Donald Bailey, bass player

[Eloe Omoe]

On Sonny Rollins' Vanguard Blue Note CDs, there are a couple of pieces with Pete LaRoca and a mysterious bass player named Donald Bailey, whom I never heard of before or after that date. In the liner notes of the original LP, Leonard Feather says he was from Baltimore, but he seems to have disappeared forever after the Rollins gig.

Who was that guy? Did he really exist? Could it be a pseudonym, maybe for - a wild guess - bass player Don Bagley?

BTW, another mysterious guy on Blue Note is vibraphonist Donald Best, on Donald Byrd's A New Perspective

luca

[brownie]

The bass player Don Bailey also showed up for another BN session on July 16, 1958. That was a Jimmy Smith date with Cecil Payne, Kenny Burrell and Art Blakey that produced 'The Swingin' Shepherd Blues'.

Strangely there was another Jimmy Smith session the day before without Don Bailey but with drummer Donald Bailey!

[Eloe Omoe]

The bass player Don Bailey also showed up for another BN session on July 16, 1958. That was a Jimmy Smith date with Cecil Payne, Kenny Burrell and Art Blakey that produced 'The Swingin' Shepherd Blues'.

Strangely there was another Jimmy Smith session the day before without Don Bailey but with drummer Donald Bailey!

Are you sure, Brownie? I have that Smith CD, Six Views of the Blues , but there's no bass player there (whereas Donald Bailey - the drummer - is present on three of the six tracks).

luca

[brownie]

My copy of the BN/King vinyl 'Jimmy Smith - The Singles' has liner notes by Michael Cuscuna who mentions the bass player Donald Bailey on that 'Swingin' Shepherd Blues' and adds 'this is not Smith's drummer Donald Bailey on bass but another musician'.

Now don't tell me you don't trust Cuscuna

[Eloe Omoe]

My copy of the BN/King vinyl 'Jimmy Smith - The Singles' has liner notes by Michael Cuscuna who mentions the bass player Donald Bailey on that 'Swingin' Shepherd Blues' and adds 'this is not Smith's drummer Donald Bailey on bass but another musician'.

Now don't tell me you don't trust Cuscuna

Sure I trust Cuscuna but I'm listening to that track just now, and if there's a bass player he must be hiding himself very well...

luca

[DMP]

I think the notes to the Byrd LP explain who that vibes player is...

[brownie]

Sure I trust Cuscuna but I'm listening to that track just now, and if there's a bass player he must be hiding himself very well...

luca

There's a constant bass line throughout the rendition and it's not coming from Jimmy Smith!

In his liner notes, Cuscuna states It is rare that Smith would use a bassist, and that might explain the mediocre results from the rest of this date.

So much for Don Bailey!

[Eloe Omoe]

There's a constant bass line throughout the rendition and it's not coming from Jimmy Smith!

In his liner notes, Cuscuna states It is rare that Smith would use a bassist, and that might explain the mediocre results from the rest of this date.

So much for Don Bailey!

It's all very strange. In the CD version, I just can't hear any bass player. Fact is, you were talking about two different dates, but the whole CD is said as being recorded on July 16, 1958, and the 1999 Cuscuna liner notes - as well the personnel listing on the CD - do not refer to any bass player. Could it be that the version you have on LP might've been recorded the day before, with Donald Bailey on bass, for a single release, and that they did record a second version - without bass - the day after?

The CD track is 3:55. How long is the LP one?

luca

[brownie]

The CD track is 3:55. How long is the LP one?

Same here!

[brownie]

I finally dug up my CD copy of 'Six Views of the Blues' where the credits and liner notes obliterate the presence of a bass player

Could it really be Jimmy Smith playing those bass lines all through the session on what is presented from it?

A B3 expert - and there are plenty here - might clear this up!

[brownie]

In the liner notes of the original LP, Leonard Feather says he was from Baltimore, but he seems to have disappeared forever after the Rollins gig.

Bassist Donald Bailey performed regularly at concerts organized by the Baltimore Left Bank Jazz Society during the sixties.

He is often listed as Donald Baily:

http://home.earthlink.net/~eskelin/leftbank.html

[Eloe Omoe]

Thanks, Brownie. Just what I was looking for

luca

Edited March 18, 2007 by Eloe Omoe

[brownie]

You're welcome

[king ubu]

So, re: Sonny Rollins at the Village Vanguard, it's Bailey on "A Night in Tunisia" (8:16) and "I've Got You Under My Skin" (10:03 - just one take on the 2CD set)? The RVG disc only has an asterisk (denoting the Bailey/La Roca line up) for the first, but the second isn't included in the Ware discography on www.jazzdiscography.com ... and aural evidence might support that, but honestly I'm not really sure I could tell, not being familiar with Bailey the bassist whatsoever, and Elvin is in his early stage here ... but then La Roca's groove on "Tunisia" is different (and I prefer it, actually) ... but there's Elvin's "lose" beat from note one on the second "Tunisia" and none of that on "Skin", so yeah, I guess it's Bailey/La Roca there, indeed?

Was this ever discussed before? I hadn't listened to this one in a while and it just felt strange so I went looking it up in the Ware disco, and there ...

[mikeweil]

Just listened to "The Swingin' Shepherd Blues" from the "Six Views of the Blues" CD - there is a bass line, but that's from the B3. Definitely. No mention of a bass player on this Cuscuna produced CD ....

I don't have "The Singles" LP any more, but I remember the version there to be identical. Seems Cuscuna corrected himself. The July 16, 1958 session on the CD was recorded with two drummers, Art Blakey on tracks 1-3, Donald Bailey on 4-6 - maybe the files were not clear thus leading to the assumption bassist Bailey was on the session. That bass sound clearly is no acoustic or electric bass but from the organ.

[mjzee]

Here's info from the Cuscuna/Ruppli BN Discography (2001 edition):

Sonny Rollins - A Night At The Village Vanguard

Sonny Rollins (ts) Don Bailey (b) Pete La Roca (dm).

(Village Vanguard) NYC, November 3, 1957 (afternoon)

Woody'n you (rejected)

A night in Tunisia

I've got you under my skin

What is this thing called love (rejected)

Old devil moon (rejected)

Jimmy Smith - Six Views Of The Blues

Cecil Payne (bs) Jimmy Smith (org) Kenny Burrell (g) Don Bailey (b) Art Blakey-1 or Donald Bailey-2 (dm).

Hackensack, N.J., July 16, 1958

St. Louis blues - 1

The swingin' shepherd blues - 1

Blues #1 - 1

Blues #2 - 2

Blues #3 - 2

Blues #4 - 2

[king ubu]

Thanks!

Had the book here for a while (from the library) but didn't think of checking this session then.

[CJ Shearn]

I can confirm that the bassist Don Bailey is not on "The Swingin Shepard Blues".

[mikeweil]

Here's info from the Cuscuna/Ruppli BN Discography (2001 edition):

Jimmy Smith - Six Views Of The Blues

Cecil Payne (bs) Jimmy Smith (org) Kenny Burrell (g) Don Bailey (b) Art Blakey-1 or Donald Bailey-2 (dm).

Hackensack, N.J., July 16, 1958

St. Louis blues - 1

The swingin' shepherd blues - 1

Blues #1 - 1

Blues #2 - 2

Blues #3 - 2

Blues #4 - 2

hmmm .... the CD was issued in 1999, but still, I don't hear no bass player but organ bass, left hand, no pedal. Sounds a bit thin, but not a plucked sound of any kind. Maybe this session slipped through the revisions of the disco. Is there a newer edition than 2001?