Mainstream 1958

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Mainstream 1958
Studio album by Wilbur Harden

Publication
(s)

1958

Label (s) Savoy Records / Denon

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

5

running time

37:15

occupation

production

Ozzie Cadena

Studio (s)

Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack (New Jersey)

chronology
- Mainstream 1958 Jazz Way Out
(1958)

Mainstream 1958 - The East Coast Jazz Scene , so the full title, is a jazz album by Wilbur Harden with John Coltrane , recorded in the studio of Rudy Van Gelder in Hackensack on March 13, 1958 and released on Savoy Records . The full Savoy recordings of this March session later appeared on the double album John Coltrane / Wilbur Harden - Countdown - The Savoy Sessions .

The album

Under the title Mainstream in 1958 , Savoy Records released the first of three sessions that John Coltrane recorded with the almost forgotten trumpeter and (here) flugelhorn player Wilbur Harden. John Coltrane's Savoy Sessions on March 13, May 13 and June 24, 1958 were written during the phase in which he was making his last recordings for Prestige Records ( Soultrane , Standard Coltrane ) and was a member of Miles Davis' band ( Milestones ) was six months before his first recordings for Atlantic Records in January 1959.

The first Savoy session on March 13 brought John Coltrane and Wilbur Harden together with pianist Tommy Flanagan , bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Louis Hayes ; Harden, Flanagan and Watkins knew each other from Detroit , where they had previously worked with Yusef Lateef . Coltrane then worked with Harden on his Prestige recordings in 1958 ( The Stardust Session , Standard Coltrane ).

All compositions were from Wilbur Harden. In his contemporary notes on the album (in the liner notes ), H. Alan Klein explained the reference to “mainstream” in the album title as “a return to a polyphonic, hard-swinging idiom that was prevalent in the swing era” in The programmatic subtitle "The East Coast Jazz Scene" is a distinction from the cool jazz movement of the West Coast at the time, similar to what the Charles Mingus album East Coasting understood a year earlier. In addition, the cover design suggests that the album contains a compilation of various musicians from the East Coast jazz scene, until you realize that they are always the same five names Coltrane, Harden, Flanagan, Watkins and Hayes.

Harden's compositions reveal his experiences in rhythm and blues bands such as Ivory Joe Hunter . His playing on the flugelhorn is often reminiscent of Miles Davis , whom Harden revered, on this instrument ( Miles Ahead 1957). "His tone is immaculately pure." In the liner notes for the Count Down edition of the recordings, the music journalist Robert Palmer wrote that the relaxed atmosphere of the session (s) was based on several factors: On the one hand, it was the open compositions by Wilbur Harden, on the other hand, the musicians show a high degree of empathy for one another; they knew each other from numerous New York studio appointments. In this context, Filtgen / Auserbauer also mention the “living room atmosphere” at Van Gelder, which favored these “grandiose shots”.

Harden's solos on the album are full of timeless blues phrases and show the influence of countless anonymous singers from the south as well as the recordings of the later blues greats. In addition to these traditions of the south, John Coltrane in particular transfers them into a contemporary urban context. In Palmer's view, it is above all Coltrane's sheer energy, his physical and emotional exertion, that gives his contributions the importance to be regarded as the innovator even then, while the contributions of his companions, however good they may be, a certain lack of showed this searching attitude typical of Coltrane. This is the attitude with which Coltrane already dealt with modal jazz, African rhythms and the exploration of the harmonic limits of saxophone playing.

Louis Hayes, 1971

The theme of the first track "Wells Fargo" is presented alternately by Coltrane and Harden; “The subsequent Harden solo is also soft and lively. John Coltrane's solo expresses a deep satisfaction; he plays as if he were in harmony with himself and the world ”.

In “West 42nd Street”, played at medium pace, Harden's “soft and supple flugelhorn play” can be heard; Filtgen / Ausserbauer highlight Tommy Flanagan's piano solo here.

“EFFPH” has “a rich but modified echo of A Night in Tunisia ; Doug Watkins 'dramatic bass introduction, along with Louis Hayes' Afro-Cuban beat through the whole piece, provides Latin American tones. Tommy Flanagan also elicits playful Latin sounds from his piano; Coltrane improvises in his solo with well-measured energy and a stunningly beautiful tone. "

"Count Down," a track that was recorded in two takes , one being played faster, did not appear on the original 1958 Mainsteam album . Filtgen / Auserbauer describe the composition as "threatening"; there is something "disturbing" about them. The solos are true musical acts of strength.

The fast track “Rhodomagnetics” also serves as a vehicle for extended solo excursions, and the outstanding play by Wilbur Harden, who has chosen Coltrane as an equal partner, stands out. His tenor sax improvisation has a downright oriental touch in the title “Snuffy”; the instrument sounds pressed, challenging and interspersed with a strong blues feeling.

Rating of the album

Richard Cook and Brian Morton gave the album the second highest rating in the second edition of their Penguin Guide to Jazz . Scott Yanow in the All Music Guide rated the album four stars.

The titles

Tommy Flanagan in the Village Jazz Lounge at Walt Disney World
  • Wilbur Harden / John Coltrane - Mainstream 1958 - The East Coast Jazz Scene (Savoy MG 12127)
  1. Wells Fargo 7:19
  2. West 42nd Street 7:49
  3. EFFPH 5:24
  4. Snuffy 9:35
  5. Rhodomagnetics 7:08
  • John Coltrane / Wilbur Harden - Countdown - The Savoy Sessions (Savoy SJL 2203)
  1. Wells Fargo 1
  2. Wells Fargo 2 (alternate take)
  3. EFFPH
  4. Count Down 1 (previously unreleased)
  5. Count Down 2 (previously unreleased)
  6. Rhodomagnetics 1 (alternate take)
  7. Rhodomagnetics 2
  8. Snuffy
  9. West 42nd Street

Editorial notes

In Hackensack, Harden wrote six tracks during the first Savoy session, five were released on the original Mainstream album in 1958 : Well Fargo, West 42nd Street, EFFPH, Snuffy and Rhodomagnetics. The track "Count Down" was first released in two takes on a later Savoy double LP, then on CD. ( Count Down - The Complete Savoy Sessions )

The following Harden / Coltrane sessions in 1958

For the second Savoy session by Wilbur Harden and John Coltrane on May 13, 1958, trombonist Curtis Fuller was added; The pianist for Flanagan and Watkins was the relatively unknown pianist Howard Williams and the bass player Ali Jackson; Art Blakey was the drummer here ; the recorded tracks "BJ", "Anedac" "Once in a While" appeared on the Savoy album Tanganyika Strut (Savoy MG 12156).

The third session took place on June 24th with the same sextet line-up with Curtis Fuller; The pianist here was again Tommy Flanagan. The tracks "Tanganaika Strut" (appeared on the album of the same name) as well as "Dial Africa", "Oomba" and "Gold Coast" were recorded; they appeared on the Savoy album Jazz Way Out (Savoy MG 12131). These recordings later appeared on the Savoy LPs Gold Coast (Savoy SJL 1115) and Dial Africa (Savoy SJL 1110).

literature

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ Robert Palmer, Liner Notes (Count Down)
  2. ↑ Filtgen / Auserbauer, p. 119 f. In this piece, the authors particularly highlight the unobtrusive direction of the drummer Louis Hayes, who Coltrane admires very much.
  3. ↑ Filtgen / Auserbauer, p. 120.
  4. ↑ Filtgen / Auserbauer, p. 120.