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Charlie Parker: The Complete Savoy and Dial Studio Recordings (1944
by C. Michael Bailey
On the heels of Louis Armstrong: The Complete Hot Fives and Sevens Savoy releases another seminal chapter in the development of Jazz. If Louis Armstrong’s The Complete Hot Fives and Sevens can be seen as Moses’ contribution to the Old Testament, then certainly Charlie Parker’s mid 1940s recordings for Savoy and Dial can be seen as ...
Reflections Of Buhaina
By Art Blakey
Label: Savoy Jazz
Released: 2000
Track listing:
Casino, The Biddie Griddies, Potpourri, Ugh!, Mirage, Reflections Of Buhaina, Study In Rhythm, Angel Eyes, Jo B., With Malice Towards None, Capers
Modern Windows Suite
By Bill Barron
Label: Savoy Jazz
Released: 2000
Track listing: When Bill Barron recorded "Modern Windows Suite," his first Savoy recording, he and Ted Curson both were fresh from the uncharted waters of working with Cecil Taylor. It shows. "Modern Windows Suite," the album of 1961 consisting of Barron's extended and interconnected works, joins the other 1961 Barron album, "The Tenor Stylings Of Bill Barron," to fill out the CD. Both conjoined albums exhibit a creative composer and saxophonist interested in challenging conventional approaches to the music by insisting upon dissonance in his themes, by tampering with tempos, by allowing soloists to improvise free in an extended fashion, by creating impressionistic musical descriptions of scenes or moods, and by interweaving various thoughts throughout the albums into a whole, dense fabric. In many respects, Barron's work reflects some of Mingus' approaches, but with a stripped-down, ironically conventional, instrumentation. While Curson went on to fame with Mingus, and especially his extraordinary work with Eric Dolphy on "Jazz Festival/Antibes July 13, 1960" for which he'll forever be remembered, Bill Barron continued in his modest way to explore the intricacies of the music with occasion recordings and teaching gigs, most notably and finally at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. The contrast between the two albums comprising this re-release is notable. "Modern Windows Suite," the vinyl album, is a challenging tone poem of four movements building upon shifting styles and unconventional intervals, most particularly major sevenths. According to Kenny Barron, his brother chose the major sevenths so that the soloists "can't use their standard licks." The inclusion of Cameron on baritone sax creates a dense fabric of sometimes unison statements and sometimes free concomitant improvisation. Seventeen-year-old Kenny Barron for the most part vamps behind the soloists, surely a prodigy able to accompany the free-jazz masters but not giving a hint of his mastery to come. On the other hand, "The Tenor Stylings Of Bill Barron" somehow was engineered for sharper and more assertive sound reproduction, clarifying the roles of the instruments within each piece. Furthermore, the compositions on the album are based upon single themes for the most part, instead of thed inter-connectivity that prevails on the "Modern Windows Suite" album. "Oriental Impressions," as expected, is based upon Far East intervals and modes; "Fox Hunt" unblushingly starts with Curson's announcement of the hunt; "Blast Off," referring to the interest in space travel at the time, allows, at last, Barron and Curson to improvise over blues changes. A part of the creative Philadelphia jazz scene of his generation, along with many other better-known artists, Bill Barron for too long has been overlooked as an innovator and contributor to the music. The Savoy re-issues may allow a new generation to recognize Bill Barron as one of the quieter but nevertheless valued sounds from that pivotal time. Modern Windows Suite: Men At Work, Tone Colors, Dedication To Wanda, Keystone; Blast Off; Ode To An Earth Girl; Fox Hunt; Oriental Impressions; Backlash; Nebulae; Desolation
On 52nd Street
Label: Savoy Jazz
Released: 2000
Track listing: Re-release by re-release, Savoy Jazz is revealing for jazz enthusiasts the richness of its library, built with an iron fist but with perspicacity, by owner Herman Lubinsky. The latest re-issue to astound listeners with head-scratching wonder (I wonder why this wasn't available before) is a documentation of some of Marian McPartland's earliest popular recordings, which led to her later renown. An institution at the Hickory House in the 1950's, McPartland's trio went through several personnel changes. Concord's "Hickory House Trio Reprise" captured live recordings of her 1954-1956 version with Bill Crow and Joe Morello. But that was after her group hit its stride. Savoy's "On 52nd Street" perhaps is even more significant because it includes two of McPartland's early bassists, Vinnie Burke and Bob Carter, who joined her group after the shakeout period involving her first accompanists, bassist Max Wayne and drummer Mel Zelnick. Just as interesting is the fact that "On 52nd Street" documents one of recording engineer wizard Rudy Van Gelder's earliest achievements in reproducing jazz as close as possible to its live performance sound, even with the crude equipment he must have worked with. Credit super-sleuth and legendary producer Orrin Keepnews with tracking down that fact. On "On 52nd Street," McPartland seems to be of two minds: entertaining and breezy in front of a live audience as they clink drinks and clatter and chatter (thanks Rudy for minimizing that sound), and meditative and explorative in the studio where the last five tracks were recorded. That split personality which establishes her genius seems to exist even today: Marian the entertainer who can charm the coldest listener and Marian the versatile intellectual who can play in the style of any pianist who appears on her radio program. Absorbing ideas and styles like a sponge, McPartland shows her influences from Shearing as she block-chords her way through, say, "Willow Weep For Me," and from Powell as she exhibits bop influences in her assured right-hand improvisations. Providing a hint of the Marian to come, "On 52nd Street" enlarges the Savoy Jazz re-release schedule with yet another worthy contribution that's worth every penny of its cost. And maybe more. A Foggy Day; The Lady Is A Tramp; I've Got The World On A String; Manhattan; Aunt Hagar's Blues; Four Brothers; Once In A While; Just Squeeze Me; Liza; September Song; Embraceable You; Laura; What Is This Thing Called Love?; There Will Never Be Another You; Willow Weep For Me; A Fine Romance; Lullaby In Rhythm
The Last Savoy Sessions
By Yusef Lateef
Label: Savoy Jazz
Released: 2000
Track listing: Savoy Jazz is taking its re-issues seriously, and so is Orrin Keepnews, the re-issue producer. With taste, dedication, craftsmanship, attention to detail, and style, Savoy recently has released actually an astounding and seemingly uninterrupted series of recordings from Savoy's heyday. The jazz world is the better for the re-releases, allowing us to investigate the nooks and crannies of earlier jazz work and to revise our assumptions and to add to our knowledge and to acknowledge various influences that heretofore may have been forgotten. Yusef Lateef's work on Savoy over a little more than two years is nothing less than astounding in its output and creativity. "The Last Savoy Sessions" actually include two CD's of Lateefian streams of musical consciousness, as the thoughts flow through his instrument. The volume of work he did on Savoy, though, was so prodigious that even more re-releases are in the wings, including additional recordings of the group that included Wilbur Harden, as well as a yet-unreleased album of Lateef's session with Curtis Fuller. The two CD's on "The Last Savoy Sessions" document what seems to be a critical and prolific period in Lateef's career, as he builds upon his touring band learnings from Lucky Millinder and Hot Lips Page and starts to flaunt the validity of jazz flauting, so much so that Lateef's work started hitting the airwaves regularly. In addition, his interest in Middle Eastern modes and instrumentation, as well as his introduction of the oboe into the jazz vernacular, shows up on "The Last Savoy Sessions." While everyone by now expects Lateef to go multi-instrumental on his recordings, the surprise for me on both CD's is his strength in building suspense and sensitivity on the ballads, sounding quite a bit like Lucky Thompson in his soft timbre on the low notes and his seemingly effortless meandering as he fills a rest or extends a melodic idea. The two CD's are contrasted by the company that Lateef keeps, changing out the rhythm sections, but more importantly substituting flugelhornist Wilbur Harden on the 1957 session with euphoniumist (if such a word exists) Bernard McKinney on the 1959 session. While Lateef remains consistent, the mellowness and counterpoint of the euphonium stands in strong contrast to Harden's witty and middle-register work. In fact, Harden's work on disk two, first recorded as the albums "Jazz And The Sounds Of Nature" and "Prayer To The East," remains one of the very few artifacts remaining about his foreshortened promise and his mysterious life (the other being Savoy's Harden/Coltrane re-release). Now approaching 80, Lateef deserves that re-appreciation that Savoy Jazz loyally and diligently provides. Disk One - Oboe Blues, Angel Eyes, The Dreamer, Arjuna, Can't Help Lovin' That Man, Moon Tree, Stella By Starlight, Valse Bouk, Half Breed, Poor Butterfly Disk Two - 8540 Twelfth Street, Check Blues, Prayer To The East, A Night In Tunisia, Lover Man, Endura, Love Dance, Gypsy Arab, Sram
The Birth Of Hard Bop
By Lee Morgan
Label: Savoy Jazz
Released: 2000
Track listing: Budo; I Married An Angel; The Jazz Message; There Will Never Be Another You; Cattin'; Madeline; When I Fall In Love; Space Flight; Blues Number Two; B. For B.B.; Hank's Shout; Bet; Nostalgia; Thad's Blues; A-1; dou'g Minor Bouk.
Art Blakey And The Jazz Messengers: Reflections Of Buhaina
by Jim Santella
A reissue, Reflections Of Buhaina contains two albums: one by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and one by the Bill Hardman Quintet. Study In Rhythm (Elektra 120 and Savoy MG 1217) features trumpeter Hardman and saxophonist Jackie McLean as Jazz Messengers. The Bill Hardman Quintet (Savoy MG 12170) features the trumpeter with Sonny Red, Ronnie ...
Lee Morgan, Donald Byrd, Hank Mobley: The Birth Of Hard Bop
by Jim Santella
This 2-CD set, introducing the Savoy Jazz Rare Sessions series, contains the reissue of four 1956 Savoy albums: The Jazz Message Of Hank Mobley, Hard Bop, The Jazz Message Of Hank Mobley, Volume 2 and A-1: The Savoy Sessions. It includes alternate takes and previously unissued tracks that serve an important purpose. Here, “Cattin’," for example, ...
Art Blakey: Reflections Of Buhaina
by AAJ Staff
“Reflections Of Buhaina", written by tuba player Ray Draper, is a tune on the new Savoy Jazz reissue called “Reflections Of Buhaina". “Buhaina" is shorthand for Blakey's Muslim name, Abdullah Iba Buhaina. “Bu" is an even shorter version of the name, a nickname, so to speak. Thus, one would think that “Reflections Of Buhaina" would, ergo, ...
Various: The Birth Of Hard Bop
by AAJ Staff
Strangely enough, The Birth Of Hard Bop contains in its liner notes a polemic against the genesis and continuation of that term. Even more strangely, it seems that reissue producer Orrin Keepnews read Doug Ramsey's reasoned but disputatious discussion of hard bop's meaning and participants, but he let the draft stand as is without editing. Keepnews ...
