CD1
1. A Bun Dance
2. Papa Zimbi
3. Casa Camara
4. Them Nasty Hurtin' Blues
5. Voce e Eu
6. Insensatez
7. Mystery Blues
8. Chega de Saudade
9. Routeousness
10. Count Me In
White House Concert
11. Bells and Horns
12. Saudade de Bahia
13. Casa Camara
14. Pony Express
15. Maria Ninguem
16. Toccata
17. Count Me In
Paul Winter - Alto sax
Dick Whitsell - Trumpet
Les Rout - Baritone sax
Warren Bernhardt - Piano
Richard Evans - Bass
Harold Jones - Drums
CD2
1. Cupbearers
2. Ally
3. The Sheriff
4. With Malice Toward None
5. All Members
6. Marilia
7. Suite Port au Prince
8. New York 19
9. Quem Quizer
10. The Thumper
11. Count Me In
12. Repeat
13. Lass from the Low Countrie
14. Down by the Greenwood Side
15. We Shall Overcome
Paul Winter - Alto sax, soprano sax
Dick Whitsell - Trumpet
Jay Cameron - Baritone sax
Warren Bernhardt - Piano
Chuck Israels - Bass (tracks 1-11, 13, 16, 17)
Ben Riley - Drums (tracks 1-11, 13, 16, 17)
Cecil McBee - Bass (tracks 12, 14, 15)
Freddie Waits - Drums (tracks 12, 14, 15)
Jeremy Steig - Flute (track 13)
Gene Bertoncini - Guitar (track 13)
Paul Winter was in the headlines in the early 1960s when his sextet won the 1961 Inter-Collegiate Jazz Festival. One of the judges there was John Hammond, who got the band to record for Columbia. The sextet was commissioned by the State Department to tour South America for six months, and this led to the group being invited by Jacqueline Kennedy to do a concert at the White House in 1962.
The tour of South America made Paul aware of musical styles which were new to him and led him subsequently to form the Paul Winter Consort, which anticipated today's interest in "World Music". Winter's groups included such eclectic musicians as Ralph Towner, Paul McCandless and Colin Walcott, who later became part of the influential group Oregon.
This double album contains music from Paul Winter's early days, including the White House concert (tracks 11 to 17 on the first CD) and some previously-unreleased tracks. In these days, Paul Winter's sextet was what he called "a kind of little big band", and his intriguingly kaleidoscopic arrangements often make the group sound like a big band. A similar effect was achieved by John Kirby's sextet in the late 1930s, when Kirby created "the biggest little band in the land". The Sextet only lasted for a few years but Paul Winter is still playing, and this double CD celebrates his 50th anniversary.
Paul Winter plays the alto sax without vibrato but he is nothing like an imitator of Charlie Parker. In fact he has a tone capable of power as well as delicacy. The other musicians are all brilliant. Les Rout displays amazing dexterity on the baritone sax in his own composition Routeousness. The arrangements are precise - you might even say, cool - and the music is scored to get the maximum effect from the six musicians, working together in various combinations. There is a good balance between solos and ensembles. For instance, All Members switches from a piano solo to an ensemble passage, followed by a bass solo, a trumpet solo initially accompanied just by the bass, and then some contrapuntal weaving from various horns before the united closing.
Tony Augarde
www.augardebooks.co.uk
CD Reviews
Living Music LMU 44
