Buddy DeFranco
Bravura: The Complete 1959 Septette Sessions
Fresh Sound Records
www.freshsoundrecords.com

Teddy Edwards
Sunset Eyes: Complete Recordings
Fresh Sound Records
www.freshsoundrecords.com

The Mastersounds
The Mastersounds Play…
Fresh Sound Records
www.freshsoundrecords.com

Lenny McBrowne and The 4 Souls
Complete Recordings
Fresh Sound Records
www.freshsoundrecords.com
By George W. Harris

I LOVE THIS LABEL!!! How’s THAT for objective reporting?!?

There, I feel much better…

This tiny shoestring-budgeted label which is based in Spain puts out some of the coolest and most obscure jazz from the 50s and 60s. Things that just fall between the cracks of Hip-Oselect, Mosaic Records and Concord’s Fantasy/Riverside conglomeration. Most of their output consists of 2cds worth of material that originally came out on 3 or 4 long playing albums, and it’s all remastered to perfection. I’ve never heard of some of these sessions, let alone artists, and the stuff is just amazingly glorious. Here are their latest releases, and if you have any sense of decency, you’ll buy all four sets just based on this review.
1)Buddy DeFranco put out a bunch of stuff for Verve back in the 50s, and for some reason this 1959 session (all recorded in THREE days!) has been hidden from our ears. He’s teamed up in a rare instance with a 7 member band that includes some of LA’s finest guys: Harry “Sweets” Edison/tp, Herbie Mann/fl-bcl, Jimmy Rowles/p, Barney Kessel/g, Joe Mondragon, Curtis Counce or Scott Lafaro (!)/b, and Frank De Vito, Alvin Stoller or Mel Lewis/dr. They basically go through a bunch of standards, blues and ballads, but the point here is not the message, but the messenger. These guys gently jam and blow through tunes like “Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea” or “Just Squeeze Me” with grace, style and a completely individual sound that serves as a poignant lesson to today’s musicians.

DeFranco himself is just stunning on sublime takes of “My Funny Valentine” and “I’m Glad There Is You” that will make you throw flowers at your speakers. Meanwhile Herbie Mann, yes, HERBIE MANN, takes his flute for some serious blowing as on “Crazy Rhythm”, while his bass clarinet does a pax de deu with Defranco on a number of glorious tunes, such as on the supple “Tin Reed Blues.” This is music how it’s supposed to be played. Can a cd be worn out?

2)Back in the 50s, there were so many great tenor saxists around that a ton of them got overlooked. Most of the horn players from LA, except for Dexter Gordon, never got as popular as their NYC counterparts. Guys like Buddy Collette, Harold Land, Wardell Grey and Teddy Edwards had a nice life in La-La land, with steady work without the accolades of the jazz cognicenti.

Here, on these Hollywood sessions from 1958-1960, auburn toned tenorist Edwards teams up with Joe Castro/p, Leroy Vinnegar/b and Billy Higgins/dr for a collection sessions that were mixed and matched when initially released. The tunes range from some finger snapping bebop like “Billie’s Bounce” and “Scrapple From The Apple” to R&B like “Me and My Lover” (which has Higgins on vocals! YEAH!!!). Edwards was one of those transition guys that was raised on swing/bop, and he could do some blowing that will knock your socks off. His tone on ballads like “Day Dream” or “What’s New” will get you groaning in ecstasy, while his originals like “Sunset Eyes” snap and cruise like a 57 Bel Air with the top down. A couple tunes are delightful trio takes with Castro and Vinnegar showing some nimble finger work. This stuff sounds amazing still fresh as a spring morning, even after 50+ years. Think anyone will make the same claim by this years “best”?

3)The West Coast –conceived Mastersounds was essentially the band that Wes Montgomery’s brothers formed, with the guitarist getting tons of fame and fortune, while Buddy/vibes and Monk/b lived more obscure lives while putting out some stuff that rivals the best of the MJQ. Along with Richie Crabtree/p and Benny Barth, they released 4 albums from 1959-60 that would stump anyone on the Blindfold Test. Any listener worth his salt, upon listening to the Ballads and Blues disc that includes “Mint Julep” and “Monk’s Ballad” would comment, “I can’t believe the MJQ ever got this relaxed. Same instruments, but without the stuffed shirt. Their treatment of Horace Silver’s songbook here was so good, that even the composer himself wrote the liner notes in order to endorse the release. A concert at Pasadena Junior College has a take of “Star Eyes” that will make you wonder how our school system could degenerate in half a century. Smooth yet soulful.

4)I must confess, I had never heard of Lenny McBrowne and his band The 4 Souls before this 2 disc set. They were a California band that made their living gigging in San Francisco and that hot bed of jazz, Sacramento back in 1960. Drummer McBrowne lead a quintet with Donald Sleet/tp, Danile Jackson/ts, Terry Trotter/p, and Jimmy Bond or Herbie Lewis though a pair of sessions that handily influenced by Horace Silver’s band with Blue Mitchell and Junior Cook. Songs like “Soul Sisters” and “Lazinka’s Tune” have the same soulful bite with bebop flavor as anything that The Jazz Messenger put out. Jackson, who writes a good share of the tunes, has a nice gruff tone, as he shows on the beautiful and lonely “Tryn’ and Cryin” while Sleet makes his horn glisten on a take of “Invitation.” McBrowne’s arrangements of these songs, be it his own, or a standard such as “Like Someone In Love” are very considerate and clever, with interesting lead ins, lead outs, and segues. If classic hard bop with a bit of funk is your thing, you’ll think you are getting a hint of heaven here.