Jimmy Rowles plays Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn

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Jimmy Rowles plays Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn
Studio album by Jimmy Rowles

Publication
(s)

1981

Label (s) Columbia Records

Format (s)

LP / CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

11

running time

47:06

occupation

production

Henri Renaud / George Butler

Studio (s)

CBS Recording Studios, New York City

chronology
Music's the Only Thing On My Mind
with George Mraz
(1981) 		Jimmy Rowles plays Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn The Peacocks
with Michael Hashim
(1983)
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Jimmy Rowles plays Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn is a jazz album by pianist Jimmy Rowles , which was recorded in New York City in June 1981 and released on Columbia Records in 1981 as LP and in 1991 as compact disc .

The album

The jazz critic Gary Giddins dealt in his book Visions of Jazz: The First Century (1998) with the game Jimmy Rowles'; “His repertoire is immense and mysterious: original compositions, standards and curiosities, with a mastery of the Wayne Shorter repertoire (not the Miles Davis pieces, but the Blakey period, such as“ The Chess Players ”,“ Running Brook ”and "Lester Left Town" [1959/60]) and the Ellington - Strayhorn book. "Giddens notes that Rowles was one of the few who dealt with her hardly noticed compositions like" Blood Count "," Black Butterfly "," Lost in Meditation ”and“ Lotus Blossom ”by recreating the orchestral sound moods of the Duke Ellington Orchestra on the piano . This occupation finally culminated in 1980 - after albums such as Grandpaws (1976, with Buster Williams and Billy Hart ) and the solo album Ellington By Rowles (1979) - in the album Jimmy Rowles Plays Ellington to Billy Strayhorn , in which he played Ellington melodies , harmonies and voicings and introduces solos .

The album's first track, " Mood Indigo, " from 1931, is the only track in which Rowles "demonstrates the Duke's melodic and harmonic mannerisms"; " Sophisticated Lady " begins in rubato and is continued at a restrained and gentle pace. In “Jumpin 'Punkins” (1942) Rowles shows the boogiw-woogie influence in the rhythmic figures that accompany the theme . “ Solitude ” (1934) is warmly reinterpreted; In contrast to the original, “Lost in Meditation” (1938) is played here at an attractive, swinging pace .

Ray Nance

Strayhorn's " Take the" A "Train " (1939) begins with a standard introduction and is then transferred by Rowles in a dark, abstract first chorus , before the melody is paraphrased in the second chorus . Rowles then uses Ray Nance's trumpet solo from the original recording as texture for the third chorus, alternating here and there. The fourth chorus, in turn, is Rowles' own "single-note bustle" and contains allusions to the playing of Ben Websters , the pianist's mentor. Rowles uses the penultimate chorus again, single notes alluding to Ray Nance, before a more abstract ending follows.

After “Blood Count”, Strayhorn's last composition before his death in 1967, Rowles plays one of Strayhorn's most famous tracks, “ Lush Life ” (1938) in a more rhythmically accented playground than usual. "Isfahan", a title from the Far East Suite (1964–66), runs through several moods and swings into a sloping melodic phrase . The album ends with "Lotus Blossom" (1947), which is said to have been Duke Ellington's favorite Strayhorn composition.

Finally, Jimmy Rowles makes a 2½-minute statement in which he reports on the tremendous impression the Ellington Orchestra with Ben Webster , Jimmy Blanton , Ray Nance and Cootie Williams made on him when he first performed it in 1940 Tacoma was able to experience live after only knowing their music from their records:

“One of the things that touched me the most, besides the great arrangements and compositions, was the way in which Ellington led into the next piece: he never told his musicians the title, instead he played a few lines on the Piano, and the guys knew immediately which piece they were going to tackle. That knocked me off my stool. "

Rowles goes on to say that for him this orchestra was "love at first sight"; he was deeply influenced throughout his career by Ellington's orchestrations, his arrangements, compositions and the various soloists.

Track list

Billy Strayhorn, photographed by Carl van Vechten on August 14, 1958
  • Jimmy Rowles: Plays Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (Columbia - FC 37639, (USA & Canada), 478490 2 (France))
  1. Mood Indigo (Ellington, Barney Bigard , Irving Mills ) -4:02
  2. Sophisticated Lady (Ellington, Irving Mills, Mitchell Parish ) -4:21
  3. Jumpin 'Punkins ( Mercer Ellington ) -4: 53
  4. Solitude (Ellington, Irving Mills , Eddie DeLange ) -3: 55
  5. Lost in Meditation (Ellington, Mills, Juan Tizol , Lou Singer) -4:14
  6. Take the "A" Train (Strayhorn) -6: 00
  7. Blood Count (Strayhorn) -4:17
  8. Lush Life (Strayhorn) -5: 11
  9. Isfahan (Ellington / Strayhorn) -3:42
  10. Lotus Blossom (Strayhorn) -3: 54
  11. Jimmy Rowles' statement -2: 37

Cover

The front cover of the album shows a photograph by Duke Ellington and Jimmy Rowles that was taken around 1961 in front of the recording studio on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.

reception

The American trade magazine High Fidelity wrote in its review of the album when it was released that Jimmy Rowles showed himself to be an unusually sensitive and empathetic pianist the Billboard album (alongside The Peacocks from 1977, with Stan Getz ) as a masterpiece.

Ron Wynn awarded the album 4½ (out of five) stars in Allmusic and recommended:

"If you need to keep your Rowles spending on one record, get this tasteful, yet exuberant set that pays tribute to a couple of piano greats."
" If you must limit Rowles purchases to one record, get this elegant yet exuberant tribute to a pair of keyboard greats ."

The album received a 1983 Grammy Awards nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist ; The winner in this category was the Miles Davis album We Want Miles .

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ In France, the album appeared in Henri Renaud's Jazzotheque series.
  2. ↑ http://www.worldcat.org/title/jimmy-rowles-plays-duke-ellington-and-billy-strayhorn/oclc/8123674/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true
  3. ↑ Until the 1980s, Rowles was one of the few who played Blood Count , the last piece Billy Strayhorn wrote before his death. See Musician, 1988 - Issues 111–116 - page 25
  4. ^ Gary Giddins Visions of Jazz: The First Century 1998, Oxford University Press, New York 1998, ISBN 0195132416 . Page 536.
  5. ↑ a b c Original Liner Notes by Tom Piazza
  6. ↑ a b Jimmy Rowles: Original Liner Notes of the album (translation from French)
  7. ^ High Fidelity, Volume 32, Issues 1-6, front cover ABC Leisure Magazines, 1982
  8. ^ Billboard, June 15, 1996
  9. ↑ Review of the album Jimmy Rowles Plays Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn by Thom Jurek on Allmusic (English). Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  10. ↑ http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1983-231.html