Frank Foster – May 9 1954
Leonard Feather: Frank Foster – New Faces – New Sounds Liner Notes 1954
THE big parade of new faces taking their place in the Blue Note gallery of distinguished jazz personalities earns two important new recruits with the release of this LP. Both of them have come to the forefront during the past year by virtue of their work with that perennial star incubator, the Count Basie orchestra.
Frank Benjamin Foster, presented here for the first time as leader of his own recording group, is a product of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was born Sept. 23, 1928. After playing saxophone and clarinet at high school and at Wilberforce University, he moved to Detroit in 1949, worked for a while with another great tenor man and Basie alumnus, Wardell Gray. Frank was withdrawn from musical circulation in 1951, when the Army took him for a trip. He was not deposited back into the stockpile of civilian star material until May 1953. Shortly after that, he was recommended for a job with Count Basie. Since the recommendations came from such distinguished people as Ernie Wilkins, alto man and arranger with the Count, and Billy Eckstine, a former bandleader and astute judge of talent, the Count was duly impressed. Frank joined the band in July 1953. Since then he has toured both the United States and the European continent. Basie fans who have been led to expect the best from Count — especially in a tenor sax chair previously occupied by Lester Young, Herschel Evans, Don Byas et al — were convinced, upon hearing Frank Foster, that the great tradition was being carried on.
Frank's tenor sound represents a healthy compromise between the heavy, lush tone of such early stars as Coleman Hawkins or Ben Webster, and the smaller, cool edges of the tone initiated by Lester Young and carried further by the Stan Getz school. He leans a little in favor of the former group; in style and phrasing, too, he is emphatically of the extrovert school, speaking out in bold, mature lines while managing never to descend into the banalities of stomping-and-honking. A grace note here, an appogiatura there, attest to the fact that his solos in this set could not have been recorded before the new jazz generation arose, for he has absorbed the basic qualities of the veteran tenor men while adding more youthful ingredients of technical skill.
The second new sound between these covers belongs to an even younger rising star. When such trombone immortals as Jack Teagarden and Benny Morton were already established favorites in person and on records, Benjamin Cordon Powell was busy being born. The exact date was March 1, 1930, and the place another world-famed cradle of jazz, New Orleans. After playing drums in grammar school at the age of eight, Bennie got his first trombone in 1942 and made his professional debut on New Year's Day of 1944. He later attended Alabama State College and toured with the King Kolax orchestra in Texas and Ernie Fields' band around Oklahoma.
Most of Bennie's important name band experience was gleaned with Lionel Hampton, whom he joined in 1948 for a 3- year hitch. After living briefly in Ottawa, he reentered the scene, as a Basie-ite, in October 1951.
Bennie, like Frank Foster, is clearly a product of the newer developments in jazz improvisation. His briskly phrased yet smoothly flowing solos are at times reminiscent Of J. J. Johnson, occasionally of Frank Rosolino and of Benny Green. Not surprisingly, Bennie names these three as his preferred musicians on the horn, while selecting Vic Dickenson and Trummy Young as his favorites among the older stylists.
Supporting the two horns in this set are a powerful rhythm team. Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke need no introduction to Blue Note collectors, while Gil Mahones is familiar to those who have followed his work as a permanent sideman with Lester Young.
Five of the six numbers presented here are Frank Foster originals. Little Red is a swinging theme with an attractive kickoff phrase, featuring Foster, Powell, Mahones and Clarke in solo roles. How I Spent The Night offers a tasteful sample of Frank's work as writer and exponent in the slower, melodic vein. Blues for Benny jumps consistently, with Klook's drumming a compelling, cogent factor.
The second side opens with Powell's muted melodic treatment of Out Of Nowhere, sole standard tune in the set, while Frank weaves both harmony and countermelody around him. Gracias (thanks) introduces an attractive rumba theme in which all three members of the rhythm section play an intriguing part. Finally The Heat's On, a middle-tempo blues in C, offers a first theme leaning heavily on G Flat, whereafter Bennie chimes in with a secondary theme, played against Frank's original motif, in the second chorus.
As a footnote to this delightful set of performances we may add that no small part of the success of this LP can be credited to the instrumentation. As so many musicians have observed, no finer blend of sound can be found for a swinging quintet than tenor sax, trombone and rhythm, in the right hands. And we're sure you'll agree that the hands were never more confidently capable than in the Frank Foster Quintet.
—LEONARD FEATHER
(Down Beat Magazine)
Cover Design by JOHN HERMANSADER
Photo by FRANCIS WOLFF
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| Benny Powell and Frank Foster Photo by Francis Wolff |
Technical Data: The Wide Range recording characteristic includes frequencies from 20 to 18.000 cycles. Multiple microphone technique was employed, utilizing Telefunken microphones and Ampex Series 300 tape recorders. Mastering equipment included Fairchild variable pitch lathe, Grampian cutter and Thermo-Stylus.
Down Beat 6 October 1954 Volume 21 Issue 20
The Basie Tenor man's first LP as a leader includes Frank's Basie associate, Bennie Powell (trombone); Percy Heath (bass); Kenny Clarke (drums); and Lester Young's pianist, Gildo Mahones. The results are not memorable. For one thing, five of the six tunes are Foster originals and the contours are worn by constant previous usage by other writers of “originals” that are actually undeveloped anthologies of melodiic and harmonic fragments that have been kicking around for time.
Then there's Frank himself. Despite Leonard Feather's praise-notes. I don't feel Frank as yet is a major soloist. He blows cleanly, vigorously, and unpretentiously in the Hawkins-Byas tradition with a few Pres-Getz overtones, but the touch of striking imaginative distinction is so far not apparent. Frank is often very good, but not yet good enough to sustain the major solo space in a six-tune LP with sufficient consistency of impact.
Best solos in the set come from Bennie Powell who can, however, play considerably better than he indicates here. He is close to his best on Blues and The Heat's On, and I'd like to hear more of his muted trombone as on the opening to Out of Nowhere. Bennie does have that unmistakeable sign of unique individuality. He has quite a way still to go, but he'll make it. Mahones swings but has a rather restricted range of harmonic and melodic invention. Percy and Kenny are as invigorating as usual. This might have been a better set if more care had taken with the writing and if another horn had been added. (Blue Note BLP 5043)
David Dupont - Benny Powell Blue Note Biography
Benny Powell was a journeyman trombonist whose bold sound bridged bebop and swing. His work employed the vocal color of great swing trombonists and the technical fluidity of bop practitioners. Powell played both tenor trombone and the bigger-bored bass trombone, broadening the colors he brought to an ensemble. Known nearly exclusively as a sideman, he made valuable contributions to several notable bands, ranging from the rocking swing of Lionel Hampton to the roots-informed avant-garde of John Carter.
A native of New Orleans, Powell started performing professionally at 14. By age 18, he had joined Lionel Hampton, and three years later he left to join the Count Basie Orchestra just as Basie was reestablishing his band as one of the benchmarks of the field. Powell’s horn played the bridge on Basie’s biggest hit, “April in Paris.” He stayed with Basie through 1963, making small-band sessions with a number of leaders, most often fellow members of Basie’s orchestra. From 1963, he first worked as a session man in New York, notably with the band for The Merv Griffin Show. He moved to California with the show and continued to be in demand with rehearsal big bands in which studio players got a chance to exercise their jazz chops. Prominent among these was the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra. Powell recorded one session with the group, taking the highly charged and characteristic solo on “Fingers.” That swaggering solo style combined with a studio player’s dependability landed him stints with Abdullah Ibrahim, John Carter (contributing to all five recordings that comprise Roots and Folklore: Episodes in the Development of American Folk Music), and Randy Weston. Weston’s big bands proved especially fitting showcases for the range of Powell’s work.
Powell’s first recording under his own name was 1982’s Coast to Coast, released on the Trident label, and it would be nearly a full decade before the trombonist recorded his second session as a leader, the 1991 Inspire Productions release Why Don’t You Say Yes Sometime?, featuring a number of his own compositions — “Aunt Babe,” “Found,” “Pow-Wee,” “Spiral,” and “Ceah the Wizard,” all arranged by John Stubblefield — that drew on a variety of styles and proved apt vehicles for his expressive horn. The Gift of Love followed on the Japanese Faith label in 2003, and Powell released his fourth album, Nextep on Origin, in 2008. While his widely spaced recordings as a leader might suggest to the casual observer that Powell was less than fully active from the ’80s through into the new millennium, the trombonist in fact remained quite busy as a sideman throughout this period, and he was also committed to education, teaching young people about jazz and the roots of African-American music, including work with the Jazzmobile in New York City. Benny Powell died in Manhattan on June 26, 2010 following back surgery; he was 80 years old.
Session Information
Benny Powell, trombone; Frank Foster, tenor sax; Gildo Mahones, piano; Percy Heath, bass; Kenny Clarke, drums.
Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, May 5, 1954
BN560-2 tk.7, Little Red, Blue Note BLP 5043
BN561-4 tk.8, Gracias, Blue Note BLP 5043
BN562-0 tk.9, How I Spent The Night, Blue Note BLP 5043
BN562-1 tk.10, How I Spent The Night (alt)
BN563-1 tk.12, Blues For Benny, Blue Note BLP 5043
BN564-0 tk.13, The Heat's On, Blue Note BLP 5043
BN565-0 tk.14, Out Of Nowhere, Blue Note BLP 5043
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