Bill Hitz and Greig McRitchie - Jazz and Swing Orchestras: West Coast Series

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

On Music for This Swingin' Age, Bill Hitz's made his record debut with an orchestra spotted with driving West Coast soloists. All arrangements, by Hitz himself and Lyle (Spud) Murphy, use Murphy's 12-tone system, each building horizontally, full of incident and a fresh, satisfying approach. They deliver a rousing, brass-edged sound while Hitz's cool clarinet fits perfectly into the mood of the arrangements.

Greig McRitchie on his album Fighting Back aka Easy Jazz On A Fish Beat. certainly captured that swing era "feel", but he dressed it up with the distinctive rhythm and bass figures of Rock and Roll—piano, bass, guitar, drums and baritone, plus a rare, modern touch of harmonic color. His repeated use of vibes, alto, flute and guitar adds a refreshing perspective to a repertoire of easily identifiable tunes, all delivered by a powerful big band unit full of the cream of the crop of West Coast jazzmen.

Writing in 1986, Steve Voce in his fine book about the various Woody Herman Big Bands observed:

“Despite the never ending questions about the possibility of their return, the big bands never really went away. Admittedly they were crushed by heavy taxes and the advent of television in the second part of the forties, but the format proved resilient and there are probably more big bands today than there were during the golden era of big bands in the forties.” [p. 30; emphasis mine].

As if to corroborate Steve’s point, Jordi Pujol, the owner proprietor of Fresh Sound Records is currently issuing a series of Jazz and Swing Orchestra CDs while noting as a general introduction to the series:

“When the dust from the collapse of the Swing Era settled, there were few big bands left that had survived. Yet, because they loved the swinging drive of a full-on jazz orchestra, a series of adventurous and unsung bandleaders optimistically organize some fine, but short-lived, new orchestras that were packed with jazz and studio musicians, holding the flag of Swing high”

Jordi has place two Jazz and Swing Orchestras on each CD and further group these “rare and collectible albums by unsung bandleaders” as part of the West Coast Series and East Coast Series.

From the standpoint of the high quality of musicianship on display and the intriguing and well-written arrangements, these are “must have” CDs for anyone who is a serious collector of big band Jazz and you can locate more information about the series on the Fresh Sound website by going here.

The editorial staff at JazzProfiles will highlight a number of these excellent recordings in a week long series beginning with Fresh Sound CD-959 West Coast Series: Bill Hitz: Music for This Swinging Age … Greig McRitchie: Easy Jazz On A Fish Beat.

Original liner notes from the Decca album Music for This Swingin’ Age - Bill Hitz and His Orchestra (DL 8392)

“IT's become rather corny to talk about jazz as an art. People who talk and write about jazz have just about worn out the line while they were honestly trying to make a point with a preconceived notion that their listeners or readers were strictly square cut.

The trouble is that the "jazz is an art" pitch was being made much too early in the history of the form, for actually jazz is a cultural offspring, more a folk-music in origin, than it was an art.

Its development into an art form actually began with the advent of the first arranged jazz in the twenties with Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington, but this product was hardly more than one dimensional. The actual evolution of jazz as a full-blown art form began in the early and mid-forties with the rise of the Gillespies and Parkers. These efforts opened the door for more expansive thought, for more extended study, and for a development of the form far removed from even the wildest dreams of the early New Orleans jazz pioneers. For in a matter of 60 or 70 years, jazz music made progressive steps which have just about brought it alongside and even moved beyond the progress of serious or classical music.

Even die-hard jazz purists, the Dixieland lovers, are conceding  that arrangement and composition have become as integral a part of jazz as improvisation. And the strides taken in the forties and in recent years in

arrangement and composition have been lengthy and amazing, so much so that jazz has become as complex in structure and conception as the most challenging works of the classicists, with jazz still managing to retain that certain elastic quality which allows a freedom for improvisation.

Most of the progress made in this direction was made in the midst of the celluloid inferno called Hollywood, and the movement has been loosely labeled West Coast jazz, much in the manner that Dixieland is familiarly called New Orleans jazz, and there is Chicago jazz, Kansas City jazz, and New York jazz. The lure of the "big money" security of work in movie music-making drew some of the most talented jazz musicians, as well as arrangers. In the hours after the day's work, West Coast jazz was nurtured and developed by a combination of the sharp studio men's minds and the more aware young non-studio musicians who sought to study and learn from their elders.       

With a working knowledge of jazz and all its previous elements, these men experimented with ideas which attempted to fuse jazz with the theories of modern classicists such as Hindemith, Berg, Stravinsky, Ravel, Delius, Shostakovich, Debussy, Schoenberg, and Milhaud. They even searched deeper to find a relationship between jazz and the Bach-Mozart period. The results have produced some of the most provocative of jazz sounds, with a greater variation of instrumental colors and a more stimulating flow of improvised ideas than has been heard since swing, the first successful arranged jazz, hit its peak in the later thirties.

This album is a prime example of the progressive movement. It's a product of the West Coast and it presents a vital student working with a teacher who can practice what he preaches. The student is leader Bill Hitz, who also is an arranger and clarinetist, and the teacher is Lyle "Spud" Murphy, an arranger-composer who is a veteran of the music scene, but who only recently has found his way into modern jazz.

The music they have produced on a collection of both standard songs and a number of their own compositions is based on Murphy's own theories and system, which he describes as his 12-tone system of equal intervals. The system still is comparatively young and barely tried, this album being the first collection of work fully developed from it. The arrangements, for the largest part, are written horizontally, and you will hear fugues, polytonality, fresh harmonies, new chord progressions — altogether a new vitality added to that basic form called jazz,

The Hitz-Murphy ideas and arrangements are played on this record by a group of other Murphy enthusiasts and students. The personnel of the band includes: Conrad Gozzo, Mickey Mangano, and Ray Linn—trumpets; Milt Bernhart and Dick Nash—trombones; Russ Cheevers, Buddy Collette, Bill Ulyate, and Chuck Gentry—saxes and winds; Gerald Wiggins—piano; Curtis Counce—bass; Larry Bunker—drums. And, of course, Bill Hitz on clarinet, and Hitz and Murphy, arrangers.

For special inspection, study Sampan, an original written in equal fourths, both melodically and harmonically, and containing several pure horizontally written (meaning the harmonies are the result of the moving lines played by the various instruments) passages featuring Hitz on clarinet; Something Blue, a polytonal blues featuring some wonderful Ray Linn trumpet and the amazing Buddy Collette on tenor sax; But Not for Me featuring some remarkable sax section passages and an interesting fugue development in the last chorus; Strike Up the Band blends jazz with a marching band flavor by employing the Murphy 12-tone system of writing and again features solos by Hitz and Collette, the latter both on alto and tenor sax.

Bill Hitz is a comparative stranger to the jazz field, and here makes his first entry as a recording artist. He has had a long string of credits as a sideman with some of the leading dance bands in the country including those led by Ralph Flanagan, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, and Charlie Barnet, and after this experience he sought out Murphy to merge this knowledge with a working knowledge of the most modern of jazz ideas. Murphy is a long-standing member of the music fraternity, having spent many years as an arranger for such bands as Jan Garber, Mal Hallett and Benny Goodman, and also was one of the most popular writers of music publisher stock orchestrations. He retired to the Coast some years ago and was hardly heard from while he developed his 12-tone system, and it was only in 1954-1955 that his name was heard from again when a number of Hollywood musicians "found" him and his ideas.

He has now become one of the key figures in the huge West Coast jazz movement.”

—Hal Webman

Original liner notes from the Cadet album The Greig McRitchie Band - Fighting Back aka Easy Jazz On A Fish Beat Bass (IPS 4058)

“Jazz has expanded at an alarming rate the past few years, but most of the influential sounds have come from small combos. "The big bands are dead" is a phrase that has been overworked since the mid-fifties. Greig McRitchie and company may just change a lot of minds. After listening to the first two cuts of this album, I was ready to roll back the rug and dance, and my mind began to wander back to those wonderful days when we would drive 200 miles a night just to stand in front of a band and listen. McRitchie has certainly captured that "feel" of the swing era, but he has dressed it up in a brand new bag. He has utilized all the basic elements of the swing era style of writing plus a modern touch of harmonic color that is as rare as a fine spice.

In addition to fronting a crew that is smooth, swinging and powerful, Greig has added another ingredient that is essential for today's jazz listener... great solo players. The rhythm section includes Shelly Manne (drums), Russ Freeman (piano), Joe Mondragon (bass), and Tony Rizzi (guitar). It's no wonder the band boots all the time. Buddy Collette's alto and flute work falls into an easy groove and Larry Bunker's vibes add a beautiful icing to a swinging cake.

There is no mistaking that McRitchie's writing has a personality and sound of its own that reflects the thoughtful goal he wants to achieve. His repeated use of vibes, alto, flute and guitar has a refreshing appeal that makes it a sound for sore ears.

If you combine all of the aforementioned elements with some of the best West Coast players and a group of easily identifiable tunes, you just can't miss. In the first thirty seconds of listening, you'll know that Greig McRitchie hasn't missed.

Opening side one with the rhythm and bass figures of a rock beat on Jeepers Creepers, the band paves the way for a swinging second chorus that provides ample blowing room for Buddy Collette. The brass swings, and Shelly gets a chance to add a few bars to wrap it all up.

McRitchie Doodle is a fine example of the flute-vibes-guitar sound I mentioned. You'll immediately recognize this as Polly Wolly Doodle All the Day— personally, I like McRitchie's version; Grandma never swung the tune like this. Russ Freeman has a little freedom and Buddy Collette adds a fluid alto chorus before the bones come in to close it.

Vincent Youmans evergreen, Sometimes I'm Happy, gets a gentle treatment from McRitchie. The ensemble sound of trombones and muted trumpets is reminiscent of Les Brown's renowned sound of the fifties. Solo spurts from Larry Bunker on vibes and Ray Linn on trumpet fill the middle before the band comes back in for the easy, two-beat finish. Dig Russ Freeman getting in the last word on the ending.

Runnin' Wild is "finger-snappin’ good". Marty Berman establishes the fooling on baritone and Larry Bunker provides the opening and closing themes. That retarded ending with the seventh chord gives it the old blues close.

What would jazz have been without the blues! Fishbeat Blues is really a vehicle for the soloists to stretch out a little bit. Russ Freeman, Buddy Collette, Tony Rizzi and Larry Bunker provide the single highlights. With Marty Berman laying down the "rock" foundation, the band swings in again for a closing chorus, with a key change thrown in for good measure.

Lonely Night is one of Greig's originals, a pretty tune that shows the fine flute work of Buddy Collette. Get a good hold on your chair when the brass section blows... you'll flip!

On side two, they should have titled the first tune Mammy's Little Baby Loves... Greig McRitchie [instead of Greig’s Bread].

Sally's Back is another McRitchie original that gives Buddy Collette and Russ Freeman the green light. Good, crisp brass work and a happy, danceable beat. It swings!

To Shuffle Off to Buffalo, McRitchie again relies on Marty Berman's baritone to establish the rhythmic pattern. The brass has a fat sound and Collette and Freeman do the solo honors.

Robbin's Nest is a nice revival of the great jazz item of the forties. The tune was penned by Sir Charles Thompson and Illinois Jacquet for New York disc jockey Freddie Robbins, and McRitchie's arrangement makes for easy digging.

Goodnight is a fitting close to the album. It opens like a down south camp meetin' before the band romps. Russ Freeman lays down a chorus and Buddy Collette turns on for one.

For digging or dancing, Greig McRitchie has found the secret sound. Stop reading and put the needle on... you're wasting some good moments if you don't hurry and listen to the Greig McRitchie Band "Fighting Back"!”                                                                                                       —Jim Boten. KADI-FM, St. Louis

Original recordings produced by Charles "Bud" Dant and Geordie Hormel Produced for CD release by Jordi Pujol © & ® 2018 by Fresh Sound Records.

Triplicity - Pinheiro, Cavalli and Ineke

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

I don’t know all the circumstances of how these, three musicians of diverse national and ethnic backgrounds found each other, but one thing is for certain as you listen to the work of Ricardo Pinheiro [Portugal], Massimo Cavalli [Italy] and Eric Ineke [The Netherlands] on their new Triplicity CD is that the bonds of their musical camaraderie make for striking music.

The eight tracks that make up Triplicity [Challenge, Daybreak DBCHR 75227] range from Blues Just Because an original by Ricardo to three beautiful standards from the great American Songbook - If I Should Lose You, You’ve Changed, When You Wish Upon A Star - Jazz classics, Along Came Betty and Conception, a bossa nova - Retrato Em Branco E Prieto and finally a movie theme - Cinema Paradiso.

Each of these tunes is formed into an original arrangement that serves to showcase the individual talents and musicianship of guitarist Pinheiro, bassist Cavalli and drummer Ineke. In some cases, the melodies are played in a fairly straightforward manner - Cinema Paradiso, for example, while others such as When You Wish Upon A Star are virtually deconstructed and almost made to sound like new tunes.

But taken as a whole and played in sequence, the music forms a concert that brings forth the very essence of Jazz - the performance of a variety of themes that allow the musicians to demonstrate their skills as improvisors.

This was my second listening experience with Ricardo, Massimo and Eric; the first occurred when they formed the rhythm section on Is Seeing Believing? [Challenge, Daybreak DBCHR 75224] along with Dave Liebman on tenor and soprano sax and Mario Laginha on piano.

While moving from a supporting role to a featured one on Triplicity, I found it particularly helpful to listen to the work of the trio through the use of so many familiar melodies. It helped me to set my ears, so to speak. Instead of struggling to learn a host of new song structures, I could concentrate instead on what the musicians were “saying” through their melodic, harmonic and rhythmic creations.

And, not only do Ricardo, Massimo and Eric have a lot to say, stylistically, they say it very well; each is an accomplished and experienced musician and each puts forth a great deal of originality in both their group interactions and in their individual improvisations.

So while you can hear the guitar, bass and drum influences in Ricardo’s approach to the guitar, Massimo’s approach to the bass and Eric’s approach to the drums, I would venture to say that I’ve yet to hear another guitar-bass-drums trio that sounds so refreshingly different.

What I came away with was a unique listening experience centered around a textured mood; a string and percussion sonority.

As the principal melodic voice on the CD, guitarist Pinheiro brings off this role with a measured grace.  In a setting made for overplaying, he never does. While explorative, his playing is restrained and selective.

Massimo frames the chords beautifully and provides a consistent “heartbeat” for the music which then allows Eric more freedom to rhythmically color it with the drum kit. But when a pulse is needed, the bass and drums “lock in” and provide a beat that drives the music [Blues Just Because], or makes it flow [Along Came Betty] or helps it to simmer [You’ve Changed].

Another quality that comes across to help create Jazz of the highest order is that Ricardo, Massimo and Eric are not just playing music, they are making it by listening to and interacting with one another. There are no egos here; this is, as the word “triplicity” would imply, a collective effort.

If you are looking for a perfectly balanced concert [an enjoyable 46.32 minutes from beginning to end] with a trio instrumentation that is acoustically understated with music played with virtuosity and originality, then you need look no farther than the Triplicity that is Pinheiro, Cavalli and Ineke.

Here’s a taste of what’s on offer in this wonderful CD.

Count Basie by Alun Morgan - Part 5

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

Born in Wales in 1928, Alun Morgan became a Jazz fan as a teenage and was an early devotee of the bebop movement. In the 1950s he began contributing articles to Melody Maker, Jazz Journal, Jazz Monthly, and Gramophone and for twenty years, beginning in 1969, he wrote a regular column for a local newspaper in Kent. From 1954 onward he contributed to BBC programs on Jazz, authored and co-authored books on modern Jazz and Jazz in England and wrote over 2,500 liner notes for Jazz recordings.

"I probably don't need to tell you that Alun Morgan was one of the most gifted and knowledgeable of all jazz writers. He wrote the most beautiful English and what he had to say was communicated flawlessly to his readers. He was comprehensively generous to other writers, and it was at his instigation that I wrote my book on Woody Herman. Once I decided to write it, he shovelled  to me the information that he had acquired for his own use on Woody at an amazing rate. Try to find anything he has written and you will be deeply rewarded if you succeed. His book on Modern Jazz was an early primer on the subject, and you'll find the one on Basie, despite its great age, is as relevant as it ever was." -  Steve Voce

Chapter Five

“World War Two ended in August, 1945 at a time when Count Basie was ensconced on the West Coast, fulfilling engagements at the Casa Manana and Club Plantation as well as a number of theatres. The band came West at the beginning of July and did not return to New York until November when they once again rocked the Lincoln Hotel to its foundations. Clearly Basie was on the crest of a wave of popularity with all manner of audiences, from hotel patrons to service men. The band contained a couple of young men who were destined to go on to greater things. Jay Jay Johnson, then 21 years of age but already a veteran of the Benny Carter orchestra, was in the trombone section along with Dicky Wells, Eli Robinson and Ted Donnelly.

Illinois Jacquet, a year or so Johnson's senior, had taken Lucky Thompson's place on what had now become, traditionally, the solo tenor chair. Basie featured them strongly, using Johnson's arrangement of Rambo (which featured 16 bars of Jay Jay's solo trombone) and scores such as Mutton leg (a Harry Edison tune dedicated to Ted 'Mutton Leg' Donnelly), The king and Stay cool, all of which had solo choruses by Jacquet.

The trumpet section also had two important additions in Joe Newman and the sadly underrated Emmett Berry. By the summer of 1946 the All American Rhythm Section was together again; Jo Jones, out of the army, took over the drum stool from Shadow Wilson while Walter Page and Basie made up whatever differences had caused the rift nearly four years earlier. Records from the period indicate that Count was by no means unaware of the new direction jazz was taking and Henri Renaud, in his invaluable and exhaustive 20-LP compilation of Basie's recordings from the Columbia and Okeh files, discovered a previously unissued version of Tadd Dameron's Stay on it recorded by Count in July, 1946, a year before Dizzy Gillespie was to record the same score.

The contract with Columbia was running out and Basie made what may be considered another dubious decision. Let John Hammond, who was then working with the new Majestic company, tell the story: 'My major objective after I joined Majestic was to bring Basie with me and I persuaded Gene Treacy and Ben Selvin to offer him a very good contract. It guaranteed him twenty five thousand dollars a year for three years with a minimum of sixteen sides and albums included. It also contained the provision that if I should leave the company, the contract could be cancelled. Basie was still being booked by the William Morris Agency, although Willard Alexander had left. The agent who ran the office and called the shots for Basie was Sam Weisbord. Basie's personal manager was Milt Ebbins, a man with whom I did not get along too well because I never felt he had Basie's best interests at heart. To this day I have no idea what took place between Ebbins and Weisbord. All I know is that I went to California with the Majestic contract to meet with Weisbord and Basie. When I reached the William Morris office I found Basie had already signed with Victor. I knew RCA Victor would not promote him properly, that it was the end of the Basie band on records, and I said so. But whether Basie was in debt at the time, or Ebbins and Weisbord considered Majestic no place for him, I never discovered the reason for his refusal to sign our contract. The next night Basie and I were on a radio programme together. As we left the studio Basie turned to me and said "John, I've never been so ashamed of myself in my life". He was in tears, and because of the frustration I felt, so was I'.

The RCA contract commenced with a recording session in Los Angeles in January, 1947 and was to continue for three years. While there certainly are some excellent records from the period, including some fine small band titles, Jimmy Rushing vocals and a magnificent Shoutin' blues which gives some indication of the band's zest, in general Hammond's fears were realised. There are dire vocals and several unsuitable choices of tunes including lacklustre 'cover’ versions of other artiste's hits, such as Open the door Richard. But the fault was certainly not wholly Victor's. Basie himself seems to have lost his direction, musically speaking, and seemed to be casting around for a new identity. It is easy, with hindsight, to criticise him and to point out that he should have persevered with the style of big band jazz he had created. The fact of the matter is that by 1948 the dancing public had changed and the new clubs wanted the 'new music' of Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman. Basie, who mixed more with his musicians than any other leader, was probably under a certain amount of pressure in the band coach from sidemen anxious to turn him the way they wanted to go. When Leonard Feather conducted a blindfold test on Basie in the summer of 1947 he found Count very enthusiastic about Gillespie's One bass hit ('Sounds like the boss, Dizzy. But Red Rodney plays terrific like that too. Arrangement very interesting - tells a story from start to finish. Four stars') and concluded with the remarks, 'I'm from the old school. I'll take the settled old swing with less notes, things that are really simple - but I like to listen to other types. The youngsters in my band support the modern part of the music. And I definitely approve of the way jazz is going. As far as bebop is concerned, it's real great if it's played right, and I think it's really taking effect. I have records that I play all the time, trying to understand. Diz and Parker and Jay Jay and Red Rodney - kids like that are really doing it'.

The 'youngsters' in his band at the time included Paul Gonsalves, who had taken over on tenor when Norman Granz made Illinois Jacquet an offer he could not afford to refuse in order to join the touring Jazz At The Philharmonic group. (Jacquet took Joe Newman with him when he left Basie.) By 1948 Count had more 'youngsters' in the ranks including trumpeters Clark Terry and Jimmy Nottingham, Shadow Wilson back on drums and Wardell Gray taking over the principal tenor chair from Buddy Tate.

The band was being booked into bop clubs such as the Royal Roost and Bop City rather than the Lincoln Hotel; Jimmy Rushing left to form a small band of his own and by the end of 1949 only a handful of Count's men had been with him for any length of time. Jack Tracy reviewed the band's appearance at Chicago's Blue Note during its December 5 to 11 booking (Downbeat, January 13, 1950) and headlined his column 'Basie best of what's left?'. He pointed out that both Woody Herman and Charlie Barnet had been forced to disband due to poor business leaving Basie 'as the best jazz band in the jazz purveying business'. He went on to say that 'the crew is an amalgamation of about every music style in the books. There are Kansas City men Basie, Freddie Green and Dicky Wells; swingsters (Emmett) Berry, Earl Warren, Jack Washington etc. and modernists (Wardell) Gray and drummer Butch Ballard. The rest fall somewhere in between. But this crew is doing quietly and without fanfare just what Dizzy Gillespie made a big issue of- giving the customers bop with a beat, music that is entirely danceable if you want to use it for that'.

But Tracy was too optimistic; four weeks after the Blue Note booking Basie broke up his big band and went back to work on February 10,1950 with a small group. Again the problem stemmed from management and booking; Count had been handled by General Artists Corporation throughout the whole of his RCA Victor contract period and succeeded in getting his release from GAC in January 1950 when he returned to Willard Alexander. It was Alexander who issued a statement saying 'Basie's big band has been badly handled in the last couple of years. It was destroyed as a box office attraction. The small group is a temporary expedient with the current conditions of the band business in mind. The combo might wind up as a permanent unit or, if conditions warrant it, he might go back to a big band. It just depends on what will make the most money for Basie'.

Vague talk of a possible European tour by the sextet in April, May or September (none of which actually took place) made it obvious that neither Alexander nor Basie had much of an idea of what the future held. The breakup of the big band had been due to nothing but failing business. Keeping such a large unit in being obviously caused many headaches and a combination of circumstances made it possible for Basie to pull a sextet together for a 'hand-to-mouth' run of bookmgs. The group came together because clarinettist Buddy De Franco was put into the unit by his new manager, Willard Alexander. Drummer Gus Johnson, from Chicago, had worked with Count several years before; Basie remembered hearing bass player Jimmy Lewis in Louisville and called him while Clark Terry, the only member of the sextet who had been with Basie's last big band, recommended tenor saxist Bob Graf from his hometown of St. Louis. When the group went into the Brass Rail in Chicago on February 10, the patrons, used to 'pantomime acts and cocktail trios' according to Down Beat magazine, were fascinated to see, in person, a major name from the worlds of records and films, albeit leading probably the smallest unit he had ever fronted.

The sextet became popular (although writers continued to comment on the somewhat strange mixture of styles) and a number of interesting saxophonists passed through the ranks. For a time both Bob Graf and baritone saxist Serge Chaloff worked in the band and each, at that time was undergoing his own personal problems. They literally leaned on Clark Terry as they flanked him in the front line and Clark remarked later that it was no wonder his shoulders developed a permanent slant! Basie brought in Wardell Gray on tenor when he flew out to California for some bookings and Buddy De Franco was 'Crow Jimmed' out of a film short the band made in August, 1950 when they appeared with Sugar Chile Robinson and Billie Holiday. (De Franco played on the film soundtrack but the coloured clarinettist seen miming on screen was Marshal Royal.) Freddie Green, who was not originally re-engaged after the break-up of the big band in January, joined the sextet one night much to Basie's surprise and pleasure. With the RCA contract at an end, Count went back to Columbia who recorded three sessions with the sextet. (Buddy Rich guested on drums on the first one while Charlie Rouse was the temporary replacement for Bob Graf who had left to join the new Woody Herman band.)

While the titles made by the small group are delightful, they lack the suppressed power and excitement of any previous Basie recordings and on Little white lies, which has one of the greatest of all Wardell Gray's ballad solos, Count comes on like Bill Snyder, a non-jazz pianist then enjoying considerable popularity with his piano-and-orchestra version of Bewitched. In January, 1951 De Franco left to form a band of his own and was replaced by Rudy Rutherford. Then, in April, Basie had the chance to put together a sixteen-piece band for a one week engagement at New York's Apollo Theatre. He rushed the band into the Columbia studios to record his first big band sides since August, 1949 including a splendid version of Little Pony. Neal Hefti, who shared much of the writing for the sextet with De Franco, provided the scores and the band contained outstanding lead musicians in Al Porcino (trumpet) and Marshall Royal (alto). But there were no other big band gigs in the offing and Count was forced to reduce to a small band again. In fact this became the pattern for the year; a week at Birdland in April with a septet containing guest trumpeter Buck Clayton, then a big band booking at the Strand Theatre the next month.

Basie took a big band to the Oasis Theatre in Los Angeles for two weeks in August then turned up at Chicago's Capitol Lounge in September with a septet. But in October he put together a big band for a week at the Savoy Ballroom and managed to weather the storm for never again did he have to reduce the size of his orchestra. The October, 1951 band contained Gus Johnson, Freddie Green and Jimmy Lewis from the last septet plus a trumpet section containing boppers Tommy Turrentine and Idrees Sulieman. The Lester Young doppelganger Paul Quinichette took most of the tenor solos and, thanks to a good humoured subterfuge by Clark Terry in his recommendation to Basie, Ernie Wilkins came into the band as an alto saxophonist. (Unknown to Basie at the time, Ernie had never played alto in his life; he was working around East St. Louis on tenor, his usual instrument, when he got the Count's call for him and his brother Jimmy to come to New York. Ernie's mother borrowed a silver lacquered alto from an amateur musician and Ernie came into the band with what the band called his 'grey ghost'!)

This was the band that Basie faced 1952 with, and a somewhat uncertain future it was for most big bands had already gone to the wall. The bright light was a new recording contract, signed with Norman Granz for a three year period (with options), and two sessions lined up in January. Trumpeter Joe Newman came back into the band and the strong trombone section comprised Henry Coker, Benny Powell and Jimmy Wilkins but perhaps the most important recruit was Marshall Royal on lead alto. Royal had been playing clarinet in the septet and did not expect to remain more than six months in Basie's employ. In fact he was promoted to the position of deputy leader and took many musical responsibilities off the Count's shoulders as well as shaping the saxophone section into one of the very finest teams jazz has ever known. The blend of the five men, their time keeping and their ability to play quietly has been a hallmark of the Basie band since the early Fifties and the major credit must go to Royal. Although he himself is a somewhat sweet-toned soloist he has always known how to get the very best from his colleagues.

With the formation of what soon became known as the 'new' Basie band, Royal's role became more exacting than that of any previous lead saxist under the Count's banner. The new band relied more on arrangements than earlier units, giving the section leaders the task of achieving technical perfection and a proper regard for dynamics. The very first titles recorded by Basie under his new contract with Granz called for supreme musicianship on the Neal Hefti arrangements of Sure thing, Why not? and Fancy meeting you plus Nat Pierce's masterly New Basie blues. The impact of those first Clef recordings on the jazz record scene was comparable with that of the first discs by the 'new' Duke Ellington band (Fancy Dan, The Hawk Talks, etc) a year or so before. It seemed that Count had found a place for himself in the hierarchy of the jazz orchestras and, fittingly, it was near the very top. All that was needed was a slight adjustment to the solo strength and that was soon to be achieved with the arrival, in May 1952, of the bustling tenor of Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis. Again Basie had a reed section with two contrasting tenors and a rhythm section as good as ever.”

To be continued ....