Some of the most wonderful sounds you’ll ever hear have recently been released by UK based AVID Records. Give them a listen..One of the greatest and most influential tenor sax players, Lester Young, is captured at his warmest and swingingest on these four albums. He reuniteswith his Count Basie mates for a gorgeously sublime small group session with Basie himself or Johnny Guarnieri, Freddie Greene/g, Jo Jones, Dickie Wells/tb, Buck Clayton/tp and others for delectible takes of “Lester Leaps Again”, “I Never Knew” and a hip “Just You, Just Me” with Slam Stewart humming away on bass. He’s in rich form on a collection of toe tappers once again with Basie-ites, Guarnieri as well as Cozy Cole/dr for torrid takes of “Ding Dong” and a languid “Ghost Of A Chance”. Jump forward to 1956, with Young’s tone a bit darker, and he’s with Greene, Jones, Gene Ramey /b, Roy Eldridge/tp, Vic Dickinson/tb and pianist Teddy Wilson for inspired reads of ballads like “I Guess I’ll Have To Change My Plan” and swooning “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” where you can hear his spit drip out of the sax barrell. Young reunites with the Count Basie Orchestra at Newport at teams up with blues shouter Jimmy Rushing for “Evenin’” and “Boogie Woogie” as well as recreating his classic for “One O’Clock Jump”. The apotheosis of the tenor sax.
Dinah Washington created a classic mix of earthy blues and jazz sensibilities. These albums find her at her best, particularly the 1954 session with the heavenly team of Clark Terry/tp, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis/ts, Paul Quinichette/ts and Washington’s rhythm team of Keter Betts/b, Ed Thigpen/dr and Junior Mance for late night casual reads of blues “Blue Skies” and “Pennies From Heaven”. Once again with Terry and supported by bopping pianist Wynton Kelly and Quincy Jones’ hip charts, Washington is sharp on “I Get A Kick Out Of You” and lovely for “Blue Gardenia”. Another casual outing from 1954 has her “jamming” with all stars including Clifford Brown/tp, Max Roach/dr, Richie Powell/p, Mance, Terry, Maynard Ferguson/tp and Herb Geller/as and the team sizzles on “Lover, Come Back To Me” with Ferguson almost stealing the show on “Summertime”. She swings again in ’56 with a big band session arranged by Quincy J ones, with some hip solos by Charlie Shavers/tp, Terry, Urbie Green/tb and Milt Hinton/b with a drop dead gorgeous “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye” and delicious “Somebody Loves Me”. Delightfullee!
Bobby Rydell was one of those “safe” pop singers for kids along with Bobby Vee, Bobby Vinton and Fabian, just before the Beatles made all of these pretty boys obsolete, although he did get a chance to co-star with Ann-Margaret in a film so he did have a big following those days. . Rydell’s 1959 album includes his big hit “We Got Love” as well as some polished takes of black R&B hits such as “Ain’t That A Shame” and “What’d I Say”. Next year has him still digging into the R&B field with “The Great Pretender” as well as some C&W with “Hey Good Lookin’”. He goes into the Great American Songbook as he taps into his inner Bobby Darin on “Frenesi”, “That Old Black Magic” and “The Birth of the Blues”. His 1962 “Hits” album mixes pop pieces such as “Baby It’s You” and “Soldier Boy”(?!?) with a boy next door version of “Twistin’ The Night Away”. Among the bonus tracks are his big hits like “Wild One” (which still sounds great) and his foray into Bobby Darin land with “Sway” and “Good Time Baby”. Safe and sane.