Search - Benny Golson :: New York Scene (Mlps)

Early days

N. Dorward | Toronto, ON Canada | 01/18/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Les Koenig's Contemporary Records was one of the shrewdest jazz labels in the 1950s & 1960s, recording many classic West Coast sessions and also keeping an eye out for interesting new sounds--both Ornette Coleman & Cecil Taylor had early releases on the label. This 1957 album, like some of the others on the label in this period (like the Taylor) was put together by critic Nat Hentoff; I believe it's Golson's first date as a leader, & features two tunes of his that had already become well-known in recordings by other musicians ("Whisper Not" was recorded by Dizzy Gillespie's big band; "Step Lightly" by the Roach/Brown quintet). I've always loved Golson's combination of intricate, elegant composing/arranging and a wild & raw solo approach (in the liners he namechecks Don Byas & Lucky Thompson as influences; Coleman Hawkins is also in there). The band here is a quintet (his frequent partner Art Farmer on trumpet; Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers & Charlie Persip in the rhythm section), augmented by extra horns on a few tracks, including the wonderful Julius Watkins on French horn & the Parkerish alto of Gigi Gryce (who also contributes the tune "Capri").



Somehow the results seem a little underachieved given the excellent cast of musicians--nothing wrong with it, but it's one of those albums where the arrangements, though excellent in themselves, seem to damp things down rather than pushing the soloists to new heights. The best moment, in fact, is the one straightforward head-solos-head track, a tenor+rhythm reading of "You're Mine You". It's also interesting to hear "Step Lightly" here, a tune that was given a terrific reading a few years later on Shelly Manne's _Live at the Black Hawk_--I note that Golson's own version has a few differences on the bridge & also an extra section leading from the head to the solos. A bonus track, "B.G.'s Holiday", is actually one of the most interesting of the lesser-known Golson tunes on the disc--a nice inclusion.



The main problem here, though, is frankly the recording quality, which is surprisingly poor for a Contemporary record (the label is a byword among jazz collectors for the superb engineering work of Roy DuNann on most of its great 1950s sessions). The session was of course recorded in New York, not LA, so Koenig & Hentoff couldn't call in DuNann; it's a bad sign when the sleevenotes, very unusually for OJC & Contemporary, contain no info on the session engineer & don't list the studio. The sound is muzzy, sometimes poorly balanced, & full of tape hiss, with Wynton Kelly's piano & Persip's drumming most strongly affected. Possibly things could have been cleaned up better during transfer to CD (the OJC remastering dates from 1988) but I suspect it never is going to sound good."

Benny golson's new york scene

John T | Queensland, Australia | 01/14/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Benny Golson, Art Farmer, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Charles Persip (plus on three tracks additional alto sax, barritone sax, trombone, and french horn) all playing exceptionally well.

A really great recording."