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"Jaws & Stitt at Birdland"


Larry Kart

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Perhaps this shouldn't be in "Recommendations" because this 1991 Roulette CD (an expanded version of a 1954 Roulette LP) seems to be OOP, even from EU sources, but I just found a copy and am thrilled by what I'm hearing from Jaws and Stitt (though organist Doc Bagby is no bargain, drummer Charlie Rice holds up his end). Jaws (in very good form and leading off on each track; it was his trio) and Stitt are a nicely contrasted pair, as one would expect, and that fact plus whatever vibe might have been in the air that night inspires some of the best (maybe THE best) Stitt tenor playing I've ever heard. He's incredibly fluent even by his standards (Jaws often tries to rival him there in exchanges, which of course eggs Stitt on), little or nothing is routine, and he's also quite Pres-ish at times (a plus for me).

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I've got the Fresh Sounds issue of this & agree w/Larry. The only thing I might add is that I sense that this is a "battle" in the truest sense, you got two notorious cutthroat tenor players who were known to be brutal to anybody who dare to seriously challenge them, and I think that with these two, there's a sense of "wariness" by both parties at going too far for the jugular, b/c they both know how far it would end up going, and it is a Birdland gig, after all, etc.

Very high-level playing by both men, but not a "free for all" jam, not by any means, but a strategic battle nevertheless, and one well worth observing and analyzing as such, as well as just plain ol' digging it.

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From an Amazon comment:

"The organist on this 1954 live date is not Shirley Scott but Harry Bagby who, unlike Shirley, plays his own bass lines on the recording. However, like Shirley he employs a heavy, thickly textured, pre-Jimmy Smith organ sound, one moreover that's bound to turn off some listeners, evoking Sunday morning shouting church services or roller rinks as much as Saturday night lounge scenes."

Would that it had been the swinging Scott, though I find Bagby's huffing and chuffing easy to ignore.

Jim's comments about the nature of the Jaws-Stitt battle are right on target.

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I love this session. It came out in Europe as a 2 LP set on Vogue called "Hey Lock!" That starts off with some of Jaws' first tenor/organ recordings done for Royal Roost in about 1950 (date uncertain). Then 3 sides of the Birdland session.

I quite like Doc Bagby. But I do like the pre-Smith players a lot and Doc had a lot of gospel in his soul - he'd been the musical director for Gotham Records in Philly and supervised a lot of their gospel recordings.

And don't forget when this was recorded - 1954. Shirley wasn't in the picture at all. She hadn't even joined that trio with Trane then. Who was there around in the New York area who could have laid some other kind of backing down? Wild Bill was back and forth between NY & LA and contracted to OkeH/Epic anyway. Milt was doing the same and feels quite wrong for this type of thing anyway. Doggett was all over the country and contracted to King. Hank Marr was out in Columbus (and may not have taken up the organ at that stage). Tommy Dean was the only one I think who would have made the session really FLY - and he was in St Louis. Doc was almost certainly the best guy available in the area at the time.

MG

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Don't have it and have never heard it, so I can't add to any discussion, but there are used copies here

Wow, how prices of rare Jazz CDs have fallen. This used to regularly go for over $50 in the late 90's.

I haven't spun this in years, but I remember great playing by the two front liners. I agree with the "roller rink" comment on the organ playing. Easy to ignore since the fidelity isn't really good enough to hear him that well.

Edited by Kevin Bresnahan
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