{"id":47,"date":"2021-03-29T21:55:18","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T21:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/?page_id=47"},"modified":"2021-03-30T15:27:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T15:27:37","slug":"1953-54","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/1953-54\/","title":{"rendered":"1953-54"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Working his way back in.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><strong>Andr\u00e9 Previn Plays Gershwin<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(RCA Victor, 1954)&nbsp;(recorded&nbsp;May, June 1953)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Previn\u2019s first post-army recording as a leader is very much a transitional document. He returns to the single-songwriter format and the piano-guitar-bass-drums quartet, but with an almost entirely new (and equally transitional) band. Only Bob Bain remains, alternating on guitar with Al Fredrickson; session veteran (and MGM studio orchestra member) Art Shapiro is on bass; Irv Cottler, about to become Sinatra\u2019s favorite drummer, completes the line-up. (Tom Lord\u2019s Jazz Discography has Buddy Clark playing bass for a handful of songs, which is possible, but see the discussion of 1958\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Andr\u00e9 Previn Plays Fats Waller<\/em>.) Most of the arrangements have some of the flavor of his earlier efforts, but now they\u2019ve been shorn of pretty-pop decorations: the strings are gone, the Carle-esque nightclub flourishes are dialed down to a minimum. The result is clean, straightforward workouts (especially a closing tear through \u201cStrike Up the Band\u201d) alongside subdued, restrained ballads.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Previn is starting to work out some new muscles, though. \u201cThere\u2019s a Boat Dat\u2019s Leavin\u2019 Soon for New York,\u201d with its Latin percussion and stylized-blues ostinati, distills Previn\u2019s film-arranging style into the new West Coast cool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Andr\u00e9 Previn Plays Gershwin (1955) GMB\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VM1-S9BRLqY?start=928&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(An interesting comparison: the Modern Jazz Quartet\u2019s 1955 recording of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LQTPYNSQz6Q\">\u201cRalph\u2019s New Blues.\u201d<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(Note: many sources have this album as being released in 1955, but a 1954 mention by editor George Simon in&nbsp;<em>Metronome<\/em>&nbsp;magazine suggests otherwise.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-dark-gray-background-color has-dark-gray-color is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shorty Rogers and Andr\u00e9 Previn:&nbsp;<em><strong>Collaboration<\/strong><\/em><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>(RCA Victor, 1955) (recorded&nbsp;March, June, September&nbsp;1954)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trumpeter and arranger Rogers was a Kenton alumnus who had also spent a few years in Woody Herman\u2019s band before establishing himself as a maven of the new West Coast sound as a member of Howard Rumsey\u2019s Lighthouse All-Stars. This album is built like an arranging-composing cutting contest: side A is three Rogers arrangements alternating with three Previn contrafacts, with the two trading places on side B. It\u2019s a fun record. The writing is busy and detailed, but the nine-piece band (including Hendrickson, Jimmy Giuffre, Bud Shank, and Bob Cooper) finds a relaxed virtuosity. None of the originals attained any of the currency of their bebop forebears, but one could make a case that Previn\u2019s \u201c40 Degrees Below\u201d (built on the harmonies of Irving Berlin\u2019s \u201cHeat Wave\u201d) might be worth a second look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube contain-video wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"40 Degrees Below\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NqHEtDW23hE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Collaboration<\/em>&nbsp;was also Previn\u2019s first recording with drummer Shelly Manne, who, like Rogers, had worked in both Herman\u2019s hard-swinging band and Kenton\u2019s more erudite ensembles. Manne was a prolific and wildly versatile drummer. To say that he and Previn hit it off is an understatement. (These sessions also produced a Rogers-arranged <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KcTnNoHsYZ4\">\u201cLullaby of Birdland\u201d<\/a>,&nbsp;featuring Previn,&nbsp;that became part of a 1955 RCA Victor release collecting twelve different arrangers and groups playing that same song.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/interlude-on-bebop-and-the-west-coast\/\">\u2190 <em>Previous: Interlude: On Bebop and the West Coast<\/em><\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/1955-2\/\"><em>Next: 1955<\/em> \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Working his way back in. Andr\u00e9 Previn Plays Gershwin&nbsp;(RCA Victor, 1954)&nbsp;(recorded&nbsp;May, June 1953) Previn\u2019s first post-army recording as a leader is very much a transitional document. He returns to the single-songwriter format and the piano-guitar-bass-drums quartet, but with an almost entirely new (and equally transitional) band. Only Bob Bain remains, alternating on guitar with Al &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/1953-54\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;1953-54&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-47","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129,"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/47\/revisions\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}