Just when you think that there are no other trumpeters from the Swing Era to discover, here comes Fresh Sound Records with a guy I’ve never heard before, but definitely deserves your attention.
Johnny Letman (1917-92) has both a horn and vocal sound reminiscent of Duke Ellington’s Ray Nance, warm, upbeat and swinging. He was a sideman for big bands such as Cab Calloway and Lucky Millinder, but before drifting off into obscurity he recorded a pair of hip sessions in 59-60, and they include such guys as Kenny Burrell/g, Neo-trad Dick Wellstood/p, Gene Ramey/b and Panama Francies/dr. The album here is a hoot!
The 1959 quartet session without Burrell has the team stretch out for 8 minutes on a richly noir “The Four Faces Of Johnny” while his horn bops to “Tasty”. His voice is jivey on a pair of R&Bish pieces as Wellstood boogies on “Goodnight Irene” and Francis applies a big beat to “Oh, How I Miss You Tonight”. The next year his horn is muted on the boppy “Tina”, growling with the plunger on “Moanin’ Low” (with some nice work by Burrell) and sounding as bold as Roy Eldridge on the extroverted “Say Si Si”. Burrell is delightful on “Sittin’ Alone Countin’ My Stars” and is cool with Wellstood as they nimbly support Letman on vocals during “This Time The Drink’s On Me”. Upbeat and right down the center of the mainstream. You’ll like this guy if you’re a fan of vintage horn and vocals, and if you’re not, why not?