A Jazz Version of 'Kean' + The Soul of Hollywood (2 LP on 1 CD)
  • Riverside RLP9397
    Riverside RLP9397
  • Jazzland JLP963
    Jazzland JLP963
  • Wilkins & Timmons
    Wilkins & Timmons
  • Riverside Brass
    Riverside Brass
  • Junior Mance
    Junior Mance
  • Melba Liston
    Melba Liston

Riverside Jazz Stars & Junior Mance

A Jazz Version of 'Kean' + The Soul of Hollywood (2 LP on 1 CD)

Fresh Sound Records

Personnel:
Blue Mitchell, Ernie Royal (tp), Clark Terry (tp, flh), Jimmy Cleveland (tb), Julius Watkins (Frh), George Dorsey (as), Jimmy Heath (ts), Jerome Richardson, Walt Levinsky (fl, cl), Oliver Nelson (cl), Romeo Penque (fl, b-cl), Arthur 'Babe' Clarke (bs), Bobby Timmons, Junior Mance (p), Ron Carter, George Duvivier (b), Albert 'Tootie' Heath, Osie Johnson (d), Janet Putnam (harp), Melba Liston (arr)

Reference: FSRCD 828

Bar code: 8427328608282

 THIS PRODUCT IS NOT AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN THE U.S. 

Producer Orrin Keepnews assembled the Riverside Jazz Stars to record the music from the 1961 Broadway musical Kean, a rich melodic score by Robert Wright and George Forrest. Using brass, reeds, and rhythmthree of eachthis Jazz Version of Kean was arranged by Ernie Wilkins, Jimmy Heath and Melba Liston, emphasising the melodic, hard-swinging and soulful qualities of East Coast jazz.

In the band, conducted by Wilkins and Liston, most of the solo space was taken by three brilliant jazzmen, trumpeter Blue Mitchell, tenor sax Jimmy Heath, and pianist Bobby Timmons, while Julius Watkins and Clark Terry are also prominent on French horn and flugelhorn respectively.

The Soul of Hollywood, the second album here, is a collection of well-known movie songs and a tribute to the talents of pianist Junior Mance and arranger Melba Liston, who provided the vividly-colored orchestral settings to Mances earthy and forceful piano. His gentle solos reflect the melodies, but he can project a variety of moods and sustain interest, while Clark Terry plays buoyantly on The Apartment and on Green Dolphin. All in all, this is an enjoyable set for which Liston managed to extract full and diverse measures of soul and heart from the music of Hollywood.



01. Sweet Danger (Wright-Forrest) 3:38
02. Chime In! (Wright-Forrest) 3:34
03. Penny Plain (Wright-Forrest) 4:15
04. To Look Upon My Love (Wright-Forrest) 5:12
05. The Fog and the Grog (Wright-Forrest) 3:47
06. Elena (Wright-Forrest) 4:29
07. Inevitable (Wright-Forrest) 4:32
08. Willow, Willow, Willow (Wright-Forrest) 4:18
09. Never on Sunday (Manos Hadjidakis) 2:45
10. Maria (Leonard Bernstein) 2:47
11. Taras Theme (Max Steiner) 3:57
12. Fanny (Harold Rome) 3:58
13. On Green Dolphin Street (Bronislau Kaper) 2:34
14. One-Eyed Jack (Hugo Freidhofer) 2:29
15. Exodus (Ernest Gold) 2:25
16. Invitation (Bronislau Kaper) 4:00
17. The Apartment (Williams-Moran) 3:32
18. Goodbye Again (Dorie Langdon) 4:06
19. Spellbound (Miklos Rozsa) 3:28

Album details

Sources:
Tracks #1-8, from the album "Riverside Jazz Stars —The Jazz Version of 'Kean'" (Riverside RLP9397)
Tracks #9-19, from the album "Junior Mance —The Soul of Hollywood" (Jazzland JLP963)

Personnel on #1-8:
Riverside Jazz Stars
Blue Mitchell, trumpet; Clark Terry, trumpet & fluegelhorn (replaced by Ernie Royal, trumpet, on #3 & 8); Julius Watkins, French horn; George Dorsey, alto sax; Jimmy Heath, tenor sax; Arthur Babe Clarke, baritone sax; Bobby Timmons, piano; Ron Carter, bass; Albert Tootie Heath, drums.
Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York City, October 31 & November 1, 1961

Tracks #1,4 & 6 arranged by Jimmy Heath
and conducted by Ernie Wilkins
Tracks #2,5 & 7 arranged & conducted Ernie Wilkins
Tracks #3 & 8 arranged & conducted by Melba Liston

Personnel on #9-19:
Clark Terry, flugelhorn & trumpet; Ernie Royal, trumpet; Jimmy Cleveland, trombone; Walt Levinsky, flute & clarinet; Oliver Nelson, clarinet; Jerome Richardson, clarinet & flute; Romeo Penque, flute & bass-clarinet; Phil Bodner, flute & English horn; Junior Mance, piano; George Duvivier, bass; Osie Johnson, drums; Janet Putnam, harp.
Recorded at Plaza Sound Studios, New York City, October, December 1961 & January 1962

Arranged and conducted by Melba Liston

Recording Engineer: Ray Fowler
Photographs: Steve Schapiro
Cover design: Ken Deardoff

Original recordings produced by Orrin Keepnews
This CD release produced by Jordi Pujol

Stereo · 24-Bit Digitally Remastered
Blue Moon Producciones Discograficas S.L.

Press reviews

"Heres another entry in the Fresh Sound Cabinet of Curiosities and an interesting conjunction of some forgotten sessions. First up, the Riverside Jazz Stars (as assembled by producer Orrin Keepnews) tackle the principal songs from Kean, a largely overlooked musical about the Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean which ran for just 92 performances on Broadway in 1961, without leaving much of a mark. Given the likes of Bobby Timmons on piano, trumpeters Blue Mitchell and Clark Terry with Tootie Heath on drums, you can assume that the playing is of a very high order indeed. And so it proves, the arrangements by Jimmy Heath, Ernie Wilkins and Melba Liston eliciting the best from these fine musicians albeit on modest material. Is there much here of genuine consequence? Probably not.

The second part of this compilation is a repeat of a Jazzland album featuring pianist Junior Mance with another pack of top studio cats in a set of movie themes, orchestrated by Liston. Mance is the main solo voice and once again, the performances are highly accomplished. If youre looking for jazz versions of Maria or The Apartment or Exodus then this is for you. Formulaic music, designed to tap into a then current interest in soundtrack and cast albums, but with a jazz twist. Think Music For Pleasure. Ideal background for a themed 60s-style party."

—Peter Vacher (October, 2014)
The Jazz Rag
________________________________________________________________________________________

"I will confess, immediately, my ignorance of the musical Kean which apparently was based on the career of the great early 19th century Shakespearean actor focussing mainly on his tempestuous love life. It opened on Broadway in early November 1961 and after 92 performances ended its run of less than three months. Maybe such a short run inhibited further productions including perhaps a London run. Nevertheless Google informs me that Anoriginal cast recording was released by Columbia Records. This album is one of the most valuable original cast albums because of its scarcity.

So, I must comment on music I scarcely know and on jazz arrangements played here by highly talented musicians delivering a tuneful, mightily swinging, thoroughly enjoyable concert. What more need I say.

The other half of this double bill had instant appeal to me as the Founder Editor of Film Music on the Web. These arrangements, it should be said, are idiosyncratic so anyone expecting slavishly emulated performances of the original conceptions of much loved movie themes will be disappointed.

Pianist, Junior Mance, was a member of several notable jazz groups (Dizzie Gillespie, Cannonball Adderley etc.) before forming his own highly successful trio. Arranger Melba Liston first shone as a trombonist in orchestras led by Gillespie and Quincy Jones. She has suited the makeup of this orchestra to fit the needs of the specific film themes. Just to mention a few here: Exodus still retains a basically noble and heroic mood, Max Steiners Taras Theme from Gone With the Wind manages to retain all its epic sweep and its romantic intensity and its intimacy while the immoral morality tale that was The Apartment has an added raciness and tenderness through Melba Liston shrewd vision. Even the sacrosanct Brahms Third Symphony sounds fresh and entrancing (Well, after all it was once used as the popular song, (Youre) The Song Angels Sing in the film Goodbye Again). An entertaining album."

—Ian Lace (October, 2014)
http://www.musicweb-international.com
________________________________________________________________________________________

-The Soul of Hollywood

"The Soul of Hollywood was an interesting departure for Junior Mance. Most of the time he has been heard in small-group settings, but on this album the pianist is backed by an orchestra arranged and conducted by trombonist Melba Liston. With Orrin Keepnews serving as producer, Mance and Liston turn their attention to film music -- and the films that they acknowledge range from musicals (West Side Story) to Westerns (One-Eyed Jacks). Because the material is heavily arranged, Mance doesn't have as much room to stretch out and improvise. Nonetheless, he manages to get in his share of noteworthy solos, and Liston's tasteful arrangements make The Soul of Hollywood well worth the price of admission. In some cases, albums of film music can become albums of background music, but that isn't a problem on this release (which was recorded in 1961 and early 1962). Liston's arrangements are always in good taste, and that is true whether the participants are tackling "Maria" from West Side Story, "Tara's Theme" from Gone With the Wind, or Greek star Manos Hadjidakis' charming theme from Never on Sunday. Meanwhile, "On Green Dolphin Street" and the haunting "Invitation" are both well-known Bronislaw Kaper standards from films that starred Lana Turner.

The interesting thing is that, even though "Invitation" has been recorded countless times over the years, the movie that Kaper wrote it for was far from a box office smash; "Invitation" is from 1950's very underrated A Life of Her Own, which stars Turner as a supermodel who falls in love with a married man but ultimately decides against breaking up his marriage. The Soul of Hollywood isn't quite in a class with Gil Evans or Oliver Nelson's best work, but it's still a decent example of orchestral jazz."

Alex Henderson -All Music Guide

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9,95 €  (tax incl.)

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