Jazztone - West Coast Jazz Anthology Vol. III

Jazztone was a small mail order club label. Much like Book of the Month or ARS, subscribers would be sent a cool jazz lp once a month or so, often with original sessions made for the label. It was only around for 3 years but they still managed to swing some mighty fine sessions.

I started with Vol. III in this series for a couple of reasons. Vol I has some previously released stuff and...well I don't happen to own a copy of Vol. II.

This volume contains some very nice live sessions and a handful of studio dates that I don't think you will see around much. I have no doubt some of these recordings have appeared elsewhere at some point, but this should be their first appearance.

As usual, ripped late at night from a questionable condition lp - this is music for music lovers and not connoisseurs of high art.

Jazz West Coast, Vol III
1. There Will Never Be Another You - Gerry Mulligan
2. Mr. Smith Goes To Town - Chico Hamilton
3. Polka Dots and Moonbeams - Bud Shank
4. Old Croix - Art Pepper
5. Little Girl - Chet Baker
6. Love Nest - Russ Freeman/Chet Baker
7. Sweet Georgia Brown - Bud Shank/Bob Cooper
8. Things Ain't What They Used To Be - Jim Hall
9. Too Marvelous For Words - Phil Urso/Bob Burgess
10. Brother, Can You Spare A Dime - Russ Freeman/Bill Perkins

Gerry Mulligan Sextet
Mulligan - piano
Zoot Sims - tenor sax
Bob Brookmeyer - valve trombone
Jon Eardley - trumpet
Red Mitchell - bass
Larry Bunker - drums
Hoover High School Auditorium - LA - 12/54

Chico Hamilton Quintet
Hamilton - drums
Fred Katz - cello
Paul Horn - clarinet
John Pisano - guitar
Carson Smith - bass
Forum Theater - LA - 10/56

Bud Shank Quartet
Shank - flute
Claude Williamson - piano
Don Prell - bass
Chuck Flores - drums
Forum Theater - 2/56

Art Pepper Quartet
Pepper - alto sax
Pete Jolly - piano
Leroy Vinnegar - bass
Stan Levey - drums
Forum Theater - 10/56

Chet Baker Sextet
Baker - trumpet
Art Pepper - alto
Richie Kamuca - tenor
Pete Jolly - piano
Leroy Vinnegar - drums
Stan Levey - drums
Forum Theater - 10/56 (and recorded at the same session as the one above)

Russ Freeman - Chet Baker Quartet
Freeman - piano
Baker - trumpet
Leroy Vinnegar - bass
Shelley Manne - drums
Radio Recorders - 11/56

Bud Shank - Bob Cooper Quintet
Shank - flute
Cooper - oboe
Howard Roberts - guitar
Don Prell - bass
Chuck Flores - drums
Capitol Studios - 12/56

Jim Hall Trio
Hall - guitar
Carl Perkins - piano
Red Mitchell - bass
Radio Recorders - 1/57

Phil Urso - Bob Burgess Quintet
Urso - tenor sax
Burgess - trombone
Bobby Timmons - piano
Jimmy Bond - bass
Peter Littman - drums
Radio Recorders - 10/56

Russ Freeman - Bill Perkins Quintet
Freeman - piano
Perkins - tenor sax
Bud Shank - alto sax
Carson Smith - bass
Shelley Manne - drums
Music Box Theater - LA - 2/56

Jazztone Society J1274

Dizzy Gillespie - Jazz Creations of Dizzy Gillespie

So remember when I said I scored a bunch of lps from a library/school sale? They were all on the ARS label, some sort of subscription service type reissue deal, I found out. Many of the lps I have tracked down to their original releases, but some still mystify.

This Dizzy lp being one of those. I don't see where these tracks were ever released on one lp together. And since I am not familiar with many of the tracks other than here, this is the way I know them.

Around Chez Risk this is known as "that cool Dizzy lp without a cover".

I've tried to track down the proper recording info for you nerds, er I mean, completists. Just kidding, but I don't let a personnel issue stop me from enjoying a great tune.


The ARS lp runs through track 8. After that I tacked on a few odds and ends, properly documented mind you, to fill out a nice disc of John Birks Gillespie.

Dizzy Gillespie
Jazz Creations of Dizzy Vol. 1

1. Bout To Wail*
2. Flamingo **
3. Rails ***
4. O Solow ****
5. Blue Mood ***
6. Devil and the Fish *****
7. Shout By Rail*
8. Caravan*****
9. Say When +
10. You Stole My Wife You Horsethief +
11. Tally Ho +
12. Don't Try To Keep Up With The Jones #
13. Paris Swing ~

*Dizzy Gillespie, Taft Jordan, Ermit V. Perry, Ernie Royal (tp) Jimmy Cleveland, Matthew Gee, Jimmy Wilkins (tb) Gigi Gryce, Hilton Jefferson (as) Budd Johnson, Ernie Wilkins (ts) Sahib Shihab (bars) Wade Legge (p) Nelson Boyd (b) Charlie Persip (d) Herb Lance (vo)
NYC, September 12, 1955


**Harry "Sweets" Edison, Dizzy Gillespie (tp) Melba Liston (tb) Willie Smith (as) Curtis Amy, Ed Beel (ts) Clyde Dunn (bars) Carl Perkins (p) George Bledsoe (b) Al Bartee (d) Toni Harper (vo)
Los Angeles, CA, November 8, 1955


***Dizzy Gillespie (tp) Jimmy Cleveland (tb) Hank Mobley (ts) Wade Legge (p) Lou Hackney (b) Charlie Persip (d)
Fine Sound Studios, NYC, June 8, 1954
Norgran 135



**** Dizzy Gillespie (tp, vo) John Barrows, Jim Buffington, Jim Chambers, Fred Klein (frh) Danny Bank (bars) George Berg, Jack Greenberg, Tom Parshley (woodwinds) Wynton Kelly (p) Percy Heath (b) Jimmy Crawford (d) Johnny Richards (arr, cond) 9 strings
NYC,
September 16, 1954



******Dizzy Gillespie (tp) Bennie Green (tb) Ray Alonge, Richard Berg, Joe Singer (frh) Jay McAllister (tu) Robert DiDomenica (fl) Ernest Bright, John Murtaugh, Paul Richie, Stan Webb (woodwinds) George Devens (vib) Hank Jones (p) George Duvivier (b) Charlie Persip (d) Clare Fisher (arr, dir)

NYC, April 27, 1960
MGV 8386 _ A Portrait of Duke Ellington


+ Dizzy Gillespie (tp, vocals) Willie Cook, Don Slaughter, Elmon Wright (tp), Mathew McGee, Sam Hurt, Charles Greenlea, (tb), Jimmy Heath, John Coltrane (as), Jesse Powell, Paul Gonsalves (ts), Al Gibson (bs), John Acea (p), John Collins (g), Al McKibbon (b), Specs Wright (d).
NYC, 11/21/49 taken from Capitol Jazz Classics #13 - Strictly Bebop


# Dizzy Gillespie (tp) - uh... I have to find this record.... oops


~ Dizzy Gillespie (tp, vc), Bill Graham (bs), Wade Legge (p), ; Lou Hackney (b), Al Jones (d)
Taken from the CORE lp A Jazz Salute To Freedom


Diz fans look no farther.

Introducing Carl Perkins

Can there be anything more tragic that the opening lines of the liner notes for this lp? "Carl Perkins was born in Indianapolis on August 16, 1928 and died unglamourously in March 1958 aged 29."
A revered sideman for Curtis Counce, Dexter Gordon, Art Pepper and Harold Land, this is his only recording in the classic trio format.
You know lots of people overcome lots of difficulties but this dude was stricken by polio - a disease unheard of these days - and still played the piano even though he had to keep his left arm parallel to the keyboard. Rather than let this hinder him, he used his elbow to strike bass notes that no one else could even fathom reaching.

Carl Perkins
Introducing

1. Way Cross Town
2. You Don't Know What Love Is
3. The Lady Is A Tramp
4. Marblehead
5. Woody 'n You
6. Westside
7. Just friends
8. It Could Happen To You
9. Why Do I Care
10. Lilacs In The Rain
11. Carl's Blues

Boplicity 8

1984 reissue.
Credits in comments thanks to Mel