1946 - May 31

John Hardee Sextet – May 31 1946 

 

Down Beat July 15 1946 – Volume 13 Issue 15 

This is the self-confessed disciple of Chu Berry, the always-immaculate tenor soloist, who died much too soon. His playing, while excellent, doesn’t have the easy flow and liquidity of ideas that still today make Berry’s records tops in the goosepipe department. He replaces the ease with more bite and rhythmic attack noticeable on the last part of Idaho. Several sides have Bill Bivens’ vibes on them, first reported in the Beat over four years ago. Hardee’s playing is by far the most interesting of the young tenor men. Compare him on Lovely to Joe Flip (Signature), though, and you'll see he needs some more connective ideas and a little maturing (Blue Note A-101) 

Dan Morgenstern - The Complete Forties Recordings of Ike Quebec and John Hardee Mosaic Box Set   

For Hardee's second (and final) Blue Note session, [Sammy] Benskin and [Sid] Catlett are again on hand. So is a guitar, but it's now played by Jimmy Shirley, a fine, unsung player still active in New York at this writing and then a frequent Blue Note sideman. A pioneer electric guitarist, he used the so-called "vibrola" attachment—a device best used sparingly, as Jimmy does here. He'd made his recording debut with pianist Clarence Profit 's marvelous trio. The bassist is the sterling Gene Ramey, a name that should be familiar to all seasoned jazz lovers, and the sixth man is vibist Big Bill Bivens, whose name is known to few. (l don't know if he made any other records.) A few years after this date, Bivens was in charge of Monday night jam sessions at the Club Hollywood in Harlem, and I heard him there—he was an excellent musician and a good organizer. His son, Bill Bivens Jr., has recorded with Grant Green on Blue Note and Pucho and his Latin Jazz group for Prestige—also on vibes. 

What Is This Thing Called Love was not yet a warhorse in '41 A guitar-vibes intro launches Hardee, who glides in at a nice tempo—relaxed and firm, Big Sid's cymbals sizzling. Shirley employs his vibrola, getting an almost Hawaiian sound, but pleasant. Benskin and Bivens split a chorus, and then the leader builds to a climax, without histrionics.  

Nervous From The Service, a cute title, is an I Got Rhythm, based riff tune introduced by tenor-vibes-guitar unison, Hardee taking the bridge on his own. Next comes a full chorus by tenor; big-toned swing with good 'comping from Bivens, who's up for 16 bars a la Hamp (you can hear him singing along). Guitar takes the bridge. and Hardee finishes up the chorus and takes it on out. Nice 52nd Street jazz.  

River Edge Rock (the master take) is a fastish blues, Hardee moving right in with two choruses of theme, followed by two of solid improvisation, then two by Benskin, two by Shirley (without vibrola, and good), and a concluding six-chorus ride by Hardee's hot jump tenor, splendidly backed by Big Sid, who has the final say with a short, typical coda. A little gem of its kind.  

Sweet and Lovely is an excellent ballad feature for Hardee, as it was for Flip Phillips, who still plays it at this same tempo and with a similar feeling. Shirley has the intro, Hardee takes a Chorus, gets further away from the melody for another 16 bars, gives Bivens the bridge, and comes back to conclude this warm, soulful performance.  

River Edge Rock (alternate take) features a slightly brighter tempo, has a solo intro by Hardee, finds Big Sid very active under the tenor's opening remarks, and has the same solo routine as the master take. But Hardee takes seven full choruses rather than six and embarks on his eighth before the take is aborted, no doubt via a signal from the booth. But those seven choruses of inspired tenor are well worth having. 

Dan Morgenstern – B-6507 Liner Notes 

Hardee, from Texas, returned to his home state years ago and is still active, mainly as a teacher, in Houston. His time in the spotlight was brief, but tenor fanciers know and remember him as a fine hot player chiefly influenced by Chu Berry, but with his own Texas something. River Edge Rock, in a previously unissued version, is the steamiest track on the LP, swinging from start to finish. 

Max Margulis – Blue Note 101 Album Liner Notes 

BLUE NOTE Album No. 101 consists of three ten-inch records featuring the performance on tenor saxophone of John Hardee. This 28-year-old musician, recently discharged from the Army, is heard here on records for the first time, and the records serve as a first significant achievement in the development of an auspicious career. Now that the tenor, of the various saxophones, has emerged as a principal solo instrument, equal in expressive resourcefulness to the trumpet, trombone, or clarinet., its gifted stylists renew and enrich our experience of the instrument. Exploring its suggestive, expressive, and technical possibilities, they have created and contributed to specific, identifiable tenor saxophone styles of playing. 

John Hardee, who claims a temperamental preference for the style of the late tenor saxophone master, Leon "Choo" Berry, is also to be noted chiefly for his sombre lyricism and simplicity. He chooses a fluid melodic line from which he does not depart too much from a theme, when one is given; while his cadences and periods have the quantitative rhythm of singing or speech. But Hardee is not uninfluenced by other main styles of tenor saxophone playing. His musical personality is defined by a recurring, almost percussive vigor, and by repeated excursions among unaccustomed tonalities. 

The present records introduce two performing groups, namely John Hardee's Swingtet and John Hardee's Sextet. This Swingtet consists of John Hardee, tenor saxophone; Sammy Benskin, piano; Tiny Grimes, guitar; John Simmons, bass; Sidney Catlett, drums. The Sextet consists of John Hardee, Sammy Benskin, and Sidney Catlett of the former group, also William Bivens, vibraphone; Jimmy Shirley, guitar; and Eugene Ramey, bass. 

All the musicians are heard prominently both in ensemble and as soloists. Benskin, Grimes, Shirley, Simmons and Catlett have already been heard in outstanding performances on BLUE NOTE records. William Bivens and Eugene Ramey are new personalities among BLUE NOTE'S gifted jazzmen. 

BN No. 514, by John Hardee's Swingtet, offers IDAHO on its first side, which is from the outset, vigorous and terse.

The solos by guitar, saxophone, and piano, proceed one out of the other, exploring short, rhythmic figures. The effect is cumulative, and the final chorus is charged with emotional values. The second side, called HARDEE'S PARTEE is a well-knit blues with the saxophone's improvised motives sustained and continuous from beginning to end. The saxophone solos are melodic in a big-statured way, full-voiced and full-resonanced, with declamatory, hortatory phrases appearing at the climax as a dramatic development of the melody. The piano background is important, while Tiny Grimes' large-intervalled guitar chorus has the effect of a long break between saxophone solos. 

On BN No. 520, John Hardee's Sextet plays WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED LOVE and NERVOUS FROM THE SERVICE. The first number, in slow tempo, has the saxophone stating and developing the melody simply, in a long, unbroken lyrical line, rich with subtle color variations and striking accents. The moodiness of this beautiful tune is captured in a remarkable fashion by the group in NERVOUS FROM THE SERVICE, the saxophone solos are purposive in the best sense of the word. Here, as on all record sides, the ideas are finely integrated, and no sensational, interpolated ideas are admitted. Hardee's musical thinking is not involved, but sensitive in terms of arresting ideas and shifting emphases. The bass has prominence on this side, and a vibraphone solo in triplets, is very interesting. 

BN No. 521 is by John Hardee's Sextet, and offers first a piece entitled, RIVER EDGE ROCK. Again, ideas are purposive, and now the pitch range is deliberately small. The ideas are predominantly rhythmic, but regular and symmetrical, and there is infinite melodic and stress alteration of the musical phrase. Jimmy Shirley's agile guitar performs in a lively fashion and noteworthy are Sammy Benskin's syncopated piano figures, as well as Sidney Catlett's masterful beat. On the final side, SWEET AND LOVELY, Hardee probes delicate and subtle shades of personal feeling in his initial solo. He continues with a reflective, short variation, and after a vibraphone interlude, the saxophone closes this unusual piece with a swell of heightened feeling and the suggestion of a blues motive. 

Session Information 

John Hardee, tenor sax; Bill Bivens, vibes; Sammy Benskin, piano; Jimmy Shirley, guitar; Eugene Ramey, bass; Sidney Catlett, drums. 

WOR Studios, NYC, May 31, 1946 

BN284-1, What Is This Thing Called Love, Blue Note 520 

BN285-1, Nervous From The Service, Blue Note 520 

BN286-4, River Edge Rock, Blue Note 521 

BN287-0, Sweet And Lovely, Blue Note 521, BLP 5001 

BN286-5, River Edge Rock (alternate take), Blue Note B-6507