of prime Hodges. Of all Ellington performance, but the hectic pace, while ex­ and absence of any strain, pointed up by )TUNDA-Wa rner B regulars, he made the most frequent studio citing, points up Duk e's mastery of tempos, the curiously out-of -tune guitar fills. He rt Mama; T ell Me a tert She Comts; ]tss sortie on his own, both before and after and some of the ensemble accents don't does much better on New York. The ironic 'ii Brother. the interlude with his own group. Great seem to fall in the right places. Yet it's a lyric hits the mark, and he is more at ease. y Coles, trumpet, flu mbone; J oe Heade as he was on many of these, the settings- kick to hear Hodges navigate at such blaz- The inimitable Hodg es sound is super bly o ne; Hancock, piano, co mposer, cond uctor; lectric bass; Tood e additiona l brass, r 1, then went on to better things with on the end of the wn more lugubri y much in season, seem considera bl 1 iddle than the best dispensed. But, his n, he has an hon s receptive and th er back lash as yeL tent of this albu ballads Tell Me ul-rock-r&b pope rovi sation is a sec enderso n ha s a co get off the grou n k, Brother. Coles is ps ('le gets off a but his pretty flue lad s. composed, arrang Flamenc o and rock are very differe nt kinds of music . But they have two things lections, is bear d the saving-grace in co mmon : both are the "street" music of the people; both are played and Hancock fashion, bO entical phrases to su ng wit h the guitar . And this is probably the first time they have been ing been an ou recorde d toget her. Rock Encounter on Polydor presents Sabicas, one of the ianist in his Miles t positio n somewh• world's greatest flamenco guitarists ... with Joe Beck, one ~ d actor spurning a I I rean role in fav of Ame rica's leading rock guitarists. The result? A classic Ir:. internatio nal supe rsession. Po lydor Polyd o r Records .Cassette s and 8-Tra ck Cartridges are distributed ,n the USA by Polyd or Inc , m Cana d a by Pnl y d or Recor d s Canada ltd August 6 D 23 captured throughout. It was, is, and al­ GAP MANGIONE ways will be one of the landmarks of jazz, DIANA IN THE AUTUMN WIND-GRC along with the heart and mind ,that created 9001: Boys With Toys; Diana ill th, Autumn it. One is grateful for this addition to an Wind; Long Hair Soulful; Ytsttrday; The X ltb Commandmttllj St. Thomas; You 'rt Nobody U11- incomparable legacy. -Morgenstern til Somebody LOvts You; Po11d With Su ·ans; You Art My Sumbint; Frtt Again; Drtam On Lilllt Drtamtr; Graduate Mtdley: Scarborough Fair; The Sounds of Siltnrtj Mrs. Robimon. INSECTTRUST Personnel: All Tracxs: Gap Mangione, piano, organ; Tony Levin, bass, elecuic bass; Steve HOBOKEN SATURDAY NIGHT-Atco 33· Gadd, drums. Track 6: Joe LaBarbera, drums; 313: Bt A Hobo; Hobolun Saturday Night; Tbt Dhui Mandingo, conga. 'tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 7/ 8, Eyts of a N,w York Woman; Ragtimt l\f,1/ion­ 10, 11: Snooky Young, Marv Stamm, C ark a,re; Someda1s,· Our Sisur the Sun,· Reciprocity; Terry, trumpet, Buegelhom; Wayne Andre, Tony Trip 011 Mt; Now Tbtn Swett Man; l\fr. Gar­ Srudd, trombone: Paul Faulise, bass trombone; field; Rehlcarnations; Glade Song; Ducks. James Buffington, Earl Chapin French horn; Ray Personnel: Warren Gardner, William Folwell, Beckenstein, flute piccolo; ]etome Richatdson, trumpeu; Trevor Koehler, piccolo, flute, so• soprano, alto, baruone1 saxophone, flute; Joe Far­ prano and baritone saxophones. sewer drum; rell Frank Wess, tenor sax , flute; Ned Corman, Robert Palmer, clarinet, alto saxophone, record• barftone saxophone, bass cl_arinc~ Mike Ma~ieri, er; Luke Faust, violin, banjo, electric guitar, vibraharp; Sam Brown, guitar. L.huck Mangione, harmonica; Bill Barth, lead guitar, steel guitar; conductor. Ralph Casale, Charlie Macey or Hugh Mc­ Cracken rhythm guitar; William Folwell, Jo• Rating: **** seph Macho, Bob Bushnell or Charlie Macey, Gap Mangione, the longest-lost of the electric bass; Elvin Jones, Donald MacDonald, Bernard Purdie or Buddy Nealy, drums; Nancy Jazz Brothers of the early 1960s (in terms Jeffries, vocals . of the general audience) makes his return Rating: *** to the recording scene as featured soloist 1Insect Trust's first album was consum ­ in this mixed bag of standards, pop and mately wretched .