Folk Jazz (album)
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| Studio album by Bill Smith | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Contemporary Records | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
10/12 |
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running time |
53:19 (CD) |
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Studio (s) |
los Angeles |
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Folk Jazz (subtitled Folk Songs in Modern Jazz Dress ) is a jazz album by clarinetist and composer Bill Smith . The recordings were made on February 16 and November 4, 1959 in the Contemporary studio in Los Angeles and were released in 1961 on Contemporary Records . Original Jazz Classics reissued the album in 2003 in a limited series with two alternate takes .
background
Clarinetist Bill Smith became known on the west coast of the USA from 1960 when he took part in the recordings of the Dave Brubeck Quartet , after he had replaced Paul Desmond for a short time , to be heard on LPs such as Brubeck a la Mode and Near Myth , the latter with compositions by Bill Smith. The year before, Smith and his piano-less quartet with Jim Hall on guitar, Monty Budwig on bass and Shelly Manne on drums in 1959 recorded ten tracks from the folk tradition, including the spirituals " Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen " and " Go Down Moses ”, the English folk song“ Greensleeves ”, the folk song“ Black Is the Color (of My True Love's Hair) ”and the work song“ John Henry ”.
Track list
Original LP (1961)
- The Bill Smith Quartet - Folk Jazz (Contemporary Records - M3591)
A1 A-Roving 4:12
A2 Greensleeves 4:56
A3 Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen 3:34
A4 John Henry 4:18
A5 Wayfaring Stranger 4:20
B1 Three Blind Mice 3:28
B2 Go Down, Moses 6:41
B3 Blow the Man Down 3:35
B4 Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair 4:10
B5 Reuben, Reuben 3: 3
CD edition (2001)
- The Bill Smith Quartet: Folk Jazz (Original Jazz Classics OJCCD-1956-2, Contemporary Records S-7591)
- A roving 4:12
- Greensleeves 5:00
- Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen 3:35
- John Henry 4:18
- Wayfaring Stranger 4:21
- Three Blind Mice 3:27
- Go Down, Moses 6:44
- Blow the Man Down 3:34
- Black Is the Color of My True Love's Hair 4:10
- Reuben, Reuben 3:30
- Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (Alt. Take 1) 5:50
- Reuben, Reuben (Alt. Take 14) 3:49
reception
Stewart Mason gave the album in Allmusic 4½ (out of five) stars and said that the 1959 album Folk Jazz met the two great musical preferences of college students of the time, modern jazz after bebop and traditional folk . Smith reduced the songs from the folk tradition to the essentials of melody and chord progressions and turned them into a kind of blues- like experiment in cool modal jazz . Well-known standards such as 'Black Is the Color (of My True Love's Hair)', which begins with an extended, unaccompanied solo by Smith that is a marvel of the economy, are presented in entirely new and fresh settings. One of the highlights of the album is an extended meditation on the spiritual 'Go Down Moses', which transforms the song from a call to the gospel into an intimate whisper.
David Rickert noted in All About Jazz for the reissue of the album that the interesting concept that inspired folk jazz , essentially the jazz treatment of folk melodies, but never becomes valuable. “It was quite a risk to assume that light material like 'Three Blind Mice' and 'Blow the Man Down' could ever be turned into usable jazz, and most tracks don't swing so much as they sneak away. It would be interesting to see what would have happened if the group had recorded uncomplicated jazz for the album instead of committing to a concept. ”In the writer's view, Smith is just an adequate soloist, and the rhythm section that could have been the rescue , play rather sluggishly. The only one who could have made valuable contributions was Jim Hall, who at this point in his career did a brilliant job and was often the best part of his recording sessions. In fact, Hall fans may be the only ones interested in recording this lackluster collection of boring cool jazz , and even they may fit. "
Jazz critics Richard Cook and Brian Morton awarded the album 3½ (out of four) stars in the sixth edition of the Penguin Guide to Jazz ; the authors praised Smith's harmoniously subtle arrangements and Jim Hall's clean comping replaced a piano and sounded more open and folk-like. Among the highlights of the album are Cook / Morton's "Black Is the Color (of My True Love's Hair)," which competes with Luciano Berio's folk songs .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b David Rickert: Bill Smith: Folk Jazz. All About Jazz, June 25, 2003, accessed March 7, 2020 .
- ^ The Bill Smith Quartet: Folk Jazz at Discogs
- ^ The Bill Smith Quartet: Folk Jazz at Discogs
- ^ Review of the album at Allmusic (English). Retrieved March 1, 2020.
- ^ Cook, Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz . 6th edition.