"Cruisin'" with The Eric Ineke JazzXpress

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

“In 2006, Eric Ineke's JazzXpress came about. "While driving to a gig with David Liebman in Antwerp, Belgium, Dave said it was about time I started my own hard bop group. 'You should do this, and ask some good youngsters.' That night, Marius Beets was on bass and tenor saxophonist Sjoerd Dijkhuizen came by. Marius said: This is what we've been waiting for!' Sjoerd immediately asked if he could be part of it. Of course he could!"

For the piano chair Eric asked Rob van Bavel, with whom he had developed 'a great rhythmic rapport' after they both had been part of the Piet Noordijk Quartet and the high-energy Jarmo Hoogendijk/Ben van den Dungen Quintet. Young trumpet sensation Rik Mol - just 22 while I'm writing this - was recommended by his former teacher Jarmo Hoogendijk, who had to retire from stage because of a lip injury.

The band's name was made up by Eric's fellow musicians. "They decided that my name should be part of it, and they invented the word Xpress, with the capital X. It looks good on jazz club and festival posters."”

- Jeroen de Valk, Jazz writer and critic

It is always a treat when drummer Eric Ineke “pays a visit” to the editorial staff at JazzProfiles; no mean feat considering that he lives in Holland.

Such “visits” usually take the form of him sending me a copy of the latest CD by his group - “The Eric Ineke JazzXpress” -  and this one proved no exception as the group’s new CD Cruisin’ arrived via the mail.

Issued on the DayBreak subsidiary of Challenge Records, Cruisin’ [DBCHR 74588] is available through Amazon, Challenge Records via this link and on Eric’s website which you can locate here.

Both Challenge and Eric’s site are also excellence sources of information about other recordings by the JazzXpress.

If you’ve not had the opportunity to listen to their music, you are missing out on one of the finest straight-ahead groups on today’s Jazz scene.

Much like the late drummer Art Blakey of Jazz Messenger fame, Eric’s JazzXpress provides a Jazz bridge to help young players cross into the mainstream style of Jazz often referred to as hard bop.

Hard bop is an intricate style of modern Jazz. You have to pay your dues to play it well and it is very important to have someone coach you along to find its subtleties and nuances.

Because of his long years of experience in performing with many of the greatest exponents of hard bop school, Eric is the perfect guide for the JazzXpress’ relatively young players although bassist Marius Beets has been around long enough to merit consideration as “second-in-command” in a leadership role.

In addition to being the perfect bassist to complement Eric’s quietly insistent drumming [with Eric and Marius driving the beat, you best move along or get out the way] Marius showcases his considerable talents as a composer by writing three of the seven tunes on Cruisin’.  He also served as recording engineer for the date and handled all of the mixing, editing and mastering.

After a brief hiatus from the JazzXpress, the young trumpeter Rik Mol returns to the quintet and makes his presence felt with his sparkling sound, his wonderful front line work with tenor saxophonist Sjoerd Dijkhuizen and his inventive improvisations.

Rik brings fire and passion to the trumpet chair; close your eyes and you can hear shades of Red Rodney, Blue Mitchell and Carmel Jones. His horn can pop and be explosive or sound fine and mellow. His lines are fluid and full of his own ideas.

Eric also put Rik to work composing the opener for the session - Oak City - an uptempo burner that’s propelled by a rhythmic vamp laid down by the piano, bass and drums. The trumpet and tenor pick up the vamp and play it as a tag that pianist Rob van Bavel solos over to take the tune out.

Eric enlists van Bavel into the composition corps, too, and Rob responds with Just A Tune For You which is based on “rhythm changes.” According to Ted Gioia in The Jazz Standards:  “This is the granddaddy of jazz tunes. "I Got Rhythm" stands out as the perennial favorite of jam session participants, time-honored and battle-tested. Styles and tendencies may go in and out of favor, but this song never falls out of fashion. Indeed, so familiar is its structure and progression that musicians don't even need to mention the title in full—the bandleader just calls out "rhythm changes" and counts in a tempo. Usually the fastest one of the evening.” [p. 167]

Here, Just A Tune For You is played at a medium tempo and the famous song’s chords make it a comfortable vehicle for everyone to shine on including Eric who limits his say to some tasty four-bar-drum-solos. These days, it seems that long drum solos are the standard on Jazz recordings but, in my opinion, most Jazz fans don’t know how to listen to them and most Jazz drummers don’t know how to play them [construct them].

Eric has always led by example from the drum chair. Say what you have to say, but don’t overstay you’re welcome. There’s always a next solo and another after that. Keep the flow of the swing in place and remember the primary role of a drummer is to be “the heartbeat of Jazz.”

When Eric does take an extended solo, he takes it as his turn with a chorus as is the case on The End of An Affair. He stays so true to the tune’s theme that you can sing the melody while he plays his solo. No bombastic drumming here.

As the first call drummer for visiting and expatriate American Jazz musicians on the European Jazz scene, Eric had a long working relationship with tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin. Johnny had a technique second to none on the tenor saxophone [on any instrument for that matter] and he was a monster on up tempo tunes. But as if often the case with a lot of cats who can really bring it, Johnny could tear your heart out on a ballad. His beautiful phrasing on a slow tune almost made it sound as though he was singing lyrics through his horn.

On Cruisin’, tenor saxophonist Sjoerd Dijkhuizen picks up on Griffin’s expressive way with a ballad with his rendering of Johnny’s When We Were One. Sjoerd’s tone is so rich and “full of juice” that it really gets the attention it deserves in the context of this beautiful ballad. Rik Mol shows up on the tune’s bridge with muted trumpet and van Bavel comps the chords in a slow and deliberate manner, almost as though he were accompanying a vocalist.

And surprise, surprise; when Sjoerd begins his solo, Eric and Marius stay in time instead of doubling it. The full sonority of Sjoerd’s gorgeous tone on the instrument gets to ring through on this memorable performance. Does anyone play Jazz at this tempo anymore? Eric Ineke’s JazzXpress does and in so doing, it makes When We Were One one of the highlights of the recording.

But for all his lightness on ballads, Sjoerd’s also gets a big blustery sound on the big horn that has all the dynamism and drive that one comes to expect of the tenor sax in a hard bop combo. Sjoerd comes to play; no one is pushing this dude off the bandstand.

In many ways, the “secret ingredient” or “special sauce” of Eric Ineke JazzXpress is pianist Rob van Bavel. The piano chair plays a pivotal role in a Jazz quintet. It becomes third “voice” with the horns; either in unison or in harmony; either in bass clef or in treble. While it may not be distinctly heard as such, when the piano phrases the lines with the horns, it can provide a bottom or a top and thus make the music sound fuller.

The piano takes a turn at soloing, but while the others are soloing, it is the only instrument capable of feeding full chords in accompaniment.

The piano is also a percussive instrument and as such is expected to be an integral part of the rhythm section.

So many ways to be intrusive and yet so many ways to make a contribution to the music.

It is a mark of Rob van Bavel’s maturity as a musician and the quality of his musicianship that he is able to perform all these roles so well in the JazzXpress while making it sound so effortless.

From any standpoint, Cruisin’ by Eric Ineke’s JazzXpress is one of the recorded Jazz highlights of the year.

Eric wrote the following insert notes for the recording in which he gives his take on the music.

© -  Eric Ineke, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“Since I started the JazzXpress in 2006, eight years have gone by, and here we proudly present our sixth CD. We have managed to keep the same lineup almost the whole time, except for a short period when our stellar trumpeter Rik Mol was replaced by Rodolfo Fereira Neves, a fine young talented player in his own right.

When Rik came back in, the band got a new spirit and all the engines got retuned, as you can hear on his catchy "Oak City." The vibe is a Silverish one, which I love so much. Playing with the impeccable Ronnie Cuber recently got me back into Horace Silver's music all over again.

The eastern-flavored "Seven on the Rigter Scale" was written by Marius Beets, and inspired by some of the wonderful Dutch tenor player Simon Rigter's harmonic inventions. It opens with the composer's free bass solo, then launches into a camel groove evoking the days of Lawrence of Arabia. Sjoerd Dijkhuizen gets a fat sound on bass clarinet and Rik Mol plays a great solo on muted trumpet.

Marius's "The End of the Affair" is an uptempo burner based on the chords of a well-known standard, and inspired by Graham Greene's novel. (I didn't know the book, got curious about it, and recently found it in London in Hatchard's elegant bookstore.)

Cole Porter's "Night and Day" is a duet for pianist Rob van Bavel and me. I got the idea to do it from a recording we both made back in 1993 as members of the legendary Ben van den Dungen/Jarmo Hoogendijk Quintet. Rob's great rhythmic and harmonic approach is a springboard for my own playing here. In his solo he emulates Bill Evans's improvisation on the version he recorded with Stan Getz, which is a hell of a compliment to Bill Evans. We did it in one take at 10 a.m.

Johnny Griffin's haunting ballad "When We Were One" is a feature for our exquisite tenor man Sjoerd Dijkhuizen, who plays the melody with his heart on his sleeve. It's a fitting tribute to John Arnold Griffin III, who was a one-of-a-kind out of an era when jazz musicians were real characters, the kind we deeply miss these days.

Rob van Bavel's "Just A Tune for You" is his take on "I Got Rhythm" chords and fits the band like a glove; everyone gets to solo.

Marius Beets's "What Is This" is as hardbop as you can get, flying by on familiar changes. On the last tune, the remix "Cruisin'," the band sails into the 21st century. Marius did a great job on this one, and you can party on down with it as long as you want.

After 50 years in the jazz business, I feel still like a kid, and I'm very proud and grateful to be surrounded by such great musicians who keep kicking my ass.

Many thanks also to my longtime producer Fred Dubiez, who always gives me so much support.”

Eric lneke, May 2014”

The following video montage features the Eric Ineke JazzXpress performing Rik Mol’s “Oak City” the opening track on Cruisin’ [Daybreak DBCHR 74588]

Sonny and Jim and The Bridge

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

“When I went to the bridge, I wanted to learn how to arrange and improve my musicianship …. That kind of self-initiative was very important to me.”

- Sonny Rollins as told to David Yaffe in 1995 and quoted in Gary Giddins, Visions of Jazz [p. 416]

“... no matter the context - hard bop or free jazz - and however much he adjusted his timbre, he never abandoned a few enduring principles: a style of improvisation that combines thematic development with melodic paraphrase; a large and ever-changing book of standard songs complemented by distinctive originals; and a dedication to stout rhythms verging on dance.

Gary Giddins, Visions of Jazz [p. 418]

“Like Sarah Vaughan, … [Sonny] established a loyal concert following apart from the record-buying public.”

Gary Giddins, Visions of Jazz [p. 419]

“Rollins …  went into seclusion for over two years, practicing, refining his craft, reading, thinking. His return was eagerly anticipated by jazz fans—especially given the superheated atmosphere of the jazz world circa 1960. New sounds were in the air. At no time in the history of jazz music had the mandate to progress been felt so pervasively by the leading players. At times it seemed as if progressivism were the only aesthetic measure that really counted, for many critics and some fans, at this juncture in the music's evolution.”

Ted Gioia, The History of Jazz, [p. 312]

When I listen to the music of tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, I sense a brooding melancholy but also a broad humor. He is a fearless improvisor.  But for a  player with so much assurance, he also exhibits so much doubt when away from the music; so much energy yet so much turmoil when involved with the music.

Throughout his distinguished career, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins has periodically taken time away from it.

When he first started doing this, the Jazz media would issue broadsides asking - “Where’s Sonny?”

Being the New York neighborhood cat that he was, it wouldn’t take long for a Sonny Sighting to occur usually involving some quixotic behavior on his part like practicing under the Williamsburg Bridge.

Back in the day, if you were not working the club scene and recording on a regular basis, especially if you were such a large talent like Sonny, people questioned your sanity.

These days with concert performances more the norm than club dates, when Sonny takes a few weeks or months off it’s not quite as big a deal.

However, as an example of Sonny’s tendencies to wander off the scene,  prior to the 1962 issuing of one of my favorite Rollins recordings, “the saxophonist disappeared for two years, before returning to the studio with a new contract from RCA. The Bridge [LP 2527; CD 0902 668518-2] started him off. [Guitarist Jim] Hall is an unexpectedly fine partner throughout, moving between rhythm and front line duties with great aplomb and actually finding ways to communicate with the most lofty of soloists. It is an often compelling record as a result.” [Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 6th Ed. p. 1266]  

“Unexpectedly” is a nice way to characterize the pairing of Sonny Rollins with guitarist Jim Hall, but the result is an excellent example of the ‘sound of surprise” a phrase created by the late, writer Whitney Balliett to describe one of the remarkable qualities of Jazz.

[I’ve yet to find an observation in the Jazz literature linking the title of Sonny’s album - The Bridge - with his two year hiatus from the music prior to its recording, some of which found him practicing under the Williamsburg Bridge [!]. Too obvious, perhaps?

Gary Giddins offers these views of The Bridge and the pairing of Sonny and Jim on The Bridge in these excerpts from his always insightful Visions of Jazz:

“He exhibited a more rugged, direct timbre when he returned, with a lucrative RCA contract and The Bridge. (In the '50s, he had recorded exclusively for small independent labels, including Prestige, Contemporary, Blue Note, MGM, and Riverside.) Rollins sloughed off comparisons to his earlier work and upset critical preconceptions by constantly tinkering with his sound, while sampling in his uniquely jocular (many said sardonic) way the avant-garde and the new Latin wave. Some people were offended by his humor, some by his implacable authority. Others presumed a rivalry between Rollins and Coltrane that must have been galling to both men. Of the six controversial albums that emerged from his association with RCA, The Bridge was initially the most widely admired, probably because it was the most conventional—the most like his '50s LPs. Although the album presents his quartet, with Jim Hall on guitar, Rollins's solos are usually backed by bass and drums, so there is a connection to the trio albums. Yet the jazz world had changed in his absence: the new music surfaced and Rollins was intrigued.” [p. 416]

And writing in his seminal The History of Jazz, Ted Gioia put The Bridge in the following context:

“Rollins …  went into seclusion for over two years, practicing, refining his craft, reading, thinking. His return was eagerly anticipated by jazz fans—especially given the superheated atmosphere of the jazz world circa 1960. New sounds were in the air. At no time in the history of jazz music had the mandate to progress been felt so pervasively by the leading players. At times it seemed as if progressivism were the only aesthetic measure that really counted, for many critics and some fans, at this juncture in the music's evolution. Rollins felt these pressures yet he ultimately reacted with ambivalence. When he returned, Rollins may have been a changed man — during his sabbatical he had become a Rosicrucian, studied philosophy, exercised, practiced — but his music was strikingly unchanged, disappointing those who felt that Rollins, like Coltrane and Coleman, would create a totally different sound. His comeback album, The Bridge, was a solid effort, but found Rollins again playing jazz standards with a fairly traditional combo. The main change here was the addition of guitarist Jim Hall, a subtle accompanist and inspired soloist, but hardly the "new thing" in jazz.

Post-1960, Rollins's career tended to display tentative forays into the latest trend, followed inevitably by a return to more familiar ground….

Rollins's various retirements, reclusions, and reconsiderations could stand as symbolic of the whole era. Jazz was in a period of transition, of fragmentation into different schools, of reassessment. The music's modernist tradition, which Rollins epitomized, could no longer simply be taken for granted. Its assumptions—about harmony, melody, rhythm, song structure, instrumentation, and perhaps even more about the social role of jazz music — were constantly being questioned and increasingly found wanting by the more revolutionary musicians of the younger generation. Rollins's self-doubts were in many ways the same anxieties felt by his whole generation as it struggled to clear a path through this seeming pandemonium. Some looked for even more, for a transfiguring movement, the next new thing, that would draw these fragments back together into a new coherence. Others, less sanguine, felt that there would be no more towering figures, titans of the caliber of Armstrong, Ellington, Goodman, or Parker, who could define a whole age, give impetus to an entire generation. Instead jazz, it seemed, was condemned to — or was it blessed by? — a pluralism, in which "next new things" would come and go with amazing alacrity.” [pp. 312-313]

Big Band Bossa Nova: Stan Getz and Gary McFarland [From the Archives]

The occasion for this re-posting is the copyright Gods granting of the reinstatement of the video that you will find its conclusion. 

On it you can hear the magic of the Getz - McFarland working relationship as Stan performs Gary's big band arrangement of Chega De Saudade which has been translated into English as both No More Blues and Too Much Longing.

From this vantage point, it is difficult to remember back to when the beautiful bossa nova melodies swept the USA in the early 1960s as a prelude to the psychedelic rock craze that closed that decade with The Beatles lodged somewhere in between.

Musical styles moved rapidly during that transitional decade and so did a lot of other socio-cultural developments. 

Many of bossa nova composers explained that the music was intended as a blending of "cool" Jazz sounds with a lighter samba rhythm so as to dial down the intensity of the street Samba which is so noisily characteristic of the Brazilian carnivals.

Unfortunately, the bossa nova did not prevail as an international musical trend, but it was nice while it lasted. 

© -Steven Cerra. Copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Fresh from the sudden success of Jazz Samba and "Desafinado," Stan Getz asked the 28-year-old, strikingly gifted Gary McFarland to arrange a bossa nova album for big band as a follow-up. Getz is always his debonair, wistful, freely-floating self, completely at home in the Brazilian idiom that he'd adopted only a few months before. – Richard Ginell www.allmusic.com

Getz’s melodic gift was never more evident; even the way he plays "straight" melody is masterful. Few jazzmen have had this gift - Lester Young did - and it has to do with singing by means of an instrument, for Getz doesn't just play a solo, he sings it,… - Don DeMichael

Recorded in 1962, Stan Getz’s Big Band Bossa Nova [Verve V6-8494, CD 825771-2] which features his tenor sax in a series of magnificent arrangements by Gary McFarland is an album from a time when the world was awash in good music. 

Mainly through his early association with composers Antonio Carlos Jobim, João  Gilberto and João’s wife, vocalist Astrud, Getz was to become personified [and made quite wealthy] by his association with the bossa nova music from Brazil that became an international sensation in the early 1960s.

Lyrics were such a powerful and intriguing part of the bossa nova movement that it was initially unusual for instrumental-only versions of the music to succeed.

Big Band Bossa Nova was one of those early instrumental-only success LP’s. Getz, who had such a beautiful tone on the tenor saxophone that some musicians referred to him as “The Sound,” plays beautifully throughout, no doubt inspired in part by McFarland superbly developed and orchestrated arrangements.

Thanks to a friend in New Zealand whose collection of criticism and writings about Jazz appears to be equal to or greater than his [quite vast] collection of the recordings themselves, the editorial staff at JazzProfiles is able to share the following reviews of Big Band Bossa Nova which appeared in the Jazz press around the time of the album’s release.

Also included to further familiarize the reader with the album and its music are Gary McFarland’s and esteemed Jazz author Dom Cerulli’s liner notes to the original LP.

While Stan Getz was to go on and have a long and distinguished career, quite sadly, Gary McFarland passed away, under mysterious circumstances, at the very young age of 38.

For those interested in delving further into Gary’s music please checkout the website lovingly maintained in his honor by Douglas Payne.

Liner Notes to the Verve LP Big Band Bossa Nova [V6-8494]

“My first exposure to bossa nova was in the Spring of 1960 when a friend played a recording by João  Gilberto, a Brazilian guitarist and vocalist. I liked it immediately. Naturally, I responded to the rhythm, but it was more than that. There seemed to be more underplay, more subtlety than in other Latin rhythms but with just as much buzz or intensity. The songs had interesting chord progressions, and the melodic intervals were more modern than in traditional samba melodies. I'm sure that Gilberto's singing had much to do with my response to this music. His voice has an indefinable quality- something close to melancholy, but not quite.

I asked a Brazilian friend about the bossa nova, and he explained that it is a variation of the samba with modern harmonies and more syncopation than the traditional samba. He also told me that the first reaction in Brazil to this new music was similar to the American public's reaction to be-bop in the 40's- it was misunderstood by the traditionalists. However, it is now more widely accepted.

When Stan asked me to write an album for him, he told me to do anything I wanted. I had written a few bossa nova arrangements for Cal Tjader's group, and Stan had recorded a jazz samba album with Charlie Byrd. We both enjoyed working with this music, so we decided to do a big-band album with four songs by Brazilian composers and four songs of mine.

MANHA DE CARNIVAL (Morning Of The Carnival) is a theme from BLACK ORPHEUS. When I saw the movie, 1 was deeply touched by the gentle melody. In keeping with this mood is Jim Hall's treatment of the introduction on unamplified guitar. Following Stan's statement of the theme is an interlude in 5/4 leading into the guitar solo.

BALANCO NO SAMBA (Street Dance) was inspired by the film BLACK ORPHEUS, particularly the street scenes with the marching bands romping, the people dancing and yelling. This is more like a traditional fast samba. 1 think the band got a real happy feeling on this song.

MELANCOLICO (Melancholy) is another tune of mine. Stan plays the verse, the band enters, and he states the melody. The piano solo is by Hank Jones.

ENTRE AMIGOS (Sympathy Between Friends). Stan's phrasing on this tune is, as always, extremely lyrical. After Stan's solo the trumpets play a 16-bar figure that is typical of the high level of their performance on the entire date.

CHEGA DE SAUDADE (Too Much Longing) was also written by Jobim and is one of the best-constructed songs I have ever heard. Notice the restatement of the original minor theme in major during the last 16 bars of the song. Doc Severinsen introduces the melody in the opening statement. Stan begins his solo and is joined by Bob Brookmeyer for 32 measures, leading into the complete statement of the melody. Doc's sensitive handling of the introduction and the interplay between Stan and Bob are high points.

NOITE TRISTE (Night Sadness) is a song of mine. The melody is first stated out of tempo by Hank Jones and then restated by Stan leading into his solo. Drummer Johnny Rae plays Chinese finger cymbals on the first 16 bars of the solo.

SAMBA DE UMA NOTA SO (One Note Samba) was written by Antonio Carlos Jobim, a composer-arranger who works with Gilberto on most of his albums. I have a lot of respect for Jobim's work. This is a song I heard Gilberto sing, and I thought it would be a good ensemble piece.

BIM BOM, by Joao Gilberto, is a lilting melody in the lighter spirit of bossa nova. Solos by Stan and Jim sustain this happy feeling.

I am indebted to the whole band for making the always difficult task of recording much easier. Drummer Johnny Rae did a wonderful job of heading the rhythm section; his experience in Latin music made him an invaluable asset to the band.

About Stan - well, his is a unique talent. In the strong romantic quality of his playing, in his regard for the melody and the spirit of a song, he is perfectly in tune with bossa nova.”

GARY McFARLAND

DOWNBEAT 1962  Rating:*****

This is one of the most musical albums I've ever heard. And, please, let's drop the pigeonhole bit- it doesn't make a great deal of difference if this music is called jazz, bossa nova, or what.

And Getz. . . . His playing is flowing, lyrical, inventive, beautifully songlike -commonplace words all, and none describe adequately or even come close. Those words don't capture that sad-glad feeling he achieves on Melancolico or Entre Amigos. Nor can they substitute for hearing his tenor line rise like a dove from a descending trumpet figure on Melancolico; it lasts but a moment, but it's just one of many little diamonds strewn through this record.

Getz’s melodic gift was never more evident; even the way he plays "straight" melody is masterful. Few jazzmen have had this gift - Lester Young did - and it has to do with singing by means of an instrument, for Getz doesn't just play a solo, he sings it, as can be heard on any of these tracks, most evidently on Noite Triste and Chega De Saudade.

The most remarkable performance in the album is Chega De Saudade, a lovely tune by Antonio Carlos Jobim. It begins with Severinsen's unaccompanied trumpet and gradually builds, like a flower unfolding its beauty. Following Getz1 first solo, he and Brookmeyer engage in a twining duet, as if they were dancing around each other's phrases- it's a wonderful moment.

McFarland shares in the artistic success of the album. His writing is peerless. With what he's shown on this effort and his own adaptation of 'How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying' released earlier this year, he looms large as an outstanding writer. He knows the proper combination of instruments to achieve certain sounds, and he has the taste not to use all the instruments at hand all the time. His sparing use of the ensemble allows the beauty of the soloist and the material to shine through.

Perhaps McFarland's mastery of writing in song form explains his taste in orchestration, for the four songs he contributed (Balanco No Samba, Melancolico, Entre Amigos, and Noite Triste ) are much, much more than record-date lines. Others deserving credit for their work on the album are Jim Hall, for his sensitive unamplified accompaniment and for his solos on Manha De Carnival and Bim Bom; Hank Jones, whose taste matches that of Getz and McFarland. as can be heard on his out-of-tempo Noite Triste theme statement; and Johnny Rae, for general excellence (his use of finger cymbals behind Getz on Noite Triste is a perfect touch).

But it's still Getz who is most responsible for the beauty of the album. This record, 'Focus', and 'Jazz Samba', all issued this year, plus the quality of his 1962 in-person performances - well, most of them - lead me to believe Getz is at the height of his creative powers. And he sure wasn't a slouch before.”

Don DeMichael

JAZZ MONTHLY April 1963

“Gary McFarland, who arranged all the numbers here and conducted the band, wrote Balanco No Samba, Melancolico, Entre Amigos, and Noite Triste in the style of such native Brazilian bossa nova composers as Antonio Carlos Jobim and Louis Bonfa. In recent months McFarland has been the arranger on a number of records and has contributed several pleasant melodic themes, but it is still too early to detect any very clear personality in his work.

The bossa nova is, to all intents and purposes, a samba played with jazz overtones, the themes using more 'modern' chord progressions and the rhythm being more subtle than is the case with most of the older sambas. I find the work of Bonfa in particular very interesting in the compositional field but while the idiom provides an attractive means of varying the content of a jazz LP I suspect that too many records solely devoted to it will prove a little wearisome. This is by the way, of course, for this present release is the best of its kind that I have heard to date.

Stan Getz is a particularly good choice to carry the main solo role, for his style, although it has developed more strength over the past few years, is notable for a melodic awareness that fits aptly with the thematic content to be heard in the best of bossa nova. The lightness and grace of his work on Chega de Saudade and Bim Bom is immensely attractive - these are perhaps the best tracks on the LP- but one must not overlook the fact that graceful as the outlines of his solos may be they do not lack, as was sometimes the case in his earliest records, the necessary swing. Throughout this LP the impressive aspect of Getz's playing is the balance between refinement and rhythmic strength, illustrated very well on his finely constructed solos on the two tracks already mentioned and on Manha De Carnival and Balanco No Samba. The only other soloist to be heard at length is Jim Hall who is also playing better than before, with a continuity previously lacking, and he is heard to best advantage on Manha De Carnival and Bim Bom.

Two points which bossa nova can claim credit for is far superior themes than one hears in the case of the average jazz 'original' and the guiding of guitarists to the potentialities of their instrument in its unamplified form. Bossa nova may be something in the nature of a gimmick in its exploitation by the record companies but when a musician of Getz's talent uses it this LP proves that it can be stimulating and melodically attractive. I think that most readers will find this a very worthwhile LP, the playing time being rather short at 33 1/2 minutes, and the recording excellent.”

Albert McCarthy