Search - John Graas :: Jazz Studio 3 & 4 Complete Sessions

Modern and heady

Bomojaz | South Central PA, USA | 06/15/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Just as volume 1 did, this CD collects two LPs in the Jazz Studio series issued on Decca in the mid-1950s (Vol. 3 & 4), one issued under John Graas's name, the other under Jack Millman's. Graas was a French horn player, an instrument that just doesn't, to my ears, fit well in a jazz setting: it's difficult to play in tune and often sounds sloggy. Fortunately he's surrounded himself with the cream of the West Coast crop of modern musicians (as did Millman), and the results are intriguing. Grass's writing is a plus, and his compositions are inventive and interesting. MULLIGANESQUE is an up-tempo swinger with good solos by Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax) and Don Fagerquist (tp). 6/4 AND EVEN contains an excellent Howard Roberts guitar solo, and ROGERESQUE is a salute to Shorty Rogers, though Conte Candoli is the trumpeter here. Grass was also a classical musician/composer, and two selections from his Symphony No. 1 are included; the first part is way up-tempo, the second a bit slower, with each featuring a classically oriented Andre Previn on piano.



Jack Millman plays flugelhorn and composed all of the selections on Volume 4. He favors quick tempos, the best being PINK LADY, SO GOES MY LOVE, and WHEN YOU'RE NEAR. A couple of tunes lean south of the border; one, CATHY GOES SOUTH, has a lot going on in it, with Buddy Collette taking a nice flute solo to boot. Millman is an inventive soloist, often playing behind the beat (a la Louis Armstrong), which produces a tremendous swing feeling; he solos especially well on TOO MUCH and TOM AND JERRY. With their emphases on new sounds and ideas in the modern jazz context, it's good to have these two albums available again in one package. Lonehill has a whole series dedicated to John Graas's work - all of it worth checking out.

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