JUNTA DE

KING OF THE ROAD

PERSONNEL: Jimmy Smith (Hammond B3 organ); Wes Montgomery (electric guitar);

Grady Tate (drums) ^SOLOISTS:

Montgomery, Smith ^MUSIC:

Roger Miller ^RECORDED:

September 28, 1966, in New York

FIRST ISSUE: The Further Adventures of Jimmy and Wes, Verve V6-8766. Matrix no. 101294.

147

DISC 1 TRACK NOTES

JAZZ THE SMITHSONIAN ANTHOLOGY

Jimmy Smith revolutionized his instrument, the Hammond B3 organ, proving its potential as a vehicle for jazz expression. He normally performed in a trio—a mainstay of small nightclubs in big cities. While many an organist employed a bassist or played bass lines with his or her left hand, Smith actually “walked” bass lines with his feet, eliminating the necessity for a bass player. He sometimes looked as if he were riding a bicycle. His style: bluesy melodic lines rooted in bebop, deliv-ered with zest and zip. Smith helped popularize the “organ trio” comprised of Hammond B3 organ, electric guitar, and drums, and deeply influenced every subse-quent jazz organist. Along with Cannonball Adderley, Smith helped set the standard for soul jazz.

After Charlie Christian, John “Wes” Montgomery did more to establish the elec-tric guitar as a major jazz instrument than anyone. Popular, influential, and original, he played with his thumb instead of a pick and with a round, full tone rendered both single lines and octaves; the latter became his signature sound. He was a major influ-ence on several generations of jazz guitarists.

Smith and Montgomery made two LPs together. On both, they reveled in the seemingly infinite possibilities of organ and guitar playing together. Here, they took an unlikely song—a hit by Roger Miller—and made it into a jazz standard for this type of group.

Miller’s original song is constructed AABA, with sixteen bars for each A section but only eight for the B section. Smith and Montgomery eschew the B section, play-ing only the A and treatplay-ing it as one chorus. After Smith plays once through the A statement, Montgomery plays a solo of four choruses, Smith does three, they play together one chorus of the melody, and then do an extremely long, slow fade-out. The effect is relaxed, smooth, finger-popping, and accessible. —David Baker

Facing Page: Jimmy Smith, 1960. Frank Driggs Collection. Below: Wes Montgomery. Boston, 1966. © Lee Tanner / The Jazz Image

DISC 5 TRACK NOTES

148

By the 1960s, Duke Ellington had long been recognized as the leading composer in jazz, and increasingly as one of America’s great composers. His genius lay partly in his relationships with his musicians—he wrote many pieces to feature their specific gifts, and sometimes jointly composed with them. His leading collaborator was Billy Strayhorn.

In 1939, Ellington had hired the young pianist and composer, and they developed one of the closest, most extraordinary collaborations in the annals of music composition.

Strayhorn became his primary musical partner, writing or arranging hundreds of works that Ellington recorded—among them “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “Day Dream,” and

“Chelsea Bridge.” Together, they composed dozens and dozens of works.

Their composing styles were often thought to be interchangeable, but they were distinct. The differences lay deep inside the music, in the specifics of harmony, melody, form, etc. Their similarities are easier to grasp, beginning with a fascination with orchestral colors and rich harmonies. “Both scored the reed section as a point of departure,” writes Dutch musicologist Walter van de Leur, and “preferred dense five-part harmonies that included ample dissonance, prominently featured the trom-bones in middle-register three-part harmony, and often used the trumpets as an ex-tension of the lower brass” (2002, 103).

Examining original scores in Strayhorn’s hand, van de Leur has determined that

“Isfahan,” although copyrighted under the names of both Ellington and Strayhorn, was originally titled “Elf” and composed by Strayhorn in 1963. Late that year, Ellington and Strayhorn would tour Iran and the Middle East, and in 1966, Elling-ton would record “Isfahan” as part of the ten-movement Far East Suite, which was inspired by that tour (it would more accurately have been called the “Middle East Suite”). Isfahan is a city in central Iran and former capital of Persia, where, Ellington said, “everything is poetry.” Though named after the fact, the piece fits well with Ellington’s description.

Left: Duke Ellington. Boston, 1958. © Lee Tanner / The Jazz Image.

Below: Johnny Hodges, alto sax. Boston, 1961.

© Lee Tanner / The Jazz Image

DISC 5 TRACK 7

DUKE ELLINGTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA

ISFAHAN

PERSONNEL: Cootie Williams, Cat Anderson, Herbie Jones, Mercer Ellington (trumpets); Lawrence Brown, Buster Cooper, Chuck Connors (trombones);

Johnny Hodges, Russell Procope (alto saxophones); Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Hamilton (tenor saxophones); Harry Carney (baritone saxophone); Duke Elling-ton (piano, leader); John Lamb (bass); Rufus Jones (drums) SOLOIST: Hodges

MUSIC: Billy Strayhorn RECORDED: December 20, 1966, in New York FIRST ISSUE: Far East Suite, RCA Victor LPM-3782. Matrix no. TPA1-9152-1.

149

DISC 5 TRACK NOTES

JAZZ THE SMITHSONIAN ANTHOLOGY

Strayhorn composed “Isfahan” as a feature for alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges.

In a band that employed many great soloists—Bubber Miley, Lawrence Brown, Joe

“Tricky Sam” Nanton, Barney Bigard, Cootie Williams, Ray Nance, Rex Stewart, Ben Webster, Paul Gonsalves, and others—Johnny Hodges stands as arguably Ellington’s greatest. With steady assurance and technical brilliance, he pioneered a style that took full advantage of the saxophone’s potential. Hodges played with passion, a rich tone, lyric phrasing, florid runs, and glorious glides. He was a su-preme creator of melodies, with a seemingly inexhaustible fund of splendid, melodic figures; many of his improvisations seem unimprovable and timeless. Hodges ranks as one of the greatest alto saxophonists, and one of the most unmistakable and gor-geous “voices” of the twentieth century. “Hodges?” Tony Bennett once said. “The best singer in the world—what else?”

Taken at one of the most measured tempos in this anthology, this performance is one of Hodges’s most ravishing ballads. With nuances of phrasing, glissandi, and dynamics, Hodges lovingly caresses Strayhorn’s melody, conveying emotional depth, lyricism, and sensuality. —John Edward Hasse

DISC 5 TRACK 8 (bass); Bob Moses (as “Lonesome Dragon”) (drums) ^SOLOISTS:

Burton, Coryell, Barbieri, Man-tler, Bley ^MUSIC: Carla Bley,

RECORDED: November 20–21, 1967, in New York FIRST ISSUE:

A Genuine Tong Funeral, RCA Victor LSP3988.