John Swana: Philly Gumbo Vol.2

It seems like a lot of up and coming trumpeters these days go for the bop stylings of Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw as their main influence. Far fewer look to players like Art Farmer or Kenny Wheeler for inspiration. That's what has made watching the development of Philadelphia trumpet man John Swana so fascinating over the years. While he has the chops needed to communicate in the high-octane language of be-bop, his tone and use of space suggest that players such as Farmer and Wheeler, both highly melodic improvisers with dark and burnished timbres, have inspired him.

Quite possibly one of the most talented and underrated trumpeters of his generation, Swana continues to grow with each new Criss Cross outing, his tenure with the label going back to 1990's Introducing John Swana (Criss 1045). Still content to make Philadelphia his home base, Swana returns to the fold once again with a conclave of Philly's finest jazzmen for a spirited follow up to the 2000 release Philly Gumbo (Criss 1203). Swana continues to cultivate friendly working relationships with all the musicians who make this return engagement the winning accomplishment that it is. With a twist that seems to up the ante even further, John adds tenor saxophonist Larry McKenna to the returning cast of characters.

"I've known Larry since 1980 or '81," says John about a gentleman who served as a valuable mentor to the trumpeter in earlier times. "He is a legend in town, knows a million tunes, and people are always asking him about changes and melodies. I had a beginning jazz theory class with him when I started college and he taught me everything I needed to know theoretically to start my journey into jazz."

Sharing the solo space with fellow tenor man Bootsie Barnes, McKenna also contributes to a beefy front line, Swana's harmonies making the threesome sound much larger than shear numbers suggest. "I've heard Bootsie and Larry play together on several occasions and they have always had a great chemistry together," explains Swana. "I also wanted to do something with both of them because I always felt that they should be heard and their playing be better documented. So when the first record did well, I decided I wanted to do a sequel with Larry added."

A dynamic and engaging soloist in his own right, Barnes is the cousin of the late Ellington alumnus Jimmy Hamilton. While attending high school, the tenor man counted among his classmates such personalities as Lee Morgan, Lex Humphries, Gene Ammons or Willis "Gator" Jackson. "Bootsie is a great swinger with a strong and robust tone," Swana says. "I've seen him say he was tired, then play a solo on the last tune of a 4 hour gig and destroy it, leaving the crowd screaming!"

A veteran of the groups of Philly Joe Jones and Grover Washington Jr., pianist Sid Simmons spent some time at The Berklee College of Music in Boston and is fairly well known among New York musicians even though he, like Swana, chooses to make Philadelphia his home base. John confidently asserts that Simmons is "an original." "I can tell Sid in two notes," he adds. "His contributions to the rhythm section are priceless."

Rounding out this group of close-knit comrades are bassist Mike Boone, a veteran of the Buddy Rich big band, and drummer Byron Landham, a longtime associate of organist Joey DeFrancesco. Both men, along with Simmons, made significant contributions to Philly Gumbo and Landham was a major player on Swana's critically acclaimed Tug Of War (Criss 1163). "Mike is a great musician, always fully engaged in the process, from conception to fruition, including rehearsals, arrangements, and so on," states Swana. "As for Byron, he's a great swinger and he has his own sound, plus his style is very organic, natural, and unique."

Turning our attention to the music at hand, John explains that "Sid's Dilemma" is "a melody over [the chord changes of] "Bernie's Tune." McKenna is up first, with Barnes then taking over before the pair starts bantering back and forth, first trading eight bar phrases and then four. Brief statements from Landham boot along solos from both Swana and Simmons.

Barnes ushers in "127 W. Wilt Street," another Swana original, with an opening riff that recalls Irving Berlin's "Remember." The trumpeter eats up the changes in his opening solo, followed by Barnes (heard throughout on the right channel) and then McKenna (heard on the left), the latter providing a cool Getz-inflected approach as contrast to the former's overt statement out of his Dexter Gordon bag.

A jazz waltz at its core, "Three Of a Kind" manages to include a few adroit changes in meter that manage to provide inspirational fodder for the solo statements. As John explains, "My solo and Sid's are in 3/4, Bootsie's solo is a metric modulation to a slower 4/4 feel, while Larry's is twice as fast as Bootsie's. In all cases, the changes move by at the same speed; just the meter is changed."

Swana describes "Ortlieb's" as "a melody I heard in my head thinking of Larry and Bootsie. I thought they would sound good on the changes." Indeed, Barnes in his opening maneuver announces that he's there to take care of business with a particularly authoritative solo. During John's spot, listen for a sagacious quote from Blue Mitchell's "Fungi Mama." McKenna and Simmons also get solo space on this attractive original named after the Philadelphia club that Swana and the guys frequent on a regular basis.

Unison bass and piano quietly bring on the lengthy "Quasimodo's Uncle," a session highlight chock full of meaty improvisation. Swana calls this one "a blues I wrote thinking of that sound of the three horns and then later Bootsie gave the tune its title." With Swana coolly stating the permutations of the opening riff, the tension builds as McKenna and Barnes add their own snippets to the musical brew. Solo order is Swana, McKenna, Barnes, Simmons, and Boone. The tune's opening structures then return, this time however in retrograde, providing a coherent finale.

The ballad number of the date, "Everything Happens To Me" finds Barnes and McKenna sharing the melody before solos from both men, with Bootsie taking the first one. Some nice harmonies distinguish the reprise of the head. Equally reflective is "In Memory Of... ," a haunting feature for Swana's muted horn with minimal backing from Landham and Boone. "Seems like the older you get the more people in your life start disappearing," observes Swana. "This one also has to do with all the loss of life we've been seeing over the past several years."

Apart from Swana's book of originals, McKenna and Boone each lend contributions to the program. Mike's "Mingus and Jaco" takes as its inspiration two prominent bass players, one an acoustic master and the other an electric innovator. John's solo is on top of a Latin groove, while the two tenor men blow over a swing feel. "It's Over Your Head" is a boppish up-tempo number that Larry based on the changes of "How Deep Is The Ocean," while Bootsie's "Bolero" is a dedication to his fellow tenor man executed in Afro-Cuban style, complete with a swing-inflected bridge.

Thus we come to the close of the second chapter in the saga of John Swana and his musical brothers from the city of Brotherly Love. The fact that Swana remains in Philly when he could go just about anywhere and succeed suggests things must really be happening in a town that he affectionately refers to as "Provincial, but nice."

Of course, being so close to New York City's center of jazz activity, Swana has the best of both worlds. "You'll usually find me playing with Eric Alexander when he's in town," John says. "You know, Joe Magnarelli is coming in soon and so is Jim Sindero and when Uri Caine came through we played together too." Sounds like more than enough musical variety to keep Swana on his toes when he puts it like that.

Liner Notes copyright © 2024 C. Andrew Hovan.

Philly Gumbo Vol. 2 can be purchased here.

Contact C. Andrew Hovan at All About Jazz.
An avid audiophile and music collector, Chris Hovan is a Cleveland-based writer / photographer / musician.

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