George Wallington Quintet at Cafe Bohemia

[Larry Kart]

Picked this up today and highly recommend it. A real working group, this was "The Peck" band (leader George Wallington, Jackie McLean, Donald Byrd, Paul Chambers, Art Taylor)  on a real night -- 9/5/55. The young hot Jackie sounds better than I'd hoped, and the young Byrd likewise, very fluent, Chambers plays his ass off, and Wallington is in fine form, more boppish and assertive than he would be in a while. Two CDs worth, with several takes of several tracks. Filled out with the Wallington '53 Blue Note 10-incher that was reissued with a 10-inch Frank Foster date. Liner notes by Gus Striatis relate that he dug the band and called RVG to come down and record it.

[mhatta]

That one has been a favorite of Japanese Jazz fans for ages.  Thinly disguised "Jay Mac's Crib" is nice, but I really like very boppish theme of "Sweet Blanche".  I hope somebody covers it.

 

[Mark Stryker]

VERY early Donald Byrd, who had only relocated to New York from Detroit in June and had only made two studio dates by the time of this gig. 

[Chuck Nessa]

Long ago Gus Statiras was a friend. Sigh.

[jlhoots]

Not to derail, but I like The Prestidigitator too.

[Ken Dryden]

I remember Gus Statiras from his days selling CDs at various jazz parties. He had some stories...

[Big Beat Steve]

On 13.7.2021 at 2:50 AM, Larry Kart said:

Picked this up today and highly recommend it. A real working group, this was "The Peck" band (leader George Wallington, Jackie McLean, Donald Byrd, Paul Chambers, Art Taylor)  on a real night -- 9/5/55. The young hot Jackie sounds better than I'd hoped, and the young Byrd likewise, very fluent, Chambers plays his ass off, and Wallington is in fine form, more boppish and assertive than he would be in a while. Two CDs worth, with several takes of several tracks. Filled out with the Wallington '53 Blue Note 10-incher that was reissued with a 10-inch Frank Foster date. Liner notes by Gus Striatis relate that he dug the band and called RVG to come down and record it.

Wondering ... "more assertive than he would be in a while"? More assertive than he was earlier on (FWIW, I love his Prestige twofer which WAS earlier) or more assertive than he was later? (when exactly?)

Have some of these tracks been tampered with or are there different takes in circulation on the various existing reissues? My version of this on (U.S.) Progressive PRO-7001  has track timing that sometimes varies widely from the Prestige LPs, for example.

[Peter Friedman]

I bought this original LP when first released back in 1956(?) as I recall.

Sold my original LP when it was reissued on CD.

Loved it then, and still have warm positive feelings about it.

[Larry Kart]

12 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Wondering ... "more assertive than he would be in a while"? More assertive than he was earlier on (FWIW, I love his Prestige twofer which WAS earlier) or more assertive than he was later? (when exactly?)

Have some of these tracks been tampered with or are there different takes in circulation on the various existing reissues? My version of this on (U.S.) Progressive PRO-7001  has track timing that sometimes varies widely from the Prestige LPs, for example.

"In a while" means later on, not earlier. I was thinking of his Atlantic trio album "Knight Music" (1957) where nice as that album is at times he almost sounds like he's going for an East Side supper club vibe. Even on the excellent "Jazz for the Carriage Trade" (Prestige, Jan. "56) he's mellowed out in terms of attack versus where he was in 9/55. OTOH, when he returned to action on  the two solo albums he did in Japan  -- "Virtuoso" (Nippon Columbia, 1984) and "The Symphony of a Jazz Piano" (Denon, 1986) -- he was simply ferocious.

I'm not up on the various reissues of the Bohemia material. This 2-CD version on Phomo claims to be complete and includes two takes of "Johnny One Note" (one 8:25, the other 8:05) , two of "Sweet Blanche"  (one 6:59, the other 7:36), two of "Snakes" (one 5.55, the other 6.44), two of "Bohemia After Dark" (one 8:22, the other 9.08) two of "Jay Mac's Crib" (one 8:38, the other 7:43), and two of ""Minor March" later known as "Little Melonae" (one 6:45, the other 7:44). BTW"Little Melonae IMO is an excellent and very hip tune, especially for the time. Reminds me some of George Russell.

[bertrand]

'Minor March' is not the same song as 'Little Melonae'. 'Minor March' was retitled 'Minor Apprehension' on the New Soil record. Maybe that is what you were thinking of? 

[Larry Kart]

Oops -- you're right. Still, it's an excellent piece.

[mjzee]

16 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Have some of these tracks been tampered with or are there different takes in circulation on the various existing reissues? My version of this on (U.S.) Progressive PRO-7001  has track timing that sometimes varies widely from the Prestige LPs, for example.

IIRC, the original authorized album was on Prestige.  Gus Statiras claimed ownership of the alternate takes and released them on Progressive.  Prestige sued and won possession of the alternates, and the Progressive album was withdrawn.

[bertrand]

2 hours ago, mjzee said:

IIRC, the original authorized album was on Prestige.  Gus Statiras claimed ownership of the alternate takes and released them on Progressive.  Prestige sued and won possession of the alternates, and the Progressive album was withdrawn.

And now they are owned by Concord so they should see the light of day any minute now...

[Big Beat Steve]

7 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

"In a while" means later on, not earlier. I was thinking of his Atlantic trio album "Knight Music" (1957) where nice as that album is at times he almost sounds like he's going for an East Side supper club vibe. Even on the excellent "Jazz for the Carriage Trade" (Prestige, Jan. "56) he's mellowed out in terms of attack versus where he was in 9/55. OTOH, when he returned to action on  the two solo albums he did in Japan  -- "Virtuoso" (Nippon Columbia, 1984) and "The Symphony of a Jazz Piano" (Denon, 1986) -- he was simply ferocious.

I'm not up on the various reissues of the Bohemia material. This 2-CD version on Phomo claims to be complete and includes two takes of "Johnny One Note" (one 8:25, the other 8:05) , two of "Sweet Blanche"  (one 6:59, the other 7:36), two of "Snakes" (one 5.55, the other 6.44), two of "Bohemia After Dark" (one 8:22, the other 9.08) two of "Jay Mac's Crib" (one 8:38, the other 7:43), and two of ""Minor March" later known as "Little Melonae" (one 6:45, the other 7:44).

Thanks for your explanation. I understand your point about "Knight Music".
As for the playing times of the tunes, I did not re-check closer now but the differences look more or less like the differences between the Prestige pressings (according to the information on Discogs) and my Progressive LP (though the times indicated on your CD set do not match the vinyls totally exactly). So maybe Prestige had one set of takes and Progressive another one? The liner notes of the Progressive LP do not hint at any alternates, though.

[mhatta]

I heard that at some point in early 70's, some Japanese record company (Teichiku?) tried to reissue "At Cafe Bohemia" in Japan and contacted Gus Grant (aka Gus Statiras).  Gus sent them a master tape, but somehow it contained alternates, not original takes.  So there is a version of "At Cafe Bohemia" LP, a 1976 Japanese pressing with a wine red jacket (I suppose the original was purple), features alternate takes.

[mhatta]

On 2021/7/15 at 8:07 AM, Larry Kart said:

"In a while" means later on, not earlier. I was thinking of his Atlantic trio album "Knight Music" (1957) where nice as that album is at times he almost sounds like he's going for an East Side supper club vibe. Even on the excellent "Jazz for the Carriage Trade" (Prestige, Jan. "56) he's mellowed out in terms of attack versus where he was in 9/55. OTOH, when he returned to action on  the two solo albums he did in Japan  -- "Virtuoso" (Nippon Columbia, 1984) and "The Symphony of a Jazz Piano" (Denon, 1986) -- he was simply ferocious.

I'm not up on the various reissues of the Bohemia material. This 2-CD version on Phomo claims to be complete and includes two takes of "Johnny One Note" (one 8:25, the other 8:05) , two of "Sweet Blanche"  (one 6:59, the other 7:36), two of "Snakes" (one 5.55, the other 6.44), two of "Bohemia After Dark" (one 8:22, the other 9.08) two of "Jay Mac's Crib" (one 8:38, the other 7:43), and two of ""Minor March" later known as "Little Melonae" (one 6:45, the other 7:44). BTW"Little Melonae IMO is an excellent and very hip tune, especially for the time. Reminds me some of George Russell.

 

I think all of Wallington's outputs in 50's are excellent.  It's pity that he retired early.  He had a phenomenal technique, but for me he had some problem to adapt complex rhythms.  I guess that was one of the reason he decided to retire.  

There is an another CD called " The Pleasure Of A Jazz Inspiration" recorded after his "comeback" (and I guess it was released posthumously).  It's little known, but I think this is the best of the bunch.

On alternate takes of "At Cafe Bohemia", they are certainly nice additions, but for me they are not up to the original ones.  The original takes are small miracles.

[Big Beat Steve]

In fact I had not seen Mjzee's comments re-Prestige and the alternates when I wrote my reply to Larry Kart yesterday. Interesting to learn about where these alternates went ... But were the Progressive reissues actually withdrawn?

Anyway ... good to see it would pay to look for a Prestige pressing too. And amazing to see that someone at that time cared enough about that niche music to sue about an "infringement".