"SWEETS" now available ...

[garthsj]

No self-respecting jazz collection should be without this album ... especially at the price!

With Ben Webster, Barney Kessel, Jimmy Rowles, Alvin Stoller, and Joe Mondragon ... go for it!

Edited April 14, 2005 by garthsj

[Dan Gould]

I have the American Record Society issue of this, but I definitely have to grab this instead and get rid of the ugly pink inner sleeve in favor of dapper Sweets!

[Big Al]

Did Sweets ever put out a bad record? I think a Sweets Verve Mosaic would be.... well, y'know..... SWEET!!!!

[DMP]

This week's "Verve" reissues are all worth picking up - not the usual fare! (The Edison may be the best of the bunch, but every one has something going for it.) The 'live" Joe Newman (with Oliver Nelson) was new to me.

[Larry Kart]

Still have my somewhat beat up, purchased at the time it came out LP copy. That's a lovely rhythm section, some of the best Ben Webster on record, and the overall groove is great, as though everyone were on ball-bearings (quite a contrast in that respect to a later Granz album -- was it called "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You"? -- with the same front-line and an utterly airless rhythm section with Oscar Peterson). Though Edison is certainly in good form on "Sweets," I think his best post-Basie work is on the live album from the Haig. BTW, the band on "Sweets" is the same one that backed Billie Holiday on two four-tune Clef dates (8/14/56 and 8/18/56).

[Big Al]

(quite a contrast in that respect to a later Granz album -- was it called "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You"? -- with the same front-line and an utterly airless rhythm section with Oscar Peterson).

I’m spinning that right now. I’ve always liked this date, as it was one the first jazz CDs I bought when I was going thru a big Ben Webster jones right around the time I started getting into jazz (around ’96 or so).

Say what you will about the rhythm section, but I rather like OP on this (as opposed to his trio dates), and Ben & Sweets are in fine form! Just a nice bluesy groove throughout, especially on “Taste on the Place.” Plus, it has one of my favorite versions of “Moonlight in Vermont.”

But I’m really looking forward to the present Sweets disc. I mean, Jimmy Rowles, come ON!!!!! He’s the MAN! No wonder Ben dug him so much!

[Dan Gould]

I agree, Al. I originally had that Sweets/Ben album as one of those super cheap Italian LPs with the flimsy paper sleeves, then I upgraded with that three LPs on two CDs reissue of about 5 years ago ...

[Big Al]

I agree, Al. I originally had that Sweets/Ben album as one of those super cheap Italian LPs with the flimsy paper sleeves, then I upgraded with that three LPs on two CDs reissue of about 5 years ago ...

...and a great reissue that was! Three great albums:

The Soul of Ben Webster

Gee, Baby Ain't I Good to You (Sweets)

Blues-a-Plenty (Hodges)

The first one, Soul of, is probably the most underrated of Ben's classic Verve sides! With Roy Eldridge, Art Farmer, and Vic Dickenson in one of the hottest front-lines on record, and the always subtle Jimmy Jones on piano, this is a perfect companion to the more-well-known-but-no-less-worthy Ben Webster and Associates (also with Jones on the piano!)

[jazzbo]

Yeah. . .the Lizard. . . THE Jimmy Rowles. . . more and more he's becoming one of my very favorite jazz artists, period.

[Free For All]

Yeah. . .the Lizard. . . THE Jimmy Rowles. . . more and more he's becoming one of my very favorite jazz artists, period.

Rowles rules! He's been on so many great recordings both as accompanist and featured player. We should start a thread just for him.

The Peacocks is one of the most hauntingly beautiful jazz tunes EVER!

[vibes]

Thanks for alerting me to this new crop of Verve LPR's. I picked up the Sweets and Al Cohn yesterday, and have the Sweets on right now. GREAT music, just like the other couple of Verves I have by him.

[Larry Kart]

Just picked up the reissued "Sweets," Thanks to the handsome remastering, I was struck more than ever by the rhythm section -- in particular the way Kessel and Rowles seem to fuse into a single comping entity, a la '30s Freddie Green and Basie. Who plays what, when between Kessel and Rowles is so perfectly, subtly apportioned, to the point where some of Kessel's figures seem to vanish into Rowles' and vice versa, that you'd almost think it all had to be worked out beforehand, though of course it wasn't; and the results are tremendously stimulating to the Edison and, especially, Webster -- who was perhaps more sensitive/vulnerable to what rhythm sections were doing behind him than Sweets was. As I'd thought, the album was recorded shortly after (9/4/56) the same group had backed Billie Holiday on two Clef dates (8/14/56 and 8/18/56), which no doubt accounts for the hand-in-glove atmosphere that prevails here. Kudos to Mondragon and Stoller too.

[garthsj]

Just picked up the reissued "Sweets," Thanks to the handsome remastering, I was struck more than ever by the rhythm section -- in particular the way Kessel and Rowles seem to fuse into a single comping entity, a la '30s Freddie Green and Basie. Who plays what, when between Kessel and Rowles is so perfectly, subtly apportioned, to the point where some of Kessel's figures seem to vanish into Rowles' and vice versa, that you'd almost think it all had to be worked out beforehand, though of course it wasn't; and the results are tremendously stimulating to the Edison and, especially, Webster -- who was perhaps more sensitive/vulnerable to what rhythm sections were doing behind him than Sweets was.  As I'd thought, the album was recorded shortly after (9/4/56) the same group had backed Billie Holiday on two Clef dates (8/14/56 and 8/18/56), which no doubt accounts for the hand-in-glove atmosphere that prevails here. Kudos to Mondragon and Stoller too.

A related item .. there is an album "Buddy [Rich] and Sweets" with Jimmy Rowles, Barney Kessel, and John Simmons on bass, recorded September 1, 1955 .... originally issued on Norgran, and now available on a Verve CD. Unfortunately it comes nowhere near to being as good as "Sweets" is, and Rich's desire for prominence is largely to blame. The first cut "Yellow Rose of Brooklyn" is almost entirely a drum solo .. THE FIRST CUT! ...

I am seldom prone to extensive hyberbole, but to my tin ear "Sweets" comes as close to a "perfect" album of this music we call jazz as exists.

Edited April 23, 2005 by garthsj

[Brad]

I forgot to pick this one up last week when I was in Borders. Hope it's still there after reading this thread.

[Big Al]

A related item .. there is an album "Buddy [Rich] and Sweets" with Jimmy Rowles, Barney Kessel, and John Simmons on bass, recorded September 1, 1955 .... originally issued on Norgran, and now available on a Verve CD. Unfortunately it comes nowhere near to being as good as "Sweets" is, and Rich's desire for prominence is largely to blame. The first cut "Yellow Rose of Brooklyn" is almost entirely a drum solo .. THE FIRST CUT! ...

Yeah, but the REST of that album smokes!!!

[B. Goren.]

No self-respecting jazz collection should be without this album ... especially at the price!

With Ben Webster, Barney Kessel, Jimmy Rowles, Alvin Stoller, and Joe Mondragon ... go for it!

←

Since I consider my collection as a self-respecting, this album was recently added.

[DrJ]

I will be picking this one up for SURE...but I agree with Big Al:

Did Sweets ever put out a bad record? I think a Sweets Verve Mosaic would be.... well, y'know..... SWEET!!!!

The time is NOW...

[Brad]

I did pick this up and it got some heavy rotation. It's truly great. Better than I expected, actually.

[Ron S]

Me too.

[montg]

I picked this one up recently and--it is every bit as good as the hype. I had seen this album described before as one of the great modern mainstream recordings and it's had to argue against that claim. Everything is working..the rhythm section is swinging, Kessel contributes interesting lines and color when he's not punctuating the rhythm. Sweets and Webster complement each other perfectly.

This one has sent me in search of Sweeets' Verve Elite that I had previously passed on.

[Late]

In the vernacular of the day ... this one is sick. I love it.

[Big Al]

Thanks for bringing this album back up. Ben and Sweets together were so tremendous! What other albums did they do together? I can think of three right off:

Sweets (subject of this thread)

Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You? (discussed in this thread)

Ben and Sweets (Columbia, yet ANOTHER fine date!)

[Late]

They were sidemen together on a number of dates (Side by Side comes to mind), but those are the only three I can think of in which they're leaders/co-leaders.

I agree, that Columbia date is sublime. Webster and Edison were a natural match.

[brownie]

Let's not forget the beautiful music Ben and Sweets made in the company of Billie Holiday:

[Big Al]

(Side by Side comes to mind),

Sweets ain't on that one. Well, he is on that album; but those tracks with Sweets were left over from the sessions that produced BACK TO BACK. Big Ben didn't play on the BACK TO BACK sessions. How cool would THAT have been, though?