Jazz / Cool, Hard Bop
Charlie Mariano - Sax (Alto)
Leroy Vinnegar Bass
Lester Koenig Producer
Monty Budwig Bass
Nat Hentoff Liner Notes
Phil DeLancie Remastering
Ray Avery Photography
Roy DuNann Engineer
Russ Freeman Piano
Shelly Manne Main Performer, Drums
Stu Williamson Trombone (Valve), Trumpet
Shelly Manne's inquiring mind and adventuresome spirit made him a band leader unlikely to settle into a familiar repertoire. He was on a constant search for challenging material. Sometimes he found it in unlikely show tunes, sometimes in unorthodox approaches to standard songs. For the music on this album, he encouraged innovation from three performer-composers in the Los Angeles jazz community of the mid-1950s. The pieces Charlie Mariano, Jim Hall, and Russ Freeman contributed made an album whose freshness remains undiminished. Mariano's suite The Gambit occupies more than half of the CD. Unconventional and demanding, it inspired all of the soloists especially Mariano to some of their best playing of the period. Jim Hall's invention on the blues, "Tom Brown's Buddy," is another classic from Manne's discography.
Charlie Mariano
Active Decades: '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: Nov 12, 1923 in Boston, MA
Died: Jun 16, 2009 in Cologne, Germany
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Bop, Cool, Hard Bop, West Coast Jazz
Charlie Mariano's career can easily be divided into two phases. Early on he was a fixture in Boston, playing with Shorty Sherock (1948), Nat Pierce (1949-1950), and his own groups. After gigging with a band co-led by Chubby Jackson and Bill Harris, Mariano toured with Stan Kenton's Orchestra (1953-1955) which earned him a strong reputation. He moved to Los Angeles in 1956 (working with Shelly Manne and other West Coast jazz stars), returned to Boston to teach in 1958 at Berklee, and the following year, had a return stint with Kenton. After marrying Toshiko Akiyoshi, Mariano co-led a group with the pianist on and off up to 1967, living in Japan during part of the time and also working with Charles Mingus (1962-1963).
The second phase of his career began with the formation of his early fusion group Osmosis in 1967. Known at the time as a strong bop altoist with a sound of his own developed out of the Charlie Parker style, Mariano began to open his music up to the influences of folk music from other cultures, pop, and rock. He taught again at Berklee, traveled to India and the Far East, and in the early '70s settled in Europe. Among the groups Mariano has worked with have been Pork Pie (which also featured Philip Catherine), the United Jazz & Rock Ensemble, and Eberhard Weber's Colours. Charlie Mariano's airy tones on soprano and the nagaswaram (an Indian instrument a little like an oboe) fit right in on some new agey ECM sessions and he also recorded as a leader through the years for Imperial, Prestige, Bethlehem, World Pacific, Candid (with Toshiko Akiyoshi in 1960), Regina, Atlantic, Catalyst, MPS, CMP, Leo, and Calig, among others.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
