Seldon Powell Sextet (Roost 2220)

[Mark Stryker]

This record just made it on to my radar. Lord disocgraphy says 1956, which would make by a couple of years the earliest Roland Hanna on record. Yet I don't see it listed in discogs, and I'm confused as to why I didn't pick it up some months ago when I last was looking into Hanna. Anybody know anything about this or have a copy that gives any clues about exactly when it was recorded or mentions Roland in the liner notes?

 

The Seldon Powell Sextet : Jimmy Cleveland (tb) Seldon Powell (ts) Sir Roland Hanna (p) Freddie Green (g) Aaron Bell (b) Osie Johnson (d)

New York, 1956

	Woody'n you	Roost LP2220, Fresh Sound (Sp)FSR-CD93 [CD]
	She's funny that way (jc out)	-                   -
	11th hour blues	-                   -
	Button nose	-                   -
	Missy's melody	-                   -
	I'll close my eyes (jc out)	-                   -
	A flower is a lovesome thing (jc out)	-                   -
	It's a crying shame	-                   -

Note:

Fresh Sound (Sp)FSR-CD93 [CD] titled "Seldon Powell Sextet Featuring Jimmy Cleveland"; see flwg session for rest of CD.

 

 

[Larry Kart]

This is all I have, repeats the above:

SELDON POWELL SEXTET NYC. 1956

Eight titles:Jimmy Cleveland (tb), Seldon Powell (ts), Roland Hanna (p), Freddie Green (g), Aaron Bell (b), Osie Johnson (dm).) NYC. 1956

Four titles: As above except Gus Johnson (dm) replaces Osie Johnson. 

 

Bought this on LP back then. Very good stuff.

A later nice taste of Powell:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDYRJZT3WMg

 

Early 60's hard bop session lead by drummer Bill English, with Dave Burns, Seldon Powell, Martin Rivera and Lloyd Mayers.
222
Fly Me To The Moon
Rollin'
Heavy Soul
7th Ave Bill
A Blues Serenade
Sel's Tune
Makin' Whoopee 

 

[Big Beat Steve]

7 hours ago, Mark Stryker said:

This record just made it on to my radar. Lord disocgraphy says 1956, which would make by a couple of years the earliest Roland Hanna on record. Yet I don't see it listed in discogs, and I'm confused as to why I didn't pick it up some months ago when I last was looking into Hanna. Anybody know anything about this or have a copy that gives any clues about exactly when it was recorded or mentions Roland in the liner notes?

The Seldon Powell Sextet : Jimmy Cleveland (tb) Seldon Powell (ts) Sir Roland Hanna (p) Freddie Green (g) Aaron Bell (b) Osie Johnson (d)

New York, 1956

	Woody'n you	Roost LP2220, Fresh Sound (Sp)FSR-CD93 [CD]
	She's funny that way (jc out)	-                   -
	11th hour blues	-                   -
	Button nose	-                   -
	Missy's melody	-                   -
	I'll close my eyes (jc out)	-                   -
	A flower is a lovesome thing (jc out)	-                   -
	It's a crying shame	-                   -

Note:

Fresh Sound (Sp)FSR-CD93 [CD] titled "Seldon Powell Sextet Featuring Jimmy Cleveland"; see flwg session for rest of CD.

 

I have the Fresh Sound facsimile reissue LP of this one (FSR-588 - it has all 12 tracks indicated by L. Kart above). The back cover gives the pianist als "Hac" Hanna in the line-up listing and as Roland "Hac" Hanna in the liner notes by Barry Ulanov. But no reording date is given either.

[Mark Stryker]

Thanks for the info guys. If anybody knows more, please chime in,.

Moderators: I accidentally created this thread in the wrong place, so please feel free to move to Discography.

[Peter Friedman]

I recently acquired  this Fresh Sounds CD titled - Seldon Powell Nonet and Sextet - Go First Class - The Complete Roost Sessions.

This CD has 20 tracks. It includes the 1956 material with Jimmy Cleveland and Roland Hanna.

Also included is the Nonet  material with Jimmy Nottingham, Bob Alexander, Pete Mondello, Heywood Henry, Tony Aless, Billy Bauer, Arnold Fishpond and Don Lamond. This nonet material is dated October,24 and November 14, 1955 

 

[jazzbo]

WPCR-29057 Japan SHM-CD

[hopkins]

On 2/24/2018 at 8:18 PM, Larry Kart said:

This is all I have, repeats the above:

SELDON POWELL SEXTET NYC. 1956

Eight titles:Jimmy Cleveland (tb), Seldon Powell (ts), Roland Hanna (p), Freddie Green (g), Aaron Bell (b), Osie Johnson (dm).) NYC. 1956

Four titles: As above except Gus Johnson (dm) replaces Osie Johnson. 

 

Bought this on LP back then. Very good stuff.

A later nice taste of Powell:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDYRJZT3WMg

 

Early 60's hard bop session lead by drummer Bill English, with Dave Burns, Seldon Powell, Martin Rivera and Lloyd Mayers.
222
Fly Me To The Moon
Rollin'
Heavy Soul
7th Ave Bill
A Blues Serenade
Sel's Tune
Makin' Whoopee 

 

Good stuff ! I don't have a record player, and found this album on Qobuz: https://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/bill-english-bill-english/0015700912751

Edited by "Vanguard Digital Vault". There is no CD issue referenced on Discogs. Wondering whether this is an LP "rip". Anyone familiar with those releases ?

[Daniel A]

I have listened to a few Vanguard albums on Spotify with the "Digital Vault" label. They didn't sound like LP rips; sound quality was fine. 

See also here for some info: https://variety.com/2006/digital/news/vanguard-opens-vault-for-itunes-1117955857/

[hopkins]

Purchased  

Lame cover art on Qobuz to be replaced... Here are nice size front and back covers of the LP: https://www.hhv.de/shop/en/item/bill-english-bill-english-54384

By the way, Jan Evensmo has a nice "solography" of Seldon Powell here: http://www.jazzarcheology.com/seldon-powell/

Here is the Discogs entry for the album mentionned in the first post of the thread: https://www.discogs.com/Seldon-Powell-Sextet-Featuring-Jimmy-Cleveland-Seldon-Powell-Sextet-Featuring-Jimmy-Cleveland/master/665788

Edited March 27, 2020 by hopkins

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, hopkins said:

By the way, Jan Evensmo has a nice "solography" of Seldon Powell here: http://www.jazzarcheology.com/seldon-powell/

From that document:

BOB WILBER NYC. ca. 1960/61 Personnel including Bob Wilber (ts?, comp, arr), Seldon Powell (ts), Hilton Jefferson, Jerome Richardson, (as) and others. Eight titles were recorded for Music Minus One 4006 (cannot find this in Lord), issued as “For Saxes Only!”. Lots of tenorsax playing here, but difficult to note down, and who is it? Seems to be the same artist on all items.

No, not that difficult. One side of the LP is "minus" alto, and all tenor solos are heard naturally. Wilber plays some, Powell plays some. Their styles are not hard to distinguish.

Judging by how they "minus" the instruments, It seems like they had mikes on everybody and then pulled down whichever one was playing the "minus"-ed part. Sometimes it's the lead alto, sometimes the 2nd. Same thing with the tenor side, sometimes you're playing Wilber's part, sometime Powell's.

The cool (kinda) thing is that there's enough occasional leakage on the each side that you can confirm 100% that it's the same performances on both sides. That, and the solos that you, the at-home player, are being asked to play are transcribed and notated in the play-along chart. So if you want to learn a Powell, solo, you just listen to the "minus alto" side and boom, there it is. I mean, you can still hear it on the minus tenor side but just as leakage. On the minus alto side, it's there, just like a regular record. Listen to one side, read the part from the chart for the other side.

Minus tenor (and this is one where Powell solos, so he's not hear hear, you play his part):

Now, same performance, minus alto, with Powell heard fully:

 

[Larry Kart]

Powell sure had a sound.

[hopkins]

Evensmo, in his solography, mentions this session:

 

SELDON POWELL QUINTET NYC. July 7, 1956

Seldon Powell (ts), Hank Jones (p), Barry Galbraith (g), Milt Hinton (b), Osie Johnson (dm).

Three titles  were recorded for Epic: 

Stoozie 

C. J.’s Brother 

Serenade In Blue

His comments on the session: Pleasant, nice session with SP at his very best. Two fine medium swingers are most notable, but the beautiful and lighttoned version of ”Serenade …” will be your lasting memory! 

I could not find any record containing "Serenade in Blue" on Discogs, or on streaming services. Does anyone know if it has ever been released (and even better, if you have a copy of the recording, please let me know...).

EDIT: I found it! 

 

https://www.discogs.com/master/1022100-The-Rhythm-Section-Rhythm-1

[clifford_thornton]

I have this Roost 2220, excellent sate. Would like to get a nice copy of the preceding volume as well; it seems a bit harder to find on LP.

[hopkins]

1 hour ago, clifford_thornton said:

I have this Roost 2220, excellent sate. Would like to get a nice copy of the preceding volume as well; it seems a bit harder to find on LP.

Good condition original pressings are very expensive, but there are some reissues available.

[Big Beat Steve]

Yes, reissue copies of Roost 2205 ("Seldon Powell Plays") should not be hard to find. I found mine (Fresh Sound reissue LP) along with Roost 2220 in the year 2000 at a local shop where they had tons of secondhand Fresh Sound vinyls. 

For those who are interested, here are the Down Beat reviews of both albums (2205 by Nat Hentoff, 2220 by Ralph J. Gleason):

 

 

At one point I also picked up an EP excerpt from the 2220 LP on (Danish) Sonet (SXP 2218):

These EPs were a common practice as LPs at that time in Europe were really expensive. At that time an LP cost about the equivalent of one day's pay of a skilled worker. Whereas EPs were priced at about a third. And they served a purpose as "tasters" or "best of the LP" compilations. 

Unfortunately my copy is plagued by numerous bubbles in the vinyl (not all that rare a problem of vinyl degradation with Sonets and sometimes Metronomes from that era). I am not even sure if this problem already existed when I picked it up and just didn't check (it was priced at 1 EUR plus mass discount at a clearout sale) or if this happened in the intervening years in storage here.  Will try to see if the heat treatment I've used fairly successfully for warped LPs will better things. At any rate, the cover is a nice complement to the LP.
 

[hopkins]

Here's John S. Wilson's review of 2205 in High Fidelity

John S. Wilson - High Fidelity - May 1956

Powell is a recently arrived tenor saxophonist with a hard tone and a strong attack, both of which bring a good measure of vitality back to an instrument that has been leaning more and more toward the namby-pamby. On first hearing, his tone may seem unpleasantly harsh; but it is so perfectly suited to his style, and that style has so much vigor and grace, that this sense of harshness soon disappears. He moves easily and creatively at fast tempos, while his ballads have a cool elegance, never descending to sentimentality or turning overripe. His playing throughout the disk is well disciplined and he gets sound support from his rhythm section and trombonist Bob Alexander.

[JSngry]

I continue to be amused at how the "hard edged" tenor tones of the time required warning for general listeners. If they only knew what was coming!

[Big Beat Steve]

I wonder what the "High Fidelity" reviewer meant by referring to "namby-pamby" style of tenor playing in 1956? The velvety MOR noodlings of the likes of Sam The Man Taylor, Sil Austin et al. were yet to come, Lynn Hope or Jay White weren't that big names to have set the tone of the instrument, and Illinois Jacquet certainly was no longer in the all-out honking camp by 1956 but hadn't softened that far either. And the reviewer certainly could not have referred to the cool tone of Lester Young and his school? Or had he had the misfortune of having been exposed to an overdose of Ben Webster ballads? 
So I wonder what kind of listening clientele "High Fidelity" catered to. Apparently a relatively sedate set. 

Edited 10 hours ago by Big Beat Steve

[Dan Gould]

Maybe it was Getz that he considered "namby pamby"?

If you don't know John S Wilson (I am pretty sure this isn't news to you Steve) but he is not someone who would have paid the least attention to Hope, Sil Austin or other honkers/screamers. That music was gauche to a John S Wilson.

[Big Beat Steve]

John S. Wilson is a name that is familiar indeed to me (from contemporary reviews and Down Beat stories) but I cannot claim I'd know his jazz inclinations offhand. As for the artists I named (wild shots anyway), since Seldon Powell was Black, I just stuck with the "Black" side of popular tenor saxophonism of that era. So your explanation makes sense (and if he was thinking of Stan Getz indeed this is telling something too ... ).

[JSngry]