Fresh Sound Records continues to uncover overlooked gems from the mines of recordings from the 1950s and 60s. Here are a pair from swinging trios that you may never knew even existed. Dig in, and dig!
One of Los Angeles’ most respected pianists, Gerald Wiggins, took advantage of the then-current fad of doing jazz versions of movie soundtracks a la My Fair Lady , popularized by Shelly Manne and Andre Previn. Here in 1957, Wiggins teams up with Brubeck bassist Gene Wright and drummer Bill Douglas for interpretations from The King and I and Around The World In 80 Days, and it works well. There’s even a gong to the intro to the swinginging “March of the Siamese Children” with a thoughtful “Something Wonderful” and richly dark “I Have Dreamed”, with Wiggins bouncing on “Hello, Young L oves”. Douglass does some nice work with the paradiddles on ’Way Out West” and the team has fun stop-starting on ”Lo Coquette”. “Who is this Wiggins?”
The next disc puts together a pair of trios from 1961-61 by trios of John Gamba/p, Don Cinderalla/b and Paul Motian and Claude Williamson/p, Duke Morgan/b and Chuck Flores/dr, respectively. Gamba has a classy Horace Silverish sound on the easy read of “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be, and classy on the more obscure “In Other Words” and “Secret Love”, doing some rich cascades on “Green Dolphin Street”. Williamson is a fan of Teddy Wilson, getting cozy on “You Make Me Feel So Young” and giving some clever embellishments to “A Foggy Day” and a fun “Anything Goes”. Flores and Morgan simmer on the upbeat “The Lady Is A Tramp” and relax on “While We’re Young”. Sophisticated swinger.