A History Of Blue Note Records: 1953

Showing posts with label 1953. Show all posts

1953 - December 27

Urbie Green Septet - December 27 1953

Leonard Feather: Urbie Green: New Faces – New Sounds Liner Notes BLP 5036

URBAN GREEN, to give him the name bestowed on him when he was born Aug. 8, 1926, is among the newest and most promising products of that perennial cradle of musical talent, the Woody Herman orchestra. Like Bill Harris, who rose from an earlier Herman herd to international, poll-winning acclaim, he seems destined for great heights in the jazz firmament. (He acquired many new fans through an earlier Blue Note appearance with Gil Mellé on BLP 5033.)

Urbie, a barber's son from Mobile, Ala., was brought up in a bass-clef setting: two elder brothers preceded him in the trombone department. One of them, Jack, was Urbie's neighbor in the Herman brass section last year; the other, Al, is now a major in the Air Force, but musically Urbie swears he's the greatest.

After studying piano with his mother, Urbie took up the trombone at 12 and was playing with name bands such as Tommy Reynolds' and Bob Strong's by the time he was 16. Finishing his education in California, he combined the fife of a busy sideman in Jan Savitt's band with that of a student at Hollywood Professional School.

A couple of years with Frankie Carle followed — musically unrewarding years, though Urbie recalls with delight that a short, plunger-muted solo on a Carle disc brought him his first recognition in Down Beat. Next came a four-year tenure in the last of Gene Krupa's big bands, and then, in October 1950, the big break — a job with Woody, which in turn led to frequent solos on records, and to the fans' realization that a new star was rising.

The musical format established by Urbie for his debut on Blue Note as a recording bandleader is a simple one. From the Basie-like piano introduction and the bright, swinging theme with which his own Incubator kicks off the first side, you can immediately deduce that this will be modern but unpretentious music, comparable in the small-combo field with what Urbie's ex-boss Mr. Herman has accomplished among the big bands.

Surrounding Urbie is a group of soloists, most of them new to the Blue Note catalogue, all of them amply provided with an opportunity to display their ability at length here.

Doug Mettome, an outstanding trumpet man, has been heard on records with the Benny Goodman band and sextet of BC's 1949 bop-flirtation era; his horn has also seen service with Woody, Tommy Dorsey, Herbie Fields and other name bands. In this LP he displays an interesting second talent by producing a baritone horn, which makes its solo bow on the second chorus on Incubator, as well as in a four-bar-chase with Urbie on the fourth chorus.

On tenor Urbie used the relatively little known John Murtaugh, whose talents also extended to the provision of two original adaptations from well-known jazz chord sequences, making their rearranged appearances as La Salle and Johnbo Mambo. Completing the horns was a great young talent whose passing the jazz world mourned recently - Sam Staff, the Herman baritone sax ace. This was the 24-year-old youngster's last date; ten days after recording these sides with Urbie in New York, he passed away, a victim of Hodgkins' disease. His well-phrased, beatful work is well represented here, notably on the two Murtaugh arrangements.

As you might expect in view of Urbie's three swinging years with the Hermanites, a fine rhythm section came strolling through these Green pastures. Jimmy Lyon, the pianist, is a Benny Goodman alumnus whom you may also have heard on tour as June Christy's accompanist, or leading his own trio at the Blue Angel in New York. Dante Martucci worked with Barbara Carroll's trio, and drummer Jimmy Campbell, a former Ralph Flanagan sideman, has been heard on Blue Note on the Sal Salvador set (BLP 5035).

Aside from the titles mentioned above, Urbie's material includes a charming and familiar Latin theme, Dansero, and two great standards which Urbie and Jimmy Lyon have virtually to themselves: Skylark and Stairway to the Stars. The latter pair will show you all the principal virtues of Urbie's work — a great sense of continuity in his phrasing, a legato approach and tonal quality that at times suggest a modernized version of an earlier trombone pioneer, Jack Teagarden. Combining these assets with technical facility and perfect intonation, Urbie shows every indication that he is well on his way up the musical stairway to stardom.

December 1953

Down Beat 08 September 1954 Volume 21 Issue 18

Urbie’s first LP as a leader could have been better. Urbie himself deserves five stars, but some of his choice of tunes and of personnel were less than optimum. Doug Mettome (trumpet and baritone horn) has usually interesting conception, but his occasional uncertainty makes this listener nervous. I never know whether he’s going to make what he tries for, though he usually does. Tenor John Murtaugh is competent but undistinguished as a jazz soloist. The rhythm section (Jimmy Lyon, Dante Martucci, Jimmy Campbell) is adequate, but I’ve been spoiled by Silver, Heath, Clarke and Freeman, Mondragon, Manne so that this section seems lacking in vitality and sounds occasionally stiff by comparison. Pianist Lyon is lightly pleasant on his solo bits, however. One good choice was baritonist Sam Staff. Tragically this was his last record date—he died 10 days later at the age of 24 of Hodgkins’ disease.

Strongest parts of the LP are the two standards. The lines of Urbie’s Incubator and Murtaugh’s LaSalle are routine; Murtaugh’s Mambo has promise but isn’t developed structurally. Dansero is the weakest band. Recording quality is very good. That Gil Mellé cover is just plain awful. A hip visual sense is not a Blue Note strongpoint, but it’s the sound that counts and in that department, the label is doing very well indeed. Give credit again to Rudy Van Gelder. Leonard Feather, in his notes, points out perceptively that Green has “a great sense of continuity in his phrasing, a legato approach, and tonal quality that at times suggest a modernized version of an earlier trombone pioneer, Jack Teagarden. (Blue Note LP 5036)

Down Beat 14 July 1954 Volume 21 Issue 14

Urbie’s septet includes Doug Mettome (baritone horn and trumpet(, John Murtagh (tenor), Jimmy Lyon (piano), Dante Martucci (bass), Jimmy Campbell (drums), and this was the last date of the late Sam Staff (baritone sax). Skylark is another extended example of the warm and renewingly fresh conception of Green. Dansero is a rather innocuous Latin-American bit, livened by Urbie and Sam Staff with a tenor contribution by Murtagh. (Blue Note 1627)

Session Information

Doug Mettome, trumpet, baritone horn; Urbie Green, trombone; John Murtaugh, tenor sax; Sam Staff, baritone sax; Jimmy Lyon, piano; Dante Martucci, bass; Jimmy Campbell, drums.

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, December 27, 1953

BN542-2 (tk.3), Johnbo Mambo, Blue Note 5036
BN543-0 (tk.1), Skylark, Blue Note 5036, BN 1627
BN544-2 (tk.3), Incubator, Blue Note 5036
BN545-2 (tk.3), Dansero, Blue Note 5036, BN 1627
BN546-2 (tk.6), Stairway To The Stars, Blue Note 5036
BN547-2 (tk.3), La Salle, Blue Note 5036

1953 - December 24

Sal Salvador Quintet – December 24 1953

Blue Note Biography of Sal Salvador https://www.bluenote.com/artist/sal-salvador/

A versatile guitarist and onetime head of the guitar department at the University of Bridgeport, Sal Salvador was a capable soloist and accompanist whose single-string style, shaped by his early interest in the music of Charlie Christian, was augmented by extensive studies of guitar technique. Salvador’s years of research, playing, and analysis eventually led to his writing guitar methodology books, among them Sal Salvador’s Chord Method for Guitar and Sal Salvador’s Single String Studies for Guitar in the ’50s and ’60s. He became interested in jazz during his teens, and began playing professionally in Springfield, MA, in 1945. He worked with Terry Gibbs and Mundell Lowe in New York at the end of the ’40s, then joined Stan Kenton’s orchestra in 1952. Salvador worked with Kenton until the end of 1953, and appeared on the New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm album. He led bebop bands featuring Eddie Costa and Phil Woods. Salvador was featured in the film Jazz on a Summer’s Day and headed a big band in the late ’50s and early ’60s. He worked in a guitar duo with Alan Hanlon in the early ’70s, and began recording again as a leader later in the decade. He re-formed his big band in the ’80s, and was named to his position at the University of Bridgeport. Salvador led recordings for Blue Note (1953), Capitol, Bethlehem, Decca, Jazz Unlimited, Dauntless (1963), Bee Hive, GP, and Stash; he died September 22, 1999, at the age of 73.

Sal Salvador with Frank Socolow
Photo by Francis Wolff

Bill Coss: Sal Salvador Quintet Liner Notes – BLP 5035 – March 1954

SAL SALVADOR, whose name suggests an Argentinian city and gauchos and Latin rhythms is, to the detriment of romance but for the betterment of jazz, far removed from all these things. Quite unromantically, he was born in Monson, Massachusetts in 1925 and spent most of his growing years in Stafford Springs, Connecticut.

And, as if preserving the New Englandish simplicity of his life's story, Sal cant recall any particular reason for his general interest in music or his particular interest in the guitar. It happened almost by accident, he explains. "Dad had taken a few lessons on the guitar at one time, and there was an instrument lying around the house, so I picked it up and began playing."

Unlike most of today's jazz musicians, Sal hardly noticed jazz as a form until he was twenty years old. About that time, he heard Charlie Christian records, which were the first indication that he had had of the guitar's possibilities. And, because he was listening to Christian at such a late date, he also began to pay some attention at about the same time to Dizzy and Bird; all three, exerting a great deal of influence on Sal, who has never studied formally, supplying him with a running leap into modern music.

He began his professional career in 1945, playing with local bands in and around Springfield, Mass. and came to New York four years later where he played with many groups until 1952, when he left the city to join Stan Kenton with whom he remained until December, 1953. From what lies between these covers, one can assume that Kenton's loss is our gain.

For here is the structure within which Sal functions best. And he is ably assisted, whether by quintet or quartet. Pianist Johnny Williams, an ex-Getz sideman, is a stand-out. His is a sparkling and swinging style which shows fine structural development. Jimmy Campbell, a steady and inventive drummer, and Kenny O'Brien, whose bass had been the steadiest of anchors for many combos, complete the rhythm section. Swinging tenorist Frank Sokolov, who used to play with such groups as Chubby Jackson's, makes the fifth man on the quintet sides.

Here, in these first records which Sal has done under his own name, he finds the opportunity to exhibit three sides of his musical personality. As he sums them up, they are: "To swing, to play simply and to pick tunes carefully,"

And all six sides contain these three qualities, plus a sense of overall continuity which makes each tune more than just a casual run-down. This is perhaps most clear in the quartet performances which, because of the intimate relatlonships between only four instruments, seem more free, more simple and more complete. This is a far departure from his days with Stan Kenton where he attempted more complex approaches; among others, Invention for Guitar and Trumpet which he recorded with the band.

Gone with the Wind has warmth coupled with drive; an unusual combination, but done with, and because of, delicacy and relaxation. This Can't Be Love is, as are all these tunes, an attractive standard, made more attractive here by the momentum which the group maintains while, eve where, giving a feeling of lightness. Too Marvelous or Words shows the lilting quality of Sal's guitar, the range of sounds that he produces with the instrument. After You've Gone, for all Its old age, is made pre here with the added attraction of a cute, from-the-land-of-dixie ending.

My Old Flame is a particular favorite of mine and the quartet plays it with a brilliance and insinuating lilt which is hard to resist. This side, more than any other, shows Sal's penchant for the simple and direct, both in the introduction of the melody and In its development. Get Happy is the second quartet offering and, at a faster tempo than Flame, it still exhibits those qualities of fleetness which make this album such pleasurable listening.

This, then, is Sal Salvador, entering a new phase in his musical development. Here is a preview of what Sal is doing now, with more than one suggestion of things to come from his subtle and selective mind and fingers.

Down Beat 7 April 1954 Volume 21 Issue 7

The former Kenton guitarist in his first records under his own name, Johnny Williams is on piano;

Kenny O'Brien, bass; Jimmy Campbell, drums; and tenor Frank Socolow is added on four. Sal plays pleasantly and is backed by a highly competent rhythm section. Socolow is professional but is stylistically pallid. And so frankly, is Salvador. Sal does nothing wrong, but on records he lacks the individuating temperament of a Kessel, Farlow, Wayne, or Raney.

Most interesting soloist is former Getz sideman, Johnny Williams, who has refreshingly unpredictable imagination and a good beat. Despite the siren song of the notes, I found this set pretty dull, except for Johnny. And why, pray tell, is "warmth coupled with drive" an "unusual combination"? That's what the best of jazz always combines; trouble with this collection is that it's amblingly lukewarm. (Blue Note BI.P 5035)

Session Information

Frank Socolow, tenor sax; Johnny Williams, piano; Sal Salvador, guitar; Kenny O'Brien, bass; Jimmy Campbell, drums

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, December 24, 1953

BN536-2, Gone With The Wind, Blue Note BLP 5035

BN537-2, Too Marvelous For Words, Blue Note BLP 5035

BN538-0, This Can't Be Love, Blue Note BLP 5035

BN539-1, After You've Gone, Blue Note BLP 5035

BN540-1, My Old Flame, Blue Note BLP 5035

BN541-3, Get Happy, Blue Note BLP 5035

1953 - November 25

Horace Silver Volume 2 / Art Blakey – Spotlight On Drums – November 23 1953

Richard Cook - Blue Note Records – Secker and Warburg 2001 pp 59-60

[Alfred] Lion’s curiosity for new music was enthusiastic and wide-ranging.; As Blue Note’s business began to grow, he and [Francis] Wolff realised that they had to have a regular turnover of new material if the label was going to keep its place in the newly expanding world of jazz microgroove records. They were still stuck with their 78 rpm and ten-inch LP formats, still reluctant to go over to twelve-inch albums, but at least, at the beginning of 1954, they released their first 45 rpm single, BN 45-1626. Bizarrely, it featured two titles from a Horace Silver session, ‘Message From Kenya’ and ‘Nothing But The Soul,’ which were features for Art Blakey's drumming: on the first title he duetted with percussionist Sabu Martinez, but the other was all Blakey (a nice tribute, though, to the drummer’s importance in the Blue Note hierarchy). As jukeboxes began to go over to the new seven-inch format, singles would assume an increasingly important place in Blue Note’s visibility in the marketplace.

Leonard Feather: Horace Silver Volume 2 / Art Blakey – Spotlight On Drums Liner Notes

ALMOST a year has elapsed since the release of the first Horace Silver long playing record (Blue Note BLP 5018). The year has seen new horizons open up for the brilliant 25-year-old pianist from Norwalk, Conn. While his LP debut was winning the plaudits of reviewers and fans, Horace enlarged his audience in Birdland and the country's other leading jazz clubs, playing with Lester Young and other noted combos. In recent months he has been allied with a new group formed by Art Blakey, the phenomenal drummer featured with him in the present set of selections.

Of the six piano solos in this new LP, three are based on popular songs of a few years ago — How About You, I Remember You and Day In Day Out. Endowing them with his original rhythmic and harmonic changes when he embroiders the melody in the opening chorus, he proceeds to improvise on the chord pattern of the tune, and in each case the overall result, in effect, is as personal as if he had woven the fabric himself instead of merely cutting the cloth. Of the three, I Remember You owes the most to the original melody, providing Horace with an exceptionally fine framework. Note especially the beautiful coda on this long and delightful performance.

The other three piano solos are Silver originals. Silverware, a perfect example of a moderate-tempo performance that achieves an easy, rocking beat, is based on the well known F-to-G Flat pattern originally identified with a famous swing standard.

Opus De Funk is a traditional 12-bar blues. As its title hints, it combines the "funky" approach of an old-time blues with the sterling Silver touch and technique. Buhaina, the other original, is named for Horace's trio-mate, Abdallah Ibn Buhaina. Better known to his fans as Art Blakey, Buhaina is one of the many leading musicians who have embraced the Mohammedan faith.

A final word for the Third Man of this unique set of performances. Percy Heath has been praised many times before, both in our Blue Note comments and in every publication that deals with jazz. Never has his work been more discreet and dependable than in his accompaniments to Horace's solos here. A Heath bass performance is a study in metronomic stability. The Horace Silver Trio is indeed an equilateral triangle.

On Message From Kenya and Nothing But The Soul Horace steps aside to let the spotlight fall on the drums.

Message From Kenya teams Art Blakey with Sabu Martinez, the 24-year-old conga drum virtuoso who came here some nine years ago from Puerto Rico. He has been featured with Josephine Premice, played in Tito Rodriguez' mambo orchestra and was prominent in the last big band of Dizzy Gillespie, in which he took over the role originally filled by the late and great Chano Pozo.

The story of Message From Kenya, Art tells us, was first told to him by Moses Mann, a Nigerian drummer who worked in this country with Pearl Primus. The evocation, voiced dramatically in a mixture of Spanish and Swahili, tells of a hunter whose cries celebrate the news that he has captured more game than any other hunter in the village, in order to convince the girl he loves of his prowess. The ritual comes vividly to life as Sabu and Blakey develop a study in rhythmic variety and dynamics with exciting crescendos and diminuendos.

On the other drum number, Nothing But The Soul, Art is alone. Despite the temptation to use this opportunity by wandering off in a variety of pyrotechnical displays with all kinds of tempo and mood changes, Art has chosen to limit himself mainly to the development and maintenance of the beat, in a dazzling assortment of interpretations.

While there is nothing in this performance calculated to amaze the drum schools, there is much that will intrigue the average listener in Art's demonstration of rhythmic patterns, in the dramatic suspension during a long roll, in the dexterity with which he handles the sticks and snares. Art is the man who won the critics poll on Down Beat last year, and it seems inevitable that the public will shortly follow suit by acclaiming him no less enthusiastically.

Ran Blake: The Trio Sides BN LA 474-H2 1975

"How About You", "I Remember You" and "Day In, Day Out" are three standards which grace side 2, but the essence of Horace Silver is more evident on his originals, particularly "Shirl".

Many of Horace Silver's solos tend to become less boppish and more funkish as they proceed. Of course this is a generalization; it is not true in "Silverware" when broken down.

II A 4 bars — funk
4 bars — neo-bop
A 4 bars — funk
4 bars — bop
B 2 bars — bop
6 bars - sequences

A synthesis of bop and funk

III A borrowed qualities
A borrowed qualities
B delightfully bop inspired line which gradually becomes pan-tonal a la George Russell
A funk

"Opus De Funk", one of the first jazz-funk pieces which typifies the movement became such a favorite that Woody Herman recorded it for Capitol.

Horace's 7 chorus solo is beautifully realized here. The 6th chorus of the piece (4th chorus of the solo) introduces riff-like material which seems calculated and unfortunately not repeated. This serves as a relaxation point which spurts a new creative flow of energy that we hear on the last 4 bars of the chorus.

"Buhaina" is more straight ahead Silver. The introduction makes an oblique reference to Monk but this is just a morsel of his outer crust. This is the last cut on the album with Art Blakey, leader of the Jazz Messengers, in whose group Horace Silver literally became music director in the mid 1950's.

Don Heckman: Horace Silver Liner Notes – BN LA 402-H2 1975

Several years ago I participated with Horace Silver in, of all things, a television talk show. The program was devoted to the state of jazz in and around New York City, but the host, for all his good intentions, had a knowledge of jazz that was bounded on one side by Stan Kenton and on the other by the Dukes of Dixieland. Yet despite the spaced-out absurdity of some of his questions, Silver always managed to phrase a reply that made the query seem pertinent. Like his music, Silver can be soft-spoken yet to the point, pliant yet sinewy.

At the piano his loose-limbed demeanor tenses into an appearance not unlike what one critic described as an "inverted fish hook." He swarms over the keyboard, popping out low note accents with fingers that pulse with life of their own, smacking each chordal comp with the intensity of a karate chop. And through it all, through all the crisp accents, the music flows with the kind of danceable swing that everyone keeps saying jazz no longer possesses. They're wrong, of course, because Horace Silver's music always has made the foot tap and the body move—even in the very beginning.

He has come a long way from the early fifties (1954, to be exact) when he led a quintet at a date that provided the name for one of jazz's most hardy groups, The Jazz Messengers; the recording was called "Horace Silver and the Jazz Messengers," and also featured the prominent leader of the subsequent installments of the messengers, drummer Art Blakey. In September of 1956 Silver stepped out to form his own group and has been his own man ever since, retaining his powerful musical identity through all the vagaries of avant-garde jazz, rock 'n' roll and rhythm and blues. Personnel has changed over the years, but Silver's instincts for finding and using stellar jazzmen in his groups has remained constant.

The first editions of the Silver quintet included such gifted players as trumpeter Art Farmer, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, bassist Teddy Kotick and then-18 year-old drummer Louis Hayes. They were followed over the years by trumpeters Blue Mitchell, Carmell Jones, Woody Shaw, Randy Brecker and Charles Tolliver, by saxophonists Junior Cook, Joe Henderson, Benny Maupin and Stanley Turrentine, and by rhythm sections that included bassists Gene Taylor, Teddy Smith, Bob Cranshaw and John Williams and drummers Roger Humphries, Roy Brooks, Billy Cobham and Mickey Roker; add the names of the numerous other players who have passed through the Silver groups and one has a virtual all-star line up of New York jazz musicians.

The earliest track here, "Opus De Funk," is from a trio date in 1952. The tune quickly became a classic, of course, performed by everything from small jazz groups to Woody Herman's roaring big band. Despite the murkiness of the sound, Silver's briskly propulsive piano style obviously is well established in his head and in his fingers even at this point, when he still was in his early twenties. He clearly was more than just a good young bebopper, and "Opus De Funk" points out his future compositional direction with its mixture of bop articulation and blues-touched melody.

Down Beat 14 July 1954 Volume 21 Issue 14

One of the most consistently energizing of the younger pianists, vigorously backed by Percy Heath and Art Blakey. Also included are the Blakey drum solo and the Blakey-Sabu duet previously starred (Down Beat, May 19). It pains my flinty, New England soul to give another five-star rating this month, but Mr. Silver cannot be denied. I assure you that five-star ratings are pried from me only after fierce struggling, but there is simply an unusual quantity of better-than-good original jazz being issued these days. (Blue Note BLP 5034)

Down Beat 19 May 1954 Volume 21 Issue 10

Soul is a dynamically absorbing solo by Blakey. On Kenya, Art is joined on conga drums and vocal by Sabu (Luis Martinez). The story of the number, according to Leonard Feather’s notes for a forthcoming album in which it will be included, “was first told to Art by Moses Mann, a Nigerian drummer who worked in this country with Pearl Primus. The evocation, voiced dramatically in a mixture of Spanish and Swahili, tells of a hunter whose cries celebrate the news that he has captured more game than any other hunter in the village, in order to convince the girl he loves of his prowess.”

It’s an exciting performance with or without the courtship bit. Sabu is 24, works usually with El Diablo, but has recorded before with June Christy, Dizzy, and Mary Lou Williams. He’s also played with Valdes, Morales, and senor Charles Parker. Sabu recently returned from Al Romero’s expedition to South America on which Don Elliott was also included. This is his first large-scale record break, and he surely wails. (Blue Note 1626)

Cash Box – December 26 1953 Ran into Horace Silver, the sensational piano stylist whose many etchings can be heard via Blue Note Records and learned that any minute now we can expect a whole batch of new disks from his allstars. Tells me he’s just cut a new six side LP which also features our fave hide beater Art Blakey and the very steady beat of Percy Heath’s big bass...