Let's Dance
Bugle Call Rag
On the Sunny Side of the Street
'Deed I Do
Who Cares
Blue Skies
I Want a Little Girl
Sometimes I'm Happy
A Fine Romance
Harvard Blues
I'm Coming Virginia
Soon
Medley;I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues/I Hadn't Anyone Till You/I've Got
You Under My Skin
Pennies From Heaven
Stompin' At the Savoy
Flying Home
This is My Lucky Day
Roll 'Em
Brussels Blues
When You're Smiling.
Happy Session Blues
Autumn Nocturne
Oh Baby
What a Diff'rence a Day Made
Oh Gee, Oh Joy
The Earl
More Than You Know
You Couldn't Be Cuter
I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face
Swift As the Wind
Them There Eyes
A Room Without Windows
People
Benny Rides Again
These sides span the years 1957-64 but concentrate
in particular on 1957 and 1958. They feature recordings made by some
top flight players and in amongst them are some real high flyers.
Buster Cooper, Herb Geller, Bob Wilber, Pepper Adams, Milt Hinton
and Shelley Manne for example are in one of the November 1958 bands
and the trumpet section of the July 1958 band makes one’s eyes pop
so stellar is the line-up: Billy Butterfield, Taft Jordan and Buck
Clayton – which is pretty nearly my idea of Heaven. Add a rhythm section
of Kenny Burrell, Roland Hanna, Henry Grimes and Roy Burnes and you’re
not exactly suffering. The varied personnel - from big band to small
group is one of the pleasures of this 2 CD set from the Yale University
Archives – and when one adds that Zoot Sims is on board and Jimmy
Rushing takes some vocal responsibilities then we have a compelling
package.
Hanna and Rushing spark On the Sunny Side of the
Street with the former’s powerful chording a bonus. Goodman excels
in a strong blues chorus on I Want A Little Girl. Rushing duets with fellow vocalist Ethel Ennis on A Fine Romance
maybe doffing the hat at Ella and Louis’s similar forays; certainly
the medley that Ennis sings later on which includes I Gotta Right
to Sing the Blues, I Hadn't Anyone Till You, and I've Got You
Under My Skin is very reminiscent of Fitzgerald. Aficionados might
like to note that This is My Lucky Day is a Gil Evans arrangement.
The nonet of which Sims is part – so too are Gene Allen, Willie Dennis
et al – is unusual in Goodman’s discography but provides plenty of
pleasures from leader and sidemen.
The big band on the second disc is cut from a somewhat different cloth
– it’s more steeped in bop for one thing. It’s a shame that the terrific
Russ Freeman’s piano solo is so distant in the mix on Happy Session
Blues but we can enjoy the very different approach from the leader
here – his trills and phrasing offer a rather different stylistic
approach from the days of the King of Swing. Another of the advantages
of these tracks is the bristling trumpet playing of Allen Smith. Martha
Tilton and Mitzi Cottle are two vocalists who shine in this second
disc, though the discography doesn’t mention them – fortunately Loren
Schoenberg’s notes do.
I wish the Tilton tracks had been in order and the layout a bit clearer;
some might not like the way the tracks jump around bisecting small
and big groups in something of a blancmange effect. The music’s good
though – not vintage but questing, not stuck in a rut.
Jonathan Woolf
see also review by Don Mather
CD Reviews
NIMBUS
NI 2714-15 [64:50 + 52:10]
