(Disc two) Shelly Manne (drums); Monty Budwig (bass); Hampton Hawes (piano); Frank Strozier (flute, alto sax); Conte Candoli (trumpet) + Ruth Price (vocal on 2 tks.). The Penthouse, Seattle Sept. 7/15, 1966.
Another gem released on double vinyl for Record Store Day (April 20) and on CD & digital on May 20.
Back in the day, jazz from the west coast of America was often written off as cold, bland and emotionless. Listening to these two discs nothing could be further from the truth. As there are still jazz fans and critics around who continue to perpetuate that myth I hope they get around to listening to either or both of these albums and that the veil will be lifted although those detractors will probably point out that, apart from the leader, the other four on disc one are all east coast imports!
The earlier set from Monterey has Geller and Williamson blowing as hot as any of their NYC contemporaries. Driven along by the rhythm section of Manne, Budwig and Freeman, it brought back memories of hearing the Shelly Manne Quintet as part of a JATP package. On that occasion Richie Kamuka and Joe Gordon were in the frontline but the end result was the same - hard swinging modern jazz.
Stop, Look and Listen, a number I first heard on a 12" 78rpm by Tommy Dorsey had, I recall, Bud Freeman taking a tasty and relaxed tenor solo. Nothing relaxed about Geller's alto solo. A fast moving cutting-edge blast matched by Williamson. Charlie Mariano's The Vamp's Blues, although not without some fun moments, is deadly serious when the chips are down. The final track, Quartet - a four part suite by Bill Holman - has, like all good suites, tempo changes and solo features as well as imaginative drumming from Manne and some off-stage sounds from low flying aircraft.
Eight years later Manne moved up the coast for a season at Seattle's legendary Penthouse Club from where a lot classic sessions have recently been unearthed.
This time 'his men' consisted of one of the all-time greats of modern jazz piano, Hampton Hawes, flute and alto saxist Frank Strozier, former Kenton trumpet ace, Conte Candoli with bassist Budwig staying on board.
A romping Softly as in a Morning Sunrise is followed by Strozier fluting on a seemingly endless version of Summertime. After some 5 minutes Candoli took up the cotton picking. Tightly muted, he hung around for about two minutes thirty seconds, Hawes stayed for two minutes then, presumably, left to see the fish jumping whilst Budwig held the fort for a couple of minutes before Strozier returned.
Ruth Price impressed on a couple of short vocal spots: Dearly Beloved and Surrey With the Fringe on Top accompanied by just the rhythm section. I was pleased to note she steered clear of Summertime and Secret Love, which are better served as instrumentals.
Hawes provided an original, Funny, that had Strozier paintstripping on alto. He returned to flute for the aforementioned Secret Love taken at a tempo akin to the barroom reaction when 'last orders' are called. Candoli solos in the clipped manner associated with trumpet players who didn't have the technique of Dizzy, the tone of Clifford or Fats and were still coming to terms with Miles. Hampton Hawes, as ever, did the biz.
Another Record Store Day must have. Lance
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