Billy Butterfield - Soft Strut

Styles: Trumpet Jazz 
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:20
Size: 83,8 MB
Art: Front

(6:23)  1. Ti-Pi-Tin
(3:16)  2. Soft Strut
(2:13)  3. Says My Heart
(6:15)  4. I've Got The World On String
(5:49)  5. I'm An Old Cowhand
(3:29)  6. All Right, Be That Way
(2:47)  7. I Would Do Anything For You
(3:11)  8. He's A Devil In Own Home Town
(2:53)  9. Somewhere Along The Way

A versatile pre-bop trumpeter with a beautiful tone, Billy Butterfield could play pretty ballads and heated Dixieland with equal skill. After early experience in the mid-'30s with the bands of Austin Wylie and Andy Anderson, Butterfield became famous while playing with Bob Crosby's Orchestra (1937-1940), taking the main solo on the original version of "What's New," and making numerous records with both the big band and the Bobcats. In 1940, he was with Artie Shaw, participating in the famed Gramercy Five sessions and taking a classic solo on Shaw's rendition of "Star Dust"; in addition, Butterfield can be seen and heard playing "Concerto for Clarinet" with Shaw in the film Second Chorus. After stints with Benny Goodman (1941) and Les Brown, Butterfield spent time in the military, and then led a lyrical (but commercially unsuccessful) big band (1945-1947). He worked mostly in the studios during the 1950s and '60s, occasionally emerging for Dixieland dates with Eddie Condon, and was a key member of the World's Greatest Jazz Band (1968-1972). In later years, he continued popping up in Dixieland settings both for records and concerts. ~ Scott Yanow https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/soft-strut/396023346

Personnel:  Billy Butterfield (trumpet); Hal McKusick (alto saxophone); Lou McGarity (trombone); Milt Hinton (bass).

Soft Strut

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Bobby Scott - The Compositions Of Bobby Scott

Styles: Piano Jazz
Year: 1955
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 45:21
Size: 105,2 MB
Art: Front

(3:38)  1. Dot
(2:57)  2. Kwan Youen
(3:49)  3. Moon Tan
(4:16)  4. Betty
(4:10)  5. Aunt Sarah
(4:09)  6. Cerebellum
(2:19)  7. Wigwam
(4:03)  8. The Creed
(2:59)  9. Table Cloth Stomp
(2:59) 10. A Parable
(2:35) 11. The Wig
(2:45) 12. Count Bill
(4:36) 13. Makin' Whoopee (bonus track)

29 January 1937, New York City, New York, USA, d. 5 November 1990, New York City, New York, USA. Scott was a pianist, singer, composer, arranger, teacher and record producer. He also played several other instruments such as cello, bass, vibraphone, accordion and clarinet, but was mainly known for his jazz piano work and vocals. He attended Dorothea Anderson Follette’s School of Music, and then in 1949 studied composition with Edward Moritz, a former pupil of Claude Debussy. Despite his early classical training, Scott turned to jazz in his teens, and played with small bands led by the likes of Louis Prima, Tony Scott and Gene Krupa, with whom he cut some sides for Verve Records. From 1954, he recorded under his own name for labels such as Bethlehem, Savoy, Atlantic and ABC, and in 1956 had a US Top 20 hit with ‘Chain Gang’, written by Sol Quasha and Hank Yakus (not the Sam Cooke song). In 1960, Scott wrote the title theme for Shelagh Delaney’s play A Taste Of Honey, which became popular for pianist Martin Denny and, when Ric Marlow added a lyric, for Tony Bennett. It was also included on the Beatles’ first UK album. The song won a Grammy in 1962, and three more when Herb Alpert took it into the US Top 10 in 1965. In the early 60s Scott was the musical director for Dick Haymes for a time, and, as a pianist, arranger and record producer for Mercury Records, also maintained a close working relationship with Quincy Jones. Scott played piano on most of Jones’ Mercury albums, and accompanied Tania Vega and John Lee Hooker on Jones’ soundtrack music for the film The Color Purple (1986). As a producer, Scott supervised sessions for important artists such as Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Bobby Darin, Harry Belafonte and Sarah Vaughan. He discovered and recorded guitarist/vocalist Perry Miller, who changed his name to Jesse Colin Young, and he is also credited with taking singer Bobby Hebb back to Mercury, although Scott left the label before Hebb released his biggest hit, ‘Sunny’, in 1966.

Scott’s compositions included ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’ (lyrics by Bob Russell), a hit for Neil Diamond (in 1970) and for the Hollies a year earlier and again in 1988, when it featured impressively in a UK television commercial for Miller Lite Lager; ‘Where Are You Going?’ (with Danny Meehan), sung by Joe Butler in the film Joe (1970); and ‘Slaves (Don’t You Know My Name?)’, performed by Dionne Warwick in the movie Slaves (1969). Scott also composed incidental music for the play Dinny And The Witches, and several pieces for harp and string trios, including ‘The Giacometti Variations’, so-called because it was part-used as a radio advertisement for the Giacometti Exhibition held at the New York Museum of Modern Art. His compositions for guitar included ‘Solitude Book’ and ‘The Book Of Hours’, the latter recorded with Brazilian guitarist Carlos Barbosa-Lima. For Sentimental Reasons displayed Scott simply as an accomplished pianist, who also sang. He died of lung cancer in the year of its release. http://www.oldies.com/artist-biography/Bobby-Scott.html

Personnel: Bobby Scott (arranger, piano); Hal McKusick, Charlie Mariano (alto saxophone); Bill Holman (tenor saxophone); Al Epstein, Jimmy Giuffre (baritone saxophone); Ronnie Woellmer, Conte Candoli (trumpet); Eddie Bert, Frank Rosolino (trombone); Milt Hinton, Max Bennett (bass); Osie Johnson, Stan Levey (drums).

The Compositions Of Bobby Scott

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Hal McKusick - Cross Section - Saxes

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1958
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:04
Size: 99,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:23)  1. Whisper Not
(4:08)  2. You're My Thrill
(3:53)  3. It Never Entered My Mind
(6:33)  4. Stratusphunk
(3:33)  5. Last Day Of Fall
(6:14)  6. Now's the Time
(3:48)  7. Yesterdays
(4:47)  8. End of a Love Affair
(2:28)  9. Sing Song
(4:13) 10. Rue

Hal McKusick's final recording as a leader mixes three separate sessions with contributions by four great arrangers. The cast of musicians varies from one date to the next, although McKusick and pianist Bill Evans are present on every track, while Art Farmer, Milt Hinton, and Barry Galbraith also make strong impressions. This music has held up extremely well over the decades, especially George Russell's forward-thinking treatment of "You're My Thrill" and his sauntering, somewhat atonal, blues "Stratusphunk." Also valuable are the charts by Jimmy Giuffre, George Handy, and Ernie Wilkins. The blend of the saxophones in Handy's upbeat "The Last Day of Fall" almost sound like an accordion. Most of this music was reissued on the CD Now's the Time (1957-1958), although two brilliant arrangements by Jimmy Giuffre ("Yesterdays" and his own "Sing Song") were, unfortunately, omitted from that compilation, making it worth the effort to search for this elusive Decca LP. ~ Ken Dryden http://www.allmusic.com/album/cross-section-saxes-mw0000471925

Cross Section - Saxes

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Hal McKusick Octet - In A Twentieth-Century Drawing Room

Styles: Clarinet And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 1955
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:44
Size: 85,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:30)  1. My Inspitarion
(2:46)  2. Gift Of The Magi
(3:09)  3. You're A Lucky Guy
(2:35)  4. Can't We Be Friends
(2:33)  5. Step Lively Osie
(3:28)  6. Minor Seventh Heaven
(3:15)  7. Theme
(5:12)  8. Alto Stratus
(3:15)  9. How Long Has This Been Going On
(3:12) 10. Brother Jack
(2:44) 11. Immortal

A fine cool-toned altoist and an occasional clarinetist, Hal McKusick worked with the big bands of Les Brown, Woody Herman (1943), Boyd Raeburn (1944-1945), Alvino Rey (1946), Buddy Rich, and Claude Thornhill (1948-1949). In the 1950s, in addition to his work with Terry Gibbs and Elliot Lawrence, he was a busy and versatile studio musician. During 1955-1958, McKusick recorded nine albums of material as a leader for Jubilee, Bethlehem, Victor, Coral, New Jazz, Prestige, and Decca. Those small-group recordings, although basically cool bop, sometimes used very advanced arrangements, including charts by George Handy, Manny Albam, Gil Evans, Al Cohn, Jimmy Giuffre, and particularly George Russell. Hal McKusick died in April 2012 at the age of 87. ~ Scott Yanow http://www.allmusic.com/artist/hal-mckusick-mn0000660389/biography

Personnel:  Alto Saxophone, Clarinet – Hal McKusick;  Bass – Milt Hinton;  Cello – Abram Borodkin,  Bernard Greenhouse, Harvey Shapiro, Lucien Schmit, Milton Prinz, Sidney Edwards; Drums – Osie Johnson, Sol Gubin;  Guitar – Barry Galbraith

In A Twentieth-Century Drawing Room

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Hal McKusick, Eddie Bert, Ronnie Woellmer, Milt Hinton, Frank Rosolino, Conte Candoli, Charlie Mariano, Jimmy Giuffre, Bill Holman, Stay Levey, John Murtaugh & Marly Flax - The Compositions Of Bobby Scott

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 75:48
Size: 173.6 MB
Styles: Piano jazz
Year: 2011
Art: Front

[4:12] 1. Betty
[3:45] 2. Moon Tan
[4:05] 3. Aunt Sarah
[4:04] 4. Cerebellum
[3:33] 5. Dot
[3:59] 6. The Creed
[2:55] 7. The Tablecloth Stomp
[2:55] 8. A Parable
[2:52] 9. Kwan Youen
[2:31] 10. The Wig
[2:37] 11. Count Bill
[2:14] 12. Wigwam
[3:35] 13. Sally's Pound Cake
[4:20] 14. Every Woman
[5:11] 15. Woodville
[4:16] 16. Myrt
[4:10] 17. Box Car Blues
[5:01] 18. The Good Ship Linda
[3:00] 19. The Old Man
[6:24] 20. Theme Iii

After an impressive debut as a pianist in 1953, Bobby Scott was 17 when, a year later, he conducted the first of a series of three genuinely creative albums dedicated to his own works, all now compiled on this CD. A man of many moods, bursting with creativity, his compositions are full of a fine feel for harmonic textures and melodically interesting lines.

But also among the outstanding aspects of these sessions are the soloists given ample scope by the writing; Hal McKusick, Eddie Bert, Conte Candoli, Frank Rosolino, Charlie Mariano, Bill Holman, Jimmy Giuffre, Marty Flax and the little known Ronnie Woellmer and John Murtaugh are prime examples of the best of the East and West Coast jazzmen of the era. With Scott also shining as pianist on the second and third dates, this collection is a unique portrait of his precocious talent.

Personnel on #1-5: Bobby Scott, conductor; Ronnie Woellmer, trumpet; Eddie Bert, trombone; Hal McKusick, alto sax; Al Epstein, baritone sax; Milt Hinton, bass; Osie Johnson, drums. Recorded in New York City, November 1954

Personnel on #6-12: Bobby Scott, piano & conductor; Conte Candoli, trumpet; Frank Rosolino, trombone; Charlie Mariano, alto sax; Bill Holman, tenor sax; Jimmy Giuffre, baritone sax; Max Bennett, bass; Stan Levey, drums. Recorded in Hollywood, January 1955

Personnel on #13-20: Bobby Scott, piano; John Murtaugh, tenor sax; Marty Flax, baritone sax; Whitey Mitchell, bass; Howie Mann, drums. Recorded in New York City, October 1956

The Compositions Of Bobby Scott

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