Julie London album with wild Jimmy Rowles charts

[Larry Kart]

“Julie,” a 1958 Julie London album on Liberty with exceptional big-band charts by Jimmy Rowles -- Ellingtonian in some ways but also quite personal and quirky (almost surreal at times), a la Rowles’ comping.  Recognizable soloists include Harry Edison, Benny Carter, and (I’m pretty sure) Don Fagerquist; acoustic guitar solos by (I think) Al Viola, a frequent London musical partner, and on one track there’s even some nice jazz violin! Tenor saxophonist I think is Georgie Auld. The flute and baritone saxophone soloists I don’t know, though a friend suggests that the latter is Ronny Lang. It’s available on a Capitol London compilation:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Julie-Love-Rocks-London/dp/B000DNVJSQ

 

It also can be found on Spotify. London more than hold up her end of things. 

 

If Rowles could write like this, what else did he do in this vein, if anything?

Edited June 26, 2015 by Larry Kart

[JSngry]

Wow, I went looking on YouTube asking myself, yeah, Jimmy Rowles, quirky is the word, but still, it's a Julie London album it can't be that quirky, nevermind surreal, but...uh...yes it can be, and yes it is.

 

That's, like, every First Herd rudeness impulse rolled into one and then quieted down for, yes, a Julie London album.

Didn't see that one coming, but it's on the way now, so, good looking out, Larry, gracias beaucoup.

(but Georgie Auld? Did Auld go through a Jug phase? Obviously not Jug, of course, but those downward slurbends sure resonate in a Jug-style way)

 

 

[mikeweil]

Doesn't sound like Auld to these ears. I will listen more closely as soon as the copy Ijust ordered has arrived.

[mjzee]

Rowles also did the charts for this album:

 

[Larry Kart]

Auld is just a guess, but I'm pretty sure that it's a player of his general vintage and style. As for Auld and Jug -- yes, Auld had some of what Jug had (big warm tone more or less out of Hawkins and Ben Webster, plus incipient Pres-like phrasing and gut-level swing) before Jug was on the scene, though I  wouldn't think there was any Auld to Jug influence. If it's not Auld on the London album, I thought for a sec that it might be Plas Johnson, but Plas' musical fingerprints are usually pretty evident.

This late-in-the day Auld performance is rather Jug-like:

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjORxGVzMDA

 

early Auld balladering:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tanFCDqtFUs

 

Auld c. 1944 with his own big band:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN6T8J3a47g

 

Auld from 1958, with Don Fagerquist, Larry Bunker, Howard Roberts, and Lou Levy:

 

Edited June 26, 2015 by Larry Kart