Here's the deal on this set from "the Herdsmen":
Dick Collins
,
Red Kelly
Ralph Burns
, and a few other cats went over to Paris from Germany while they were playing with
Woody Herman
's
Third Herd
, the first to play Europe in 1954. All the players involved --
Nat Pierce
Cy Touff
Jerry Coker
Bill Perkins
Dick Hafer
Chuck Flores
Jimmy Gourley
-- were either currently in
the Third Herd
or kicking around Europe anyway. Why have you heard of so few of these people? Simply because they are footnotes in
jazz
history, not major players. This is not to imply that they are not quality musicians, just that they were, most of them, workmen in various bands of the era, from
Herman
to
Shorty Rogers
Kenton
Charlie Ventura
, etc. Which is the exact importance of this wonderful, swinging West Coast-style date made in Paris for none other than French author and critic
Charles Delauney
. Trumpeter
is who made it all happen after playing with the
Dave Brubeck
Octet, and studying in Paris with
Darius Milhaud
, the French composer who
Brubeck
and
John Lewis
studied with when he was in residence at Mills College later in his life.
Collins
picked up
Kelly
Touff
(bass trumpet!),
Perkins
(tenor),
Hafer
(tenor), pianist
Henri Renaud
, and drummer
John Louis Viale-Coker
.
Pierce
Gourley
, and
Flores
played on the next session a couple of days later. The program is an amalgam of originals, standards, and tunes literally unknown before or after this session, not credited to anyone. This is a blowing date. The arrangements are loose, the swing value is high, and there is a feeling of relaxation and reckless abandon found on few recordings from this period. This is
West Coast jazz
with a European elegance courtesy of
Renaud
-- one of the greatest pianists in any genre France ever produced. Most notable tracks here are the covers:
Basie
"The King,"
Lester Young
"Blue Lester,"
Shelton Brooks
'
"Some of These Days,"
and one by
-- who also did some arranging on
"Honey Baby."
A hot date, one that is welcome as a reissue on CD. ~ Thom Jurek