Jazz
Elliot Lawrence - Piano
Al Cohn - Arranger, Sax (Tenor), Saxophone
Al DeRisi - Trumpet
Bernie Glow - Trumpet
Billy Byers - Trombone
Buddy Jones - Bass
Charlie O'Kane - Reeds, Saxophone
Chauncey Welch - Trombone
Don Stratton - Trumpet
Ed Wasserman - Reeds, Saxophone
Eddie Bert - Trombone
Ernie Royal - Trumpet
Frank Socolow - Reeds, Sax (Tenor)
Freddie Zito - Trombone
Hal McKusick - Saxophone
Jim Dahl - Trombone
Nick Travis - Trumpet
Paul Selden - Trombone
Russ Saunders - Bass
Sam Marowitz - Sax (Alto), Saxophone
Sol Gubin - Drums
Stan Fishelson - Trumpet
Tony Miranda - French Horn
Urbie Green - Trombone
Walter Levinsky - Reeds
Zoot Sims - Saxophone
This collection of recordings by the Elliot Lawrence band features generous amounts of the work of Tiny Kahn, Johnny Mandel, and Al Cohn, arrangers who in the 1950s set standards by which writers of jazz are still judged. In addition, it presents some of the music's finest soloists: saxophonists Cohn, Zoot Sims, and Hal McKusick; trumpeters Nick Travis and Ernie Royal; and trombonists Eddie Bert and Urbie Green. Straddling the fields of commercial music and jazz, Lawrence provided music for radio and television shows and, often, for dancing. He played piano and was himself an arranger, but his primary role with the band was as a leader and catalyst organizing and encouraging the efforts of his talented writers and sidemen. The result of the free hand he allowed them was some of the most stimulating big band music of the era.
* Gerry Mulligan - Arranger
* Jamie Putnam - Art Direction
* Joe Tarantino - Remastering
* Johnny Mandel - Arranger
* Tiny Kahn - Arranger
Elliot Lawrence, who was born in 1925, formed a big band at the very end of the swing era, much too late to make a strong impression. A fine pianist/arranger/composer, Lawrence primarily wrote for radio and television. In the 1950s he recorded quite frequently for such labels as Decca, King, Columbia, Groove, Vik, Camden, and, particularly, Fantasy, cutting six records for the latter label during 1955-1957 with big bands. This CD has all of the music from the LP Swinging at the Steel Pier, five cuts from Plays Tiny Kahn and Johnny Mandel Arrangements (just the Kahn charts), and a few selections from Plays for Swinging Dancers and Dream on...Dance On. The music, which features arrangements by Tiny Kahn, Al Cohn, Johnny Mandel, and Gerry Mulligan, is essentially updated swing along with some melodic dance music. Among the key soloists along the way are Zoot Sims (whose tenor is heard on the first five selections), Al Cohn, trumpeter Nick Travis, trombonist Eddie Bert, and Lawrence himself, who sometimes sounds a little like Claude Thornhill. The middle-of-the-road music is not too adventurous but does move nicely and is certainly quite accessible.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
