Sunday, May 31, 2020

J.J. Inc.



While we are on the subject of J.J. Johnson bands, here's a playlist for one of the last groups he led which featured Freddie Hubbard,on trumpet, Clifford Jordan, on tenor saxophone, Cedar Walton, on piano, Arthur Harper on bass and Tootie Heath on drums.

With the exception of "Blue 'n Boogie," all the tunes are J.J. originals and they are exceptional compositions that incorporate a little of everything that was going on in the music at that time:
modes, unusual time signatures, funk & soul beats, et al.

Following this recording, Freddie and Cedar went on Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and "Johnson Johnson Johnson" headed west to write and orchestrate for TV and the movies.

J.J. Johnson Quintet featuring Bobby Jaspar

© -  Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.


Bobby Jaspar's playing on these recordings is a revelation. Hardly anyone seems to know about these sides. Everyone is familiar with the quintet that J.J. and Kai Winding formed and the sextet that J.J. had with Freddie Hubbard, Clifford Jordan, and Cedar Walton, but these LPs seem to have dropped from sight J.J.'s arranging skills are on full display and Jaspar gets a rich tone on the flute in addition to displaying a Zoot-like facility on tenor sax. Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan are their light and lyrical selves and Elvin Jones' playing displays variety and a driving beat instead of the never ending triplets he played behind 'Trane. Wilbur Little’s strong bass lines hold it all together and provide a driving pulse for the band.


JJ. Johnson's great 1956-1957 quintet played modem jazz with authority, imagination, taste and feeling. Its leader was the trombonist of the era, much emulated and admired by his peers. The Belgian-born Jaspar, who had recently won the International Jazz Critics' New Star Award on tenor, proved an ideal foil and a capable modern-mainstream tenor sax and flutist, contributing impressively on both instruments. Flanagan, a superbly swinging pianist, also made an indelible mark on the group, which was graced initially with another bop piano great, Hank Jones, while Little and Elvin Jones' support throughout is admirable. It was an exhilarating band that fully displayed Johnson's well-rounded musicianship.



Fortunately, all of these LPs have been collected on a double CD set and issued as The Complete Recordings of the J.J. Johnson Quintet Featuring Bobby Jaspar. [Fresh Sound FSR CD-538].


JAY JAY JOHNSON QUINTET: JJ. Johnson, trombone; Bobby Jaspar, tenor sax & flute; Hank Jones [on CD 1 #1-7] or Tommy Flanagan [on CD 1 #8-15 & CD 2], piano; Percy Heath [on CD 1 # 1-3] or Wilbur Little [on CD 1 #4-15 & CD 21, bass; Elvin Jones, drums.
Recorded (CD1) in New York, July 24 (#1-3), July 25 (#4-7), July 27 (#8-10), 1956 and January 29 (#11-15), 1957.
Recorded (CD2) in New York, January 31 (#1-4), May 14 (#5- 7), and Live "Cafe Bohemia" New York, February, 1957. 


More details about this exceptional band and these recordings are available in the following original liner notes.


Origina! liner notes from Columbia CL935 - J Is For Jazz


“J. J. Johnson, considered by many to be the originator and leading exponent of the modern jazz trombone style, has until recently been the co-leader, with the extraordinary Kai Winding, of a quintet featuring two trombones with rhythm section. Their work together on Columbia, with their quintet (CL T42) and with a trombone octet (CL 892), is one of the highlights of the Columbia jazz catalog, but is also of a kind which has proven popular with the public at large. The same bids fair to be true with the groups they have just formed independently of one another.


The J. J. Johnson Quintet makes one change in instrumentation, but it is an important one. In Kai's old spot, one finds Bobby Jaspar, tenor saxophonist and flutist extraordinary. Bobby, while new to the American scene, is well known in Europe. As Belgium's leading jazzman, Bobby won critics' awards and public acclaim all over the continent for his fine contemporary-style playing. Now a permanent resident of the United States, this is his debut before the American public. His appearance in this album is by special arrangement with the company for which he records exclusively - Pathe-Marconi, subsidiary of Electrical and Mechanical Industries, Ltd. [EMI or the forerunner of the company that would come to own the iconic Blue Note Records label.]


As these recordings were made on the eve of J J's launching of his new Quintet, it was impossible to line up the same rhythm section for each session. The changes of personnel are as follows: for Angel Eyes, Overdrive, and Undecided, Hank Jones played piano and Percy Heath played bass. On Tumbleweeds, Solar, Never Let Me Go, and Cube Steak, Wilbur Little replaced Heath. The remaining tunes were made with Tommy Flanagan in place of Hank Jones. The drummer throughout was Elvin Jones, Hank's brother.


All the arrangements in this set are by J. J, himself. As usual, he has chosen a repertoire which is anything but overdone, and he has also written three originals. Naptown U.S.A. commemorates his home town of Indianapolis; astute ferreting by the musically minded will also turn up another reason for this association. J. J. can't explain why Indianapolis is known locally as "Naptown," but this Johnson original is anything but sleepy. It Might as Well Be Spring and Never Let Me Go are lovely ballads which gave Bobby Jaspar an opportunity to blend his rich flute tone with J. J.'s trombone; obviously this combination gives the Quintet a distinctive "second round."


Tumbling Tumbleweed is an unexpected vehicle for a jazz group; J. J. explains that the idea occurred to him when he heard a trio in Chicago give it a swinging treatment once, and he has finally had an opportunity to try it out himself, with the fine results which can be heard here, Matt Dennis' Angel Eyes makes a fine dead-slow ballad for the group, and equally tailor-made in a different vein are two bouncy originals from the bop school. Miles Davis' Solar and Charlie Parker's Chasin’ the Bird. Overdrive and Cube Steak are two up-tempo compositions by J. J. which are written especially for this group."                                                    —George Avakian



Original liner notes from Columbia CL1684 Dial JJ5


“Underlying all of J. J. Johnson's musical efforts and reaching a new maturity in the work of his Quintet, is a considerable erudition in jazz forms. But he carries his learning lightly and does not bore us with an archeological study of the dry bones of technique. By the time he puts the show on the road, the ankle bone is connected to the shin bone and the shin bone to the knee bone — and in the aliveness of the music, sometimes jaunty, sometimes serious, you can, if you wish, forget anatomy lessons. Nevertheless, let's review them briefly, for the record.


As Jay's talent matures, and that of the Quintet with it, the parallel of devices used to those employed by small orchestral groups generally, becomes apparent and we see how he has gradually enlarged the area of his musical interests and, in the process, improved upon his superlative craftsmanship, Like the playing of the Modern Jazz Quartet, that of the Quintet recalls a period in concert music, some three centuries ago, when improvisation was commonplace.


All of this began, for Jay, in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he was born on January 22,1924, the oldest of three children (given name, James Louis Johnson). Beginning at about the age of nine, he studied piano for two years with a private teacher, the organist of the church the family attended. His two sisters also studied piano and they often practiced trios and duets together. An interest in jazz was stimulated by teen-age friends, his "buddies" at Crispus Attucks High School in 1937.

"Every Saturday night," said J. J., "my friends and I went to the local dance hall to watch and hear the big bands — Lunceford, Basie, Ellington, Hampton — these were our favorites and we worshipped them. It was then I realized that this would be my life's work." Following that momentous decision, he joined the high school band for beginners. He wanted to play saxophone but the only one available for practice was a baritone, which was not his first choice. Although he studied saxophone, he soon became attracted to trombone and, as he explains it, "My interest and curiosity about the trombone began to increase to the point that I gave up my saxophone studies (1938)."


His father got him a trombone from a pawn-shop and Jay learned to play it in the high school band and orchestra. On Sundays he rehearsed with the YMCA band, playing marches and light concert music. Eventually, his friends at Crispus Attucks — who had formed a small dance orchestra —- invited him to sit in at rehearsals and soon after this he became a regular member of the band, playing for school dances and neighborhood social events. By that time, he recalled, "I had also become interested in arranging and composing, and began to learn both."


When Jay graduated from Crispus Attucks High School in 1941 his parents, understandably, wanted him to go to college. Jay understandably, wanted to join a big band and travel. Well, you can guess the outcome — Jay won them over and joined the ''territory" band led by "Snookum" Russell.


Cool, in its most popular meaning, refers to a tendency towards understatement that one often finds in modern jazz and, in some instances to an extension of bop harmonic innovation in search of bland and cool sounds. Like any other kind of jazz, it can be good or God- awful. (Those in search of further enlightenment might bone up on the role of the trombone in Feather's "The Book of Jazz," a Horizon Press book of this year.) Both periods are now history, the styles having been to some extent assimilated. 

The use of linear rhythmic patterns has perhaps helped to encourage a return to blues intonation (including the use of rich sonorities) though with less use of vibrato, and with various shades of timbre such as funky and hard bop. (The latter refers also to structure.)


As space allows, I'll indicate some of the interesting sounds provided in this album: Teapot In this tempest in a teapot, Jay's terse broken-off phrasing becomes a sort of abrupt angularity that contrasts to his sinuous legato line or, as later in the piece, to the burgeoning of tone when he is blowing and swinging that is the very birth of jazz sound. In Bobby's clipped chorus (on tenor) he demonstrates how to hold a tiger. Tommy Flanagan, who can approach the keyboard with the full power of both hands (as on So Sorry Please) concentrates on treble to make room for the bass of Wilbur Little, moving with such dexterity that, with the drums of Elvin Jones, it seems to cushion the music, This thoroughly satisfying composition concludes with the two horns playing in a dark, almost somber tonality.


Barbados There is an amusingly disciplined use of Latin-American rhythms, followed by rich sonorities as the horns state the theme of this Charlie Parker composition, Jay's chorus has an easy, deftly athletic quality. On this, in contrast to the previous cut, Bobby's tone, though not rough, has more English on it; it is at once lyrical and strong in definition. Tommy, a cool cat, gets off the ground.


In A Little Provincial Town. This quiet mood piece has an almost classical loveliness, especially in the flute chorus, with its delicately interwoven harmonies (and what sounds like deliberate over-blowing, not a casual accomplishment) — and in the subdued, muted trombone.


Cette Chose. Opens with clipped, cool ensemble Jay, playing superbly, sets the scene for Bobby, parts of whose tenor chorus, were it not for the inspiration driving it, would fall into the category of expertising. Melodically it is understatement, conveyed with a controlled intensity of rhythm. In this chorus Bobby — who has considerable versatility of approach — seems to throw lines away. He is like a veteran actor laying booby traps for the ears and, like the veteran actor, he always knows the complete statement. On the chorus that climaxes the time, his tenor jumps like a pneumatic drill on a hot dig.


Blue Haze. This lovely melody by Miles Davis has an unusual and appropriate rhythm introduction. A thoughtful, beautifully-phrased statement by string bass is climaxed by a shattering drum roll, followed by a cymbal rhythm to which the piano adds its voice. Once the introduction is over, the featured instrument (which I described in my notes for "J and K") makes its entry. In his playing of it [valve trombone] Jay, in the quality of his intonation, combines the dignity of concert brass with the guttiness of honky-tonk horn. His fantastic technique on this valve instrument, which enables him to raise it to the dignity of a respected member of the brass family, never is allowed to overshadow his strong sense of music and of melody. Bobby's phrasing on tenor, always assured, is especially enjoyable, and Tommy's piano has a restrained jump.


Love Is Here To Stay. Few jazzmen can touch J. J. in the imaginative lyricism of his swinging: balladry. An old master at this form of the jazz maker's art, he demonstrates it with a long, luxurious chorus, in a warm intonation, that displays the scope of his improvisational talent.


So Sorry Please. Naturally, there are other things to hear, but let's single out the piano for mention. Tommy opens with a full-bodied, two-fisted solo and then, as he assigns the heavy work to the right hand, is paced by Wilbur's articulate bass (in a walking mood) — then there is a return to full piano style in this, a most welcome and generous introduction to the work of Tommy Flanagan.


It Could Happen To You. The introductory flute passages are classic, delicately wrought, as Bobby opens in concert style, then gets off on a winsome jazz frolic. Perhaps indicative of the authority of contemporary jazz technique, there is no hiatus between the two.


Bird Song. This tune is by Thad, one of the Jones boys from Pontiac and Elvin's brother, From the rich sonorities that open it, to the closing bars, there is structural strength and compositional directness. Like Tea Pot, it is a first-rate jazz piece. Toward the close of the exuberant performance Jay plays a quietly explosive chorus, conveyed in an easy, gently deceptive swing. On first listening it sounds like a walk in the park, on second, like a romp and, finally, like a controlled rumpus!


Old Devil Moon. Introductory bars are played in a modified Latin rhythm and in its jingle-jangle (that recalls old fashioned jazz hokum) cymbal comes off its high-hat, so to speak. There follow one of J. J's warm, utterly convincing solos in balladry and a tenor chorus by Bobby that displays a richness of timbre that seems just right for this piece,


This album is another milestone for J. J,, revealing his seriousness, his emotional warmth and his subtle wit and restrained exuberance. He knows the trombone backwards, forwards and inside out and the more one listens to the unobtrusive manner in which he employs a formidable craftsmanship to delineate an improvisation or a variation on theme, the more it grows on one, especially as it is reinforced with an extraordinary beauty of tone and, when occasion calls for it, a quietly sly sense of humor.”                                  -—Charles Edward Smith


Produced for CD release by Jordi Pujol this compilation © & © 2009 by 
Fresh Sound Records.


Saturday, May 30, 2020

The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison

© -  Steven A. Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.


”We should record this trio” is what Jamie says to me, after a NYC show.
First time we played just Vince and Mose music.
not revisiting or looking back.


Fresh, new, joyful.


Thanks so much to Brad and Jamie, playing the music for the first time.
In the moment. In service to the living spirit of Vince and Mose, .


VINCE 1966
One night playing at the Blackhawk in SF,
My playing was too much. Too much for Vince and too much for the music.
After the gig Vince says “hey man let's talk…”
... I’m fired.
but no.
He says “ Hey man, I don’t need all that sh** you’re playing,
what I want is the fire, that thing, that energy that makes you play it, but not IT.”
Serve the music.


MOSE, 1975
I’d stopped playing. Devoted my time to meditation, learning and traveling with my teacher.
I’m sitting alone, missing the music. The phone rings, I hear that voice...
“Hey Jerry, you feelin’ like playing again man?”
Yea, I do Mose.
“ I’ll send you a ticket, meet me in Chicago…”


Hey, didn’t turn out too bad for a guy without a plan except to follow the music.”
- Jerry Granelli 2019 - July, Italy”


“Mose Allison - piano, vocals; Jack Hannah - bass; Jerry Granelli - drums
Though he's been called "the William Faulkner of jazz" for his wry, incisively witty ditties delivered in a one-of-a-kind laconic style that he's been known for worldwide for more than 50 years, Mose Allison prefers to think of himself as having more in common with writer Kurt Vonnegut, whose grasp of existential absurdity was sublime. Indeed, there has always been a kind of philosophical, questioning bent to Allison's sardonic lyrics, along with an innate sense of Southern-ness to some of his imagery. Those qualities come across on this first of two sets at the Great American Music Hall, which captures the enigmatic pianist-singer-songwriter in fine form.”
- Bill Milkowski, Insert Notes to Mose Allison at The Great American Music Hall Date, May 22, 1976 (Set 1)


“It’s easy to throw art - music - in front of the public, but then the artist has no control over how the work will be taken in. But I’ve always thought that Vince [Guaraldi] knew precisely how he wanted the public to ‘hear’ his music, and he performed it in such a way as to maximize that response.”
- Jerry Granelli to Derrick Bang in Vince Guaraldi at the Piano [McFadden, 2012]


I didn’t set out to write it this way, but this blog feature has turned out to be a human interest story with a CD review to follow.


So here goes.


In addition to those artists who had developed national and international reputation [read the USA, England and the Western European Continent], the Jazz World during the period from 1945 - 1965 also had many vibrant regional scenes with first-rate performers who stayed closer to home and travelled occasionally. 


I suppose one could also say that this was also the case in the two decades prior to this period as there were many territory big bands whose reputations were limited to a state or intrastate region. But these were primarily big bands that played in ballrooms for dancing and the occasional show. Only a few individual musicians garnered much attention, regionally.


While it may appear glamorous to the uninitiated, being on the road as a Jazz musician is anything but glamorous: the travel itself is often arduous, the accommodations are seldom first-rate and the food is usually - in a word - lousy. As for the pay, it was generally marginal at best.


Which is why - along with a lot of other considerations to do with family, friends and finances - some musicians decided to make a particular city’s Jazz scene a home base with the occasional forays on the road depending on the nature of the opportunity.


This was fairly easy to do in the 20 year period I referenced because the advent of Rock ‘n Roll and the huge concert settings which it brought into play hadn’t eliminated the Jazz club and concert scene.


Although my home base was Los Angeles, I played a few clubs in San Francisco and got to know many of the drummers based there, oftentimes by running into them at Kenny Williams’ Drum Land on Ellis Street.


My southern California locale offered the option of making a living playing Jazz in the form of a vibrant studio scene with lots of work in radio jingles, television commercials and shows and feature length movies, but this wasn’t the always case in San Francisco so I always thought the cats who were based there were a real dedicated bunch.


The names of drummers who were resident in the broader San Francisco Bay area that come to mind over the years are Cal Tjader, Lloyd Davis, Joe Dodge, Al Torre, Benny Barth, Colin Bailey, George Marsh, Vince Lateano and Jerry Granelli. 


Of course, this is a broad generalization as Colin for example, was born in Swindon Town, England and over the years spent more time in L.A. than he did in San Francisco; Benny Barth was originally from Indianapolis and yet became a mainstay of the Bay area operating out of Local 6 in San Francisco; Cal played drums briefly before switching permanently to vibraphone; since the 1990s, Jerry has lived in Halifax, Nova Scotia.


But as a generalization it sticks in my mind and I think it holds more than a modicum of truth during the period in question.


Which brings me to Jerry Granelli - Jazz drummer, par excellante  - whose tenure in San Francisco involved stints with Vince Guaraldi’s trio [he played on the iconic A Charlie Brown Christmas LP], Mose Allison dating back to a 1962 appearance at The Jazz Workshop and performing and recording with pianist Denny Zeitlin in the mid-1960s.


I didn’t know Jerry, but I knew of him through other drummers who had heard him play and they all had nothing but kind words to say about his abilities and his approach to the music.


Fortunately, the opportunity finally came to HEAR Jerry when Columbia released three LPs on which he appears as a member of pianist Danny Zeitlin’s trio with the irrepressible Charlie Haden on bass. [Jerry had recorded with Vince Guaraldi and guitarist Bola Sete around the time of the Zeitlin albums, but I caught up to these much later after they’d been reissued on CD].


Denny’s Carnival [1965], Shining Hour - Live at The Trident [1966] and Zeitgeist [1967] came out during a period that was a very challenging time for drummers in terms of choosing a stylistic direction. The “interrupted time” approach that Paul Motian had helped initiate with the Bill Evans Trio was quickly followed by the “controlled chaos” of drummer Tony Williams with the Miles Davis Quintet and the polyrhythms emphasized by Elvin Jones in John Coltrane’s quartet.


The finger-poppin,’ straight-ahead, metronomic drumming lineage derived from Kenny Clarke and Max Roach and later enhanced by Art Blakey, Roy Haynes and Philly Joe Jones was turned upside down by these new approaches. 

These dynamics called into question the lesson contained in the following excerpt from George Shearing’s autobiography: “ ...becoming a jazz pianist with some direction about what your style is going to be... involves thinking about who you're going to follow or how you're going to develop a style of your own, and from what grounds.”


In other words, the dilemma for many modern Jazz drummers, including me, was one of who to follow?


Listening to Jerry helped because he became a model for emphasizing what the music required. Although the period in question is only three years on these recordings, stylistically, Zeitlin is all-over-the-map and so is Jerry in support of him.


Leonard Feather offers this background as to how and why Zeitlin, Haden & Granelli [not a law firm] came together:


“ … Zeitlin has the kind of mind that can concentrate on any subject, take an immediate and sensitive interest, and soon become an expert. This expertise spreads to his selection of sidemen.


‘I heard that Charlie Haden was living in Synanon. He has always been one of my favorite bass players, and we immediately got a groove going together. Charlie has radar ears like no other bass player; he has the warmth of sound, a basic strength that so many modern bassists lack—and a truly original solo voice." 


Then Denny and Charlie looked around for a drummer, someone who would be comfortable playing all the different kinds of times and textures they would be exploring. In Jerry Granelli they found everything they were seeking. "He can imply time with a shrug of a cymbal," says Denny, "or send it crashing along like a boulder down a mountainside. He is supremely aware of textures and colors and has an uncanny faculty of being able to present musical alternatives arising in the course of an improvisation without forcing the choice.’


As a group, the trio tries to retain the essentials of the Jazz past while exploring territories of the future.”


Bingo! There it was - the answer to my problem!!


Jerry’s playing was a model of adaptability and subordination; Zeitlin went from mainstream metronomic swing to all-out free improvisation and wherever he went, Jerry had the chops and the musical sensibilities to be able to follow him. Jerry’s drumming on these Zeitlin records was a revelation that has stayed with me for over 50 years: play what’s essential for the music.


Jazz columnist and critic Phil Elwood put it this way in his liner notes to Zeitgeist:


“Drummer Jerry Granelli, part of the trio with Zeitlin and Haden for two years, displays an extraordinary compositional sense of timing and dynamics in his tom-tom and cymbal work, complementing the delicate music of piano strings played by Zeitlin. At present Granelli is in the field of musical and visual, sound and light abstractions —no surprise to those who have experienced the range and depth of his musicianship.” 


I caught up again with Jerry on recordings from time-to-time - I especially enjoyed his work with Mose Allison on the Great American Music Hall set from the mid-1970s - but I lost touch with his artistry as my life moved away from music around that time.


Imagine my delight then when ANTJE HÜBNER of Hubtone PR reached out with a preview CD of RareNoiseRecords Presents The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison [RNR 120/RNR 120LP] which releases on June 26, 2020 on CD, LP and multiple digital formats in stores and online via www.rarenoiserecords.com


Jerry's music and his sterling musicianship were back in my life!


The ten tracks which make up this recording find him in the company of pianist Jamie Saft and bassist Bradley Christopher Jones and it's a wonderful and wondrous melding of a keeper of the Jazz tradition with younger players who are adding to that tradition and respectfully moving it forward with their own contributions.


Three tracks are devoted to the songs of Mose Allison, and it's interesting to hear them re-imagined without the lyrics which are such a forceful aspect of Mose’s music. But all three musicians manage to keep in place the “down home” quality that Allison always projected with an interesting use of blues-oriented improvisations and a variety of syncopated riffs and back beats.


Not only are blues and back beats used to underscore the feeling the trio gives to their interpretations of Allison’s songs they also form the framework for two intriguing duets between Jerry and bassist Bradley Christopher Jones which are appropriately titled Mind Prelude 1 and Mind Prelude 2. 


Each sounds as though they could be the beginning of something, but yet, are complete performances in and of themselves.

On both of these Preludes, Jerry opens with a series of rhythmic phrases which Bradley then transposes into melodic riffs played over Jerry’s accompaniment. Some call-and response phrasing is interspersed during these free form duets, but they are in all their glory - improvisations - the essence of Jazz. Bradley gets a big booming sound out of his bass and Jerry ensures that his every note is heard by staying with brushes. As a rhythm guy, Mind Preludes 1 and 2 are the highlight of the recording for me.


Throughout the album, it is fascinating to hear how well Granelli and Jones lock in; bassist Chuck Israel once described this kind of cohesion between bass and drums as akin to “hearing wedding bells.”


Pianist Jaime Saft has the huge task of interpolating his own musical sensibilities into the very distinctive styles of Vince Guaraldi and Mose Allison and he is more than equal to the task. While keeping the “flavor” of these iconic Jazz performers in place he takes their original compositions in very new melodic and harmonic directions. To a certain extent, this is as it should be because in the Jazz world, all compositions should serve as a platform for self expression. We’ve heard Vince and Mose; now it’s time to hear Jamie, and he comes through loud and clear including a distinctive rendering of Vince’s Christmas Time Is Here - a song that’s been heard by millions on millions of holiday occasions. He plays it more slowly than the Guaraldi version and both he and bassist Jones improvise on the song before returning to the out chorus with Jamie giving the ending a wonderful twist. Frankly, given the beauty of Jamie’s rendering, I think this is the first I’ve actually listened closely to the song in a long time.


More information about the musicians and the recording can be found in the following, detailed media release:


RareNoiseRecords Presents


The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison
CD, LP AND MULTIPLE DIGITAL FORMATS AVAILABLE IN STORES AND ONLINE ON JUNE 26, 2020 AND THROUGH 




Jerry Granelli   Drums Jamie Saft   Piano Bradley Christopher Jones   Bass


“New York, May 7, 2020 - Over the course of a career spanning six decades, drummer Jerry Granelli has worked with many of the greatest artists across the full spectrum of jazz and beyond. On The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays Vince Guaraldi and Mose Allison, his rapturous new album for RareNoise, Granelli revisits two of his most indelible collaborations from the vantage point of the exploratory now.


Due out June 26, 2020 


The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays Vince Guaraldi and Mose Allison starts from the foundation of two singular composers: the elegant, lyrical pieces of pianist Vince Guaraldi, with whom Granelli played for three busy years early in his career - including the landmark Peanuts television specials; and the eccentric singer/pianist Mose Allison, whose wry twists on the blues Granelli had the pleasure of accompanying for nearly 40 years.


Never one to dwell on the past, Granelli has long eschewed tribute projects or reprises of past glories. Two factors combined to change his mind on this remarkable occasion: the joy of delving into these extraordinary compositions with a modern urgency untouched by nostalgia; and his collaborators, both of whom share his expansive approach: pianist Jamie Saft and bassist Bradley Christopher Jones.


"We've all had experiences playing so many different things," Granelli says. "We all love the blues, whether we play them all the time or not, and we all love great songs - and these are really great songs. I don't think material gets old; what gets old is when people try to recapture a stale version of the past. We were able to bring a really fresh feeling to this music, and that's important to me. We didn't try to recreate anything."


Granelli's tenure with Vince Guaraldi dates back to the early 60s, when he was just 21. The young drummer had just returned to his native San Francisco following his first national tour, and discovered that Guaraldi had recently parted ways with his trio. The pianist had just scored a hit with his tune "Cast Your Fate to the Wind," so a hectic schedule awaited.


"It's hard to get that kind of training," Granelli says. "We got paid to play six or seven nights a week, then go out after hours to places like Bop City in San Francisco to sit in at jam sessions till 6 in the morning. This record reflects those times."


On top of a grueling performance schedule, the period included Guaraldi's acclaimed recordings with the Brazilian guitarist Bola Sete and the Peanuts soundtracks that are still rerun every year over half a century later. Granelli's exquisite, whispering brushwork graces A Charlie Brown Christmas, which has become a holiday tradition and introduced generations of children to the sound of jazz.


After leaving Guaraldi's employ in 1965, Granelli refused to revisit his music for decades. There were new sounds to be explored - he'd soon join the renowned Denny Zeitlin Trio alongside bass legend Charlie Haden, and in later years would work with a pantheon of his peers: Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz, Kenny Garrett, Ralph Towner, Jay Clayton, Gary Peacock and countless others. In recent years, however, Granelli began touring a show called Tales of A Charlie Brown Christmas with his trio in Canada, where he's lived in Nova Scotia since the 90s.


Pitfalls abound in bringing an avant-gardist's perspective to such graceful music. "I didn't want to try to make it weird," Granelli insists, "and I didn't want to imitate the originals. In all honesty I resisted it because I didn't have a way in. But now I can appreciate it being such a part of the culture. It's amazing to me; it's phenomenal."


The immortal Christmas Time Is Here almost inevitably closes the album, imbued with a heartbreaking tenderness that feels utterly immediate. The lushness of the rendition may seem surprising given the experimental credentials of Saft and Jones, but it's exactly that attentiveness to the moment - which they share with the drummer - that makes these renditions so stunning.


Granelli refers to the title of Newness, his 2015 album with Saft, to explain the feeling of the trio. "You're letting go of the past, you're letting go of the present, and you're just in the music. That's the place you want to play from at all times. Then your whole vast experience is available to you and you can discover something new you've never played before. This record is a wonderful celebration of that coming together-of-now."


The same applies to Guaraldi's other contributions to the album, "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" and "Star Song." Granelli recalls the latter piece as a favorite of Miles Davis, who would come to hear the Guaraldi trio night after night while they worked in Los Angeles.


Granelli joined Mose Allison's trio in the mid-70s, in time to record the classic album Your Mind Is On Vacation. They would continue to work together intermittently until Allison's death in 2016. "We were great friends," Granelli says fondly. "Mose was like the Charles Ives of the blues. He would take the blues as far out as he could, and he became one of the great influences in American songwriting."


The title track of Your Mind Is On Vacation comes in for a raucous dissection here, with a pair of drum/bass duo preludes interspersed throughout the album, each a stellar standalone piece on its own. The trio reimagines Parchman Farm through a Herbie Hancock soul-jazz lens, refracted into the raw power of the primal blues. Big Joe Williams' Baby Please Don't Go spotlights the burly muscularity of Jones' bass, while the satirical sting of Everybody's Cryin' Mercy resonates even without a word being sung.


"Once music gets into my genetic system, I can remember exactly charts I played 50 years ago," Granelli explains. "Mose's words are incredible and I hear the lyrics, I hear the poetry, in my head as I play. That's part of the jazz tradition: how do you play the same piece of music every night and make it fresh?"


That freshness is shot through every note on The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays Vince Guaraldi and Mose Allison, whether it was written on sheet music decades earlier or invented on the spot as these three inventive musicians came together. It's the spirit that drives Granelli as he approaches his 80th birthday at the end of the year, the same way that it drove him to help create much of this music earlier in his life, and to find new details and sparks within it night after night throughout a truly incredible career.
TRACKS


1. Cast Your Fate To The Wind
2.  Parchman Farm
3.  Baby Please Don't Go
4.  Mind Prelude 1
5.  Everybody's Cryin' Mercy
6. Star Song
7. Young Man Blues
8.  Mind Prelude 2
9. Your Mind Is On Vacation
10. Christmas Time Is Here


Tracks 1 and 6 written by Vince Guaraldi / David Guaraldi Publishing - BMI; Track 2, 7, 9 written by Allison / Audre Mae Music Co. - BMI; Track 3 Traditional - BMI; Track 4, 8 written by Granelli/Jones - BMI; Track 10 written by Guaraldi/Mendelson / Lee Mendelson Film Productions Inc. - BMI


Recorded and Mastered by Vin Cin at Electric Plant, Brooklyn, NY Mixed by Jamie Saft at Potterville International Sound, NY Produced by Jerry Granelii and Jamie Saft Executive Producer for RareNoiseRecords: Giacomo Bruzzo


Art and design by Erdman
Additional layout and design Graham Schreiner


Photos by Scott Irvine c. 2019


PRESS CONTACT
Antje Hubner
antje.huebner@hubtonepr.corn
www.hubtonepr.com