Oliver Nelson on Prestige

[JSngry]

Very groovy record, Oliver Nelson basically invisible except as a credit, but still, very nice record, reminds me of why they don't make records like this anymore, naivete has devolved into irony, cynicism now is guilt-free, and, oh, let King Curtis bring a band for the session, yeah, right, what hat-pimping asshole of any color will that be, eh? The line is out the door.

Note that there is no hat on this album covrr. Not needed.

[JSngry]

sweeeeeeet. ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JSngry]

Found my DL of the Clea Bradford date today, and...seems that I recall Ms. Bradford being from St. Louis, so, sure, Nelson and Clark Terry, why not, but their contribution are so minimal that never mind why not, WHY?

That + to my ears, the singing sounds like a sincere collection of all the mannerism I don't like of singers I do like, without anything additional added.

All is not lost, though. Patti Bown, both in solo and accompaniment, keeps throwing out all these Cole/Garner-ish tidbits that would not be out of place on some 78 from 15-20 years earlier. Kind of a treat, that is, and if not a treat, at least incentive to listen to the record all the way through once.

[JSngry]

Finally got to Clark Terry's All-American album, and it is a very subtle ear-opener.

As Chuck noted earlier, fresh takes on tunes I only knew through Ellington readings, and that itself was interesting. What gets really ear-opening is listening really closely to the orchestrations, listening to who's doing what when.

The first thing is that Clark Terry himself is very, very adept at switching from a section, lead trumpet part, to a solo spot with total transparency. So right there, you can write two trumpet parts for just one player. Nelson does this a lot here.

Then there's a trombone, something that Nelson generally didn't use on his Prestige dates. In this case, the trombone's tone & Terry's tone in the same ranges are very similar. So, you can use the trombone as a second trumpet, or pass lines back and forth, start a line with the trombone, pass it to the trumpet and give the trombone a new part without any obvious change in the ensemble texture.

Also, the tenor/bari team is very often written without trombone involved, which gives a different texture, more of a sax section texture, Nelson uses this to his advantage, to create different section sounds at different points in the same arrangement, to create a lot more variety than the instrumentation would allow for a less imaginative arranger.

In fact, that's the biggest fascination about this album for me. Budd Johnson is a treat, as always, and yeah, these players do what these players did (for better and not-so-better). And no, the source material is what it is (which is neither here nor there, really), but the real ear-work is listening to the writing, especially getting to the inner parts and where they all go, and how. It's just four horns, but four horns that are put to maximal variety, especially considering that one of the four is also the lead soloist for the record.

My first listen to the record was a casual one and I was kinda, eh, that's ok. But with subsequent listening, I focused on details and once the game of huh, where did that come from,? I thought he was doing this, if that's not him then who is it, I thought they were doing THAT...starts getting played, fun happens. Especially when you start listening to the bottom notes, now you hear them, now you don't, where did they go?

Very skillful record. Not particularly..."exciting", but for me, I get excited by the way notes can be put together in so many different ways but so seldom are. So in that way, this IS an exciting record.

[JSngry]

Ok, that does it, that's almost the entirety of Oliver Nelson's work on and for Prestige, it has been an enlightening and entertaining trip. I considered myself a pretty sharp Oliver Nelson fan going in, but this exploration has really broadened  my appreciation, a lot more than I was expecting. The guy was gifted and prolific from jump, it appears, an original improvisational voice and a pen that never stopped flowing. Esmond Edwards gave him the opportunities, and as far as I can see, he carpe diemed with all of them. Results might have been uneven on occasion, but nothing flat out fails. And the successes soar.

Also notable is the continuity of players from date to date. Personnel evolves over time, but it seems like there's always a continuity between this project and some others, a bit of musical networking no doubt, but also a real ongoing sense that this music is being played as intended in a deeper sense than just getting a satisfactory read-down and then a take, the "read and roll" approach.

So let's look at the schedules that Oliver Nelson had working for Esmond Edwards and Prestige. The guy stayed busy.

All information from http://dougpayne.com/on51-66.htm

1959

10/30 - Meet Oliver Nelson, debut album with Kenny Dorham

1960

3/22 - Taking Care Of Business

4/19 - Lem's Beat (Lem Winchester)

4/22 - Talk That Talk (Johnny Hammond Smith), 3 cuts

5/27 - Screamin' The Blues

8/23 - Nocturne

9/09 - Soul Battle

9/16 - Hollar! (Etta Jones) - 3(? I only really hear 2) cuts + Something Nice  (1 cut)

9/20 - Trane Whistle (Lockjaw)

1961

3/01 - Straight Ahead

3/16 - session with Red Garland, split over two albums

6/09 - First session for Etta Jones' So Warm

6/13 - session with Gene Ammons, split over three albums

6/21 - These Blues (Clea Bradford)

7/25 & 7/28 - remaining sessions for So Warm

8/22 - Blue Seven (Shirley Scott)

8/25 - Main Stem

9/29 & 10/10 - African-American Sketches

12/08 - sessions for It's the Blues, Man (Eddie Kirkland)

1962

2/08 & 2/09 - From the Heart (Etta Jones)

3/09 - second session for for It's the Blues, Man

3/22 - Southern Comfort (Frank Wess)

3/11 & 3/15 - Clark Terry Plays The JAzz Version Of All-American

6/01 - session for Soul Street (Jimmy Forrest), 3 cuts

and finally, two 45 sessions which I have yet to hear (anybody who has these, let's talk):

Faye Adams
New York City: June 26, 1962
Faye Adams (vcl) with orchestra dir. by Oliver Nelson.

a. (3545) Goodnight My Love
b. (3546) You Can Trust In Me
c. (3547) Come On To Me
d. (3548) Blue Raindrops

Issues: a & b on Prestige 45-224 [45].
 

Jimmy Grissom
New York City: July 3, 1962
Jimmy Grissom (vcl) with Oliver Nelson (as, ts, prob. arr, prob. cond); Dick Hyman (org); Hank Jones (p); Wendell Marshall (b); Ed Shaughnessy (d).

a. (3549) I've Got You On My Mind
b. (3550) Lover's Reverie
c. (3551) Love Has A Thousand Eyes
d. (3552) Get Yourself Another Fool

Issues: a & b on Prestige 45-225 [45].

Nelson continued to work with Edwards on Argo, and of course, Creed Taylor & Bob Thiele came along. But this run of one artist, one producer, multi-faceted output (leader, sideman, arranger, composer), Duke Pearson at Blue Note comes to mind as an immediate comparison, but who else, to this extent?

Anyway, it's been more than a little fun. Now to make shelf space...
 

[kh1958]

A very interesting listening project. I have almost all of this material in LP and/or CD form (no Faye Adams or Jimmy Grissom though), but acquired over many years in random order; it sounds worthwhile to  listen to it all in short order..  

[JSngry]

Yeah, it's one helluva run, really. 1962 slows down a little in terms of quantity due to his expanding work elsewhere, but geez...

Also, the Red Garland & Gene Ammons dates are in serious need of collated releases. The Ammons date in particular comes alive when heard at once in a way that it really doesn't when heard as parts of other records (three other records!), that was a very nice date.

Gotta find those 45s...Faye Adams is not necessarily my favorite singers, but I'd like to hear how Oliver treats the bridge on "Goodnight My Love", that's a nifty part of an otherwise mundane song), and I do like me some Jimmy Grissom, actually.

[JSngry]

Found an addition! 

Oliver's on one cut, playing obbligatos on "Easy Living". Hardly revelatory, but a nice moment on an already nice record.

[mikeweil]

Some of Etta Jones' sessions with excellent sidemen were spread over several albums as Gene's, and would benefit from a reissue in session order just as well..

[Dub Modal]

Reading through this via the link in Now Playing...I have no Prestige Nelson in my collection. Actually the only Nelson album I have is Skull Session. Will have to give these an ear...

[Late]

Listened to the tracks last night where Nelson is part of a quintet on Red Garland's Soul Burnin'. Recommended.

[Rabshakeh]

I only recently discovered Straight Ahead, which is on New Jazz rather than Prestige proper. As far as can tell it is basically a gift date to Eric Dolphy, who gets almost more solo time than Nelson. One of Dolphy's best early albums, I think.

[Late]

On 8/30/2021 at 0:10 PM, Rabshakeh said:

I only recently discovered Straight Ahead ...

Great album. My first Nelson purchase (before Blues And The Abstract Truth)! I like Nelson's elegance juxtaposed with Dolphy's abandon.

[Chuck Nessa]

For some  reason, many folks miss "Nocturne" on Prestige Moodsville  w/ Lem Winchester, Richard Wyands, George Duvivier & Roy Haynes. A fine date.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Lord, just read this for the first time.

I put the Ammons Mal Waldron session together on 2008 and put it on a CD with 'Night Lights', half from 'Stranger in Town', half ripped from LP. But I NEVER noticed there was another session divided up like the one with Nelson, Holloway, et al.

Will put that together today some time.

Anyone got a suggestion for a cover?

This is what I did for the Mal Waldron Session

MG

[JSngry]

I left mine coverless, figured they had been covered up long enough.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

OK, I've done this one, too. Cover is attached.

I'm glad to have put this together and listened to it as a whole. I think Jug wasn't nearly as comfortable with Oliver and the band as with a piano or organ trio.  I don't think he felt able to phrase as freely as he usually did. This seems to give it a flavour of being a bunch of experiments, rather than an album that conveys something as a whole thing - as the Mal Waldron session does.

Mind you, repeated plays might change my view.

The outstanding track, for me, is 'Love' I've found you'. I've had this since the sixties on the B side of Tubby (both edited down to les than three minutes). On the full length version, we get the full Gene Ammons treatment.

But where the hell did that song COME from? It was written by Berry Gordy and Harvey Fuqua, which clearly suggests some Motown single was the original, but I can't find it on Google. The only versions in Lord are by Gloria Lynne (1959 - arr Melba Liston); Wynton Kelly, with and without Miles, (Mar 1961), Ammons, and Budd Johnson - on a various artist compilation on Argo - 1963. Then Bobo Stenson in 2007. Chequered career for a song.

Gloria's COULDN'T have been the original... could it?

MG

[JSngry]

I think he was quite comfortable with the Nelson arrangements. He was no stranger to a big band setting (Eckstine!). I think he was "role playing", and I think he did it quite well.

Is this the same "Love, I've found you"? If so, it gets different composer credits !

[JSngry]

The Gordy/Fuqua song is maybe by Harvey Fuqua & Gwen Gordy Fuqua...and it might be an early Spinners song?

 

Yeah, that's a totally different song. Prestige got the composer credits wrong, and always did have them wrong!!!!

 

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Same song.

The Miles Davis and Wynton Kelly recordings have the same credits - Moore & Small

So... Who's mistaken? No one, I think. Who benefits? Fuqua and Gordy, but they didn't need any royalties by sixty-one. But hell, it can't be a genuine error, can it?

I don't get it.

MG

[JSngry]

Yea, here's the background on the Gloria Lynne song:https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=mhp_3bWnyhQC&pg=PA148&lpg=PA148&dq=gloria+lynne+love+i+found+you+small&source=bl&ots=IthcBKMp8Y&sig=ACfU3U0_hYGf2wEsedMavFr1lomT_x1ucw&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=gloria%20lynne%20love%20i%20found%20you%20small&f=false

Danny Small was the writer.

So, how did Prestige get it wrong - and why have they kept it wrong?

 

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Dunno. If there WAS another song with the same, or a similar, title, then it COULD be a mistake. But I can't find one in the right timeframe through Google.

Who's generally responsible for getting this right? The producer or some geezer in the office?

MG

[JSngry]

Not sure how much "office" Prestige had in those days...who was the producer? Esmond Edwards, right?

No matter...Danny Small is out some money here.

Danny Small made a record, but not with that song.

Dead or alive, he is owed money...unless the Fuquas bought the song from him. Can't rule that out altogether.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

If Danny Small sold it to Fuqua & Gordy, he must have bought it back. Just looked at Bobo Stenson's version, which credits Small & Moore.

https://www.discogs.com/Bobo-Stenson-Trio-Cantando/release/1456287

Ergo, someone's on the fiddle.

MG

 

 

[JSngry]

Prestige owes Danny Small's people some money. They used that version on more than one record.