Archive for the ‘Joe Benjamin’ Category
Clark Terry: Color Changes (1960 – Candid Records)
This is one of flügelhornist Clark Terry’s finest albums. Terry had complete control over the music and, rather than have the usual jam session, he utilized an octet and arrangements by Yusef Lateef, Budd Johnson, and Al Cohn. The lineup of musicians (C.T., trombonist Jimmy Knepper, Julius Watkins on French horn, Yusef Lateef on tenor, flute, oboe, and English horn, Seldon Powell doubling on tenor and flute, pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Joe Benjamin, and drummer Ed Shaughnessy) lives up to its potential, and the charts make good use of the sounds of these very individual stylists. The material, which consists of originals by Terry, Duke Jordan, Lateef, and Bob Wilber, is both rare and fresh, and the interpretations always swing.
Scott Yanow (All Music Guide)
Original Release Date: November 19, 1960 – Label: Candid Records
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Gerry Mulligan & Paul Desmond: Two of a Mind (1992 – RCA)
Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan helped to define the cool school with their light, almost vibratoless tones–Desmond’s alto luminous and airy, Mulligan’s baritone woolly and quietly gruff. They also shared a fondness for improvised counterpoint, and that’s the defining characteristic of these 1962 sessions, from the theme statement of “All the Things You Are” with Mulligan echoing Desmond’s lead. Like Mulligan’s famous group with trumpeter Chet Baker, this is a pianoless quartet, and the open harmonic atmosphere casts the saxophonists’ interplay in high relief. Desmond’s title tune and Mulligan’s “Blight of the Fumble Bee” lead to extended passages of collective improvisation, while Mulligan often supplies Desmond with restrained counterlines. On “The Way You Look Tonight,” the theme gradually emerges out of Desmond’s part in an almost fuguelike improvisation. The LP-length recording took a surprising three sessions to produce, and there’s a revolving door for rhythm sections. Drummer Connie Kay from the Modern Jazz Quartet appears on two tracks with bassist Wendell Marshall and one with John Beal. Drummer Mel Lewis teams with bassist Joe Benjamin on the other three. Despite that, there’s nothing lacking in the quality of the support: the two saxophonists sound consistently, if quietly inspired.
Stuart Broomer
1. All the Things You Are
2. Stardust
3. Two of a Mind
4. The Blight of the Fumble Bee
5. The Way You Look Tonight
6. Out of Nowhere
Personnel:
Paul Desmond: (alto saxophone)
John Beal, Wendell Marshall, Joe Benjamin: (bass)
Connie Kay, Mel Lewis: (drums)
Original Release Date: May 1, 1992 Label: RCA
Across Rhythm 