WARDELL GRAY - LIVE IN HOLLYWOOD

WARDELL GRAY
LIVE IN HOLLYWOOD
XANADU 146

This album is from the tape collection of Bob Andrews who was to West Coast jazz of the fifties what Jerry Newman was for the jam sessions at Minton's. Wardell Gray was in his brief life a master of the tenor who was on Charlie Parker's "Relaxin' at Camarillo" date for Dial, and was in bands with Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Billie Eckstine. Let's not forget the various dueling tenor sax albums with Dexter. Precious few recordings were made under his name and this 1952 location re- cording is a most worthy addition to the Gray and bop discography.

Gray was joined on this date by Art Farmer playing some hot trumpet, Hampton Hawes playing with a judicious use of space and angularity which is sort of a more fluid Monk. Joe Mondragon and Shelly Manne complete this group which includes a hot version of Dameron's "The Squirrel", which is classic bebop. Dig the interchange between Gray and Farmer at the tune's close with Manne kicking things along and Hampton laying down a solid groove. The whole album is like that and there is over fifty minutes of music here.

Highly recommended.

I likely received a review copy from the Buffalo Jazz Report where this review ran in June 1978 (Issue 52). Here is one of Wardell Gray's most famous compositions, "Twisted."

Whisper Not: The Autobiography of Benny Golson

Whisper Not: The Autobiography of Benny Golson
Benny Golson and Jim Merod
Philadelphia:Temple University Press:
2016; 336+xvi pp.

Anyone who has had the pleasure of seeing the marvelous saxophonist and composer Benny Golson, has been treated to not simply marvelous music but also his storytelling in introducing the tunes performed, whether recollections about growing up with John Coltrane, or the origins of some of his classic compositions such as "Along Came Betty," "I Remember Clifford," "Stablemates," and so many more. Now, Benny has put some of these stories and more in this new volume that was written with Jim Merod.

This is not a usual autobiography where the person provides a chronicle of his life. Instead the book is more of a systematic organization of vignettes of the manner he would tell in performance, except perhaps he gets into more depth about some and a number of them are matters that would not normally come up unless he was being interviewed.

The book is organized into eight parts and it would give an overview of the contents to describe each of the parts and some of the contents of that part. After Merod's preface, which provides an overview of Golson's life and contribution, while his own introduction is an indication of the positive, as opposed to negative, messages he hopes to provide in detailing his story.

Part 1 is entitled John Coltrane and in its three chapters discusses his interactions with Coltrane including John and him meeting Bird and Diz and then being the musical dynamo. Part II is entitled "The 'Hood' and Youthful Reckonings" and includes some of his early musical adventures as well as his Uncle Robert and Benny's first visit to Minton's, early musical experiences and then hard times. Part 111, entitled "Great P People," takes us to his experiences with the likes of Bull Moose Jackson and Earl Bostic, Art Blakey, Tadd Dameron, Clifford Brown and Fats Navarro, Jimmy and Percy Heath, Betty Carter, Art Farmer, and others. as well as discussing going to Howard University and further matters. Part IV, "Hollywood," was a revelation for me as I was unaware he had left the jazz world to spend several years scoring for film and TV. Included are his recollections of what was musically involved along with his three years with the show, "M*A*S*H."

Part V, "Amazing Friendships," has his recollections of Quincy Jones, Harry 'Sweets' Edison, Dizzy Gillespie, Philly Joe Jones (who he went back with to his youth), Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, Dinah Washington and Curtis Fuller as well as tells the story of The Jazztet that he and Art Farmer co-led. Part VI, "Music and Writing," includes his discussion of how his approach to writing music developed along with discussions of "Stablemates," his first recorded song, "Along Came Betty," and "I Remember Clifford." He was (and still is) not happy with changes Miles Davis made in his composition in the first recording of "Stablemates" (which included John Coltrane in Davis' Band). Elsewhere he recalls very sad circumstances of learning of Clifford Brown's passing that led to one of his most famous compositions. The last chapter in this part, "The Ballad and 'Weight,'" is one of the most thought provoking, as Golson considers playing of ballads such a great factor in the music's art and the import of the ballad as almost a genre in itself while in playing ballads, emphasis is on the weight given to each specific note played.

Part VII, "Icons," has his recollections of persons he had met that stand apart from simply great musicians. Included is his recollections of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, and performing in the film, "The Terminal." There are also recollections of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, Coleman Hawkins, Art Blakey, Kenny Dorham, Lee Morgan, Peggy Lee, Diana Ross, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Milt Jackson, Charles Mingus, Benny Goodman, Gigi Gryce, Larry Young, Mickey Rooney, Redd Foxx, Jersey Joe Walcott, and Muhammad Ali amongst those disccussed. Part VIII, "Verses And A Coda," includes how he resumed his musical performing career after his Hollywood hiatus, the centrality of the blues and the Coda which is a brief discussion of his becoming a Jehovah Witness.

The text is clean and readily accessible as a Golson melody and a photo album includes a number of memorable images. Golson is such a positive person, and that is conveyed throughout his graceful telling of his story. This is an important addition to the body of jazz biographies and autobiographies.

I purchased this. Here is Benny talking about John Coltrane.

The Complete Jazz Casual Series
EFOR Films

Many of you may be aware of the legendary public TV show, Jazz Casual, that was hosted by the late music critic Ralph Gleason. Shows from this series featured a number of jazz legends including John Coltrane, Count Basie, Sonny Rollins, Louis Armstrong, Art Farmer, Jimmy Witherspoon with Ben Webster, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Earl Fatha Hines, Art Pepper, Art Farmer, Charles Lloyd Quartet (with Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette), Joe Sullivan, Mel Torme and others. A number of these performances have been available on VHS tapes and DVD. EFOR Films has issued a box with 8 DVD's containing the complete series of performances mixed with Gleason's cogent interviews of these artists. Also included is a booklet with an overview of the series and the artists included.

I purchased this video box set. This is one of a number of short reviews I have written for the 2015 Holiday Guft Guide edition of Jazz & Blues Report.  Here is John Coltrane performing "Alabama," from his performance on this show.

Benny Golson's Jazz Legacy Still Expanding

Highly honored over the past few years for his lengthy career (he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award among other honors), and recently feted at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in celebration of his 80th Birthday, Benny Golson’s musical legacy is marked by two new releases on Concord Jazz. “The Best of Benny Golson” is a career spanning disc containing nine performances while “New Time, New ‘Tet” is his first new recording in five years with his new jazztet. Golson’s contributions probably are most noteworthy as a composer and arranger, but he has also been a distinctive saxophonist who has produced a strong body of recordings. Some of his compositions have become part of the jazz standard book including “I Remember Clifford,” ”Whisper Not,” “Along Came Betty,” and “Killer Joe.” One thing these carefully crafted compositions share is there memorable melodies that stay with the listener. Furthermore, there is a thoughtfulness in his tunes, arrangements and his playing. he eschews a hot extroverted music for a distinctive crafted work which is akin to the careful work of a jeweler cutting stones and crafting his rings, bracelets and charms. 
A career spanning decades can only be skimmed on a single disc, but “The Best of Benny Golson,” brings together nine performances that display the range and variety of his compositions as well as his playing. This compilation opens with an octet performing “Whisper Not,” with Art Farmer, Gigi Gryce, James Cleveland, and Sahib Shibab joining him for the front line with a muted, delicate sound to the arrangement effectively using Watkins’ French Horn, Shibab’s baritone sax and Farmer’s muted trumpet with solos from Gryce, Cleveland on trombone, Farmer playing open, and Golson himself. Gigi Gyrce’s “Reunion” is a sextet with J.J. Johnson on trombone and Kenny Dorham on trumpet as well as a rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Max Roach, on a nice bop number with shifting tempos with Golson taking the lead solo, Chambers getting featured and the ensemble trading fours with Roach.

“Are You Real,” a quintet performance with Curtis Fuller and a rhythm of Barry Harris, Jymie Merritt and Philly Joe Jones has some gusty playing from Golson before Fuller and Harris take the spotlight. Another date with Fuller brings the stunning “Blues After Dark,” another strong Golson melody, with its loping tempo and marvelous solos by both Fuller and Golson, both who employ an almost whispering attack at the beginning of their solos. Art Blakey joins Fuller on Golson on a delightful reading of Rodgers & Hart’s “I Didn’t Know What Time It Is,” while his ballad playing on “April in Paris,” evokes Ben Webster, in the use of space as well as tone on a superb performance although without Webster's heavy vibrato. A live rendition of “Along Came Betty” is from a Jazztet dated co-led with Art Farmer and with Curtis Fuller.

A 1997 recording of his “Five Spot After Dark,” has Ron Blake on tenor and John Swana on trumpet, both a bit more extroverted in their playing than Golson. Eddie Henderson is present on the closing track, a nice 2004 rendition of “Killer Joe.” Lacking familiarity with all the source albums for these tracks, I cannot vouch whether this is in fact the best of Benny Golson, but the music here is darn good indeed (to use a bit of understatement).

“New Time. New ‘Tet” (Concord Jazz) releases an August 2008 session with Eddie Henderson, trumpet-flugelhorn; Steve Davis, trombone; Mike Ledonne, piano, Buster Williams, bass, and Carl Allen drums. All but Davis were on the 2004 rendition “Killer Joe,” from “The Best of Benny Golson.” In the liner notes, Jim Merod has these interesting words to describe this contemporary Jazztet in that it “incorporates virtually all the elements of the pensive, sometimes sentimental,consistently philosophical and always gregarious.” Trombonist Davis' “Grove’s Groove,” opens this set with a relaxed groove and his at times blustery tone contrasts with Golson’s more reserved sounding attack. Next up is Sonny Rollins’ “Airegin,” with Henderson brassy solo a highlight along with Buster Williams’s walking solo and pianist Ledonne’s sparkling playing.

Golson’s “From Dream to Dream” is an apty titled ballad with a languorous feel. Davis takes a lengthy, low-key solo while Henderson and Golson add soft embellishments around. The tempo struts a bit quicker as Al Jarreau adds a vocal to this new rendition of “Whisper Not,” with Henderson using his mute on his solo, followed by Ledonne adding a bit of barrelhouse to his bop piano. Monk’s “Epistrophy” opens with a blast from the horns before Henderson takes the lead on the melody as Davis and Golson adding their voices before Henderson opens his solo in an extroverted vein, on a number where everyone solos with Ledonne’s bouncy handling of Monk’s angular lines a delight and his chords punctuate Williams solo.

Golson rearranges a couple of songs from the Western Classical musical tradition, Chopin’s “L’Adieu,” with marvelous muted playing on this ballad from Henderson, and “Verdi’s Voice,” with the jazztet evoking a classical quartet. An unusual contemporary ballad, El DeBarge’s “Love Me in a Special Way,” showcases Davis’ gruff lyricism before Golson takes over for his romantic reading of the number. “Gypsy Jingle-Jangle,” is a pretty lively tempoed number with shifting tempos that lead one on a musical ride, more like the tilt-a-whirl than a roller coaster, but energizing indeed. The closing “Uptown Afterburn,” is another energetic musical jaunt with Williams, who solos here, anchors with his forceful playing.

This recording illustrates that age has not slowed down Benny Golson down, and with the latest Jazztet, continues to provide us with jazz that remains thoughtful, soulful, contemplative, fiery and passionate.


This look back and look forward at Benny Golson originally appeared in the March 2009 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 314) at pages 8-9. The issue can be downloaded at jazz-blues.com. Review copies of the CD were provided me from the publication.