Lennie Niehaus

[t brooks]

can i get some thoughts on or Lennie Niehaus don't have any in my collection. from what i read i think i would be most intersted in his 5 or 6 [Contemporary] recordings

thanks mark

[J.A.W.]

My recommendations would be:

Vol.1: The Quintets

Vol.3: The Octet #2

Vol.5: The Sextet

[brownie]

All five albums Lennie Niehaus recorded for Contemporary are worth chasing!

Also the album he recorded for Mercury. And let's not forget the more recent two sessions

that came out on Fresh Sounds. Not a bad one in the lot!

Niehaus also recorded wonderful solos when he was playing with the Stan Kenton Orchestra

in the late fifties.

[Larry Kart]

Niehaus may have the (pardon the expression) "whitest" rhythmic sense of any modern jazz musician whose playing arguably is excellent. An updated Frankie Trumbauer? Listen to where his accents fall and/or don't fall. At times things are almost unbelievably close to being backwards or inside out, his harmonic choices are perfectly in tune with this, and when and where the hell does he breathe? (Often he doesn't for alarmingly long stretches of time and then where you'd least expect him to.) Oddly enough, all things being equal (which they're not), there's some degree of kinship here, I think, esp. rhythmically, between Niehaus and Hank Mobley! Lord knows what a two-horn-plus-rhythm album with those two would have sounded like. I agree about the recent Fresh Sounds Niehaus albums, esp. the one with Bill Perkins and Jack Nimitz. Could be the best playing ever from the leader. On the other hand, a somewhat later live album, recorded in Las Vegas for I don't recall what label, showed a severe falling off.

[Big Wheel]

Don't forget the oeuvre of Lennie's obscure brother, Arr Niehaus.

[JSngry]

[garthsj]

Niehaus may have the (pardon the expression) "whitest" rhythmic sense of any modern jazz musician whose playing arguably is excellent. An updated Frankie Trumbauer? Listen to where  his accents fall and/or don't fall. At times things are almost unbelievably close to being backwards or inside out, his harmonic choices are perfectly in tune with this, and when and where the hell does he breathe? (Often he doesn't for alarmingly long stretches of time and then where you'd least expect him to.) Oddly enough, all things being equal (which they're not), there's some degree of kinship here, I think, esp. rhythmically, between Niehaus and Hank Mobley! Lord knows what a two-horn-plus-rhythm album with those two would have sounded like. I agree about the recent Fresh Sounds Niehaus albums, esp. the one with Bill Perkins and Jack Nimitz. Could be the best playing ever from the leader. On the other hand, a somewhat later live album, recorded in Las Vegas for I don't recall what label, showed a severe falling off.

The album that Larry is referring to is on the Woofy label ... and it is not the best Niehaus around, I agree. He does have a new album, "Live at The Lighthouse" which I have yet to hear. See here:

http://www.woofyproductions.com/catalog.html

I have counted Niehaus playing lines as long as 12 bars on some tunes on those Contemporary albums! I was at one of Ken Poston's West Coast weekends when Lennie made a playing "comeback" of sorts (he had not played for several years while doing his magical thing for Clint Eastwood), and after the set with his new quintet, I complimented him, and said that he was still the master of those long lines. He was genuinely delighted that I had noticed, and he told me that he still needed to get his breathing back in shape. This was 1996, as I remember. I do not begrudge him the lucrative Hollywood career that he has had, but what a pity that one of the best of modern alto players basically shifted his creative path ... I can only wish for all of those creative small group and big band albums that we might have had.

Edited April 23, 2005 by garthsj

[t brooks]

thanks for all the input i pick-up [vol 2 zounds & vol 1 quintets ] so far. some great recording don't know how i missed out for so long on one of the west coast jazz GREATS!

mark

[Larry Kart]

Reposting this after listening to most of Niehaus' Contemporary albums, in an attempt to resolve my puzzlement/confusion: 

Niehaus may have the (pardon the expression) "whitest" rhythmic sense of any modern jazz musician whose playing arguably is excellent. An updated Frankie Trumbauer? Listen to where his accents fall and/or don't fall. At times things are almost unbelievably close to being backwards or inside out (albeit fluent and graceful in their own right) versus, say, Bird's rhythmic sense or even that of Lee Konitz (a seeming possible point of comparison). Lennie's harmonic choices are perfectly in tune with this, and when and where the hell does he breathe? (Often he doesn't for alarmingly long stretches of time and then where you'd least expect him to.)  I agree with Brownie about the recent Fresh Sounds Niehaus albums. Any thoughts on Niehaus,  positive or negative? 

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

1 hour ago, Larry Kart said:

Thoughts?   Yes………..that ‘I Remember You’ is/always was one of my top 5 favorite jazz tracks.  
 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by Son-of-a-Weizen

[trane123]

There's a 4 CD set called "Lennie Niehaus Complete Fifties Recordings" released on one of those European labels.  Sounds good and comes with a nice booklet.  

[Teasing the Korean]

I have Vol. 3, the Octet. It has been ages since I spun it.  I should revisit it.

[Larry Kart]

On 3/20/2023 at 9:01 PM, Son-of-a-Weizen said:

Thoughts?   Yes………..that ‘I Remember You’ is/always was one of my top 5 favorite jazz tracks.  
 

 

 

In a similar vein, I really like "With the Wind and the Rain in Your Hair."

[Joe]

His "with strings" recordings are among the more interesting and successful exercises in this genre, IMO. That opening rendition of "All The Things You Are" makes quite a statement.

 

[adh1907]

On 3/21/2023 at 12:29 AM, Larry Kart said:

Reposting this after listening to most of Niehaus' Contemporary albums, in an attempt to resolve my puzzlement/confusion: 

Niehaus may have the (pardon the expression) "whitest" rhythmic sense of any modern jazz musician whose playing arguably is excellent. An updated Frankie Trumbauer? Listen to where his accents fall and/or don't fall. At times things are almost unbelievably close to being backwards or inside out (albeit fluent and graceful in their own right) versus, say, Bird's rhythmic sense or even that of Lee Konitz (a seeming possible point of comparison). Lennie's harmonic choices are perfectly in tune with this, and when and where the hell does he breathe? (Often he doesn't for alarmingly long stretches of time and then where you'd least expect him to.)  I agree with Brownie about the recent Fresh Sounds Niehaus albums. Any thoughts on Niehaus,  positive or negative? 

A good example of this in my mind is ‘Bunko’. Slightly corny theme but Niehaus’ intro and solo are very typical of his distinctive style. Attempting to play along to any of this stuff does test out your lung capacity! 
 

 

regards 

Anthony

[Late]

On 4/23/2005 at 6:21 AM, J.A.W. said:

My recommendations would be:

Vol.1: The Quintets

Vol.3: The Octet #2

Vol.5: The Sextet

These are the three Niehaus CDs I own. All excellent, though I do think Niehaus's writing works best when a piano isn't present. The quintet and sextet work seems to get more music out of fewer horns. The octet work often (but not always) doubles parts, which effectively reduces the number of voices. That said, "You And The Night And The Music" is a great octet track—some wonderful weaving there.

I also think that Shelly Manne really, really elevates any track he's on. He had an intuitive sense about writing like this.

[Joe]

Max Harrison has a nice little essay about Nieehaus' Contemporary dates in his A JAZZ RETROSPECT.