1955 - March 25

Lou Mecca Quartet – March 25 1955 

 

Leonard Feather: Lou Mecca Quartet Liner Notes BLP 5067 

IT WAS to be expected, after the noteworthy showing made by Lou Mecca in his two LP appearances with Gil Melle on 5054 and 5063, that this brilliant new guitarist would soon be presented in a session of his own. Before going into details about the Lou Mecca Quartet, a few words about the leader himself might be in order. 

Louis John Meccia (he had the i removed as a result of frequent mispronunciations), was born Dec. 23, 1926 in Passaic, New Jersey. His father, whose musical career began several decades ago in Italy, was a trumpet soloist for many years in leading symphony orchestras, and it was on trumpet, under his father's guidance, that Lou undertook his first musical tuition, at the age of eight. 

"But I was too thin — I didn't have enough wind," recalls Lou, so a year later I switched. I went to a place called The Master School of Music where they charged fifty cents a lesson and supplied you with the guitar, too." 

Quitting high school in his fourth year to become a professional musician, Lou went to work with a quartet at a bar in Passaic knew seven tunes and just kept playing them all night long."). 

It was around the same time that Lou began a second career as a teacher. Working for a school of music in New Jersey, he found himself gaining wide experience in musical areas he had never dreamed of invading; "They just gave me a pile of books and told me to go ahead and teach other instruments. I wound up giving instruction in just about everything from alto to zither. In fact, for years I made my living teaching and just playing gigs on weekends." 

Around 1947 Lou got to know Johnny Smith very well. The first time he heard Johnny, the latter was playing trumpet in an Army band. After his discharge he visited the Mecca household a couple of times a week. In recent years, following the Smith process of doubling on brass, Lou has resumed his trumpet playing and for one season played second trumpet with the Clifton Symphony. He declares, however, that he can read music better than he can fake it, and has no immediate expectations of giving Clifford Brown any serious competition. 

Lou worked with Archie Bleyer and Julius LaRosa at Loew's State in his normal guitarist role, and has also been heard in combos accompanying such name singers as Joni James and Alan Dale. For the past two years he has been working at the Café Williams in Carlstadt, New Jersey, with a combo led by pianist Stan Purdy, one of whose compositions is featured on this LP. 

For the present quartet session Lou called on the services of Jack Hitchcock, a vibraphonist from Long Island who, coincidentally, also doubles in brass (he is said to play first rate trombone). 

Jimmy Campbell, the drummer, will be familiar to Blue Note fans who heard him on the Sal Salvador LP (5035). Recently he has been heard with the Matt Dennis Trio in New York. Vinnie Burke, the bassist, is a Newark musician who has been featured with Tony Scott, Marion McPartland and many other combos around New York. 

The keynote for this session was informality; a relaxed, free-style jazz feeling was the mood sought. 

All the Things You Are opens with the guitar playing a second line as counterpoint to the vibes' melody. Later the vibes "feed" Lou during his solo, just as a piano or guitar would punctuate a chorus by a horn. You Go To My Head features Lou mostly in single-note style, but with some pretty chord ideas added in the later passages. Bernie's Tune is a simple riff number, written by a since-deceased jazzman in Washington, D. C., that is rapidly assuming the proportions of a jazz standard. Vinnie Burke's solo is an outstanding fast-fingered feature here. 

Jack Hitchcock's vibes work ingeniously both in unison and in harmony and counterpoint with Lou's guitar on Stan's Invention by the above mentioned Mr. Purdy who, by the way, has written the music for several Mickey Spillane movies— Spillane has promised Mecca a spot in his next picture. The ad lib passages in the Invention are based on the traditional twelve-bar blues format, in an interesting contrast with the less conventional construction of the prearranged passages. 

The Song Is You is a swinging interpretation of the Kern-Hammerstein standard, with Campbell establishing a beautifully light, swinging beat on the brushes. Just One Of Those Things, aside from a touch of rhumba rhythm on the bass by way of introduction and coda, consists entirely of an improvisation by Lou—three 64-bar choruses in which his firm yet gentle tone, his perfect sense of time and his well constructed rhythmic and melodic ideas recall at times the style of Lou's personal favorite, Tal Farlow ("He's my whole inspiration — I listen to his records all day long."). 

As we mentioned above, this is Lou's first LP as a leader. Sometimes it takes a while to establish a reputation as a jazz figure, but it seems safe to bet that after hearing his work here, a large number of musicians and fans, be they guitarists or merely enthusiastic non-participants, will be making the pilgrimage to Mecca. 

LEONARD FEATHER 
(Author of The Encyclopedia of Jazz) 

Cover Design by JOHN HERMANSÅDER 
Photo by FRANCIS WOLFF 
Recording Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder 

November 1955

Down Beat 30 November 1955 Volume 22 Issue 24 

Guitarist Mecca has previously been heard to very good advantage on two Gil Melle LPs for Blue Note. In his first album to himself, he reaffirms his fluent skill but indicates he does not yet have the imaginative range or emotional depth to carry a whole LP. His conception tends to be too bland and not yet uniquely individual. Lou's backing by vibist Jack Hitchcock, bassist Vinnie Burke, and drummer Jimmy Campbell is very tasteful, and the quality of recorded sound is firstrate. But while it’s all pleasant, nothing particularly memorable by the chief soloist occurs, and the general effect tends toward dullness after awhile. This is another illustration of a first LP coming too soon. (Blue Note LP 5067) 

Metronome December 1955 

Lou is a fleet- fingered guitarist, heard before on Gil Mele LP's, who plays crisply and inventively, not like anyone in particular but sometimes suggestive of Tal Farlow, which is nice suggesting. He plays here with fine vibist Jack Hitchcock, bassist Vinnie Burke and drummer Jimmy Campbell. Both of those latter two do admirably, Vinnie starring on track 3. The Invention is Stan Purdy's (he writes music for Mickey Spillane movies) and it's a rich one, richly played. Things is all Lou's, three 64-bar choruses with Vinnie supplying intro and coda in rhumba time. An excellent debut. (Blue Note LP 5067) 

Washington Post 20 November 1955 

Lou Mecca Quartet (Blue Note BLP-5067). Pleasant, unpretentious jazz by Mecca on guitar, Jack Hitchcock, vibes, and Jimmy Campbell, drums. Hitchcock, who plays with less vibrato than most vibraphonists, teams nicely with Mecca. The music has a gracious air about it. “Bernie’s Tune” is very well done. 

Session Information 

Jack Hitchcock, vibes; Lou Mecca, guitar; Vinnie Burke, bass; Jimmy Campbell, drums. 

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, March 25, 1955 

tk.2, You Go To My Head 

tk.4, Bernie's Tune 

tk.6, Stan's Invention 

tk.8, All The Things You Are 

tk.10, Just One Of Those Things 

tk.11, The Song Is You 

All selections released on Blue Note BLP 5067