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Sam Most LP "I'm Nuts About the Most...Sam That Is East Coast


sgcim

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Anyone have this Bethlehem LP, BCP 18?

It's a Sam Most LP with Oscar Pettiford on one side, and another group with Burger Jones(!) on bass.

I read online that Ronnie Woellmer, a trumpet player, arranged the four or five cuts with Pettiford.

Can anyone verify this?

For anything discographical about Pettiford, I trust this link:

http://themenschmidt.de/don.htm

It says:

5503 NYC. Sam Most Sextet. Sam Most fl, cl, Marty Flax bs, Bill Triglia p, Barry Galbraith g, Oscar Pettiford b, Osie Johnson d. Ronnie Woellmer arr.

  • Falling In Love With Love
  • Rose Room
  • Smiles
  • Broadway
  • 'Deed I Do

East Coast Jazz 9. Sam Most. Bethlehem BCP-18. - Sam Most: I'm nuts about the Most....Sam that is! East Coast Jazz 9. FSR-2029. Cover art by Burt Goldblatt.

Edited by brownie
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There are two sets of notes on the back of the LP, one by Creed Taylor and the other by Sam Most.

In his notes, Creed Taylor states the following:

"Ronny [sic] Woellmer's writing is warm and pleasant, and of inventive, swinging interest to jazz scholars and laymen alike. There is a certain welcome paucity of funkiness in Ronny's writing, which may afford relief for some musical palates. In any case, the arrangements provide an intelligent, well-conceived showcase for the talents of Sam Most."

Sam Most is quoted as follows: "I told my arranger, Ronnie Woellmer, that I wanted to present a unique group which had a pleasant sound, and above all, which would swing. Ronnie, who is one of the most competent and effective arrangers I know, went to work assiduously and turned out the ten arrangements in this album."

The music on the LP is from two sessions.

Session 1:

Sam Most (fl, cl), Marty Flax (bars), Bill Triglia (p), Barry Galbraith (g), Burgher Jones (b), Bobby Donaldson (d).

Cherokee

Don't Worry 'bout Me

How Deep Is the Ocean

What a Difference a Day Made

Tea for Two

Session 2: Oscar Pettiford (b) replaces Jones, Osie Johnson (d) replaces Donaldson.

Smiles

Broadway

'Deed I Do

Falling in Love with Love

Rose Room

Note that the correct spelling of the bassist's name on the first session is "Burgher" Jones. He was known as Buddy Jones. Here's a link to his obituary: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Burgher-Jones-2770270.php

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Wow, Jazztrain, that's enough info to send me out looking for that LP; thanks!

Ron used to be a very good trumpet player. He's featured on the LP "Compositions of Bobby Scott", and he sounds like a Fruscella/Joseph/Chet Baker-type player.

When I was doing gigs with him back in the 80s, he had switched to piano, and he had some great re-harmonizations of standards that have stayed with me to this day.

He was starting to gain some noteriety on trumpet (he placed in a DB Poll) when he had some type of injury that ruined his trumpet chops. If you know of anything else he arranged on, please let me know.

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Sgcim,

Now you have me interested in the "Compositions of Bobby Scott" album. I'll have to look out for that. I'm not familiar with Ron Moeller, but I'll have to look out for more of his work.

I have originals of a few of the Sam Most Bethlehem albums, but for the one mentioned in this thread, I have just a Fresh Sound LP reissue.

I thought I had seen a refererence many years ago to an announcement for a Sam Most cd box set containing all of his work on Bethlehem. Turns out it must have just been a dream!

Wow, Jazztrain, that's enough info to send me out looking for that LP; thanks!

Ron used to be a very good trumpet player. He's featured on the LP "Compositions of Bobby Scott", and he sounds like a Fruscella/Joseph/Chet Baker-type player.

When I was doing gigs with him back in the 80s, he had switched to piano, and he had some great re-harmonizations of standards that have stayed with me to this day.

He was starting to gain some noteriety on trumpet (he placed in a DB Poll) when he had some type of injury that ruined his trumpet chops. If you know of anything else he arranged on, please let me know.

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  • 11 years later...

I just found another Sam Most Sextet album that features two compositions by RW for the same personnel, and one of his tunes sounds like something George Russell or Jimmy Giuffre would have written in the 50s. It's from a re-issue "Doubles in Jazz featuring two ten inch records, one by Don Elliot, and the other by Sam Most.

Here's the cut I'm talking about:

https://archive.org/details/lp_doubles-in-jazz_don-elliott-quartet-sam-most-sextet/disc1/02.06.+Open+House.mp3

He also wrote a composition for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra called "Claudehopper" while he played trumpet with them, which I'm still looking for. This guy was another Gil Evans

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Google does not yield any results for the word "Claudehopper" in connection with "Claude Thornhill". But another online search that led me to the DAHR website shows that a tune named "Claudhopper" was recorded on 2 March 1959 (Woellmer was on trumpet at this session according to the DAHR site) and released on this LP:

https://www.discogs.com/de/master/1463148-Claude-Thornhill-And-His-Orchestra-Dance-To-The-Sound-Of-Claude-Thornhill-And-His-Orchestra

Probably one of Thornhill's less memorable efforts when (according to various biographies on him) he certainly was past his progressive prime and had settled in a more conventional dance band routine.

I recently picked up a copy of his slightly earlier "Plays for Dancing" LP. Nice enough as a document of its times but hardly in a league with his 40s recordings. And I have little reason to believe that that Decca LP of 1959 is radically more "modernist" again. 

Edited by Big Beat Steve
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12 hours ago, sgcim said:

I just found another Sam Most Sextet album that features two compositions by RW for the same personnel, and one of his tunes sounds like something George Russell or Jimmy Giuffre would have written in the 50s. It's from a re-issue "Doubles in Jazz featuring two ten inch records, one by Don Elliot, and the other by Sam Most.

Here's the cut I'm talking about:

https://archive.org/details/lp_doubles-in-jazz_don-elliott-quartet-sam-most-sextet/disc1/02.06.+Open+House.mp3

He also wrote a composition for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra called "Claudehopper" while he played trumpet with them, which I'm still looking for. This guy was another Gil Evans

Funny to see this thread revived after close to 12 years!

As Big Beat Steve just noted above, the tune appears as "Claudhopper" on the LP with Woellmer listed as composer.  The back of the LP can be seen here:  

dancetosoundofcl00thor007.jpg

This recording is available online.  See here for example:  https://archive.org/details/dancetosoundofcl00thor

 

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