Don Sebesky's Masterwork Giant Box

Don Sebesky’s Giant Box is part of the CTI Masterworks reissues of classic CTI albums marking the label’s 40th Anniversary. Originally issued as a double album, the single CD here makes available the music that Sebesky contributed arrangements/orchestrations to along with some original compositions from him. While it might seem this was a tribute to him from the label’s artists, in fact it was his attempt to showcase some of the label’s soloists he had worked with, and while writing the material he had a feeling who should play specific solos. Sebesky himself the arrangements and compositions here were amongst the most ambitious he had written at that time.

Among those featured on the performances on this recording are Sebesky and Bob James on keyboards; Ron Carter on acoustic, electric and piccolo bass; Billy Cobham and Jack DeJohnette on drums; George Benson and Harry Leahy; Airto, Dave Friedman and Ralph McDonald on percussion; Paul Desmond, Joe Farrell; and Grover Washington, Jr. on saxophones; Milt Jackson on vibes; Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and flugelhorn; Hubert laws on flute; and Jackie Kral and Roy cain on vocals.

The liner notes to the original release are included and while there is considerable classical influence (including his full use of strings, horns and woodwinds) in how Sebesky approaches some of the performances, he affirmatively answers that the ultimate result is jazz. He uses Stravinsky's Firebird to frame his orchestral arrangement for John McLaughlin’s Birds of Fire that is one of the showcases for Hubert Laws’ flute along with Freddie Hubbard’s trumpet and Harry Leahy’s guitar. Paul Desmond’s dry martini alto saxophone is showcased on the interpretation of Joni Mitchell’s Song to a Seagull, on which Sebesky is heard on electric piano.

Sebesky’s electric piano opens his original Free As a Bird with soaring horns has outstanding solos that take flight from James on piano, Hubbard on flugelhorn, and Washington on soprano sax (note how he really digs in on this). James is on organ for the arrangement of Jimmy Webb’s setting for Psalm 150, with Jackie Kral and Roy Cain singing praise for the Lord with Hubbard’s trumpet and Carter’s bass adding to the joyful sounds. Desmond opens the interpretation of Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise, which is followed by some vibes-piano interplay between Milt Jackson and Bob James along with more Desmond on a lovely performance with some flamenco tinges and lovely use of horns in the orchestration.

Sebesky invokes us with his vocal to fly high as we could if we only could try opening his original medley Fly/Circle. This performance opens somewhat dreamingly that has both Laws and Farrell both displaying a fair amount of reverb in their flute and soprano sax respectively before an interlude with DeJohnette and Carter followed by Farrell’s serpentine solo and a skittering solo from Laws. The closing original Semi-Tough has a funky groove, some skittering piano from Sebesky, a gospel rooted vocal chorus, some gritty alto saxophone from Washington, and George Benson making judicious use of pedal effects in his driving guitar.

The performances on Don Sebesky’s Giant Box display how his ambitious synthesis of classical, jazz and popular music was so realized. His orchestrations frame the featured players here and enhance the solos that exhibit the skill and imagination of some of the greatest jazz musicians of four decades ago with m,ore than a few spectacular moments.

I received my review copy from a publicist for the release.

Jimmy Rushing's Classic Blues Shouting

Avid Jazz is one of several European Public Domain reissue labels that have compiled reissues of vintage jazz albums primarily from the 1950s and among recent reissues is Four Classic Albums Plus by Jimmy Rushing. Rushing is best known as a vocalist with the classic Count Basie Band of the swing era. His career of course started prior to that and his first recording was made with the legendary Blue Devils. Later he was associated with the Bennie Moten Orchestra which after the leader's death eventually morphed into The Count Basie Band. While more than simply a blues singer, his vocals on such songs as Boogie Woogie, Good Morning Blues, Goin' To Chicago, Sent For You Yesterday, and Don't You Miss Your Baby, led him to be cast as a blues singer. Of course he did sing more than just blues as exemplified by the Hoagie Carmichael classic New Orleans, with Moten as well as such pop tunes and novelties as as Exactly Like You, Boo Hoo, Georgiana, and Mama Don't Want No Peas 'N' Rice 'N' Coconut Oil. Like his blues vocals, he always swung hard with his phrasing and his full-throated and ebullient delivery.

By the 1950s he had established himself as a single artist. He had recorded for Vanguard Records under John Hammond's direction in the early 1950s with members of the Count Basie band and boogie woogie legends like Pete Johnson and Sammy Price. Subsequently he recorded a number of albums for Columbia of which four are featured on this Avid Jazz compilation: Jimmy Rushing and the Smith Gals, Little Jimmy and The Big Brass, Brubeck & Rushing and The Jazz Odyssey of James Rushing Esq. In addition to the music from those albums, these reissues also include a performance from the legendary TV show The Sound of Jazz and a rare British EP, The Way I Feel.

Altogether there are 49 songs over the two CDs included here so there is plenty of music. Some of the recordings are familiar to me from a Columbia vinyl reissue of the 1970s, but many of these specific recorded performances are fresh to the ears. On much of the recordings he is backed by some of the cream of the swing era musicians including Basie veterans like Walter Page, Buck Clayton, Dickey Wells, Sweet sEdison, Jo Jones, Vic Dickenson, and Buddy Tate, along with such other legends like Coleman Hawkins, Budd Johnson, Hank Jones, Milt Hinton, Hilton Jefferson, Doc Cheatham, Danny Barker and Zutty Singleton. And of course one of the albums included here had Rushing backed by Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright and Joe Morello.

From the opening moments of Arkansas Blues to the closing The Way I Feel, one is treated to some wonderful renditions of blues and classic pop songs that are sung with heart and humor. He can sound world weary on the blues like Down Hearted Blues, and Jimmy's Blues, yet wink about the fact Somebody Stole My Gal. He provides his own personal signature on classic blues like T'aint Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do, and I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts of Town as well as interpretations of Louis Jordan's hit, Knock Me a Kiss, and the classic Earl Hines tune Rosetta. And we should not neglect to mention the welcome reissue of the rare EP with the terrific blues Go Get Some More.

While most of the recording has him with big band (or little big band in some cases), the album with Brubeck has its own charm with a bit more intimacy in the setting and the somewhat lighter backing provided on a revival of Evenin', one of the songs he recorded with Basie, Fats Waller's Ain't Misbehavin', and the torch song Am I Blue. There is a definite appeal to Brubeck's understated piano and Desmond's dry martini alto sound and if Brubeck may have been skeptical when Rushing first suggested they collaborate, the result was another stellar showcase of a vocalist who touched many years ago and whose singing still sounds fresh today.

Like other similar reissues, the liner notes are reproduced in the accompanying booklet (although in some cases only portions are). The music also sounds good to these deafening ears. There is not a solid overview of Rushing's Columbia recordings available on CD. This makes this reissue even more valuable in addition to the wonderful music contained here.

This was a purchase. Here Jimmy sings I Left My Baby, from the legendary TV show, The Sound Of Jazz.

CTI Masterworks Reissues Jim Hall's Concierto

As part of the 40th Anniversary of CTI Records, Sony through its CTI Masterworks imprint has reissued a remastered edition of guitarist Jim Hall’s Concierto. This 1975 release had Hall with a group that included Sir Roland Hanna on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Steve Gadd on drums, Paul Desmond on tenor saxophone and Chet Baker on trumpet. It was a collection of swinging, small group performances mixed with a rendition of Concierto De Aranjuez, the Joaquin Rodrigo composition that was a central part of Miles Davis’ classic collaboration with Gil Evans, Sketches of Spain. Don Sebesky, instead of orchestral arrangements, set it up for the sextet on this date.

The result is a solid album of what would have been considered mainstream jazz at the time. This swinging group played with a clean, cool tone perhaps best exhibited by the dry martini alto of Desmond and Baker’s tart, lyrical style thatcomplemented Hall’s own spare and lyrical style. There is almost a cool, chamber music quality to these performances which is not completely surprising given Hall spent time as a member of Chico Hamilton’s unique quintet that included cello and Buddy Collette or Paul Horn.

Cole Porter’s You’d Be Nice To Come Home To, opens with Hall and the rhythm before Desmond enters followed by Baker who provides counterpoint during Desmond’s solo before taking a solo that focuses on his middle-range and continues the melodic qualities of this performance. Hall’s Two Blues is a brisk Hall original with Baker soloing before Hall takes the spotlight mixing single note runs with carefully voiced chords while the lovely The Answer Is Yes, was contributed by Jim’s wife Jane on which Hall’s solo is almost a duet with Carter as Hanna adds occasional chord voicings and Gadd lightly propels the groove.

As indicated, the centerpiece of this album is the sextet rendition of Concierto De Aranjuez. WIth a hint of flamenco in Hall’s guitar, it is followed by Baker, evoking but not imitating Miles, and then Desmond enters with Baker weaving his trumpet around the alto. Obviously the feeling is quite different than provided by the Gil Evans orchestral arrangements with focus no longer simply on the trumpet. The recording is marvelous as with Hanna’s lead, Hall takes the first extended solo backed by the economical and quiet playing by Carter and Baker (along with Hanna’s spare comping) allows one to focus on how he constructs his solo and his deft use of a horn-like tone. Desmond follows with a hint of blues in his dry, songbird tone. Chet Baker’s solo is a bit freer than Miles’ playing on Sketches (which we know today that part of Miles’ solos were actually written parts), and fits the pensive playing of the others. Hanna follows with a solo and then Hall returns. Its captivating listening to the sweet lyricism that this group displays, although the performance does not reach the exhilarating peaks of Davis’ recording or the recent revisiting of it by Harmonie Ensemble New York.

Included on this release are two bonus tracks, the Ellington-Strayhorn Rock Skippin’ at the Blue Note, and the Hall-Carter collaboration Unfinished Business was not on the original release. The former is a delightful quartet performance whose melody seems linked to Just Squeeze Me, while the latter brings out the lyricism of Hall, Carter and Desmond. Alternate takes, but not necessarily lesser performances, of the first three selections are also included to provide over an hour of music. As stated above, this was wonderfully recorded by Rudy Van Gelder, and while the latest Japanese reissues of this material has been remastered by Creed Taylor and Van Gelder and likely may be better sonically, the Sony reissues still sound wonderful. Concierto is an album of straight-ahead jazz that is substantial, quite lovely sounding and still sounding fresh and contemporary.

My review copy was provided by a publicity firm for the release.

Paul Desmond's Legendary Dry Martini Sound

Its ironic that one of the two recordings Dave Brubeck is most known for, “Take Five,” was not by Brubeck, but from his alto saxophonist, Paul Desmond. As part of the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of CTI, Sony has issued a remastered edition of Pure Desmond, a quartet date with guitarist Ed Bickert, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Connie Kay. Sony has had this remastered, although unlike the Japanese remasters of CTI material, Sony did not employ have Creed Taylor and Rudy Van Gelder at whose legendary studio this was recorded, to remaster these. It likely is that the Japanese remastering is superior to that on Sony, as Marc Myers blogged on his jazzwax.com back at the end of September, but i would assume most would not be willing to pay three times what one might pay for the Sony reissues. And this particular reissue still sounds wonderful to my aging ears.

I love Gene Lee’s description in the liner booklet of Desmond’s alto sound as tart and lyrical and Desmond himself says he wanted to sound as a dry martini. The Canadian guitarist Bickert was a recommendation of Jim Hall to Desmond and his own playing has a lyricism of its own along with the precise eloquence of his picking and solos. Carter and Kay provide marvelous backing as during Bickert’s solo on Django Reinhardt’s Nuages, where its almost a duet between Bickert and Carter with kay light on the cymbals, before Desmond comes back in with his playing that may be the true paradigm of the ‘cool sound.” The overall feel is of a delightful preciousness of this quartet whether on Reinhardt’s wistful classic or the playfulness of Ellington’s Just Squeeze Me, that opens this recording.

The program includes a couple of lesser known gems from Cole Porter (Why Shouldn’t I), and Ellington (Warm Valley), along with Mean to Me, from the pen of Roy Turk and Fred Ahlert and associated with Billie Holiday, the Theme From M*A*S*H, and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s Wave. There is a lovely rendition of “Warm Valley” which was a feature of Johnny Hodges with Ellington I believe. On this edition are three alternate takes, but I do not know if they have been previously reissued. In any event, there is nearly an hour of some of the loveliest jazz one is likely to hear and the marvelous recording and sound here adds to the listening enjoyment.

This is a review of a purchased CD.