Urbie Green, 1926-2018

[duaneiac]

Jazz trombone virtuoso, Urban Clifford “Urbie” Green, 92, passed away on Monday, Dec. 31, 2018, at Saucon Valley Manor, Hellertown. He was the loving husband of actress and singer Catherine “Kathy” (Prestigiacomo) Green. Born Aug. 8, 1926, in Mobile, Alabama, son of the late Robert Eugene and Aurora (Blanche) Green, Urbie is known as the “trombonist’s trombonist” and is considered to be among the elite of the world’s trombone players, due to not only his mastery of the instrument, including his smooth, warm, mellow tone, but also his lyrical phrasing and beautiful solos.

Continue reading here:  https://www.poconorecord.com/obituaries/20190105/urban-clifford-urbie-green

[HutchFan]

Sorry to hear this news. R.I.P.

 

Edited January 6, 2019 by HutchFan

[clifford_thornton]

ah wow, yeah he was a beast. RIP.

[sidewinder]

RIP, sorry to hear this. I got to see/hear him once at NY Town Hall in a lineup which also included Harry Edison and Buddy Tate. Such a smooth technique and great sound he got.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

RIP- do you recall how he or is family had an estate sale a few years ago to sell all his stuff, someone on here posted about it- among the stuff was tons of macIntosh gear and simlar caliber speakers and stuff.  

is in Woddy Herman orch on "Bird with the Herd"

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

he aboustely was on blue note, pre 1500 series, in the 78 era

[Stereojack]

 This Blue Note LP was released in 1954.

Edited January 6, 2019 by Stereojack

[Teasing the Korean]

Love his work with Jobim.  RIP.

[Shrdlu]

Top trombone. Will be missed.

Yes, he was great with Tom Jobim.

[JSngry]

I regret that my first exposure to him was those Command records. It took me a long time to disassociate his other playing from the impressions left by those records. What finally did it (or started to do it) was his CTI records of the late 70s (I know, irony). Anyway, now I get it.

[sgcim]

I'll always remember him as the first horn player to record a small group version of Raksin's sublime theme from 'The Bad and the Beautiful', and make it sound effortless and expressive as hell. I play with a decent trombone player who's been trying to play it for the last ten years, and can't even make it through the bridge.

RIP, Urbie...

[mikeweil]

IIRC his Blue Note 10 incher was the only in that series never reissued on CD in the US, which is kinda sad. He was an excellent and tasteful player.

R.I.P.

[Hardbopjazz]

R.I.P.  a top notch trombone player.  

[Teasing the Korean]

3 hours ago, JSngry said:

I regret that my first exposure to him was those Command records. 

Thanks for the reminder.  Ages ago I picked up a huge haul of pre-recorded reel-to-reels, and included in the haul is Urbie Green's Persuasive Trombone album.  

I agree with you that most Command albums are lousy, which is why I unloaded many of them years ago.  However there are some real gems on Command/Project 3, including The Private Life of a Private Eye, Strange, Interlude, the Dick Hyman Moog and organ albums, Spaced Out, Permissive Polyphonics, and of course everything by Free Design.  

EDIT:  Just finished Persuasive Trombone and it is very good for that kind of album.  

Edited January 6, 2019 by Teasing the Korean
Additional insights that are too valuable not to share.

[optatio]

R.I.P.

Now playing:

URBIE GREEN AND HIS ORCHESTRA: LET´S FACE THE MUSIC AND DANCE. RCA VICTOR / FRESH SOUND RECORDS NL-45906 [1972]

 

[Bill Nelson]

It was Urbie's solos on the Jobim albums which made my first awareness. Eventually I found his RCA LPs from 1958, both with large ensembles arranged by Al Cohn and Irwin Kostal   'Let's Face the Music and Dance' (LSP-1667) and 'Jimmy McHugh in Hi-Fi' (LSP1741) are both 'tastefully swinging', as one would expect -- performed by available NY studio and pit orchestra cats.    

And speaking of cats, my Russian Blue dug Urbie's silky smooth solos.  She'd stay curled-up with her eyes closed.  Anything else would make her scowl and walk away.   

[Big Beat Steve]

3 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

Thanks for the reminder.  Ages ago I picked up a huge haul of pre-recorded reel-to-reels, and included in the haul is Urbie Green's Persuasive Trombone album.  

I agree with you that most Command albums are lousy, which is why I unloaded many of them years ago.  However there are some real gems on Command/Project 3, including The Private Life of a Private Eye, Strange, Interlude, the Dick Hyman Moog and organ albums, Spaced Out, Permissive Polyphonics, and of course everything by Free Design.  

EDIT:  Just finished Persuasive Trombone and it is very good for that kind of album.  

Does that Persuasive Trombone album have cover art by Josef Albers (of BAUHAUS fame) too?

Without wanting to derail this discussion I am kinda surprised that you (of all forumists ) find those Command albums lousy. I've had the Persuasive Percussion album for almost as long as I've collected records (I was given it at the time but every now and then it is a nice spin) and a couple of years ago happened upon the Provocative Percussion Vol. 2 album for next to nothing at a fleamarket. Admittedly the artwork (one for the museums) initially was my main reason for picking up the Provocative album to keep the Persuasive album company on the shelf but both are nice enough loungey late-night mood albums IMHO.

Edited January 6, 2019 by Big Beat Steve

[gmonahan]

Listening to this one. A fine, fine trombonist:

 

[clifford_thornton]

58 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Does that Persuasive Trombone album have cover art by Josef Albers (of BAUHAUS fame) too?

Charles Murphy on that one

[Teasing the Korean]

14 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Without wanting to derail this discussion I am kinda surprised that you (of all forumists ) find those Command albums lousy. I've had the Persuasive Percussion album for almost as long as I've collected records (I was given it at the time but every now and then it is a nice spin) and a couple of years ago happened upon the Provocative Percussion Vol. 2 album for next to nothing at a fleamarket. Admittedly the artwork (one for the museums) initially was my main reason for picking up the Provocative album to keep the Persuasive album company on the shelf but both are nice enough loungey late-night mood albums IMHO.

The cover art admittedly made it hard to unload these.  Most of the Command albums for me lack a certain X factor that distinguishes the best space-age bachelor pad albums.  In general, I find that they lack the kind of harmonic and orchestration depth you hear in the best stuff. I do think that many of the Command albums contain one or two standout tracks, and someone with more patience than I could probably assemble a very good compilation.  But I have only so much time and so much shelf space. 

 

 

[Peter Friedman]

Urbie Green was a sideman on many small group recordings. Here are some I found on my shelves.

Gil Melle - The Complete Blue Note Fifties Sessions

Buck Clayton Jam Sessions - Mosaic

Benny Goodman Septets and Octets - Music Masters

Joe Newman - RCA

Session At Riverside - Dormouse

Med Flory Orchestra 1954-1959 Go West Young Med! -  Fresh Sound

Elliot Lawrence - Jazz Goes Broadway - RCA

Frank Wess Sextet - Commodore

 

 

[Justin V]

Although I don't know which trombonist plays when, I like the trombone solos on the Buck Clayton Mosaic.  Thank you for the music, Mr. Green, and rest in peace.

[Larry Kart]

Just picked up an Avid compilation of five of Green's albums. What a lovely player he was -- like a cross between Jack Jenny and Bobby Hackett. The first album in that compilation is a fine 1956 big band date with Johnny Carisi arrangements, including "Springsville." The band is made up of the usual NYC studio guys of that time -- e.g. Al Cohn, Hal McKusick, Joe Wilder -- and they sure do play Carisi's charts beautifully.

[gmonahan]

I have that Avid comp. I like the comparison to Hackett, because Green had such lovely tone.

 

 

[Big Beat Steve]

No interest here in the "Old Time Modern (etc.)" 10-incher by Urbie Green on Vanguard?

That was my first exposure to him (fleamarket find - along with a Dizzy in Paris 10-incher on Vogue) a VERY long time ago (early 80s, I think). These early impressions may mean I am biased but I always liked it as a typical example of that 50s mainstream "swing freshening-up".