Lou Blackburn and Freddie Hill

[John L]

Lou Blackburn-tb

Freddie Hill-t

Horace Tapscott-p

John Duke-b

Leroy Henderson-d

Hollywood, 1963

Apparently, this Fresh Sound reissue of two rare Imperial LPs has been around since 1999. Where have I been?

I just picked this one up, due primarily to curiosity about what Tapscott sounded like in 1963. What a surprise! This working band was incredibly together and ready to play, just waiting for the opportunity to put on wax the fine music that they had worked out. The opportunity apparently only came once, and they sure made the best of it.

"Seamless" is the word that comes to mind. This band lives and breathes as a single unit. Most of the material is Lou Blackburn originals, many of which are which very distinctive and compelling. There would appear to be a goldmine here of off-the-beaten-track material for new covers. Why isn't Blackburn more well known? Freddie Hill also plays EXTREMELY well. Leroy Henderson swings his ass off. (I only knew him before from the live Jug-Groove Holmes disc.)

Horace Tapscott was already close to maturity at the time of this recording. This extensive portrait of Tapscott in 1963 is notable not only for being the very first Tapscott on wax, but, other than the few precious cuts that he made with Blythe in 69, the only Tapscott on wax until 1978! His trademark percussive sound is already quite evident, if not as dominant as it would become later on his recordings as a leader.

All in all, this is high quality music with a flavor all its own from a group of musicians who sure should have had more opportunities to record. Almost every track is a joy. It's been a while since I picked up a reissue that has brought more smiles to my face.

Edited June 18, 2004 by John L

[relyles]

I picked this one up a couple of years ago. It is very enjoyable. I may have to give it another spin soon.

[Eric]

Just got it ... I like it.

[kh1958]

The only time I recollect running across Lou Blackburn is on Mingus at Monterey.

[mikeweil]

Lou Blackburn moved to Europe in the 1970's, to Berlin if my memory serves me right, played in radio big bands and founded a pretty popular Afro-Jazz band, Mombasa that recorded several LPs that didn't really catch the great feeling that band transported live - I saw them half a dozen times, their conga player Tom Nicholas (from Philadelphia) was my first teacher. Blackburn died about ten years ago.

[JSngry]

Both these guys turn up on this one:

Not a bad side, not bad at all...

[JSngry]

Also, both of these guys seemed to be pretty active in the L.A. studio scene of the time, which was a good way to make money and remain basically annoymous.

I found Eugene Chadbourne's AMG Bio of Blackburn to be more than a little interesting, so here it is, reprinted and rebroadcast without the permission of AMG or the express written consent of Major League Baseball:

With some musicians, their career represents an actual odyssey or travel through musical situations both geographical and aesthetic, and trombonist Lou Blackburn is a perfect example. It is too easy just to dismiss him as another mainstream jazz trombonist gone Afro-pop, when his actual personal voyage, from his native Pittsburgh to the life of an expatriate jazz player in Europe, from mainstream jazz to Mombassa, is an inspiring example of self-realization through trombone solos.

Blackburn became passionate about music early in life, using it to help get through both the disciplined lifestyles of college and the army. Getting out of the services in 1956, he began gigging with Charlie Ventura, immediately establishing a connection with the West Coast scene that never went away. Blackburn did more than catch sun rays in California; if a really happening jazz event was taking place, he tended to be more than just on the sidelines. Mingus at Monterey is one classic recording of modern jazz on which Blackburn appears as part of an expanded group of hornmen tackling the difficult and profound "Meditations on Integration" chart, including trumpeters Bobby Bryant and Melvin Moore, Red Callender on tuba, and Buddy Collette on alto sax and flute. Blackburn also cut sessions on his own with Horace Tapscott sitting in the piano chair, the reissue of which has been a great opportunity to study the latter unique musician's evolving style.

Blackburn was already a veteran himself when he became involved with Tapscott, and had spent the late '50s honing his trombone chops on tour with Lionel Hampton, a heavily booked group that did long stretches of one-nighters throughout Europe and North Africa. In 1960, Blackburn joined the band of trumpeter Cat Anderson, a trail that led back to the classic big band of Duke Ellington, with whom the trombonist wound up working for eight months of 1961, some of which time was spent toiling in the Columbia recording studios. From here he went to California, where he began working in film studios, also tainting the slide of his trombone with the allure of pop music.

Blackburn's credits lurch into another dimension at this stage of the game, perhaps the fifth, with appearances on recordings by the Turtles, the Righteous Brothers, and the Beach Boys, in the latter case admittedly doing naught with his trombone that might distract from the sounds of the theremin on "Good Vibrations." There were also incredibly creative projects, such as the David Amram recording session for the paranoid masterpiece film The Manchurian Candidate, for which the composer assembled a first-rate orchestra from the ranks of symphony soloists, chamber music players, Latin performers; with such jazz artists as reed player and flautist Paul Horn (basically helpless unless he is playing in a monument such as one of the great pyramids), big-toned tenor continent Harold Land, low-end reed guy Jack Nimitz, and Dick Leith joining Blackburn on the trombones. Amram himself startled some of the film's producers by leapfrogging from the podium to the side of the musicians, joining the fray with his own improvised solos on French horn and piano.

In the '70s, Blackburn was ready for another change, good vibes or not. He moved to Europe, where he began leading his own groups first out of Berlin, then Switzerland. He formed an ensemble entitled Mombassa, with a very strong African content to its arrangements. The lineup included musicians from several African countries, the influence of African music in the leader's playing more and more apparent in each passing year. He also collaborated with European jazz players such as Wolfgang Köhler in ensembles along the lines of the Lou Blackburn International Quartet, with more of a progressive jazz feel.

[John L]

Blackburn and Hill also played with Gerald Wilson in the 1960s, and appear on the Mosaic box in a number of sessions.

[mikeweil]

He formed an ensemble entitled Mombassa, with a very strong African content to its arrangements. The lineup included musicians from several African countries, the influence of African music in the leader's playing more and more apparent in each passing year.

Well, that one statement is wrong: Although Blackburn called Mobasa's (not Mombassa's) music "New African Jazz", it never had any members born in Africa. I followed the lineup closely, and all were Afro-Americans in Europe, among them trumpeters Carmell Jones (yes!) and Doug Lucas (very fine fluegelhornist living in Belgium who composed some nice tunes), conga drummer Tom Nicholas and drummer Doug Hammond.