Nothing like the simple pleasure of hearing jazz before the influence of rock and funk ripped a good chunk of the celebratory joy from it. Here are three artists that are mostly overlooked these days, and it’s to our detriment not to get them back into our consciousness.
Possibly the most influential sign painter to ever hold a guitar, Tal Farlow developed a style and sound that was a major influence in the 50s. Cool yet swinging, his sound on these 4 vintage 50s sessions will make every picker that hears them want to put in a few more hours a day of practice. 54’s Autumn in New York has him with LA Cats Gerry Wiggins/p, Ray Brown/b and a lithe Chico Hamilton/dr includes a burning “Cherokee” and lovely technique on “Little Girl Blue” on a generally mellow outing. The Swinging Guitar of Tal Farlow from 1956 is a genuine classic trio date with Eddie Costa/p and Vinnie Burke/b bopping like they invented it on “Yardbird Suite” and “Meteor” (“Confirmation”). The back and forth forays between strings and ivories on “Like Someone in Love” is a joy to behold. This is Tal Farlow from ’58 is a quartet date with Costa, Nabil Totah/b and Jimmy Campbell/dr burning on all cylinders on “All The Things You Are” and gloriously glowing on “Stella By Starlight.” Frank Wess’ tenor & flute along with Benny Powell/tb and Charlie Fowlkes/bari add a bit of texture and Basie swing on gems like “Blues in the Night” and “As Long As I Live.” This is how a guitar is supposed to be played!
Tenor saxist Dave Pell caught the Lester Young bug early in his career, moved to LA and made a healthy living in the studios defining the “LA Cool” sound in the 50s. His jazz milieu of choice was between 6-9 musicians, with the octet on the two songbooks from 53 & 54 sounding particularly juicy. Plays Rogers and Hart, along with Plays Irving Berlin has some of the crème of the Cool Jazz Crop; Don Fagerquist/tp, is on the trumpet for arrangements by Mary P aich, Johnny Mandel, Bill Holman and Shorty Rogers. “Mountain Greenery,” “Ten Cents a Dance” and “I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket” are delightful bon bons, with a silky smooth horn section gliding over the freshly cut suburban lawns of rhythm. 1961’s Old South Wales is a bit of a ringer, as Pell and his team of Jack Sheldon/tp, Med Flory/bari, Marty Paich-Johnny Williams/p, Tommy Tedesco/g and Frankie Capp/dr go Dixieland with some fun treatments of “Ballin’ the Jack” and “Oh, Didn’t He Ramble.” The John Kirby memorial album has Pell in a sextet with Benny Carter/as, Williams and Capp going for note-for-note arrangements of the famed bassist, but bringing in fresh and personal solos for each song. Ditties like “Rose Room” and “Undecided’ are joyful, while “Coquette” is as coy as can be. A delicious cream puff.
Swinging trumpeter Charlie Shavers is found in a wide variety of moods on this multi-hued collection. The Most Intimate…has his trumpet mixed with strings arranged by Sy Oliver from 1955, and he sounds delightful on “Ill Wind” and “I Cover The Waterfront.” Horn O’ Plenty is a ’54 sextet date with short and sweet takes of Swingers associated with various trumpet kings of the WWII era, so you’ve got material associated with Harry James (“Ciribiribin”), Ziggy Elman (“And the Angels Sing”) and Dizzy Gillespie (“salt Peanuts”) among others. Vocalist Maxine Sullivan jumps in with Shavers and a cooking team of vintage getns like Buster Bailey/cl, Jerome Richardson/sax, Dick Hyman/p, Milt Hinton/b and Osie Johnson-Wendell Marshall/dr cruising through the Andy Razaf-Fats Waller songbook. Delightful takes of “Christopher Columbus” and “Keepin’ Out Of Mischief Now” fit in well with more obscure pieces like “Massachusetts” and “My Fate is in Your Hands.” The real ringer, though, is the foot tapping R&B session from 1959 lead by smoky tenor saxist Hal Singer. Along with Ray Bryant/p, Wendell Marshall and Osie Johnson, they slide like greased lightning on originals like “Fancy Pants” and “Blue Stompin’” You just don’ get music that hurts so good like this anymore.
Avid Jazz Records
www.avidgroup.co.uk