{"id":53,"date":"2021-03-29T21:57:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T21:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/?page_id=53"},"modified":"2021-04-19T15:41:27","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T15:41:27","slug":"1956-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/1956-2\/","title":{"rendered":"1956"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Hits and Hi-Fi.<\/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>Leonard Feather\u2019s West Coast Stars and East Coast Stars:&nbsp;<em><strong>West Coast vs. East Coast: A Battle of Jazz<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(MGM, 1956) (recorded January 1956)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A very Leonard Feather-ish project from the critic and composer: put together a group of Californians and a group of New Yorkers and have them each record the same five tunes. The result shows how quickly the \u201cWest Coast\u201d label was becoming something of a mannerism\u2014or even an epithet. The arrangements for the West Coast group (by Pete Rugolo and, in a couple of instances, Feather himself) lean heavily toward the intricate and the fussy; Rugolo\u2019s rendition of \u201cSidewalks of New York\u201d (here retitled \u201cEast Coast, West Coast\u201d) is a real misfire, with waltz-time fragments of the tune interrupting any possibility of extended swing. On the whole, the New York contingent (playing arrangements by Feather and Dick Hyman) comes off better, regarding the assignment with the casual bemusement it deserves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The West Coasters have their moments, though: Buddy Collette, on reeds and flute, is smooth as silk, and trumpeter Don Fagerquist takes some truly excellent solos. Previn is never less than professional, even when tasked with negotiating the vibories, a keyboard-mounted-vibraphone contraption that Feather tried to get into the mainstream for a while. (Even after a couple choruses, Previn is still trying to adjust his rhythm to the instrument\u2019s noticeable lag between keypress and sound.) But you can sense that Previn is playing it safe, retreating a bit into skilled but conservative tastefulness\u2014indicative, perhaps, of how important having familiar collaborators was becoming to Previn. (This was one of the only times he recorded with drummer Stan Levey, for instance.) Only on the final number, \u201cLover Come Back to Me\u201d\u2014a performance featuring both groups, spliced together, with Hyman on organ and Previn on piano\u2014does Previn go in for something a little more eccentric and loose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Lover-Come-Back-to-Me.mp3\"><\/audio><figcaption>Leonard Feather&#8217;s East and West Coast Stars: \u201cLover Come Back to Me\u201d (1956)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The presence of Collette is worth noting. He was one of a handful of Los Angeles musicians who straddled the complementary milieus of Central Avenue jazz and the film and television studios. He started in the clubs, playing with the likes of Eric Dolphy and Charles Mingus, before bandleader Jerry Fielding hired him to be part of the on-air band for&nbsp;<em>You Bet Your Life<\/em>; when the show moved to television, Collette\u2014at the time, the band\u2019s only black member\u2014broke a broadcasting color line. (Collette was also instrumental in the integration of the musicians\u2019 union in Los Angeles, steering the whites-only and blacks-only locals into an amalgamation.) Previn and Colette had been fellow sidemen on Lyle \u201cSpud\u201d Murphy\u2019s twelve-tone recording session, and occasionally would work together again on record and for film. But, again, Previn\u2019s connection to Collette was not through the Central Avenue jazz community, but through the studios. For the most part, that would remain the pattern for Previn\u2019s jazz collaborations until he left the movie business.<\/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><em><strong>Shelly Manne &amp; His Friends<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Contemporary, 1956) (recorded February 1956)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shelly Manne played with everybody.&nbsp;By 1956, he had already released several albums as the leader of Shelly Manne &amp; His Men, the sort of revolving-door collective that was common to the West Coast scene. (Shorty Rogers had his Giants; Manne had his Men.) As a sideman, he seemed to never stop working; to peruse his discography is to wonder where he found the time to eat or sleep. But it was the drummer\u2019s collaboration with Previn\u2014officially inaugurated with this album\u2014that would provide Manne (and Previn) with&nbsp;the biggest hit. That\u2019s still to come. This, their first effort, is a decidedly miscellaneous collection, alternating popular-song standards with more specifically jazz-oriented compositions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Filling out the trio was bassist Leroy Vinnegar,&nbsp;a more recent arrival to&nbsp;Los Angeles.&nbsp;After coming up through the Indianapolis and Chicago scenes,&nbsp;Vinnegar had established himself&nbsp;on the West Coast&nbsp;when, in 1954, he substituted for Red Callender behind Art Tatum for a series of San Francisco shows.&nbsp;Drummer William Douglass, who played for Tatum in the pianist\u2019s last years, <a href=\"https:\/\/oac.cdlib.org\/view?docId=hb2d5nb4g6&amp;brand=oac4&amp;doc.view=entire_text\">remembered it this way<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote blockquotecustom is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Nobody had heard of Leroy Vinnegar at all until Leroy Vinnegar worked with us. Then everybody wanted Leroy Vinnegar\u2026. [W]hen we got back here, that&#8217;s when Shelly Manne and Andr\u00e9 Previn grabbed a hold of him\u2026. I mean, Tatum was a good enough reference. They see you in the club, you&#8217;re playing with Art Tatum, and then all of a sudden you&#8217;re available over here. Who do you think you&#8217;re going to call?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Douglass claimed that Vinnegar was only comfortable in certain keys, and only kept up with Tatum because Tatum had compiled a book of written-out bass lines for his sidemen.&nbsp;Actually, Vinnegar played by ear, and, as <a href=\"http:\/\/jerryjazzmusician.com\/1999\/08\/bassist-leroy-vinegar\/\">he admitted<\/a>, only learned to read music after arriving in Los Angeles. His&nbsp;acceptance into the Los Angeles jazz milieu&nbsp;was swift, his spare,&nbsp;in-the-pocket style soon gracing numerous recording sessions.&nbsp;Vinnegar was&nbsp;definitely&nbsp;a player who liked to do more with less. He picked up the nickname \u201cThe Walker\u201d for his&nbsp;prevalent&nbsp;quarter-note and half-note bass lines, a penchant on ample display with Previn and Manne. Manne\u2019s headline status and Vinnegar\u2019s presence notwithstanding, though, this is very much Previn\u2019s show; he stretches out on every number. What it reveals is Previn\u2019s increasing reliance on&nbsp;and indulgence of his&nbsp;quicksilver ability to shift gears and styles at will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most interesting in that regard is the trio\u2019s essaying of Oscar Pettiford\u2019s \u201cCollard Greens and Black-Eyed Peas\u201d (aka \u201cBlues in the Closet\u201d), made famous by Bud Powell. It\u2019s an early example&nbsp;of Previn playing the blues at length.&nbsp;The way Previn plays the blues throughout his career provides a revealing vantage on his jazz playing. To his detractors, it was his greatest liability. Previn didn\u2019t come to understand the blues from within, but assimilated it from without. His blues would never have the authority of Ellington, or Parker, or Powell. But Previn played the blues a lot; almost every one of his jazz albums features some form of it. I think what drew Previn back to the blues was its capacity for making connections between players, its status as a kind of common knowledge across jazz generations and styles and factions. And, as we will see, it was that sort of in-performance camaraderie that was, to Previn, the real merit of jazz\u2014of all music-making, really.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On \u201cCollard Greens,\u201d Previn&nbsp;doesn\u2019t try to match Powell; the tempo is notably slower, and the tune is barely present. Instead, Previn switches between fast, double-time, single-note bop lines; chunkier hard-bop blues licks and accents;&nbsp;block-chord&nbsp;passages&nbsp;reminiscent of big-band horn sections; and far-out modernist excursions. Yet no idea sticks around for long\u2014every phrase jumps to a different channel.<\/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=\"Shelly Manne and His Friends - Collard Greens and Black Eyed Peas\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QsLqJD8T1ys?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>From moment to moment, it\u2019s&nbsp;diverting; as a whole, it makes curiously little impression, never settling into any sort of rhetorical groove. Previn likes to deconstruct, but the blues resists deconstruction.&nbsp;Still, it\u2019s a hint of how Previn will, in the future, mediate between the blues and his own eclectic musical personality. Especially toward the end of his career, Previn\u2019s blues-based originals will be the repository of some of his most playfully tricky and even goofy jazz ideas.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Standards, though, would always be one of Previn\u2019s greatest strengths. With a musical background not dissimilar to many of the great American pop songwriters, Previn could take apart a standard and put it back together with ease. This&nbsp;album\u2019s&nbsp;pleasantly&nbsp;surreal take on \u201cI Cover the Waterfront,\u201d Previn taking in the landscape from a variety of unexpected vantages,&nbsp;is a particular highlight.<\/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=\"I Cover the Waterfront\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n82dNmSiAws?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>The track is the album\u2019s best ensemble performance as well.&nbsp;On some tracks, you can hear the players still feeling each other out, but here, everything clicks.&nbsp;Manne uses the drums\u2019 melodic potential for some lovely counterpoint, Vinnegar finds some deep-seated synchronization, and everyone seems to be thinking in concert.<\/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><em><strong>Frank Sinatra Conducts Tone Poems of Color<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Capitol, 1956)&nbsp;(recorded February 1956)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Caveat: this album falls outside even the loose definition of \u201cjazz\u201d&nbsp;governing&nbsp;inclusion in this survey, but it\u2019s too cool (and weird) to leave out. Sinatra, a \u201cfrustrated conductor\u201d by his own estimation, commissioned a bunch of Hollywood composers\u2014Victor Young, Jeff Alexander, Nelson Riddle, Elmer Bernstein, Previn\u2014as well as his friend Alec Wilder to write orchestral works to correspond with color-themed poems by&nbsp;Norman Sickel (who had written for Sinatra\u2019s radio shows). The recording sessions were the first in the studios in the newly-constructed Capitol Building at Hollywood and Vine. Sinatra was always a better conductor than one would have thought\u2014though&nbsp;he couldn\u2019t read a score, he knew how to work with musicians\u2014but this record was a trial. The studio space was untested, the sound in the room was dead, and the musicians were frustrated. (After one playback, Sinatra turned to principal cellist Eleanor Slatkin and asked what she thought.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/books\/edition\/Sessions_with_Sinatra\/lXZvTzc-9PwC?hl=en&amp;gbpv=1&amp;pg=PA116\">\u201cI think it sounds like shit,\u201d<\/a> Slatkin replied.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, it\u2019s a fascinating&nbsp;project: a bunch of the industry\u2019s best orchestrators turned loose in the candy store. Previn gets the last word&nbsp;on the album; \u201cRed, the Violent\u201d very much shows his growing interest in 20th-century British music, with echoes of Holst, Vaughan Williams, and Britten swirled into flamboyant Technicolor.<\/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 - Red (1956)\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NbqitKeg8NA?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>I\u2019m reasonably sure that this photo is from these sessions, showing Sinatra in action while Previn keeps an eye on the receipts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"488\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Sinatra-Previn-tone-poems-session.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-110\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Sinatra-Previn-tone-poems-session.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Sinatra-Previn-tone-poems-session-300x293.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 85vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Given their rapport on&nbsp;<em>Songs by Sinatra<\/em>&nbsp;(musical and otherwise), it\u2019s a little strange Previn and Sinatra did so little other work together. (Perhaps the memories of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0040513\/\">The Kissing Bandit<\/a><\/em> were just too painful.) Nowadays, type their names into a search engine, and you\u2019ll have to scroll past pages of references to the fact that they both married Mia Farrow before anything like the&nbsp;<em>Tone Poems<\/em>&nbsp;album appears.<\/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>Dave Pell Octet:&nbsp;<em><strong>Love Story<\/strong><\/em><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>(Atlantic, 1956)&nbsp;(recorded spring 1956?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reed player Dave Pell\u2019s octet was a constantly shifting&nbsp;ensemble&nbsp;\u00e0 la Rogers\u2019 Giants or Manne\u2019s Men; this was Previn\u2019s only date with the group. He doesn\u2019t even play the entire album; Claude Williamson takes over&nbsp;on piano&nbsp;for four numbers. And neither has much to do: the arrangements, by a clutch of Los Angeles pros\u2014Marty Paich, Jack Montrose,&nbsp;and others\u2014keep everybody on fairly tight leashes. Apart from a half-chorus in Johnny Mandel\u2019s up-tempo arrangement of \u201cI\u2019ve Found a New Baby,\u201d Previn does little more than comp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Previn does, however, contribute an arrangement of \u201cBewitched\u201d that dissects the tune with notably more flint than the rest of the album\u2019s&nbsp;almost easy-listening smoothness.&nbsp;<\/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=\"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l4SB7NZesFM?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>(Note: Some sources have Previn playing on three tracks of another Pell album,&nbsp;<em>The Big Small Bands<\/em>&nbsp;(Capitol, 1960), but he\u2019s absent from the original sleeve\u2019s otherwise diligent list of personnel.)<\/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><em><strong>Hollywood at Midnight<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Decca, 1957) (recorded March 1956)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was one of a series of albums of mood music&nbsp;that Decca released all at once: Carmen Cavallero did&nbsp;<em>Rome at Midnight<\/em>, Skitch Henderson did&nbsp;<em>London at Midnight<\/em>, Ellis Larkin did&nbsp;<em>Manhattan at Midnight<\/em>, and so forth.&nbsp;Previn\u2019s entry finds a very accomplished band\u2014he\u2019s joined by Manne, Al Fredrickson on guitar, and Carson Smith (Putter\u2019s elder brother) on bass\u2014lounging around in very moderate tempi, with the occasional double-time solo to remind the listener of their jazz bona fides. The result&nbsp;falls in between what will soon be a genre boundary, though not in a bad way\u2014it\u2019s&nbsp;pretty smoothed-out for jazz, but the finish is exceptional,&nbsp;and&nbsp;pretty&nbsp;advanced for mood music, but still able to effectively set the mood. (The group\u2019s take on <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/track\/3diZi8C5KqrKJNtEgzUSng?si=Psjes_KsS-eR-dDnVmXh8w\">David Raskin\u2019s \u201cLaura\u201d theme<\/a> is particularly nice.) It won\u2019t be the last time Previn&nbsp;straddles&nbsp;easy-listening and jazz in a way that obscures which is the figure and which is the ground.<\/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>Barney Kessel:&nbsp;<em><strong>Music to Listen to Barney Kessel By<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Contemporary, 1957) (recorded August 1956)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In similar vein to Pell\u2019s octet efforts were guitarist Barney Kessel\u2019s recordings for Contemporary. Previn did a single, August 1956 session for this album, appearing on only four tracks. (Two more sessions, in October and December, featured Jimmy Rowles and Claude Williamson.) Much like Dave Pell\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Love Story<\/em>, a mid-sized group delivers tight but easygoing arrangements of standards with light modernistic touches. Previn (who, recall, played with Kessel as a sixteen-year-old <em>Jubilee<\/em> guest) stays in the background on a spiky \u201cFascinating Rhythm,\u201d comps aggressively in a Latin-flavored \u201cI Love You,\u201d and contributes short, slinky, quicksilver solos to \u201cGone with the Wind\u201d and \u201cMakin\u2019 Whoopee.\u201d Maybe too short\u2014Previn\u2019s solo on the latter practically stumbles to a close, as if he was expecting it to go on for another chorus or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Previn also wrote the complimentary, largely descriptive liner notes, and his placid, precise tone is an amusing contrast with the Leonard Feather-Nat Hentoff school of notes. To wit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote blockquotecustom is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>GONE WITH THE WIND is third, a relaxed and relaxing exercise in the Shearing sound. It is unpretentious, well-scored, and pleasant in the extreme.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Coming from anyone else, that would be damning with faint praise. Hearing it in Previn\u2019s voice, it sounds like the highest regard.<\/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>Shelly Manne &amp; His Friends:&nbsp;<em><strong>Modern Jazz Performances of Songs from My Fair Lady<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Contemporary, 1956) (recorded August 1956)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s worth mentioning that, at the time of this recording, Previn was still only 27 years old.&nbsp;He&nbsp;had established himself enough for Feather to recruit him as a \u201cWest Coast All-Star,\u201d&nbsp;but this record would bump his celebrity to another level.&nbsp;The second Manne-Previn-Vinnegar \u201cFriends\u201d effort was originally intended to be a collection of unrelated show tunes, but after trying out a couple of songs from that year\u2019s Broadway hit, Lerner and Loewe\u2019s&nbsp;<em>My Fair Lady<\/em>, either Manne and Previn,&nbsp;and&nbsp;Vinnegar (who,&nbsp;after all,&nbsp;had been part of Bethlehem Records\u2019 complete jazz <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Complete_Porgy_and_Bess\">Porgy and Bess<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;earlier in the year)&nbsp;or producer Lester Koenig came up with the idea of filling the entire album with the show\u2019s songs.&nbsp;As Manne <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/about\/Jazz_West_Coast.html?id=Dz4YAQAAIAAJ\">remembered it<\/a> to Robert Gordon:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote blockquotecustom is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>[W]e found that there was so much material in there that we could use, and change, and construct to the way that would suit us best, we said, \u201cLet&#8217;s go ahead and use this other material.\u201d There was no thought of, \u201cHey, we&#8217;re making a hit record,\u201d it was just the thought of making another good record, but not using the same old standard material but using new material from a new show. And as it worked out, of course, it was a smash! Of course Andre, with his knowledge of harmony and composition, was fantastic. He&#8217;d play something and he&#8217;d say, \u201cOh, let&#8217;s do this at this tempo,\u201d and we&#8217;d play it and I&#8217;d say, \u201cThat&#8217;s great!\u201d And he&#8217;d play something else at a fast tempo, and I&#8217;d say, \u201cWhy don&#8217;t we try that as a ballad?\u201d There was a total thing going back and forth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>By all accounts a fairly thrown-together affair (it was&nbsp;arranged and&nbsp;recorded in a single,&nbsp;all-night&nbsp;session),&nbsp;the result&nbsp;was an enormous hit,&nbsp;which caught the performers by surprise. Previn would later tell of his apprehension that Lerner and Loewe would find the record offensive; instead, they bought copies for the show\u2019s entire cast and crew.&nbsp;(It\u2019s occasionally cited as the first jazz album to sell a million copies, which might be&nbsp;an exaggeration\u2014I can\u2019t find any solid evidence of that figure\u2014but&nbsp;<em>Billboard<\/em>, in 1962, put the sales at nearly 500,000, which is still&nbsp;plenty.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Manne-MFL-ad.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-111\" width=\"397\" height=\"274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Manne-MFL-ad.png 794w, https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Manne-MFL-ad-300x207.png 300w, https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Manne-MFL-ad-768x530.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 397px) 85vw, 397px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>So what about the album itself? It\u2019s solid and&nbsp;polished,&nbsp;witty and occasionally inspired, but also (see below) planting the seeds of a distinction between jazz-as-an-improvisatory-and-exploratory-practice and jazz-as-a-stylistic-marker that Previn will sail between\u2014and, critically, be buffeted against\u2014for the next few years.&nbsp;There\u2019s a lot of groove and energy,&nbsp;as well as&nbsp;instances of note-spinning. It\u2019s invariably crisp and engaging\u2014the players are all too good for it to be otherwise. And here and there the group finds a higher gear. The head arrangement of \u201cWouldn\u2019t It Be Loverly\u201d is almost too cute, but it turns into a vigorous, satisfying workout.<\/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=\"wouldn&#039;t it be loverly Shelly Mann Trio\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ukg3gFxRZx8?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>And Previn\u2019s playing on \u201cI\u2019ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face\u201d is unimpeachably elegant, with a&nbsp;restrained andabsolutely gorgeous solo.<\/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=\"Shelly Manne &amp; His Friends \/ I&#039;ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PSn2FiHDTFg?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>The Previn-Vinnegar-Manne trio was a short-lived outfit, but&nbsp;not&nbsp;a small&nbsp;pleasure of this album is hearing&nbsp;how, again and again, they&nbsp;settle into an easy professional rapport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While not quite the first example,&nbsp;the record&nbsp;jump-started the fad of jazz albums devoted to a single Broadway show, and became by far the Contemporary label\u2019s biggest-selling release.&nbsp;And, with success came disdain.&nbsp;In&nbsp;an essay in&nbsp;the June 1959 issue of&nbsp;<em>HiFi Review<\/em>, critic Charles M. Weisenberg credited\/blamed&nbsp;<em>My Fair Lady<\/em>&nbsp;for inventing what he called \u201clight jazz\u201d\u2014\u201cquasi-jazz,\u201d in Weisenberg\u2019s estimation, as contrasted with \u201ctrue jazz\u201d or \u201creal jazz\u201d or \u201cquality jazz\u201d.&nbsp;His argument proceeds from this postulate:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote blockquotecustom is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>The creative jazz musician owes small allegiance to the composer of any number because when his tune is subjected to expression, the rhythms, moods, and even original melodic lines are often drastically reconstructed.&nbsp;This is part of the way a jazzman thinks, and thereby produces a new art work out of another person&#8217;s music. It is just this &#8220;re-composing&#8221; that the jazzman is not free to do when performing from a Broadway score.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Weisenberg\u2019s insistence that true jazz cannot be&nbsp;\u201cbased on music from Broadway instead of the&nbsp;blues\u201d is slightly baffling (and ahistorical) but allows him to keep Previn&nbsp;<em>et al.<\/em>&nbsp;safely outside the city walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote blockquotecustom is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Previn does remarkable things on his recording but they cannot be judged in jazz terms, even though that was his intent. The music here always remains familiar as&nbsp;<em>My Fair Lady<\/em>, only with a touch of something different\u2026. The jazz flavor is unmistakable enough, but hard core enthusiasts find the treatment quite superficial. Those who have thought that jazz was something they could never tolerate are the ones who may find this music most palatable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This sort of judgement is going to dog Previn more and more, particularly as he adds easy-listening pop to his portfolio. It\u2019s a perfect storm: the community of jazz critics framing \u201cauthentic\u201d jazz in a way that will run headlong into Previn\u2019s stylistically-indiscriminate fluency.<\/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>Pete Rugolo and His Orchestra:&nbsp;<em><strong>An Adventure in Sound: Brass in Hi-Fi&nbsp;<\/strong><\/em>(Mercury, 1956) (Previn\u2019s tracks recorded October 1956)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pete Rugolo and His Orchestra:&nbsp;<em><strong>An Adventure in Sound: Reeds in Hi-Fi<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Mercury, 1958) (Previn\u2019s tracks&nbsp;recordedNovember&nbsp;1956)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rugolo (who we\u2019ve already heard via Feather\u2019s East Coast\/West Coast exhibition match)&nbsp;had the quintessential West Coast jazz r\u00e9sum\u00e9: studies with Darius Milhaud at Mills College, a stint in the U.S. Army band alongside Paul Desmond, steady work as an arranger and producer with Miles Davis (he produced the&nbsp;<em>Birth of the Cool&nbsp;<\/em>sessions), Nat \u201cKing\u201d Cole, and, especially, Stan Kenton. After Kenton dissolved his orchestra, Rugolo shifted into film and, eventually, television work.&nbsp;At the time of the sessions for these albums\u2014part of a string of&nbsp;Rugolo-directed&nbsp;hi-fi spectaculars\u2014he was still four years away from claiming one of the all-time great film credits (from the 1960 MGM college-girls-on-holiday picture&nbsp;<em>Where the Boys Are<\/em>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"524\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Rugolo-WTBA-credit-1024x524.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-112\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Rugolo-WTBA-credit-1024x524.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Rugolo-WTBA-credit-300x154.png 300w, https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Rugolo-WTBA-credit-768x393.png 768w, https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Rugolo-WTBA-credit-1536x786.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Rugolo-WTBA-credit-1200x614.png 1200w, https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Rugolo-WTBA-credit.png 1626w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Rugolo\u2019s trajectory throughout the 50s was away from jazz as an improvised practice and toward jazz as a modernistic, fully-arranged style. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rutDxkr0xDI\">\u201cIgor Beaver,\u201d<\/a>&nbsp;from the&nbsp;<em>Reeds in Hi-Fi&nbsp;<\/em>album, is&nbsp;the most modernistic and fully-arranged, refracting Stravinsky\u2019s&nbsp;<em>Symphony of Psalms&nbsp;<\/em>through a prism of sharp Kenton-esque riffs. But,&nbsp;here and elsewhere,&nbsp;the opportunities for individual players to stretch out on solos are brief and strictly rationed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recording sessions for these two albums were scattered throughout 1956; Previn\u2019s two days of work made him one of three pianists on the finished product, alternating tracks with Claude Williamson (see above) and Russ Freeman (see below). Not surprisingly, he doesn\u2019t do much beyond hitting accents and comping.&nbsp;On the&nbsp;<em>Brass&nbsp;<\/em>album,&nbsp;Previn has&nbsp;concise solos&nbsp;on the old Baer-Wolfe \u201cMy Mother\u2019s Eyes,\u201d George Wallington\u2019s \u201cGod Child,\u201d and the Rugolo original \u201cBrass at Work\u201d\u2014throughout, Previn\u2019s reflexive elegance provides brief respites from the album\u2019s more-is-more sonic profile.&nbsp;There\u2019s another&nbsp;short&nbsp;solo on Gerry Mulligan\u2019s \u201cWalking Shoes\u201d on the&nbsp;<em>Reeds<\/em>&nbsp;album&nbsp;(bearing more than a little resemblance to Previn\u2019s corresponding spotlight on \u201cBrass at Work\u201d). But it\u2019s \u201cOur Waltz\u201d that is the most curious.&nbsp;Maybe it\u2019s only a coincidence that much of Previn\u2019s job on&nbsp;the&nbsp;split-personality&nbsp;arrangement&nbsp;is, essentially,&nbsp;to&nbsp;epitomize his career,&nbsp;keeping&nbsp;one foot in the club and one in the studio soundstage.&nbsp;And maybe it\u2019s another coincidence that the song\u2019s composer, David Rose, and Previn will soon team up again.<\/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=\"Pete Rugolo - An adventure in sound (1958)  Full vinyl LP\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/oCE4GO6lN4w?start=1010&#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<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>George Byron:&nbsp;<em><strong>Premiere Performance! George Byron Sings New &amp; Rediscovered Jerome Kern Songs<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Atlantic, 1959) (recorded November 1956, April 1957)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>George Byron\u2019s career had included a few film appearances, a stint as emcee for the Ice Capades, and periodic cabaret nightclub appearances on the West Coast. He was close with Jerome Kern during the composer\u2019s life, and, in 1951, married Kern\u2019s widow Eva. The three premieres on this album were sketches that Eva Kern unearthed, with new lyrics by Dorothy Fields. That novelty\u2014and his reverence for Kern\u2019s songwriting\u2014no doubt attracted Previn\u2019s attention, and he supplied the lush arrangements and the piano playing. But the result struggles to generate sparks. Byron\u2019s is a conscientious, pleasant, benign voice, but never anything more, and it\u2019s left to Previn to create what texture there is: some jazz solos on \u201cYou Couldn\u2019t Be Cuter,\u201d a deft piano-only accompaniment on the Kern-Hammerstein obscurity \u201cThe Folks Who Live on the Hill,\u201d and, for Kern\u2019s 1905 \u201cHow\u2019d You Like to Spoon with Me?,\u201d some full-on old-timey hijinks, including a few bars of exceptionally out-of-tune honky-tonk.<\/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=\"George Byron \u2013 How&#039;d You Like to Spoon with Me?, 1958\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-enA10ZY0Xc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\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>Buddy Bregman:&nbsp;<em><strong>Swinging Kicks<\/strong><\/em>&nbsp;(Verve, 1957) (recorded December 1956)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0049955\/\">IMDB description<\/a> of the 1956 film&nbsp;<em>The Wild Party<\/em>&nbsp;is one of those sentences that just keeps getting better: <em>A night of terror in a sleazy nightspot, when an over-the-hill football star holds a thrill-seeking couple captive.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The score to&nbsp;<em>The Wild Party<\/em>&nbsp;was composed by Buddy Bregman,&nbsp;an arranger and conductor who had become Verve\u2019s head of A&amp;R at the age of 25.&nbsp;He did the arrangements for the first two of Ella Fitzgerald\u2019s songbooks\u2014devoted to Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart\u2014which show what he did best: punchy, riff-based, harmonically-straightforward big-band swing. That\u2019s on ample display on this album, for which Bregman refashioned his&nbsp;<em>Wild Party<\/em>&nbsp;efforts into a kind of suite. It still has the episodic feel of a film score, with many of the tracks not even two minutes long.&nbsp;It\u2019s like a packet of postcards, souvenirs of a trip through Hollywood\u2019s version of a jazz-tinged underworld: brash and swaggering, but also incongruously luxe and polished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The band features all manner of West Coast jazz royalty\u2014Maynard Ferguson, Conte Candioli, Ben Webster, Jimmy Giuffre. Piano duties are divided between Previn and Paul Smith, and it\u2019s not always clear who\u2019s playing what. But it\u2019s definitely Previn on the finale, \u201cKicks Is in Love,\u201d an aristocratic&nbsp;duet with Webster that shows off Previn\u2019s skill as an accompanist.<\/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=\"Ben Webster and Andr\u00e9 Previn Duo - Kicks Is in Love\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_eXgPNxDpss?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=\"has-text-align-center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/1955-2\/\">\u2190&nbsp;<em>Previous: 1955<\/em><\/a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/interlude-on-influence\/\"><em>Next: Interlude: On Influence<\/em>&nbsp;\u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hits and Hi-Fi. Leonard Feather\u2019s West Coast Stars and East Coast Stars:&nbsp;West Coast vs. East Coast: A Battle of Jazz&nbsp;(MGM, 1956) (recorded January 1956) A very Leonard Feather-ish project from the critic and composer: put together a group of Californians and a group of New Yorkers and have them each record the same five tunes. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/1956-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;1956&#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-53","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53","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=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":536,"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53\/revisions\/536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sohothedog.com\/previnjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}