The Mastersounds

[Larry Kart]

Listened to something today that tickled me, an old (is there any other kind?) Mastersounds LP “In Concert,” which I picked up in battered form two summers ago at a used book store in Amherst, Ma. Trying to penetrate the surface noise and the moments of sonic overload on Buddy Montgomery's vibes, I found a lot to like, both as a group and individuals, than I vaguely recalled from way back when. Certainly a Milt Jackson man, Buddy swung very hard and had his own lilting melodic sense within that Bags bag; Richie Crabtree was an alert soloist and accompanist, a somewhat inspired by Silver player; Monk’s time was very propulsive; and Benny Barth had his own snap-crackle-pop thing (not unrelated to Roy Haynes', but I suspect that that was just the way Barth played). Above all, the music sounded very fresh to me; these guys enjoyed playing together. 

So I ordered a Fresh Sounds Mastersounds compilation of this album, their album of Horace Silver tunes, and their "Ballad and Blues."
 

[Teasing the Korean]

I have a few of their LPs on vinyl.  A good group sound, and Buddy is great on vibes.   Monk makes the electric bass sound more like an acoustic bass than any other player I've heard. 

[Big Beat Steve]

By coincidence I have original pressings of the "In Concert" and "Introducing" LPs (in very decent condition - not much popping and crackling to listen through to ;)) and this thread spurred me to listen to them again last night.

I agree with with Teasing's (hey, where's the TK of your moniker? ) comment on Monk being pleasantly un-electric-bass-ish, and above all I really cannot find that the comments that many jazz scribes made back then (about the Mastersounds just riding high on the wave of the MJQ's popularity and there not being much more to them) are true at all. There is a certain overall similarity, of course, but it doesn't go that far and they certainly aren't as "brain-heavy" as the MJQ often was, and Buddy Montgomery is very much his own man IMHO.

Edited October 13, 2015 by Big Beat Steve

[Joe]

I like that Horace Silver record quite a bit.

[mikeweil]

I always loved them as a kind of more hard bop tinged alternative to the MJQ. They definitely worked out a lot of nice arrangements. In my ears, areal working band, with our without Wes.