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Home , Charles Stepney, Don Butterfield, Earl Hines, Even So, James Buffington, Oliver Jackson

forced spontaneity (as on Kind of Blue), heard on this LP, ranging from raw and and the results have been impressionistic powerful (usually pretty good but some­ and rather tentative. In person the group times exaggeratedly husky) to falsetto is is something else altogether-an explosive in fact, one of its virtues. ' band that tears into the music rather than The J?ells are now a_modern r&b group, feeling their way _through it. but their work here mdicates the roots Anew I prefer the m-person Miles, and I they have in the past. Their Love Is So think there is objective reason for that Simple is reminiscent of r&b and preference. Putting it simply, the frequency 0-0 I Love You, which includes some of significant musical events on this deep-voiced talking parts, is a performance album and its stylistic predecessors (Sorcerer, influenced by . Nefertiti, and Fil/es de Kilimanjaro) is The best selection is The Change We rather low. When something does happen Go Thru, a good piece performed in a it is almost always something good, but really impassioned manner. There are from Mr. more good things happen during most some other interesting compositions, but in-person tunes by the quintet than on on none of them do convey this whole album. similar emotional intensity. Generally, their The new musical color this time is an work is not uninspired but not especially Original intriguing rhythm section combination of moving either. At times, as on Love Is So electric and organ, but it seems as Simple and Please Don't Change Me Now if half the album is taken up while this it is sloppily, even ludicrously sentimental'. color is established and adjusted. The instrumental backgrounds are too atthe Shh/Peaceful, which appears to have often schmaltzy. been spliced together from several takes, This is a somewhat better and more is the less successful performance. Miles' interesting than average r&b album. -Pekar solo is a lukewarm elaboration of one peak of his favorite phrases, and there is a lengthy guitar solo which never quite emerges from the rhythm section's noo­ FATHA BLOWS BEST-Decca DL 75048: Tbe One I Love; I Love My Baby; Nobody Kllou·s· dling. 5_,atutday; You're Mine, You,- Thinking of You:• of his Wayne Shorter's turn is brief but beauti­ /·or Me alld My Gal; Sbille Oil Harvest Mooll' Back ill Your Ou.,, Back Yard; Er•e,-ythillg De'. ful (the personnel listing has him on tenor, J,ends 011 You: Rhytbm Sundae. but he plays soprano saxophone through­ Personnel: , : Budd John­ out). He has a remarkable technical com­ son, soprano and tCf}Or saxophone; Hines, piano, powers. vocal (track 9); , bass, electric mand of the instrument (this recording bass; , drums. Tracks 4 and JO by was reportedly the first time he ever Hines and rhythm only. played the soprano), and he reveals a Rating : * * * * plays"What's New" This relaxed, nostalgic, conversational touching, blue lyricism that rarely appears "I Remember Clifford," in his tenor playing. music is of a sort too seldom heard (and The second side begins with Zawinul's almost never recorded) today. The tempos Jim Webb's "Didn't We," are moderate ( but never slack), the ap­ In a Silent Way (all the other lines are and more greats like you never proach melodic, the mood mellow. Yet this by Miles), and its hymn-like quality fits heard them before. the electric piano-organ-guitar-bowed bass is vital and vibrant music. ensemble quite well. This segues into It's It could have been made only by sea­ About That Time, which finds Davis and soned musicians, at ease with each other Shorter in very good form over a striding and themselves, their horns, and their rock rhythm. music. A brand of sometimes called If the performers of this music were mainstream, it will always be current. merely good musicians the results would The material is interesting, consisting in probably put anyone to sleep, but the skill the main of quite ancient (but unhack­ and subtlety of the accompanists and the neyed) tunes Hines remembered from the genius of Davis and Shorter make this '20s and before, plus a '30s standard album worth hearing. -Kart (You're Mine, You) and a pair of Hines pieces from that same decade (last two tracks). The Dells This was probably the last record date THE DELLS' GREATEST HITS-Cadet LPS- by Hines' excellent regular group, which 824: Stay in My Corner; Always Together; broke up recently, with Clayton as a wel­ There ls; Love Is So Srmfi/e; Please Don't Change Me Now; )Vear It On Our Face; Make come guest. That this sterling trumpeter S!1re; 0-0, I Love You; Does Anybody Know is so seldom recorded these days is not V6-8780 ~J!'Here; Hallwa)'S of My Mind; The Change e Go Thru; I Can't Do Enough, less shameful because he shares this fate MPchrsonnel: ~hades Barksdale, Vern~ Allis_on, with such contemporaries as . 1c ael McGill, Johnny Carter, Marvm Junior, vocals; orchestra conducted by . He and Johnson-one of the unsung giants StanGetz Rating:**½ of the tenor, who during this decade has The ever-popular Dells are among to­ also become a master of the soprano-go "DIDN'T WE" day's truly venerable r&b vocal groups. together hand in glove. Some of their early work, for example Hines, who can be an eccentric accom­ Oh What A Night, (currently in a new hit panist, backs the horns masterfully and is version) can be heard on "golden oldies" in sparkling solo form. He radiates con­ type reissue . Despite their present fident authority, even when in a reflective and past popularity, however, their vocal mood, and his touch and tone are a joy. work, compositions and arrangements, The three soloists are so consistent that though competent and sometimes good, a track-by-track resume would be redun­ are not particularly distinctive or original. dant. Of particular merit, however, arc Unlike Smokey Robinson and the Mir­ Johnson's soprano on Baby and Harvest acles, the , and the Impressions, Moon (the latter the longest and best track) and his Pres-inspired tenor on ~ Is a division the Dells do not have a really outstanding Wot Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. lead vocalist, and the lead work is shared Thinking, which has superb trumpet as by several men. The variety of vocal styles well; the lyrical Clayton on Nobody and October 30 D 21 his perfect obbligato to Hines' jaunty vocal achieves an adventurous musical experience ize the sense of tragedy and loss so that on Back Yard, and the piano work on that is very much of -today-perhaps be­ when the first chorus is repeated it gains Harvest and Love. Jackson and Pemberton cause his tools are the basic ones, produc­ profound power. This kind of structural give ideal support throughout, and briefly ing a sound for all seasons. There is much flow is uncharacteristic. By contrast, Sittin' step front and center on Thinking. The here that jazz lovers, especially those bend­ the best song here, offers all of Big Joe'; drummer's brush work is outstanding, and ing toward the mainstream, should find techniques, especially the dramatic con­ Pemberton gets an unusually pleasing stimulating, even though this is not a trasts of a cappella vocal or bass string sound from his Ampeg bas-.not at all jazz or "swing" package. Recommended. lines against full orchestral-sounding lines dry. -McDonough broken passages of rhythmically free yet This tasty album is a·sleeper and Decca highly emotional materials placed in a has kept it a well-guarded secret. But it Big Joe Williams most original construction. can-and should-be had. -Morgenstern HAND ME DOWN MY OLD WALKING Spontaniety is the motivating element in STICK-,-World Pacific 21897: Oh Baby; Hand Big Joe's music. Even more than most of Me Down My Old I/Ya/king Stick; Shady Grove; Mama Do11't Like Me Runnin' Round; Sitti11' today's allegedly free jazzmen, Big Joe's N' Thinkin'; Scardie Mamaj, Rou11d the music has no safeguards: the traditional MOONDOG-Columbia MS 7335: Theme· IV orld; Everybody's Gonna Miss Me W he11 I'm Stamping Ground; Symphonique #3 (Ode to Go11e; Pearly Mae; Baby Keeps On Breakin' 'E,n two or four-measure blues units are ig­ Venus); Sympbontque #6 (Good for Goodie); Down; Church Bells Ring; Take lt All. nored except when he deliberately rushes minisym #I; Lament I (Bird's lament); 1/Yitch Personnel: Williams, nine string guitar, vocals; of Endor; Symphonique #1, unidentified drums, (tracks I, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12); tempo, and although each chorus does Personnel: Joe Wilder, Teddy Weiss, Mel probably unidentified electric bass, track 7, manage to at least refer to the blues Broiles, Alan Dean Danny Repole, ; Paul Faulise, Tony Studd, Charles Small, Buddy Rating:***** changes, there is no supporting continuity Morrow, trombones; , Richard This is Big Joe's first new LP in several underlying the foreground vocal-guitar mo­ Berg, Ray Alonge, l3rooks Tillotson, French horns; , Bill Stanley, Bill Elton, long years, offering new and unfamiliar tion of each song. John Swallow, Phil Giardina, tubas; Harold older material even more eclectic in in­ Bennett, Andrew Lolya, Harold Jones, Hubert This is an immensely sophisticated art Laws, flutes; Henry Shuman, Irving Horowitz, spiration than usual from this resourceful beside which the music of the leading En~lish horns; George Silfies, Phil Bodner, Ernie Bt1ght, Jack Knitzer, Don Macourt, Riohei contemporary blues performers seems Nakagawa, George Berg, Wally Kane, Joyce crude and vulgar. Big Joe's emotional con­ Kelly, reeds; George Duvivier, Ron Carter, Al­ fred Brown, Louis Hardin (Moondog), bass; temporaries are not modern blues or r&b Jack Jennings, Dave Carey, Elayne Jones, Bob men, but Jackie McLean, Ornette Coleman, Rosengardcn, percussion; Paul Gershman, Aaron Rosand, Emanuel Vardi, David Schwartz, Eugene Roscoe Mitchell: free and open musicians Becker, Raoul Poliakin, George Ricci, Joe who express powerful thoughts through Tekula, Charles McCracken, strings. methods equally unbound by other than Rating:**** wholly emotional or artistic considerations. This music is essentially classical in con­ ception and purpose, but it is clear that Few artists in blues or jazz have ever the composer-conductor has absorbed a been such dramatic _performers. As a singer strong feeling for the contemporary. Al­ and guitarist, Big Joe is a complete or­ though he maintains his heart is not in chestra, as flexible in his own forceful, jazz, it has seeped into his consciousness idiomatic way as Ellington's, at least when and enhances much of this LP. With each he chooses to be so. Despite the reserva­ hearing it becomes a richer pleasure. . ·,. tions noted above, no track among these Moondog is the pseudonym of Louis performer (Oh Baby is a melange of fa. 12 is less than excellent. This LP is highly Hardin, 53, who is blind, writes all his miliar lines, and for all you or I know, recommended as a sample of a powerful music in braille, and enjoyed some pop­ this version is the sourfe of them all). It individualist's art, slightly lighter in tone ularity in jazz circles during the early '50s. it is not Big Joe's best music, it is none­ than his earlier best works, and ever faith­ Initially, Symphonique #6 makes the theless good to hear, and after all it is a ful to his most musical self. -Litweiler strongest impression. In a sense, it is new LP and the others are largely un­ nothing more _than a simple 8-bar figure available. The World's Greatest Jazzband raised to the 17th power, on what is Big Joe cut it in three hours. but it THE WORLD'S GREATEST JAZZBAND OF called a ground. The theme is introduced must have taken at least a week of full­ YANK LAWSON AND BOB HAGGART-Proj­ ect 3 PR/5033SD: Sunny; Panama; Baby, JVon't by the bass, then is picked up by the time work to dub in that totally useless You l_"leaseCome Home; Up, Up and Away; Ode clarinet (it was conceived in 1955 as a drummer who muddies up the works in to B11/y foe; Honky To11k Train; A Taste of Honey,· L1rneho11se Blues: Big Noise from Win• dedication to ), then a seven of the songs. Whoever he is, he at­ 11etka; Tins Is All I Ask; Mrs. Robi11so11; Bugle duo of violas, then the bassoon and so tempts to be unobtrusive, probably because Call Rag. Pers'?nnel: Lawson, Billy Butterfield, trumpets; on until it builds to a 17-part counter­ he realized that the hare-brained producer's Carl Fontana, Lou McGarity trombones· Bob point. The effect is stunning and must be scheme of presenting Big Joe as a "mod­ Wilber, clarinet, soprano sax~phone; Bud' Free~ man, tenor saxophone; Ralph Sutton, piano, heard. ernist" is a shoddy way to acquire a few Haggart, bass; Morey Feld, drums. Lament I, which honors , pounds. There is some cute jive with a Rating:**** is not an attempt to orchestrate the swirls double-time bit in World and with the EXTRA !-Project 3 PR/5039SD: What the World Needs Now; Windmills of Your Mind; and whiplashes of Bird's style. It's a simple sock cymbal in Scardie, but otherwise he Soutb Ram/iart Street Parade; Do You Know the four-bar figure which becomes a tapestry stays as modest as possible-even so the Way to San Jose?; - )Volveri11e for a free melodic line played by alto purists who constitute most of the rec~rd's Blues; I'm Prayin' Humble: 59th Street Bridge S011g: lt Must Be Him; Alfie; Savoy Blues; Love and baritone saxophones. Hardin and Bird potential audience are likely to be put off. Is Blue, knew each other, and even talked once Personnel as above, but Butterfield doubles The bass line in World is so dead and fluegelhorn and Gus Johnson replaces Feld. about doing an album together. It's too motionless that it is surely an interloper's Rating: * * * * ½ bad it never materialized. His salute to work, too. T~is !sBig Joe's record, though, Forget the hyperbolic name-the mu­ Parker haunts the mind. and the music 1s extremely valuable. sicians didn't choose it. But it's a good The opening track, Theme, is another This is a music of constant rhythmic promotional stunt, and effective and intelli­ ground, this time using a basic 16-bar change, color and detail variation, fairly gent promotion of jazz is such a rarity theme in 5/4 time. It has a sweeping, ex)reme yet controlled drama, erratic these days that we can't complain. almost pastoral quality to it, although shifts of tone and character-in short al­ unfortunately it fails to develop to a Though the second album is better than most a surrealist-expressionist music, s;ved ~he first, neither does justice to the band's logical conclusion. only by Big Joe's humanism and the pri­ Minisym is a short work in three parts, m-person_ capabilities. Perhaps it should macy of the blues impulse. True, there is record live, or maybe additions to the alternating between the snappy and the Church, a strong kind of story-song which repertoire were recorded a bit too soon. lyrical in 4/4 time. The rhythms are in­ opens with single note lines, spre;ds into But even at less than its absolute best, fectious, with an especially appropriate 3rd. 6th, etc. chords in the second chorus the WGJ is well worth attention. This is interlude using a trio of bassoons. ---;-Big?oe·s favorite harmonic medium. a an unusual group in many ways: size, in­ Moondog adheres to the disciplines of chmact1c method of his thinking-then traditional tonal_ity throughout, but yet into suddenly broken phrases which final- strumentation, repertoire, personnel. Is it a small or a big small band? 22 0 DOWN BEAT - -