Recordings Reports: LPs

TITLE, PERSONNEL, DATA REPORT

Mose Allison: "Swingin' Machine." Allison, Allison's talent is unique in combining sympathy both for the newer jazz idioms and for the piano and vocals; Jimmy Knepper, trom­ bines of his native Mississippi. He sings on four of the eight titles with a dryly detached humor bone: Jimmy Reider, tenor saxophone; Ad­ that is distincdy engaging. A similar quality is found in his piano solos, whose firm, insistent dison Farmer, bass; Frankie Dunlop, drums. beat is never allowed over the frontier of frenzy. Indeed, it is a kind of controlled relaxation—- Atlantic 1398. 14.98; stereo, $5.98. however paradoxical that may seem—-that gives his music much of its appeal. He is well sup­ ported by the accurate . (recendy, alas, deceased) and the stylistically individual Frankie Dunlop. The trombone and tenor play very ably throughout.

Gene Amnions: "The Soulful Moods." Am­ The Moodsville series performs a valuable service in presenting the more mellow and melodic nions, tenor saxophone; , piano; aspects of such bne tenor saxophonists as Gene Amnions and Lockjaw Davis (see also Coleman , bass; Eddie Shaughnessy, Hawkins below). The material consists for the most part of standards or good show tunes, and drums. Moodsville 28. Eddie "Lockjaw" the accompaniments are usually sympathetic. In tlie latter respect. Amnions is better served here than Davis: "Misty." Davis, tenor saxophone; Davis, who nevertheless rises above the handicap of frequently uninspired percussion. Amnions plays , organ; , with his customary big tone and assurance, and produces a surprisingly musical, alto-like quality (ieorge Duvivier, bass; Arthur Edgehill, from his horn fnr the intriguing introduction and coda of "Skylark." More should be heard of his drums; , . Moodsville 30, pianist, Patti Bown, whose clean, incisive work is an attractive feature of the record. On "Misty," mono and stereo, $4.98. the number that gives his album its title, Davis luxuriates expansively in a warm style reminiscent of that of his early mentor, Ren Webster. The comparison of the talents of Davis and Ornette Coleman in the notes is irrelevant, tasteless, and exaggerated.

F.ubie Blake, Joe Jordan, and Charles This reunion of three famous ragtime pianists and composers contains much of musical and Thompson: "Reunion in Ragtime." Blake, historical interest. Aged eighty, seventy-nine, and seventy-one, respectively, Jordan, Blake, and Jordan, Thompson, piano. Stereoddities C Thompson had not met for fifty years, and some of their spoken reminiscences and anecdotes are 1900, $4.98. included on the record. In expressing a certain pride in their ability as "two-handed" pianists, there is an implication of scorn for today's atrophied left hands. The veteran fingers remain surprisingly nimble and each man plays his favorite composition. "Memories of You" makes an admirable link w!th the jazz styles that succeeded ragtime, and Hlake also provides musical illustrations of Jelly Roll Morton's and James P. Johnson's methods.

Bill Doggett: "Prelude to the Blues." Dog- This is jazz at the functional level with a strong beat for dancing and few aspirations as "art gett, organ, with small group featuring Billy music." Doggett's group has maintained its popularity on little-publicized circuits for many years Buder, guitar; Clifford Davis, tenor saxo­ with similar and not overambitious fare. Selective listening, however, can be rewarding from a phone; , bass. Columbia CL jazz viewpoint, the more enjoyable performances here being those of "Blue and Sentimental," 1942, $3.98; stereo, $4.98. "St. Louis Blues," and a couple of the leader's originals, "Opus D" and "All Souls Blues." The last, a slow, sad organ blues, is a minor gem. One of the most skilful and experienced organists ill the field, Doggett always includes an accomplished guitarist in his company. On this album it is the resourceful and thoroughly underrated , whose invaluable contributions can be more readily ajipreciated in stereo.

Lou Donaldson: "The Natural Soul." Apart from the fact that John Patton is a more limited organist than , this album Donaldson, alto saxophone; Tommy Tur- belongs in almost the same category as the one above. It consists mostly of blues swung forth- rentine, ; John Patton, organ; Grant righdy, and it offers further proof of the divergent tastes of today's Negro and white jazz audiences. Green, guitar; Ben Dixon, drums. Blue Note The eccentrics of the avant-garde are acclaimed in the Village but seldom tolerated for long in 4108, $4.98; stereo, $5.98. Upper , where the music heard here would be surely appreciated. Gimmicks and false sophistication are equalU' absent.

Art Farmer: "Listen to , the Arranger has here provided settings of great brilliance for the trumpet virtuosity Orchestra." Farmer, trumpet, with of Art Farmer. .Astonishing in their range and authority, they never fail to enhance the controlled, including , piano; George vibratoless beauty of sound that Farmer releases. Billy Strayhorn's "Raincheck" and Farmer's Duvivier, bass; , drums; Oliver own sombre "Rue Prevail," with their contrasting tempos and moods, are most effectively juxta­ Nelson, arranger. Mercury MG 20766, $3.98; posed, while "Ruby" was probably never so gorgeous before. Mercury, always so meticulous in stereo, $4.98. listing engineering data, fails once more to name the musicians responsible for the excellent performances.

Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Johnny The three long performances that occupy the whole of the Verve album have all the advantages Hodges: "Alive at the "!" Haw­ and disadvantages of the informal nightclub set recorded en scene. There is more spontaneity kins, tenor saxophone; Eldridge, trumpet; than is normal to the studio, but there are deficiencies in recording and in the execution of Hodges, alto saxophone; Tommy Flanagan, ensemble passages. The standard attained in some of the solos, however, is so high as to warrant piano; Major Holley, bass; Eddie Locke, the set's inclusion in the label's "Essential" series. The vigorous attack and swing of Hodges on drums. Verve V6-8504, $4.98; stereo, $5.98. "Perdido," the canny construction of Hawkins's choru.ses in his normal climactic spot on "Satin : "Make Someone Happy." Doll," and the beauty of Eldridge's opening chorus on the slow blues, all are unforgettable. Hawkins, tenor saxophone, with the same rhythm section. Moodsville, mono and stereo, $4.98.

Mundell Lowe: "Blues for a Stripper." Lowe, This is a striking demonstration of Lowe's \ersatility. Flis bold arrangements of ten originals do guitar, conductor, and arranger, with big more than illustrate how effectively the guitar may be used in the context of a twenty-piece band. band. PLP-822, $3.98; stereo, The playing is of a high standard, as befits the cream of New York's studio musicians, and $4.98. among those heard from to advantage individually are in "Pattern of Evil," the late in "The Long Knife," and in the Basieish "Coffee, Coffee."

Jimmy Rushing: "Five Feet of Soul." Rush­ During his career with Count Basic and Bennie Moten, Rushing did more than sing the blues. As ing, vocal, with big band; Al Cohn, arranger band vocalist, he sang pop songs of the day, and he has picked some good ones from the past for and conductor. Colpix CP 446, $3.98; stereo, this set, including the old Lunceford hit, "I'm Walking Through Heaven." However sentimental 14.98. the lyrics, his swinging delivery remains cheerful, never mawkish, and on blues like "Did You Ever?" he is still in a class by himself. The accompaniments, variously driving and buoyant, are played with enthusiasm, and (trumpet) and Patti Bown (piano) take the individual instru­ mental honors. The one criticism that might be made of Al Cohn's excellent arrangements is that they allow insufHcient solo space for the fine musicians in the band's ranks. —STANLEY DANCE. 34 SR/April 13, 1963 PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Cornelia and the Loves of Charles

By JOHN CIARDI Then word comes that Charles is in , that he is on hand and waiting HE ART of the dramatic mono­ to see her. The news calls forth a flutter logue demands high gifts in an of exclamations, questions, impatient Tuncommon combination. The ac- commands that he be brought in, la­ tor-monologuist is one who can project ments that she has not been told sooner passages and scenes written by others, —and the whole flutter is cut off by one with perhaps his own adaptations. In of those changes of pace for which Miss presenting that material, he must Skinner has so sure of feeling. "Charles! master a special sort of illusion. In most . . ." says the queen, breaking ofi^ the monologues the presence of others and crescendo of her outpouring and chang­ Cornelia Otis Skinner — "an the words spoken by them must be ing the register of her voice. That one act of artistic maturity." registered by the single mirroring voice word. But thrilling because so charged sweet relief from the intrigues of the of the monoioguist. In others, the mono- by all we have been brought to feel of noble whores. For Nell asks nothing of loguist must be able to shift his voice the queen's emotions. from role to role and yet manage, with Charles. She chides him lovingly, try­ And enter Charles, making jokes. ing to rally his spirits, for she sees the a minimum of props, to establish and to Even at such moments he can joke. The build his illusion. When, moreover, he sad dog's in his eyes. Miss Skinner gets exiled kinglet, but the Merry Monarch a grand effect from Nell's laughingly is recording rather than performing to to be. an audience that can see him, the actor- told tale of her escape from a mob that The other side of his sad-eyed merri- stoned her when she was out riding in monologuist must forego costumes, ness was his collector's passion for scenery, props, and even his own ges­ the royal coach. They had taken her to women. "Your father's wars," Nell be Louise, the French (and Catholic) tures. The voice must carry it all. To Gwynn tells him in Scene 5, "cost less carry it off is a test of talent. schemer for whom the king had be­ than your women." trayed them, but Nell popped her head The true monoioguist, however, is The price of Charles's women is one out the window and cried, "Pray, good not only a performing but an originating of the tragic themes of the play. Scene people, be civil—this is the Protestant talent. The late Ruth Draper, for ex­ 2 takes place in 1660 in Holland. whore!" ample, would have left us some short Charles has been an exiled pauper for And Charles, sad, manless soul that stories to rank with the best had she eleven years. The speaker is a Dutch he is, with no thought for his people, been able to capture on paper the lives trollop who has shown him some kind­ finds the anecdote delicious. Yet tragic she evoked with her astonishing voice. ness in his poverty. Now Charles has as is the undertone of the scene. Miss In much the same way, Miss Skinner been called back to England and visits Skinner conveys Nell with an easy could make an excellent biography of her a last time, dressed in royal splen­ warmth and a coarse honesty that some­ Charles II from the material she drama­ dor. The trollop immediately works him how makes us love her. tizes in the Spoken Arts release of The for a small fortune in parting gifts, And sc to the deathbed scene seven Loves of Charles 11, written and per­ sending him off with the prophetic years later, and to the faithful but ever formed by Cornelia Otis Skinner (SA toast: "I give you the king—and he'll damp-eyed Catherine of Braganza, who 813. Two sides. $5.95). give you the moon if you ask for it." It comes to weep her farewell and finds For The Loves is more than a series is a fast-moving scene and Miss Skinner her husband joking. "I admire how you of dramatic sketches. It is a coherent captures the throaty sexiness and can jest," she sighs. Poor Catherine, she and mounting revelation of the char­ avarice of the trollop with just the right had little enough to jest about. She had acter of Charles, the Merry Monarch touch of abandon, shrewdness, and loved him, but she was barren. England (but with the saddest eyes in England). coarseness. was full of his bastards but she had We see Charles as reflected by six of The next two scenes occur ten years given him no heir. Yet he had been the women who either loved him or later. Charles is no longer an exiled kind to her. Charles was kind to all his who worked at loving him for pay. pauper. He is now "that known enemy stable. Poor Charles, she mourns, of all Scene I presents his mother, Henri­ of chastity, the King of England." his women only two had loved him— etta Maria, in 1649. She is in Paris, in Which is to say that his whores are now "A Drury Lane whore and a daughter exile, and has just received word that nobler; or at least that they cost more. of the house of Braganza." And exit the Cromwell has beheaded Charles I. Dis­ Lady Castelmain, the insatiable and tearful queen apologizing to the waiting traught yet patrician, Henrietta is peevish virago, demands and gets king-to-be: "Forgive me, James. 1 did queen and fugitive, a woman just wid­ nothing less than a duchy. And even not know I had stayed so long." Miss owed by violence, and a mother unable she is outdone by Louise de Queroalle, Skinner renders her poignantly, bring­ to learn the whereabouts of her en­ who gets not only a duchy out of her ing the whole action to rest in Cather­ dangered son. Miss Skinner's balance coy pretense to surrendered innocence ine's sad sense of how much of a life of grief, reticence, and anxiety is an but first manages, as an emissary of had been squandered between the quips act of artistic maturity. (And let me add the French King, to persuade Charles and sad eyes of the Merry Monarch. that slie has, throughout these mono­ to sign a shameful secret treaty. But Miss Skinner renders them all logues, something like perfect pitch in Scene 5 (about eight years later) movingly, and in just about the way a touching her voices with the right shade presents Nell Gwynn in an almost pas­ gull flies—because it was born to the of foreign or class accent.) toral domestic scene with Charles, a air. She is the Crand One. SR/April 13, 1963 PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG 35 ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED