Manny Albam

[Late]

Listening to this one right now and really enjoying it ~

Does Albam ever play on his records? (I'm guessing yes ... on some?) What Albam albums do you like / would you recommend?

[jlhoots]

You might as well get Vol. 1 also.

[Late]

You might as well get Vol. 1 also.

Gots it! (I just happened to have been listening to Vol. 2. Both are very nice.)

In a way, Hal McKusick's Bethlehem record could be considered a Manny Albam album ...

[Chuck Nessa]

In a way, Hal McKusick's Bethlehem record could be considered a Manny Albam album ...

That might be the reason I never bought it.

MA always seemed to be the "fall back" guy to hire for charts on a record date in the late '50s 'cause he'd deliver the goods on time.

Always seemed "generic" to me.

He may be a smart guy, but his name never made me buy a record and stopped me in a couple of cases.

[Larry Kart]

I have grim memories of Albam's "Drum Suite" (RCA), a big, empty production-number thing (two tracks to a side) that featured a big band of the usual NYC-studio suspects of the mid-1950s and four drummers -- Osie Johnson and Teddy Sommer are the names I recall; Charlie Persip might have been one of the other two. On the other hand, Albam's "Jazz Workshop" album for RCA from about that time has some genuinely clever/heady writing. Albam seemed to have two gears -- generic (as Chuck said) and something more personal. There's a longish Albam piece of recent vintage on an album on the Challenge label, featuring a German radio big band led by a U.S. trombonist/arranger whose name I can't recall. (Ed somebody, maybe? -- Challenge no doubt has a website where it can be tracked down.) In any case, this piece struck me, again, as empty and a good bit more pretentious than "Drum Suite." On the other hand, Albam, who's gone now, was much respected by several musicians I respect.

I don't think he played his instrument (bari. sax) on record after his time in the Charlie Barnet band.

[SGUD missile]

Once again ..Chuck and I disagree on something ( besides Sonny Greer )

Manny was one of the best big band jazz writers around.. he was right up there with Billy Byers and the other NYC biggies in the 50s and 60s ..

If you can find it, "Soul of the City" is also a great album ..produced by Phil Ramone and featuring a cast of the NYC 60s A team ..with some great solo work by guys like Phil Woods ( "Museum Piece" is a gorgeous ballad )

[Chuck Nessa]

Once again ..Chuck and I disagree on something ( besides Sonny Greer )

Manny was one of the best big band jazz writers around.. he was right up there with Billy Byers and the other NYC biggies in the 50s and 60s .

I agree Manny was "almost" a Billy Byers.

[JSngry]

Back in my teens, I came across an Album album on Decca in the cutout bins that I bought and enjoyed for a few years before finally trrading it for something. It was an album of music from West Side Story. Not bad, by any means, but after a while...

OTOH, that same day, I also found another Decca album - George Russell's NEW YORK, N.Y. I still have that one.

[JSngry]

Albam was definitely a skilled writer, thiough. He could write for any situation, and in any style. Hard for me (impossible, actually) not to have professional respect for somebody who can do that.

Case in point - he did a Dakota Staton album on Groove Merchant (and Album seemed to have been a favorite of Sonny Lester in the Solid State/early Groove Merchant days) where a lot of the writing is a dead ringer for vintage Thad Jones. So what he might have lacked in distinctiveness, he had in pure skill. Like I said, I can't say anything bad about that, not from a professional standpoint.

[Larry Kart]

Correction: The writing on "Drum Suite" was split between Albam and Ernie Wilkins, though I'll bet Billy Byers was in the trombone section. Also, the four drummers on the album were Osie Johnson, Teddy Sommer, Gus Johnson, and Don Lamond. I think, mercifully, it was one drummer for each movement of the suite, though there may have been some all-in stuff too. (The writing, I recall, had a lot of what they used to call in the musical theater "fire in the whorehouse" stuff, the kind of music that would be played while male dancers ran around in circles holding female dancers horizontal above their heads at arms length.) Four years later, in 1960, RCA made "Son of Drum Suite," with arrangements by Al Cohn. Never heard that one, but a lot of copies of "Drum Suite" must have been sold.

[Free For All]

There's a longish Albam piece of recent vintage on an album on the Challenge label, featuring a German radio big band led by a U.S. trombonist/arranger whose name I can't recall. (Ed somebody, maybe? -- Challenge no doubt has a website where it can be tracked down.)

Ed Neumeister?

[Free For All]

I kind of liked the Jimmy McGriff Tribute to Basie on the LRC (Sonny Lester) label. Albam did the charts on that one.

My copy has a different cover.

Edited February 8, 2005 by Free For All

[Larry Kart]

No -- it's Ed Partyka, a bass trombonist, born in Chicago, a resident of Cologne.The album is "Madly Loving You" (Challenge) and features Bob Brookmeyer as soloist. The other pieces are by Bill Holman, Maria Schneider, Partyka, Brookmeyer, etc. Personnel seems to be drawn from the NDR Big Band.

[Late]

What do you guys think of the writing on the two Coral albums? I think it's pretty good. Nothing earth-shattering, but some interesting harmonic turns here and there. Zoot Sims' ballad feature on Volume 2 is especially attractive.

[Joe]

Albam wrote some fine, fine tunes and arrangments ("Alto Cumulus" comes to mind) for McKusick's "with strings" session, IN A TWENTIETH CENTURY DRAWING ROOM.

BTW, the other arranger on this date is Al Cohn.

[medjuck]

Back in my teens, I came across an Album album on Decca in the cutout bins that I bought and enjoyed for a few years before finally trrading it for something. It was an album of music from West Side Story. Not bad, by any means, but after a while...

I had exactly the same experience. Bought it on some cheap Decca subsiduary label then got what was I think a Decca re-release. Don't have it any more but wold like it on cd. Think it's got both Phil and Quill on it.

[garthsj]

Back in my teens, I came across an Album album on Decca in the cutout bins that I bought and enjoyed for a few years before finally trrading it for something. It was an album of music from West Side Story. Not bad, by any means, but after a while...

I had exactly the same experience. Bought it on some cheap Decca subsiduary label then got what was I think a Decca re-release. Don't have it any more but wold like it on cd. Think it's got both Phil and Quill on it.

Manny Albam's version of West Side Story was originally issued on Coral (57207) in 1958; it was later reissued on Decca (4717 -- with a different cover as I remember) in 1964. The Decca version was in both mono and stereo, the original Coral version was only mono. (There might have been another reissue somewhere along the line).

One of my guilty pleasures is a fine Manny Albam release on Impulse ... "Jazz Goes to the Movies" (Impulse 19, 1962). This has a particularly "stirring" arrangement of "The Theme from "The Guns of Navaronne" ...

[mjzee]

On 2/7/2005 at 11:24 PM, Larry Kart said:

Correction: The writing on "Drum Suite" was split between Albam and Ernie Wilkins, though I'll bet Billy Byers was in the trombone section. Also, the four drummers on the album were Osie Johnson, Teddy Sommer, Gus Johnson, and Don Lamond. I think, mercifully, it was one drummer for each movement of the suite, though there may have been some all-in stuff too. (The writing, I recall, had a lot of what they used to call in the musical theater "fire in the whorehouse" stuff, the kind of music that would be played while male dancers ran around in circles holding female dancers horizontal above their heads at arms length.) Four years later, in 1960, RCA made "Son of Drum Suite," with arrangements by Al Cohn. Never heard that one, but a lot of copies of "Drum Suite" must have been sold.

Listening now to Drum Suite, which I found at a record convention last summer.  There's no bassist listed.  Any idea whom it might be?

[Teasing the Korean]

"Drum Suite" is a space -age bachelor pad essential, and Albam is the first artist filed in that section, right before Steve Allen.

Similarly, Albam's "West Side Story" and "Soul of the City" are the first albums filed in my Crime Jazz section, right before, curiously enough, Steve Allen again. 

I had one other Albam album that I unloaded after one spin. It sounded like the producer deliberately wanted dumbed-down charts for the masses. 

Those three albums constitute TTK's humble Manny Albam accumulation.  I'll be happy to answer any questions following the discussion.

Edited April 9, 2020 by Teasing the Korean

[jazzcorner]

 

 

More on Manny Albam

Edited April 9, 2020 by jazzcorner
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[brownie]

2 hours ago, mjzee said:

Listening now to Drum Suite, which I found at a record convention last summer.  There's no bassist listed.  Any idea whom it might be?

Buddy Jones was the bass player on that one.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

2 hours ago, jazzcorner said:

I do like Albam's 2 tracks on this one. But the players on those tracks have a lot to do with it.

[JSngry]

 

You tell me...

[Larry Kart]

Albam's "Jazz Workshop" is a good one -- good soloists and clever writing. Below is the original album; the music is available on several Albam compiliations.

[mjzee]

4 hours ago, brownie said:

Buddy Jones was the bass player on that one.

Thanks.