, (.<• • --iW^^r'"^ ^.-r^igJlV-S?<l 58 HITS AND MISSES AVo/* Etnharrassn%ent of Riches Dept. T IS ALWAYS a special pleasure trumpet and fluegel hoi-n; Bob Ene- to have one's lay opinion corrob­ voldsen, valve trombone (and he can I orated by professionals, and so I punch the dickens out of it); Paul quote from the jacket comment on Sarmento, tuba (one of the most in­ "Chet Baker Ensemble" (Pacific PJLP- gratiating men in his register); Russ 9), an LP featuring the work of Freeman or Marty Paich, piano; Joe the young California trumpeter: "The Mondragon, bass; and Manne at the current trend is toward recognizing drums. While I am not addicted to the composer-arranger as equally reeling off names, I feel that the new importarit a figure in jazz music as school of jazz players contains so the more spectacular instrumental much talent that too much cannot be soloist." It has been emphasized for said about them, and the composers some time in this corner that the of all this deft and witty polyphony farthei' jazz musicians go in the way are Montrose, Paich, and Rogers, al­ of harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic ready mentioned, plus Jimmy Giuffre, subtleties, the more they must inevi­ Bob Cooper, and Bill Holman. Each tably rely on planning: that is, com­ man was asked to comment on his position. The natural tendency of the own piece, and I think Giuflre's open­ musical mind is toward an increasing ing remarks about his "Alternation" elaboration of musical ideas, and as will do well to suggest the difference this develops, the ideas will naturally between the musical climate of, say, require to be caught in notation. We Coon-Sanders Original Kansas City hear this process all about us in mod­ Nighthawk's of 1923 and the Shelly ern jazz. Manne contingent of 1954. Says Giuffre: "The music is atonal. This This does not mean, however, that creates an abundance of new melodic 34 years of skilled know-how by the makers the improvisation, the particularly possibilities for jazz, which is usually of the famous Pilotuners and Amplifiers in fiery, personal, inspirational element this finely engineered portable phonograph. tonal. The composition is completely in jazz must disappear. Indeed, if it contrapuntal, the harmonies being the evei- does I will devote this L. C. result of the melodic lines . ." Do Smith-Corona apparatus to other pui- not suppose, for an instant, that Mr. poses. Happily, there are few signs Giuffre's work is pompous. He is a of such a trend. On the other hand, jazz musician, or, as he puts it, simply: I feel deluged with work by the "Another important factor is that to younger jazz men combining a great achieve the feeling desired, this com­ amount of compositional sophistica­ • Eight watt, push-pull 6V6, 6 tube AC position requires jazz instrumental­ amplifier with oversiie power transformer tion with brilliant improvising all over ists." It gets them. • Garrard three-speed record changer — the. place. Candor compels me to ad­ the world's finest mit that sometimes I cannot distin­ • G.E. triple play variable reluctance guish one from the other. But that B,U D SHANK, the California reed magnetic cartridge is proper too. The point, after all, is man whom I seem unable to leave • Dual high fidelity speaker system to lorite and play jazz as if it were all alone in these feuilletons, has devotee spontaneous and to give generous op­ himself to some of Shorty Rogers's portunities to the born improviser. compositions, with Rogers himself or The Baker LP already referred to the trumpet and fluegel horn; Jimmj displays the leader in some brisk com­ Rowles, piano; Harry Babasin, bass: positions by the tenor saxophonist and Roy Harte, drums. This is win­ Jack Montrose, and the latter is joined ning stuff; the boys on the Pacific art certainly having a fine time with theii • Individual bass and treble tone controls. in the reed section by Herb Geller Multi-position record equalization switch and Bob Gordon. The rhythm section art (Nocturne NLP2). I glean fronr the cover photograph of "The Dizzj • External speaker jack—Radio input jack strikes me as living up to its billing: • Unique self-mounting legs optional 4.95 ". one of the greatest . ever Gillespie Stan Getz Sextet" (Norgrar assembled foi- the job of furthering a MGN-2) that Gillespie has shaved of *Sliahtly (ii'ijher W«s( of the Roclci«i musical idea." Cast of characters: his beard (or should it be be-beard] At leading dealers, or write. Russ Freeman, piano; Joe Mondragon. but he fortunately remains one o PILOT RADIO CORPORATION bass: and Shelly Manne, drums. the most dazzling and droll trumpeter: in history. Here he has the extraor THE STANDARD OF EXCEllENCE I am even more impressed by the dinary background of Getz's suppl< 37-06 Thirty Sixth St. Long Island City 1, N. Y. variety of new material on "Shelly Manne and His Men, Vol. 2" (Con­ alto, Oscar Peterson at the piano, ant temporary C2511). This LP is devoted Max Roach at the drums. They pla: to neoteric brass playing by a group "It Don't Mean a Thing," "I Let ; of young men who are obviously fond Song Go out of My Heart," "Exactl: of J. S. Bach. The band consists of Like You," and "Talk of the Town.' Ollie Mitchell or Don Fagerquist, The first number is one of the mos first trumpet; Shorty Rogers, second stai-tling show-off operations I cai PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED 59 remember, and I am a pushover for this order of theatricalism. Now for the I am not trying to give the impres­ sion that everything I place on the turntable proves to be a masterpiece, first time a but I simply cannot remember a month of more musical fun. Shorty Rogers—here he goes again—has made triple obeisance to Count Basie in a Magnecorder captivating account of some of Basie's and his own tunes: "Shorty Rogers Courts the Count" (RCA Victor under ^300 LJM-1004). The band includes many of the men already mentioned, plus a trombone player named Milt Bern- hart who has a wonderful disregard for the staying powers of metal. I 'bring the musicians right should think Basie would die of grati­ tude. Then we have "The Jazz Scene" into your room with a (Clef 10,410-13), the first of a series in which the jazz entrepreneur Nor­ man Granz proposes to exhibit an­ CUSTOM HI-FI nually the prevailing syncopated mood. For some curious reason, he MUSIC SYSTEM has started with recordings made in by L. H. BOGEN, Member Audio Engineering Society 1948 and 1949, but I am overjoyed: there are, among other things, two MUSIC LOVERS are swinging to custom high fidelity because it brings music into lovely romantic works by Duke Ell­ the home with a life-like "presence" that ington with Harry Carney at the bari­ you just can't get from a conventional tone saxophone, and some elegant radio-phonograph. efforts by those modern masters, the new pianist Bud Powell, alto saxophonist For as little as $200 you can buy "the Charlie "Yardbird" Parker, and tenor works" of a connoisseur's radio-phono saxophonist Flip Phillips. The Carib­ system: Bogen R300 FM-AM radio tuner M30 bean rhythmic flavor is obviously and DOlO amplifier, with matching record FINEST OF ALL HOME strong here. player and speaker. TAPE RECORDERS Lester Young has some of his mas­ terful dawdling on the tenor saxo­ phone in two new LP's, with Oscar For the man who has been waiting Peterson at the piano (Norgran MGN- and hoping, here is the first Magne­ 5 and 6). These albums have the corder at a popular price. The purely further attraction of a cover by the professional "utility" look is gone, gifted David Stone Martin which pre­ yet the new M30 Magnecorder still sents Young in the likeness of some You can install units diabolic conjurer, and I will buy that in your own cabinetry. delivers professional performance — interpretation. If someone has to be the same quality which has made constantly blatting around the house, YOUR DEALER or decorator can install your Magnecord the accepted leader in let it be Lester. In his own way he custom system practically anywhere: in tape recording the world around. reminds me of a quality I have always existing furniture, a book case, break- found irresistible in the Japanese front, as a built-in system, or in a cabinet shakuhachi—a bamboo flute; in the like the one shown. (Incidentally, if you're The M30 Magnecorder is mounted handy do the installation yourself.) in a handy portable case, with high best hands it sounds as if no human fidelity output for external amplifier. agency were present, as if it were a breath out of the grass and the SEND FOR 48 PAGE BOOK Other models at slightly higher cost "Understanding High Fidelity" weather. And Lester Young's horn is Explains how to plan your instal­ include power output stage and inte­ a kind of pan-pipe. lation. Send 2Si with the coupon. gral PM speaker. Your dealer is listed Shortly before he died. Fats Waller under "Recorders" in the classified wrote a charming "London Suite." telephone directory. This work and some of his finest pop­ Bogcn ular songs are reverently handled by mCTRONlC \^EQUIPMENT the Englishman Ted Heath and his orchestra (London LL978). One of MAIL THIS COUPON NOW NEW LOWER PRICES the most famous Portuguese enter­ tainers is Amalia Rodrigues, specialist David Bogen Co.