Benny Carter LEGENDS
Featuring Hank Jones
[1] The More I See You [quartet] (Warren/Gordon)
Bregman, Vocco & Conn, Inc., ASCAP
[2] I Was Wrong [quartet] (Carter)
Bee Cee Music, ASCAP
[3] Wonderland [duo] (Carter)
Bee Cee Music, ASCAP
[4] Blues In My Heart [quintet] (Carter/Mills)
Mills Music, Inc., ASCAP
[5] You Are [duo] (Carter)
Bee Cee Music, ASCAP
[6] People Time [duo] (Carter)
Bee Cee Music, ASCAP
[7] No Greater Love [quartet]
(Jones/Symes)
World Music, Inc., ASCAP
[8] Sunset Glow [duo] (Carter)
Bee Cee Music, ASCAP
[9] The Little Things That Mean So Much [quintet*] (Adamson/Wilson)
Robbins Music, ASCAP
[10] The Legend [duo] (Carter)
Bee Cee Music, ASCAP
[11] Honeysuckle Rose [quintet*] (Waller/Raza!)
Anne Rachel Music Corp., ASCAP
duo:
Benny Carter, alto sax; Hank Jones, piano quartet: add Christian McBride, bass; Lewis Nash, drums quintet: add Doc Cheatham, trumpet quintet*: Chris Neville, piano, replaces Hank Jones on tracks 9 and 11
In the course of his extraordinary career, Benny Carter has managed to record with nearly all of the greatest pianists in jazz history: Fats Waller, Willie "The Lion" Smith, Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson (whom Carter first brought into the limelight), Art Tatum, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Nat Cole, Oscar Peterson, Tommy Flanagan (and others a listener might see fit to add). Conspicuously absent from this distinguished roster, however, was Hank Jones, a keyboard master who has often been described in terms similar to those applied to Carter himself: "elegant," "urbane," and "impeccable."
This oversight is hereby remedied and, to coin a phrase, the results were worth waiting for. (To be absolutely discographically correct, there is a CarterJones performance on record prior to this, but it can best be described as subliminal; it's a single chorus featuring Carter on "Cocktails for Two" from a ballad medley at a 1952 Jazz at the Philharmonic concert.) Of course these two have played together many times before, notable at two splendid 1973 concerts at Princeton University, where Carter was then in residence.
Among the happy results of this long-overdue pairing are five duets, something new in the annals of recorded Carter. Intimate and revealing (there's no place to hide}, duets are a very special kind of music, and these conversations are olympian.
There's much else to rejoice about here, such as the presence on three performances of one of Carter's oldest friends, the remarkable Doc Cheatham. The two first worked together in McKinney's Cotton Pickers in 1931, when Carter briefly was that fine band's musical director. The next year, when Carter formed his own orchestra, he selected Cheatham as his lead trumpet. "Doc," Carter said, "is the cause of my being a trumpet player. And the mouthpiece he gave me in 1932 is still the only one I've ever played on." Over the following decades there were occasional encounters, such as a Louis Armstrong tribute at Monterey and a McKinney's reunion in Detroit, yet this is their first joint studio appearance in 40 years, and their first ever in a small-group context.
At the other end of the scale (range and agewise) is the bassist whose duet chorus with Carter leads off. the CD; he was born on May 31, 1972, making him the baby of this gathering. But in years only, for when it comes to musicianship, Christian McBride can hold his own with many a seasoned veteran. Aside from his astonishing instrumental command, he has a fabulous ear, yet isn't just a quick study-he has musical taste and judgment. The fact that both his father and an uncle are bass players may have something to do with this young man's uncanny talent. As his favorites, he cites Oscar Pettiford, Ray Brown and Paul Chambers.
Drummer Lewis Nash and pianist Chris Neville (the latter sits in for Jones on two quintet cuts)
are positively elderly compared to Christian but must be counted among the Young Turks of jazz today. Nash, born in Phoenix in 1958, came to New York in 1981 and spent the next five years with a couple of other Carters, first singer Betty, then bassist Ron. Since then, he's been much in demand, working and recording with a veritable who's who, notably J.J. Johnson (a Benny Carter alumnus), Sonny Rollins, Clark Terry, and the Tommy Flanagan Trio, of which he's a member as of this writing. As quick of mind as of hand and foot, Nash is a tasty percussionist indeed.
Pianist Neville, born in 1955, made his auspicious recording debut with Carter and Phil Woods on My Man Benny/My Man Phil (MusicMasters 5036), having impressed the King during a Cambridge engagement with his command of the keyboard and the idiom.
The More I See You, a 1945 Harry Warren-Mack Gordon opus (introduced by Dick Haymes in the film "Diamond Horseshoe") fits Carter like a glove. If it was unfamiliar to him, there's nothing to indicate it. Walked on by McBride and Carter, it glides into smooth swing when Jones and Nash join the party. During Carter's second chorus, he tosses off a double-time embellishment that's like a signature.
Wonderland, recorded by Carter in 1976 (but released only in the 1980s) is the first of the duets. It's a catchy theme, and the twosome takes it at a jaunty stroll. After Carter's theme statement he commences to improvise, and we note how much swinging momentum there is in his phrases; bass and drums aren't missed here when it comes to sustaining the beat. When Jones plays unaccompanied, the strength of his left hand comes fully into play. At first, he recalls Tatum in his touch; later there's a hint of Garner, but it all adds up to Hank Jones, stylist. Benny returns, inspired, for a fine chorus, and then he and Hank trade eights. Finesse!
I Was Wrong is a lovely Carter melody (it has lyrics by the composer-singers please note!) never recorded before. His alto sings on this, and there is fine support and solo work from the pianist and bassist. You'll want to hear this tune again.
Blues In My Heart is perhaps the best known Carter song; it's been recorded by practically everyone since 1931 when it was introduced. The composer has ventured it on record more than once, notably with his own International Orchestra in 1937, and with Art Tatum in 1954. Here it serves to introduce Doc Cheatham, who states the melody on open horn with a clarity and authority that belie his age, after Hank's fine introduction. Carter is the first soloist, authoritatively. The pianist takes an extended solo filled with ideas (this is the album's longest cut). Doc steps up (you can almost see him holding his horn in that super-correct position) for a strong chorus, followed by McBride, who takes a couple without ever losing sight of the text. Doc comes back to begin an animated conversation in fours with Carter, and then they merge to take it home. A definitive interpretation of a classic.
You Are, a charming Carter melody, was premiered at the 1972 Newport Jazz Festival in New York by an all-star band under Carter's leadership, but its only previous recording is by Loren Schoenberg's big band (MusicMasters 60186). This duet version is sublime, with both protagonists marvelously relaxed, ideas flowing. The ending is sheer bliss.
This duet called for an encore, and People Time sustains the high level attained by You Are. The melody ranks with Carter's best; no wonder Stan Getz chose it as the title tune for what he must have known would be his final musical statement. "Stan told me he wanted to call the album 'People Time,' Carter said. "I was pleased, of course." This is Carter's first alto version of the piece, premiered as part of Central City Sketches with the American Jazz Orchestra under Carter's direction (composer on trumpet can be found on the previously mentioned collaboration with Phil Woods. Here MusicMasters 5030), but germinated in the score of a 1970s animated film by John and Faith Hubley. A version with the Hank Jones leads off with what might be his finest effort on the date (it's hard to choose), out of tempo. Carter follows with a serene single chorus that illuminates the melody from within. A gem.
sheer blowing by Benny -- a veritable lesson in creative improvisation. His three supporters are in there, but this is Benny's show, all the way
Sunset Glow stems from Carter's brilliant "Kansas City Suite," written for the 1960 Count Basie band. Until now, that was its sole recorded incarnation. It works equally well as a duet, with a piano chorus framed by alto statements. Benny and Hank stay close to the melody, which merits the loving treatment.
The Little Things That Mean So Much is a bit of a rarity -- a fine song by Irene Wilson, as she was credited on her then-husband Teddy Wilson's 1939 recording with his own big band, vocal by Jean Eldridge. The composer had been a bandleader in her own right in Chicago, and an excellent pianist; then she was known as Irene Eadie. Later still, she became Irene Kitchings. Her most famous song is "Some Other Spring." She would, I think, have loved what Carter & Co. do here, from Doc's statement of the melody to Carter's sterling improvisation to Chris Neville's three flowing choruses, mixing locked hands and single-line textures effectively. A mellow performance.
No Greater Love (which came from Isham Jones' fertile pen in 1936) is one of the standards that hitherto have eluded Benny's recording net. From the first - chorus paraphrase to the extended tag ending, this is a masterpiece of
The Legend is the final duet. This piece also stems from a Carter score for the Basie band -the title track from an album I'll always remember, since its recording marked the first time I laid eyes on Benny Carter, long since one of my favorites. Marshall Royal was indisposed and Basie wanted Carter to play lead, but
knowing what a fine altoist Frank Wess is, Benny insisted on playing second alto. This is in C minor, and Benny and Hank turn in a somber, moving statement that features fine interplay.
We end with Honeysuckle Rose -- certainly not a Carter first; just think of the immortal 1937 Paris version, with Coleman Hawkins and Django Reinhardt. But this is a great interpretation of the venerable Fats Waller anthem in its own right, Doc putting in a straight mute for a spell,
Benny engaging Lewis Nash in a stirring conversation, and McBride showing that his admiration for Paul Chambers isn't just talk. Neville really gets a chance to stretch out here, and he makes the most of the opportunity. At Carter's insistence (Benny kept gesturing "one more"), the pianist fashions four fiery choruses.
-Dan Morgenstern
