Big City Sounds
| Big City Sounds | ||||
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| Studio album by Art Farmer / Benny Golson Jazztet | ||||
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Publication |
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admission |
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| Label (s) | Argo , Mosaic Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
9 |
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running time |
39:03 |
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Studio (s) |
Nola Penthouse Studios, New York City |
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Big City Sounds is a jazz album by the Art-Farmer / Benny-Golson -Jazztet, recorded on September 16, 19 and 20, 1960 and released on Argo Records . It was the second album of this formation, which - with numerous line-up changes - existed until 1962. The recordings appeared in 2004 in the edition The Complete Argo / Mercury Art Farmer / Benny Golson / Jazztet Sessions on Mosaic Records .
The Art Farmer / Benny Golson Jazztet
The Art Farmer / Benny Golson Jazztet made its debut in November 1959 in the New Yorker 1959; In February 1959, the first album for the small record label Argo Records , Meet the Jazztet was created . especially with the Golson title "Killer Joe" the sextet had a hit success. When their second album was created for Argo in September , the Jazztet was voted the best formation in the category best new small band by the Down Beat magazine's critics poll . After the recordings for Meet the Jazztet , the first line-up changes; for the Jazztet co-founder and namesake Curtis Fuller came trombonist Tom McIntosh , for pianist McCoy Tyner briefly Duke Pearson , then Cedar Walton , for bassist Addison Farmer the relatively unknown Tommy Williams and for Lex Humphries the drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath .
The album
The album begins with Golson's medium-tempo composition "The Cool One", which harmoniously anticipates his later " Along Came Betty " (1962) and should build on the hit success of "Killer Joe". Golson recorded his "Blues on Down" on his album The Modern Touch in late 1957 with Kenny Dorham , JJ Johnson and Max Roach . Walton plays a solo in block chords to which the riffs of the wind instruments respond. Randy Weston's "Hi-Fly" was a popular hard bop track in versions of the Jazz Messengers and Cannonball Adderley at the time . Here it is a feature for the rhythm section Walton / Williams / Heath in a quickly played interpretation ; Williams in particular can be heard here with a solo that moves between Mingus and Sam Jones . The final chorus contains 16 bars of newly written material by Benny Golson. The standard " My Funny Valentine " by Rodgers / Hart , popular at the time through the versions of Miles Davis and Chet Baker, puts Art Farmer in the foreground here, who previously co-wrote the title with Gerry Mulligan for the album What Is There to Say? had recorded; To incorporate differences, Golson wrote his own introduction, bridge, and a new coda . Golson had played the relatively unknown standard "Wonder Why" by Sammy Cahn in Dizzy Gillespie's big band; In his solo play, Golson sets counterparts to Farmer's presentation of the topic. Golson then plays his solo in a soft sound mood. The following “Con Alma” also originated from the Gillespie period and its original Latin character has been removed with a new arrangement; Heath and Williams introduce the piece; Farmer / Golson introduce the topic in unison ; Farmer on the stuffed trumpet. As on the previous album (with It's All Right With Me ) the association with JJ Johnson is sought again; Tom McIntosh's ballad “Lament” is here in the foreground. Albert Heath is highlighted with Golson's fast “Bean Bag”. The last track on the album " Five Spot After Dark " is reminiscent of Golson and Fuller's appearances in the legendary nightclub; here it begins with a solo by the bassist, followed by the theme presented in unison . Farmer drives the pace with his harmon mute game, Golson follows with his solo and the leaders then act in interplay.
The pieces of the album
- The Art Farmer / Benny Golson Jazztet - Big City Sounds (Argo LP 672)
- "The Cool One" (Golson) 3:02
- "Blues on Down" (Golson) 6:00
- "Hi-Fly" ( Randy Weston ) 5:50
- " My Funny Valentine " ( Richard Rodgers / Lorenz Hart ) 4:38
- "Wonder Why" (N. Brodzsky - Sammy Cahn ) 5:53
- "Con Alma" ( Dizzy Gillespie ) 4:49
- "Lament" ( JJ Johnson ) 3:31
- "Bean Bag" (Golson) 4:52
- "Five Spot After Dark" (Golson) 3:18
Rating of the album
Richard Cook and Brian Morton rated the recordings for the Jazztet's second album in the Penguin Guide to Jazz as an excellent small group session that is on the same level as the Jazz Messengers recordings made in the same era .
In the liner notes for the new edition of the Jazztet sessions, the music journalist Bob Blumenthal quotes the down-beat critic Gene Lees, who spoke in a 1960 cover story of the “balanced amalgam of formally written out structures and free play - the long-sought grail of jazz” . The All Music Guide only rated the Jazztet's second album with three stars.
swell
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- Bob Blumenthal, liner notes of the Mosaic edition.
Web links
Individual references / comments
- ↑ The formation recorded two more LPs for Argo , The Jazztet & John Lewis in December 1960 / January 1961 (Argo LP 684) and in May 1961 the live album At Birdhouse (Argo LP 688); Farmer and Golson also recorded three solo albums for Argo , The Art Farmer Quartet , Argo LP 678 and Perception , Argo LP 738 and Benny Golson: Take a Number from 1 to 10 (Argo LP 681).
- ↑ Not to be confused with Golson's Blues After Dark , which he recorded with Gillespie in 1957.
- ↑ a b Quoted from Bob Blumenthal, liner notes 2004
- ↑ Cook / Morton refer in the 2001 edition to the edition Blues On Down (Chess GRP 18022), which combines the Argo albums Big City Sounds (1960) and the live album Jazztet at Birdhouse (1961). They awarded this album the second highest rating of three and a half stars.