Benny Morton - 1934-1945 '1997

Tracks list

Benny Morton didnt make very many recordings as a leader. What youve got here
are apparently all of them. The 1934 band contained several musicians who had
worked in Don Redmans orchestra. Fare Thee Well to Harlem is one of many
preposterous Tin Pan Alley songs depicting a negro who yearns to go back to the
noble South, in this case because of the questionable assumption that down there
people go to church instead of hanging out in bars. Note that Duke Ellington
always insisted there were more churches than nightclubs in Harlem. Ellington
gave the world the diametric opposite of this song when in 1941 he composed Jump
For Joy, that ode to emancipation with its opening lyric: Fare thee well, land
of cotton, fare thee well. Its almost as if he was responding to this particular
song! Will we ever know? Tailor Made was composed and arranged by bassist Billy
Taylor, who chugs away behind the band without soloing. The Gold Diggers Song,
with its refrain of Were in the money, came directly out of Busby Berkeleys
Hollywood during the Great Depression. Nobody ever sang a hipper version of this
giddy paean to economic denial than Henry Red Allen. Edward Inge quotes both
Yankee Doodle and Pagliacci during his clarinet solo. Benny Mortons Trombone
Choir was a follow-up for Roy Eldridges Trumpet Ensemble and Coleman Hawkins &
His Sax Ensemble, all brilliantly produced by Harry Lim for Keynote Records. The
fact that four trombones were considered a choir is immediately understandable
when you immerse yourself in their glowing tonalities. The music is sculpted
with great precision, and the bones are able to strut their stuff largely
because of the excellent rhythm section of Johnny Guarnieri, Al Hall and Sid
Catlett. Although Leonard Feather is credited as the composer of Sliphorn
Outing, the tune is clearly recognizable as an upbeat version of Avalon. You
realize Al Jolson could have sued for royalties! Sliphorn is also a necessary
blow-out after the beautifully controlled cooperation and perfectly blended
harmonies of Where or When, Liza and Once in a While. The Blue Note recordings
of Benny Mortons All Stars, featuring Barney Bigard and Ben Webster, are
precious as lapis lazuli. My Old Flame comes across like an Ellington tune, for
obvious reasons. Conversing In Blue might be one of the greatest collective
improvisations in all of traditional jazz. Six men interact, three of them using
wind instruments in strikingly expressive ways, carefully listening to each
other while voicing their innermost feelings with honesty and passion. The
ballad and the blues are perfectly matched by a pair of hot standards. All four
sides were originally issued on 12 78s, allowing additional time for extended
solos and prolonged exchanges between the horns. The album ends with four
obscure titles issued on the Stinson label. Benny Mortons gentle approach to the
trombone is beautifully demonstrated on Stardust. Prince Robinsons clarinet is a
noticeable presence during Boogie and those quirkily titled romps, Williphant
Willie and Chicken at the Chester. Not a bad career retrospective for a man who
spent most of his time playing in the brass section of other peoples bands.


Tracks:

 01. Get Goin (3:17)
 02. Fare-Thee-Well To Harlem (3:07)
 03. Tailor Made (3:15)
 04. The Gold Diggers Song (Were In The Money) (3:14)
 05. Where Or When (4:45)
 06. Liza (4:25)
 07. Once In A While (4:47)
 08. Sliphorn Outing (4:36)
 09. My Old Flame (4:18)
 10. Conversing In Blue (4:41)
 11. The Sheik Of Araby (4:38)
 12. Limehouse Blues (4:13)
 13. Boogie (2:39)
 14. Williphant Willie (2:29)
 15. Stardust (3:00)
 16. Chicken At The Chester (2:26)

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