Capitol Jazz Classics Vol 13 - Strictly Bebop

  Another reposted request from a few years back.


  A little bebop. This one from the Capitol Classics series. Some really great stuff on this one including a couple of vocal tracks by the ever entertaining Babs Gonzales.
  As much as I love the fiery intensity of the the small bebop combos, I really enjoy this big band stuff. Particularly when no one is about and you can crank it up on the stereo. The way the orchestra punches is like a loving kick in the chops.
  The line up on these tracks is beyond measure, but just the same I have to mention how much I enjoy picking Art Pepper's short solo on Prelude To A Nightmare. On the other hand, trying to pick out Coltrane (on rare alto sax) is like looking for Waldo.

Strictly Bebop
Capitol Jazz Classics Vol .13

1. Sid's Delight
2. Casbah
3. John's Delight
4. What's New
5. Heaven's Doors Are Wide Open
6. Focus
7. Capitolizing
8. Professor Bop
9. St. Louis Blues
10. Real Crazy
11. Prelude To A Nightmare
12. Say When
13. You Stole My Wife You Horsethief
14. Tally-Ho
15. Oo-la-la
16. Coast To Coast

Tadd Dameron and His Orchestra
1-2: Fats Navarro (tp), Kai Winding (tb), Sahib Shihab (as), Dexter Gordon (ts), Cecil Payne (s),
Tadd Dameron (p), Curley Russell (b), Kenny Clarke (d), Vidal Bolado 9conga), Rae Pearl (vcl) - New York City 1/18/49
3-6: Miles Davis (tp), JJ Johnson (tb), Sahib Shihab (as), Benjamin Lundy (ts), Cecil Payne (bs), Tadd Dameron 9p0, John Collins (g), Curley Russell (b), Kenny Clarke (d), Kay Penton (vcl) -
NYC 4/21/49

Babs Gonzales and His Orchestra
7-8: Bennie Green, JJ Johnson (tb), Julius Watkins (fhn), Jordan Fordin (as), Sonny Rollins (ts), Linton Garner (p), Art Phipps (b. vcl). Jack Parker (d), Babs G (vcl) - NYC 10/20/49
9-10: JJ Johnson (tb), Alberto Socarras (fl), Son Redman (ss), Sonny Rollins (ts), Wynton Kelly (p), Bruce Lawrence (b), Roy Haynes (d), BG (vcl) NYC 4/27/49
11: JJ Johnson (tb), Art Pepper (as), Herbie Stewart (ts), Wynton Kelley (p), PeeWee Tinney (g, vcl), Bruce lawrence (b), Jackie Mills (d), BG (vcl) - LA 3/20/49

Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra
12-14: DG (tp, vcl), Willie Cook, Don Slaughter, Elmon Wright (tp), Matthew Gee, Sam Hurt, Hameefan Mageed (tb), Jimmy Heath, John Coltrane (as), Jesse powell, Paul Gonsalves (ts), Al Gibson (bs), John Aces (p), Al McKibbon (b), Specs Wright (d) - NYC 11/21/49
15-16: same except replace with Floyd Smith (g). Add Chino Pozo (bongo), Joe Carroll (vcl)
NYC 1/10/50


Capitol Jazz M-11059  mono   vinyl rip

Andre Previn and J.J. Johnson play Kurt Weill

 I mostly dismissed Andre Previn for years. He still doesn't set my world on fire but he worked with these kick ass dudes and played some of my favorite showtunes so I guess he gets a pass.
  The version of Pirate Jenny (or the crazy titled equivalent) is over the top cool. The rest of the record races to keep up and nearly succeeds.

 1. Bilbao-song
2. Barbara-song
3. Overture
4. Seerauberjenny
5. Moritat
6. Surabaya - Johnny
7. Wie Man Sich Bettet
8. Unzulanglichkeit


Anre Previn - piano
J. J. Johnson - trombone
Red Mitchell - bass
Frank Capp - drums


vinyl rip Columbia CS 8541   (1962)

Thunderball - Jazz All-stars

To cheese or not to cheese... I used to have scads of these type records. Dudes who could actually play some decent jazz but being on the west coast they could find decent bucks in the film studios...who could blame em?

But, but this isn't from some soundtrack. This is some goofy studio set up. Yeah its kinda cool, but really, the harpsichord was just a bad idea.

The real back story on this lp is that it was nabbed by one of my very best friends that visited several years ago. That trip cost him plenty. He had to leave his cache of lps behind while I dubbed them onto disc for him. This one slipped through the cracks and was only discovered during the recent move.

What I really needed was something to lead up to post 200.
This is post 199.

Thunderball and Other Secret Agent Themes
The Jazz All-Stars

1. Thunderball
2. From Russia With Love
3. The Spy Who Came In From The Cold
4. Win, Lose Or Spy
5. UnderCover Agent Theme
6. I Spy
7. Iprcress File Theme
8. The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
9. The Saboteur
10. Majorca Express

Secret Agents 001 J.J. Johnson
002 Mundell Lowe / 003 Ernie Royal
004 Milt Hinton / 005 Joe Newman
006 Bobby Crowe / 007 Johnny Knapp
008 Sy Saltzberg / 009 Larry Charles

..and while I have heard of most of these folks, I don't recognize them all. But I don't think they are using pseudonyms, but what the hell do I know? All I know is some dude named Johnny Knapp got to smooze chicks with that "007" moniker for a very short time. Right place, right time.



DLP - 206

The Definitive Jazz Scene Vol 2 - Impulse Comp

The second set of amazingly unreleased (at the time) sessions from the Impulse stable. Other than the Ray Charles track this is easily as strong as the last batch. Not that the uncle Ray track is a slouch, it just seems a tad outta place. Granted it does make a fine opener.

Highlights for me this time include Shirley Scott doing an instrumental version of the song that was her vocal debut, Coltrane's massive take on contemporary Stan Getz' signature tune and Oliver Nelson making his septet sound huge!

The Definitive Jazz Scene
Vol. 2
1. Without A Song
2. The Blues Ain't Nothin' But Some Pain
3. Moon Over My Annie
4. Night Lights
5. Gloria
6. Dear Old Stockholm
7. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
8. Blues Company
9. Anything I Do

1. Ray Charles - piano; and a whole crapload of people of whom you have never heard. 7/10/63
2. Shirley Scott - organ; Bob Cranshaw - bass; Otis Finch - drums 5/14/64
3. Lionel Hampton - vibes; Clark Terry - flugelhorn; Ben Webster - tenor sax; Hank Jones - piano; Milt Hinton - bass; Osie Johnson - drums 10/28/64
4. Oliver Nelson - arr.; Thad Jones - tp; Phil Woods - alto sax; Phil Bodner - french horn; Pepper Adams - baritone sax; Roger Kelleway - piano; Richard Davis - bass; Grady Tate - drums 11/11/64
5. J.J. Johnson - tb; Harold Malbern, Jr. - piano; Arthur Harper, Jr. - bass; Frank Gant - drums 5/1/64
6. John Coltrane - tenor sax; McCoy Tyner - piano; Jimmy Garrison - bass; Elvin Jones - drums 4/29/64
7. McCoy Tyner - piano; Jimmy Garrison - bass; Albert Heath - drums 6/4/63
8. Manny Alban - arr.; Johnny Coles - tp; Urbie Green - tb; Phil Woods -slto sax; Oliver Nelson - tenor sax; Jim Hall - guitar; George Duvivier - bass, Gus Johnson, Jr. - drums; others 1/12/62
9. Tommy Flanagan - piano; Richard Davis - bass; Connie Kay - drums


Impulse A-100

Benny Carter in Hollywood

Here at Chez Hook, we occasionally like to look way back to the swing era and see where some of our heroes have come from. These Benny Carter tracks are all live and I would assume taken from radio transcriptions.

There is not a lot i can say about this stuff. I am by no means an expert on swing era jazz, but as the old saying goes, "I know what I like". This I like quite a bit.

This is taken from a Swedish import lp that I honestly have no idea how I came into.

Benny Carter
In Hollywood

1. Jump Call (d)
2. I Can't Get Started (d)
3. Sunday (b)
4. Somebody Loves Me (b)
5. Early Boyd (c)
6. Rose Room In Sunny Roseland (a)
7. Love For Sale (c)
8. Sweet Georgia Brown (a)
9. Jubilee Jump (b)
10. Habanera (from Carmen) (c)
11. Sleep (b)
12. Without A Song (d)
13. Slick Mix (b)
14. Oofdah! (d)

(a) possibly Claude Dunson, Vernon Porter, Teddy Buckner, Freddie Webster (tpts); Alton Moore, J J Johnson, John Haughton (tbns); Benny Carter (alt/tpt/arranger);Porter Kilbert (alto); Hubert Myers, Gene Porter (ts); Willard Brown (bari/alto); Ted Branson (piano); Ulysses Livingstone (guitar) Curley Russell (bass); Oscar Bradley (drums)
recorded late 43 or early 44

(b) probably from the same period as (a) but with Sonny White on Piano

(c) possibly Irving Lewis, Fred Trainer, Gerald Wilson, Emmett Berry, Paul Cohen (tpt); Henry Coker, Alton Moore, George Washington, Lewis Taylor (tbn); Benny Carter (alto/arr); Jewell Grant, Porter Kilbert (alto); Bumps Myers, Harold Clark (ts); John Taylor (bari); Rufus Webster (paino); Herman Mitchell (guitar); Charlie Drayton (bass); Max Roach (drums)
Hollywood 1945

(d) including PaulCohen, Ira Pettiford, Walter Williams (tpt); Al Grey, Clarence Ross (tbn); Benny Carter (alto/tpt/arr); Bumps Myers (ts); Willard Brown (bari/alto); Sonny White (piano); Jimmy Cannady (gtr); Thomas Moultrie (bass); Percy Brice (drums)
c. August 1946


Jazz Society AA 502

Prestige First Sessions 1949/50

A two-fer set of lps I have had for years.

Some great stuff on these. These lps are responsible for my love of Tristano/Konitz. I originally bought this set for the Fats Navarro tracks. While I was familiar with much of the work of several artists on here, at the time I was familiar with Tristano and Konitz in name only.

When I bought this set in the early '80s much of this stuff was unavailable. Freaking internet takes all the fun outta things! If you're like me, I prefer the vinyl any time.
And if you think there is anyway I can list fully the performers for all these tracks... you're dreaming. That's where the internet comes in. But I will cover the major bases.

Disc One:
Lennie Tristano
1. Tautology
2. Retrospection
3. Subconscious Lee
4. Judy
Lee Konitz
5. Marshmallow
6. Fishin' Around
7. Tautology
8. Sound Lee
Don Lamphere
9. Spider's Web
10. Strike Up The Band
Kai Winding
11. Broadway
12. Waterworks
Fats Navarro
13. Wailing Wall
14. Go
15. Infatuation
16. Stop


Disc Two
J.J. Johnson
1. Afternoon In Paris
2. Elora
3. Tea Pot
4. Blue Mode
Wardell Gray
5. Easy Living
Sonny Stitt
6. Fine and Dandy
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
7. Sweet and Lovely
8. Squattin'
Al Haig
9. Liza
10. Stars Fell On Alabama
11. Stairway To The Stars
12. Opus Caprice
Leo Parker
13. Mona Lisa
14. Who's Mad
15. Darn That Dream
16. I'll Cross My Fingers

Additional performers include Denzel Best, Duke Jordan, Warne Marsh, Shelley Manne, Brew Moore, Gerry Mulligan, George Wallington, Roy Haynes, Max Roach, Bud Powell, Wynton Kelley, and Oscar Pettiford, among others.

Prestige P-24081 (disc one)
Prestige P-24081 (disc two)