Jazz Records ‘Bean’ Meets ‘Bags’

Press, Volume C, Issue 29682, 28 November 1961, Page 22

Jazz Records ‘Bean’ Meets ‘Bags’

“Beanbags” (Coleman Hawkins and Milt Jackson; London HAM-E 6148), the month’s best local release, is a disappointing record in spite of the generally good quality of the music it contains. This, of course, is both over-stating and oversimplifying things; an urbane and occasionally rather bland record, it is disappointing only because it is merely superior. With the combination of Hawkins's passionate virility of tone and Jackson’s sinuous lyricism, it could have been great. Hawkins is the "Bean” in the album’s title. One of the giants of the tenor saxophone, he has had a career in jazz which covers a good many more years than the age of the average jazz fan. "Bags” is Jackson, the mainstay of the Modern Jazz Quartet for the last ten years and one of the few genuine lyricists jazz has produced. Both are the kind of men who have always responded to fresh environments and new ideas and the odds here should have been heavily in their favour. It is only the second time in 15 years that they have recorded together, the material (several seldomrecorded "standards” and a couple of intriguing “originals” by Jackson) is excellent and the rhythm section (Kenny Burrell. Tommy Flanagan, Eddie Jones and the Modern Jazz Quartet drummer, Connie Kay) is a model of elegance and taste. Except on a couple of tracks, however, nothing much happens, and the two leaders chatter away inconsequentially at each other, for all the world like two elderly peers on a “Face-to-Face” programme without John Freeman. This again, perhaps, is an over-statement; both Hawkins and Jackson are such consistently creative musicians that anything they play on is bound to be of interest well above the ordinary This record is certainly superior to about 90 per cent of the jazz records which come on the market, and any criticism of it is solely on the grounds that it could have been superior to about five of the remaining 10 per cent. Also from London, snd also better than average, is "Woody Herman’s Big New Herd at the Monterey Jazz Festival,” (mono HAM-K. 6158 and stereo SAHM-K.1600). Assembled as a “house band” for the 1959 Monterey jazz festival, Herman’s is a big, star-studded outfit which romps with consummate ease throughout half a dozen bright arrangements. It is not without faults. Some of the ensemble playing is sloppy and there are a few intonation problems, but by and large the record captures the “in-person” excitement of jazz at its best. It is warmly recommended. Two more recent releases come from the Record Society, a branch of the World Record Club, which has taken over the World Pacific catalogue from the

now defunct Lotus Recording Company. “The Blues” is a mixed bag of West Coast jazz by eight different groups, which vary in quality from excellent to drab. The best track (and it is one which alone makes the record worth buying) Is “Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West” by a quintet featuring Bill Perkins, John Lewis and Jim Hall. All the best qualities of jazz are present on this performance; long, sinuous lines, technical perfection and emotional warmth. “The Laurindo Almeida Quartet, Featuring Bud Shank,” is an apertif, an ideal record with which to begin an evening of more serious listening. It is not particularly profound, but the fact that the reviewer has owned and enjoyed an American copy of it for about four years would indicate that whatever slight value it has is lasting. At the bargain price of 30s both these excellentlypa ikaged records are solid value. The sleeve notes on “The Blues,” incidentally, refer to an alto-saxophone on “Royal Garden Blues.” It isn’t there.