Kenny Dorham/Phil Woods/Roy Haynes: Unissued "Live" Recording 1956 (+Bonus Audio)

(Paying Subscribers: The two pieces featured on this concert tape were recorded again in a studio shortly afterward. Those studio versions are at the bottom, with my thanks.)

We previously heard a Bud Powell set from the Birdland tour of 1956, and I gave you the background information on that tour. In the ad that I showed there, after many famous names, the last group listed was the “East-West Jazz Septet.” What was that??

Well, if you’re a serious collector, you may know about these two RCA LPs: The Birdland Stars on Tour Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, later combined on one CD. Although they are presented as “live” recordings, they were made at Webster Hall in lower Manhattan on February 27, 1956. Audience applause was dubbed in later, which was not unusual in the LP era. But before the albums were recorded, when the Birdland stars arrived at Chicago’s Civic Opera House to do two shows on February 18, 1956, one fan was sitting up front with a stereo tape recorder (as I explained at the link above).

And he captured quite a septet: The winds were Kenny Dorham and Conte Candoli (trumpets), Phil Woods (alto sax), and Al Cohn (tenor sax). They were supported by the rhythm section of Sarah Vaughan, who also performed that night: Jimmy Jones (piano), Joe Benjamin (bass) and Roy Haynes (drums). (On the Webster Hall albums, the rhythm section is Hank Jones, John Simmons, and Kenny Clarke.) I happen to like Candoli’s expressive playing a lot. Jones was primarily known as a fine chordal accompanist and arranger for singers but he proves to be a fine soloist as well. All tunes and arrangements were especially commissioned from Manny Albam and Ernie Wilkins.

On bills like this, where there were many different groups, each group only got a few minutes to perform. The septet’s set that night was just two numbers. (I thank subscriber and researcher James Accardi for improving the sound on both of them.) Let’s hear the first one, “Roulette” by Wilkins. (Fun fact: I took an arranging course with Wilkins at the New England Conservatory in, I think, the fall of 1978.) If you have heard “live” recordings from the original Birdland club, you will recognize the voice of host Pee Wee Marquette at the outset. The wind soloists are, in order, Woods, Candoli, Cohn, and Dorham:

Next, Candoli introduces the musicians, and jokingly says that he is Harry James. (He makes the same joke on the LP.) This time they play a fast blues by Albam entitled “A Bit of the Blues.” The order of wind solos is Cohn, Candoli, Woods (sorry, but there’s a very short tape switch at 4:38 during his solo), and Dorham. It’s nice to hear them stretch out with longer solos. Then Jones plays chords while Benjamin walks. Starting at 6:50 everybody trades fours with the dynamic Mr. Haynes, and after the theme each wind player gets a two-bar break. Enjoy!:

There’s much more to come from this marvelous evening in 1956. And I’ll be back in a few days, as always, with a great variety of material.

All the best,

Lewis

P.S. Paying Subscribers, please scroll down for the studio versions of these two pieces.