Cornwall Daily-Standard (Cornwall, ON)
Hal Lee : 01/05/1957

London’s Savoy series is coming up with some of the smoothest combo music anyone could wish to listen to and the newest release All About Ronnie (MG-12075) with the Ronnie Ball quintet is another gem among many. An English-born pianist who came to the U.S. after World War 2, Ball went into seclusion while studying with Lennie Tristano, the acknowledged master of modern jazz. After three years of study he has emerged as far as the recording studio and the selections rendered by this group are proof he is more than ready now. Aiding Ball, who needs very little assistance, are Willie Dennis on trombone, Ted Brown on tenor sax, Kenny Clarke on drums and Wendell Marshall on bass. If it’s a lively rhythm you want, this record is full of it.

-----

Miami Herald (Miami, FL)
Fred Sherman : 12/16/1956

All About Ronnie is my introduction to Ronnie Ball, a young Englishman who has been spending most of his time studying jazz piano at Lennie Tristano’s studio in New York. He has been a good student, as you can hear on a new Savoy album (MG 12075).

He is playing with a quintet, with rhythm from Kenny Clarke’s drum and Wendell Marshall’s bass. And on the album opener, Ronnie’s own Pennie Packer, you meet Willie Dennis on trombone and Ted Brown on tenor sax. They have full lines here, and also on the following Prez Sez. There are a couple of bars here where the drums and bass talk softly and convincingly, leaving you wanting more.

It’s not until the fourth track, Ghost of a Chance, that you get a real picture of Ball as a pianist. That’s when I decided I’d like to hear from him next with drums and bass. I’m not knocking the album. It’s good jazz. Listen to the trombone and piano go on Little Quail. There are no weak spots in the quintet, but it adds up to too little about Ronnie.

-----

Down Beat : 11/14/1956
Ralph J. Gleason : 3 stars

All About Ronnie is the first LP under his own name by the English-born, long-time Tristano student now on the coast with Warne Marsh. A former pupil of Marsh, Ted Brown, is on tenor, and Willie Dennis, who used to study with Tristano and is currently with the Charlie Mingus Jazz Workshop, is on trombone. Kenny Clarke is on drums, and Wendell Marshall is the bassist.

The latter two and Ball keep the rhythm alive. Dennis’ conception holds interest, and his tone is warm, although his articulation could be cleaner. Brown at present is too much in the mold of his former teacher (and the general Tristano reed line) to express his own essence clearly and fully. But he makes a firm, intelligent first impression, he flows well and could become a valuable part of the scene. Ball’s solos are logical and unhackneyed.

What lowers the rating, however, is too much of a sameness about the date which results in a degree of dullness after a time. All the originals are of a similar mold – largely unison opening and closing on a nervous line and not much structural development in between except for what each soloist creates. And although each one plays well, there isn’t much difference of mood or approach on any track but the welcome, freshly treated ballad, Ghost, and the rather apathetic Sweet and Lovely. In fact, almost nowhere is there any deep emotional impact, any cry.

It is not that the proceedings are polite so much as they are often somewhat detached. Not sufficiently uninhibited might be a better description. Anyway, this listener respects the musicianship of the soloists but was seldom moved.

-----

Liner Notes by Jack McKinney

Savoy is entitling this album All About Ronnie as this is the initial opportunity for record audiences to hear from Ronnie Ball as the leader of an American jazz date and we feel that once you do hear the music contained in this set, so harmonically and rhythmically refreshing, that it will be a “ball” for you to sit back and absorb the shades and patterns of sound flowing from within Ronnie’s Quintet.

Ronnie Ball is a new name to most jazz fans and perhaps a short biography will help to acquaint you with his talent. Ronnie was born in England and was the third pianist from those shores to find his way to the American jazz scene after the close of World War II. He followed in the path of George Shearing and Marion McPartland, who also made their debuts here on Savoy, but to this time has not received the same critical approval or financial success as his predecessors. For, instead of entering into “the rush and crush of survival” which is so much a part of musicdom, Ronnie chose semi-seclusion as a student at Lennie Tristano’s school in New York while working the occasional jazz “gig” when it appeared and was musically profitable. He studied with Tristano for some years and when he thought it advisable emerged from the classroom into the recording studio where he has given notable performances in Mike Couzzo’s group and Kenny Clarke’s Clique on Savoy. He also appeared with the Kai Winding – J.J. Johnson quintet before the group’s recent demise. At last report Ronnie was ensconced in the piano chair of the new Warne Marsh combo on the West Coast.

Two of Ronnie’s cohorts in this session are also members of the Tristano school. They are trombonist Willie Dennis, who has been a personal favorite for years and on the basis of this and other performances should be everybody’s New Star on his chosen instrument. Willie has been associated with Tristano for some time and here exhibits all the skill derived from working with that master through the unique faucets of his own personality and solo ability. In years to come I feel Dennis will surely become one of the more important soloists in jazz. The tenor spot is ably filled by Ted Brown, who was a student of Warne Marsh for some time and within this context makes his recording debut. He also demonstrates the validity of the teaching precepts of the Tristano school in his ability to construct long, searching solo lines which offer punctuation only as breathing space in which the soloist can realign his statement or continue it through to a full and clearly stated discourse upon the theme.

Drums are tendered by Kenny Clarke, the dean of modern percussion, who time and time again has proven himself an effective member of the rhythmic conception of the Tristano idiom. He has often played within its context and ever added the necessary pulse and persuasion which was found lacking in other drummers. Finally, we have the recent winner of Down Beat’s New Star award for bassmen, Wendall Marshall. Wendall is perhaps the finest bass player, perse, playing today, for he ever realizes the capabilities of his instrument and its place in the swinging group. Yes, he does have some solo opportunities which are filled with the proper blend of expression tempered by restraint, but in the section he is ever the rhythmic rock for solo and unison horns to swing with and rest upon.