Satchmo at Symphony Hall - 65th Anniversary: The Complete Recordings

It was 65 odd years ago that the great Louis Armstrong in May, 1947 did his first small group performance in many years at New York City’s Town Hall. The performance was such a success and combined with the fact that Armstrong’s Big Band was struggling, he disbanded his band band a month later. After performing with his new small group at Billy Berg’s in Hollywood, he came to Boston’s Symphony Hall in November, 1947 for a performance that would be recorded and be celebrated when it was initially issued on two LPs a few years later. Hip-O-Select has just released Satchmo at Symphony Hall - 65th Anniversary: The Complete Recordings, which includes several previously unissued performances and several performances unedited for the first time.

Armstrong and the All Stars included in addition to the leaders’ trumpet and singing, Jack Teagarden on trombone and vocals, Barney Bigard on clarinet, Dick Cary on piano, Arvell Shaw on bass and Big Sid Catlett on drums. Velma Middleton was also on vocals. The music here was in the format that Armstrong would employ leading groups for the rest of his life and while personnel would change (Catlett would pass away around the time of the original release of this material in 1951). 

Included are two sets of music totaling about two hours. Both sets open with abbreviated renditions of Armstrong’s theme, When It’s Sleepy Time Down South, and close with short treatments of I Got a Right to Sing the Blues, associated with Teagarden. Listening to the first CD, one is treated to a rousing Muskrat Ramble, followed by the poignant song about racism (What Did I Do To Be So) Black & Blues. After taking us to Chicago on Royal Garden Blues, Teagarden is showcased for Lover and Stars Fell on Alabama with a nice vocal from Mr. T. A couple vocals from Velma Middleton include a take on Buddy Johnson’s Since I Fell For You, followed by Bigard features on Tea For Two and Body and Soul. Armstrong then takes a traditional blues Back O’Town Blues, a staple still of New Orleans bands today that is followed by a showcase for Catlett’s spectacular stick work, Steak Face.

The second set displays a similar variety of material as Armstrong opens with old favorites of his including Mahogany Hall Stomp, On the Sunny Side of the Street and the parade classic High Society. Teagarden was always at home with the blues and does a nice version on St. James Infirmary, while Velma Middleton’s Velma Blues is a mix of traditional lyrics. Its followed by her taking the initial vocal on That’s My Desire before Armstrong joins in for some fun. Bigard is featured on C Jam Blues, while bassist Shaw is spotlighted on How High the Moon. Catlett again gets to display his showmanship and deft drumming on Mop Mop although one can hear him failing to catch one of his sticks as it crashes into the stage. The last number of the performance (before the closing theme) is the previously unissued Jack Armstrong Blues that the two had recorded originally on a V-Disc. In addition to the two swapping lyrics, there was some spectacular playing by both here.

While there is occasional noise from the source material, sound is generally quite good. This is packaged in a small hardback with the accompanying booklet including the original 1951 notes as well as the more recent observations (including how this reissue came about) from Ricky Riccardi who is the Archivist for the Louis Armstrong House Museum. This is one of the classic traditional jazz recordings and one of the most legendary performances of Armstrong’s career which thankfully is finally available in a complete issue.

The record company sent me the review copy. Here is video of a later edition of Louis Armstrong and the All Stars.

Clifford Brown With The Great jazz Singers.

Hip-O-Select, the reissue label associated with the Universal Music Group that includes the classic Mercury, Emarcy and Verve catalogs has issued a second volume in its Emarcy Master Takes reissues of Clifford Brown’s music, The Singer Sessions. This deluxe reissue comes packaged in a profusely illustrated hardback booklet with annotation from DownBeat associate editor Aaron Cohen, with three stick back pockets that the compact discs are housed in. The booklet contains wonderful photographs of the various performers on these sessions as well as the covers of the original releases of these recordings which included not only LPs but extended play EPs as well. This packaging is marvelous.

The first two of the three CDs reissue the sessions that produced (among other releases) Dinah Jams and  Jam Session. The material is presented as it was originally recorded with Cohen providing the details how this session came about. Max Roach and Clifford Brown had already recorded extensively in the days before this session. Junior Mance notes that while labelled a jam session, this was actually a party in the studio with such an impressive cast of musicians that included Brown, Roach, Harold Land, Richie Powell and George Morrow along with pianist Mance, trumpeters Clark Terry and Maynard Ferguson, bassist Keter Betts, guitarist Herb Geller, and drummer Buddy Rich.

I am more familiar with the selections on which Dinah sings (including my favorite recording of Lover Come Back to Me, and the superb I’ve Got You Under My Skin). Listening to the hot bop of Denzil Best’s Move and the rousing rendition What Is This Thing Called Love, is wonderful as it sounds what one might have heard if they were on a Jazz at the Philharmonic tour. Brownie’s mix of sweetness and hot fire always impresses and one must not lose sight of just how good a saxophonist Harold Land was as can be heard in his terrific solo on You Go To My Head. And one should not forget the shorter performances such as Dinah’s wonderful vocal on No More. 

The third CD combines two later sessions on which Brown played, one with Sarah Vaughan and the other with Helen Merrill. The first session featuring Vaughan was originally from an album titled after the singer and with a session that also included Paul Quinichette on tenor, Herbie Mann on flute, Jimmy Jones on piano, Joe Benjamin on bass and Roy Haynes on drums with Ernie Wilkins handling the arrangements. The playing is a bit tighter here with the focus on Sarah Vaughan’s vocals. There are still plenty of moments such as Brown exchanging fours with Vaughan’s scatting on Lullaby of Birdland. April in Paris, opens without the horns, before Quinichette has a lovely solo and Brown adds some muted trumpet accompanying Vaughan as she resumes singing. On He’s My Guy there are nice choruses for Quinichette and Brown before Jones takes the spotlight. The combination of Sarah Vaughan’s divine singing, Wilkins’ terrific arrangements and the superb playing by the studio band this date, not simply Brown, results in a classic recording. 

Helen Merrill’s eponymously titled debut recording had Brown, flutist Danny Banks (also on baritone) as featured horns accompanist on a Quincy Jones supervised date that included Milt Hinton or Oscar Pettiford on bass, Jimmy Jones on piano and Barry Galbraith on guitar in the studio. Brown’s bright open playing during his solo contrasts with Merrill’s soft vocals (almost like a whisper) on Don’t Explain as she sings “you’re my joy and pain.” You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To swings lightly and Brown takes some spirited choruses after Jones takes a solo. Listening to her on What’s New, I can understand why Dexter Gordon also took to this ballad, while on Yesterdays, the longing she expresses is complemented by Brown’s featured choruses. This was a recording full of charm and heart, It had an impact on Merrill such that she would revisit it four decades later with a homage to Brown employing a brass ensemble to evoke his spirit.

The Singers Sessions is a welcome companion to the previously issued 4 CD set, “The Emarcy Master Takes” which compiled the recordings Brown and Max Roach made together, this will be welcome to those who do not have the initial recordings. The music sounds good and the backing is attractive. This music is to quote Merrill singing a Gershwin classic, “it’s wonderful, it’s marvelous,” and recommended although those having prior reissues of some or all of this material might pass on this. Certainly this would make a welcome holiday present.

The recording company sent me a review copy. Here is what I believe is the only video of Clifford Brown performing that exists and originated from a fifties local late night show that Soupy Sales hosted.

Wes Montgomery Kept Movin'

The great Wes Montgomery is celebrated in a new box set, Movin’: The Complete Verve Recordings, from Verve through the Hip-O-Select, which like Verve is part of the Universal Music Group. Like other recent Hip-O-Select box sets, this comes in the form of a hard cover book which contains substantial annotations from Wall Street music journalist Marc Myers (who also does the excellent jazzwax.com blog) along with five CDs that contain all of the substantial musical legacy that Montgomery produced for Verve, after his important, innovative and influential Riverside recordings. My only quibble with the packaging is that the pages used to contain the CDs (which contain session information) hold the CDs in a manner that makes it slightly difficult to extract and return to the sleeves the CDs without getting one’s fingerprints on the shiny side of the CD.

Myers essay is entitled Birth of the Mod, and gives and overview of Montgomery’s career with a focus on the Verve recordings. While comfortable in his hometown Indianapolis, he nevertheless became a major jazz performer through his association with the Riverside label. The death of Riverside’s Bill Grauer was eventually followed by bankruptcy. Without a record label, Montgomery signed with Verve and Creed Taylor who was one of its primary jazz producers who had been working with Jimmy Smith, Stan Getz and others. Myers details the recording of the eight albums by Montgomery on Verve which marked some of Taylor’s earliest jazz-pop experimentations and which turned the guitarist into a jazz-pop avatar to quote Myers.

With Verve, Taylor mixed recordings of jazz standards, popular numbers and show numbers often with big bands that still had Montgomery’s guitar in front. From the first moments of his initial Movin’ Wes to the collaborations with Jimmy Smith, Montgomery’s brilliant fretwork was on display. While some of his recordings like the rendition of People on the Johnny Pate arranged first album employed fadeouts like pop 45s others like his rendition of the Duke Ellington classic “Caravan” were front and center burners. And it wasn’t simply Johnny Pate. Taylor also employed Don Sebesky, Claus Ogerman and Oliver Nelson for other big band sessions.

Not to be forgotten among these big band sessions are the sessions with the Wynton Kelly Trio that included some live recordings. Jimmy Cobb, the trio’s drummer, recalls that Montgomery was somewhat uncomfortable with the commercial material, and felt the material was beneath what Montgomery was capable of. Myers explains how Montgomery, despite initially resisting such material became more comfortable with it employing the example of Going Out of My Head. After first resting the simplicity of the material, Montgomery would make a Grammy winning recording, working out stuff with Grady Tate before the recording.

Yet as the recordings with Wynton Kelly and later the collaborations with Jimmy Smith make most evident, Montgomery had matured but remained the brilliant improvisor mixing single notes chords and octaves and the best of the orchestrations simply add punch to this brilliance, but even when simply embellishing a melody as on Going Out Of My Head, his tone and note placement produced magic. When Montgomery and Smith collaborate on Down By the Riverside or Milestones with terrific Oliver Nelson charts the sparks fire. Then there are the small group sides by Smith and Montgomery with just Grady Tate and Ray Barretto on King of the Road and Baby Its Cold Outside that makes one wish these two had recorded more.

It is almost impossible to find any recording on this that doesn’t possess at least some musical magic, even the tracks with some imperfections that remained unissued at the time of recording. Of course, some of the alternates and other tracks have been subsequently reissued. Unless one has an extensive collection of the source CDs, this is a must for fans of Wes Montgomery and/or jazz guitar.

This was a purchase and I believe it would make a terrific gift for the jazz lover or guitar music lover on your gift list.