Classic Vanguard Jazz Piano Sessions

        Following closely after Mosaic’s compilation of Classic Vanguard Small Group Swing Sessions comes a companion set, Classic Vanguard Jazz Piano Sessions with 6 CDs containing a total of eleven complete sessions. The fun starts with the Jo Jones Trio, recorded in early stereophonic sound at the end of April 1958. Mosaic has eschewed its usual chronological sequencing in favor of a more thematic approach, and the glorious sounds of the Jones trio with pianist Ray Bryant and his bassist brother Tommy Bryant. Drum master Jones, a mainstay of the Small Group Sessions collection, is heard again with the almost forgotten pianist Sir Charles Thompson in a quartet date on the remainder of disc 1. Thompson led a few band dates on the earlier box and is represented here in two contexts. The quartet date of January 1954 features Jones with bassist Walter Page and guitarist Freddie Green, while the February 1955 session, which starts off disc 2, is a drummer-less trio with Skeeter Best on guitar and Aaron Bell on bass. The rest of disc 2 offers a solo set from pianist Bobby Henderson, a very enjoyable Fats Waller tribute recorded in November 1956. This fine performer was rediscovered after 23 years by producer John Hammond during a random stopover in Albany, NY where Henderson was performing under a different name. After Henderson made a second solo recording for Vanguard in 1957 (Call House Blues), he disappeared again, resurfacing again two decades later to make two more solo albums for Chiaroscuro in 1969. Discs 3 & 4 are given over to four sessions led by pianist Mel Powell, closely associated with Benny Goodman. First up is a swinging sextet date featuring trumpeter Buck Clayton. That’s followed by a fascinating August 1954 trio date with Powell joined by the “Vice Prez” Paul Quinichette on tenor saxophone and Bobby Donaldson on drums. Just a week later came another trio excursion, with trumpeter Ruby Braff and Donaldson. The last Powell session, done in October 1955, is a hodge-podge of lineups, with trios, quintets, and septets. There’s some fine music here, but the ever-changing configurations make for an odd listening experience. Thomas Cuniffe, principal writer and editor of jazzhistoryonline.com who contributed a liner essay to the first Vanguard box, repeats that effort here. He describes the Ruby Braff/Ellis Larkins duo sessions that make up discs five and six as the “crown jewels of this collection,” and it’s hard to disagree with that assessment. Trumpeter Braff and pianist Larkins recorded a baker’s dozen of songs in February 1955, released as on two 10-inch volumes aptly titled as Two Part Inventions in Jazz. The pair followed up with an October date devoted exclusively to songs by the well-loved team of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, issued on Lp as 2 x 2. Larkins had established a reputation as an accompanist to singers, notably Mildred Bailey and Ella Fitzgerald. In Braff he had a partner whose style frequently took a song’s lyrics as a springboard for his improvisations. They are clearly of one mind in their approaches to the music, and together they manifest an unhurried and sophisticated approach to their material. The late Michael Cuscuna, co-founder of Mosaic Records, was deeply involved in the preparation of the Vanguard sets, and these collections testify to his wide-ranging engagement with all eras of jazz. He’s much missed, but his overwhelming contribution to the music will live on as long as there are enthusiasts to listen to his many productions. Easily recommended. 

Mosaic MD6-281; Disc 1 63:21): (A) Jo Jones Trio (4/30/58) (B) Sir Charles Thompson Quartet (1/22/54). Disc 2 (70:10): ©) Sir Charles Thompson Trio (2/16/55) (D) Bobby Henderson (11/26/56). Disc 3 (61:43): (E) Mel Powell Septet (12/30/53) (F) Mel Powell Trio (8/17/54). Disc 4 (72:37): (G) Mel Powell Trio (8/24/54) (H) Mel Powell Septet/Quintet (10/19/55). Disc 5 (60:43): (I) Ruby Braff/Ellis Larkins duo (2/17/55). Disc 6 (50:43): Ruby Braff/Ellis Larkins duo (10/14/55). For complete discographical details, go here. Limited to 5,000 sets; available from www.mosaicrecords.com

Classic Vanguard Small Group Swing Sessions

  When I first ran across some compilation CDs in 2002 by Sir Charles Thompson and Jimmy Rushing on the Vanguard label, I did a double-take. The sessions date from the early to mid Fifties, and I had never even known of their existence until then. I’d always thought of Vanguard Records as a folk-oriented label with artists like Joan Baez, Buffy Saint Marie, and Ian & Sylvia, with a few Country Joe and The Fish releases in the late Sixties. Now Mosaic Records has come to the rescue, by compiling the Classic Vanguard Small Group Swing Sessions. It turns out that most of the music on the 7 CDs in the set has never been reissued in any format, and the generally high quality of the swing-oriented music makes this a treasure chest of largely forgotten releases. All the sessions were produced by the legendary John Hammond, a larger than life figure who played a major role in American popular music for decades starting in the 1930's. Thomas Cunniffe’s booklet essay details the complicated story that led to Hammond’s association with Vanguard. Hammond was assisted on some of the earlier dates by Nat Hentoff, a columnist for Down Beat magazine at the time.

Originally released on 10" or 12" lps, all the music (aside from the final session, a live recording from Count Basie’s nightclub in Harlem) was recorded by the Brooklyn Masonic Temple with a single microphone some thirty feet above the stage. In general, the sound quality is surprisingly good, well balanced with clear separation of the instruments. The biggest names in this compilation are tenor saxophonists Buddy Tate, Frank Foster, Lucky Thompson, and Coleman Hawkins, drummer Jo Jones, bassist Walter Page and vocalist Jimmy Rushing from the Count Basie band, pianist Hank Jones, guitarist Kenny Burrell, and trumpeters Buck Clayton and Ruby Braff, although even some of these figures from the past will be known mostly to serious jazz fans. 

The Fifties were an interesting time in the history of jazz, when hard bop (like the music of Art Blakey and Horace Silver) and the more mainstream sound of the bands in this set largely coexisted, albeit with different audiences. Tenormen Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Ben Webster were still active, while modernists like John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, and Benny Golson were starting to make names for themselves. Add in technological developments, like the use of tape recording, 10 & 12-inch lps, and later in the decade, the beginning of stereophonic reproduction, and it’s clear that this was a heady and complicated time for music. Swing-era musicians had to adapt to longer playing times after a lifetime of making sides that lasted for 4 minutes or less, and record companies also had to cope with the new realities of recording and releasing music. 

To these ears, the stars of this collection are trumpeter Ruby Braff, with his beautiful tone and thoughtful improvisations, the nearly forgotten pianist Sir Charles Thompson and his delightful sense of swing, the always pleasing “Mr. Five By Five,” Jimmy Rushing, and the influential drummer Jo Jones. The Basie veteran powers sessions by trombonist Vic Dickenson, trumpeters Braff and Clayton, and all three sessions featuring Jimmy Rushing. The collection also includes Jones’ first date as a leader, with Count Basie himself at the piano bench for two takes of Shoe Shine Boy. In the best Mosaic tradition, there’s one unreleased track, an alternate take of Kandee from Buck Clayton’s July 1, 1954 session. And there’s more to come, with a projected second collection of Vanguard Piano Jazz Showcase highlights, featured more Jo Jones and Sir Charles Thompson, plus Mel Powell and three duet albums by Ruby Braff and pianist Ellis Larkins. Unhesitatingly recommended. 

Mosaic MD7-280; Disc 1 (74:45): (A) Vic Dickenson Septet (12/29/53); (B) Vic Dickenson Septet (11/29/54); Disc 2 (62:49): (B) Vic Dickenson Septet, concluded; (C) Ruby Braff Sextet (10/17/5); Disc 3 (73:33): (D) Sir Charles Thompson Sextet (12/30/53); (E) Sir Charles Thompson and His Band (8/16/54); (F) Joe Newman and His Band (3/9/54). Disc 4 (80:01): (G) Buck Clayton’s Band (featuring Ruby Braff) (7/1/54); (H) Buck Clayton (3/14/57). Disc 5 (70:14): (I) Jo Jones (8/11/55); (J) Jimmy Rushing’s All Stars (12/1/54); Disc 6 (68:00): (K) Jimmy Rushing and His All Stars (8/16/55); (L) Jimmy Rushing (3/5/57); Disc 7 (70:55): (L) Jimmy Rushing, concluded; (M) Various Artists: A Night At Count Basie’s (10/22/56). For complete discographical details, go here. Limited to 5,000 sets; available from www.mosaicrecords.com