Billboard : 08/26/1957
Spotlight on… selection

Some of the best tenor sax blowing on recent disks, plus a group of fresh-sounding, thematically strong Cohn originals, smartly routine. The two Lester Young-derived modernists stimulate each other and swing up a storm. Good cover and notes will help sell it and demonstrate just about any band.

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Down Beat : 10/31/1957
Ralph J. Gleason : 4 stars

Now that Jack Lewis’ Victor mob has moved ax, chart, and pen over to Coral, we can expect an increasing flow of LPs by them. They mostly will be good, some of them even excellent, and a few, with luck, better than that. But, as with the Victor era, there is a definite hazard. Just as Shorty Rogers and the Hollywood mob have had to suffer the due of being called repetitious, so will Cohn and Sims have to guard against the same thing.

You can turn out only so many LPs before there is a blandness in sound and a leveling off of inspiration. I don’t think that this LP is a red flag, hoist to warn Cohn and Sims, but I feel I do detect certain elements of the problem here, and it is one they will have to face.

On their own, free blowing with a rhythm section, Sims and Cohn always are competent and at times can be magnificent. In this album they have an excellent rhythm section, the full weight is neither of them, and they obviously groove musically and personally. The result, right dwon the line from the three ballads through Cohn’s five originals, is good solid, wailing, modern tenor jazz.

The various devices of trading and unison choruses help make for contrast, but despite it there is a touch of blandness to the album. One might expect, perhaps, more spark from the piano. And certainly such tracks as Two Funky People, wherein the leaders switch to clarinet, should be encouraged.

This is a hard situation to keep bright and shining and original. Cohn and Sims have done very well with it but might be wise to keep a sharp eye out for the point of no return.

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Liner Notes by Burt Korall

Al Cohn and Zoot Sims are products of a decade highlighted by changed, rebellion, and reassessment of values in jazz and pop music. The forties saw big bands rise to their zenith of popularity and fall out of favor, singers taking on a new importance, Lester Young at his peak of creativity, and the new music of Parker, Gillespie and Monk making an indelible indentation on musicians and public, alike.

It was the coming of Parker, and the final recognition of Lester Young that were most important to jazz. Why? Because both indicated that jazz could and would grow beyond the limitations of swing, and that the road for jazz was an ever-widening one.

Indeed, the ten year span of this decade was filled with experimentation. They were years of advocating this and that, and the critics lined up on e side of the fence or the other – the traditionalists against the modernists – and the writing in the trade magazines literally bristled with righteousness on both sides… Out of it all came a sobriety accompanied by the knowledge that jazz could continue growing with an adherence to traditional qualities, and that rebellion against the established mores in jazz were just part of the growing process of the new music.

For the musicians who got started in the forties as Al And Zoot did, there was the benefit of being exposed to elements of old and new. This, something that is not quite so prevalent in the days since Parker, for many musicians do not see beyond his rather imposing shadow.

Both Al and Zoot got their schooling in the big-bands; a training ground that has sent many of its students to better things. Many have said, and rightfully so, that there is no substitute for the knowledge that can be derived from sitting in a section night after night next to more knowing musicians. Phrasing and dynamics is given constant illustration, and then, there is the opportunity to learn about solo blowing form those same musicians who are constantly in your company.

Sims started his schooling early; he joined Kenny Baker’s band in his native California in 1941 at the age of sixteen. Stints with Bobby Sherwood, Bob Astor, Sonny Dunham and Benny Goodman followed before he teamed up with Cohn in the famous ‘Four Brothers’ edition of the Woody Herman orchestra.

Cohn, like Sims, made the big-band scene early. At eighteen, after graduation from Erasmus High School in Brooklyn, Al joined Joe Marsala‘s big band. The credit sheet lists Georgie Auld, Alvino Rey and Buddy Rich leading to his association, and resultant nationwide fame with the ‘Herman Herd’… 1947-9.

In the Herman band in conjunction with Zoot, Stan Getz and Serge Chaloff, Al became part of a sound. Called the ‘four brothers sound,’ it incorporated the floating, vibrato-less Lester Young sound into sax-section ensembles, and came into nationwide favor with the release of two records by the band: Four Brothers and Early Autumn… With the exception of baritonist Chaloff, all three tenor men were and are heavily suggestive of Young in their solo work… Both Al and Zoot openly admit their debt to and admiration for Lester… Al: “He was my first inspiration”… Zoot: “He’s the Daddy; nobody’s got what he’s got”…

Through peripherally influenced by Parker, Cohn and Sims have never veered too far off course, and have, in fact, expanded on the basic style that Young first created. It is to be noted that the roots of these two musicians run deep in jazz, and Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins and other figures of import in earlier jazz have played a big part in the development of both musicians.

Especially in Al’s case, there is a definite affinity for the earlier musicians. He feels that they embody the lack of inhibition and happy feeling he likes to get in his playing.

Since the Herman days, both have played with Artie Shaw, Elliot Lawrence and Stan Kenton, but, for the most part, have freelanced: Zoot, on both coasts, including an extended association with Gerry Mulligan; Al, limiting his activities to writing, and blowing on recording dates here in the East.

Considering the facts: similarity in the background, tastes and feelings about jazz, it was almost inevitable that Al and Zoot would eventually come together on their own recording date… Incidentally, the result was so gratifying that they are going to make it a permanent association.

The three men that Cohn and Sims enlisted for support give every indication of a mutuality with the front-men…

Drummer Nick Stabulas, fast climbing in the estimation of New York jazzmen, is of the modern Roach–Blakey persuasion, and there is a sharpness and steadiness to his time-keeping that is provocative to the player, and stimulating to the listener. He has worked with George Wallington, Phil Woods, and was on drums for Al’s first LP for Coral.

Ted Kotick, remembered for his work with Charlie Parker and Stan Getz, serves well here in both sectional and solo capacities. It is his work in the section that is especially notable, for he has the facility to blend the ‘heart-beat’ sound of his bass so well with his section mates.

Pianist Mose Allison rounds out the rhythm section. Only a recent arrival on the New York jazz scene – Fall of 1956 – he has worked with Cohn on records and in town, and recently joined the new Stan Getz group. A native of Mississippi, he studied music at the University of Mississippi and Louisiana State University; played extensively throughout the Southwest with his own trio; and worked with Brew Moore in Baton Rouge before coming East… Playing in the manner of Al Haig, he is equally adept as a composer: pushing soloists to better things; and as a soloist: a little boppish, style-wise, creating long-lines with the right hand, inflecting with the left.

Al did the writing for this session with dominant emphases, as always, on the blowing. This format, all the more effective in this case, because of the uncanny rapport between Al and Zoot, and, for that matter, within the whole group.

The very heart and substance of this collection is its honest, unleashed swing. There is almost constant motion to this music; a rhythmic vitality born of a deference of all concerned for ‘time’ or the pulse.

The set opens with It’s A Wonderful World which is a nice medium-tempo groove, and features the two-tenor ensembles on the opening and close of this sixteen bar tune. Al has the first solo and plays for four choruses, followed by Allison for three, Zoot for four, followed by Teddy, whose solo is unusually tasty. In the eight and four bar interchanges before the closing ensemble, we get a glimpse of how well Al and Zoot compliment each other. For clarity: Al has first eight, Zoot the second followed by alternate fours for thirty-two bars leading into closing statement.

Brandy and Beer is a brisk rhythmic concoction that spots a kaleidoscope effect of one tenor following the other during the opening. Zoot blows the first solo, then Al, followed by Mose, and Nick’s solo leads into the ‘out’ statement.

Al and Zoot turn to the clarinet on the earthy, blue-hued Two Funky People. Based on an eight bar phrase, Al has the first solo spot, and blows for twenty-four bars followed closely by Zoot, whose solo is of the same length. Teddy has eight during which a Bigardish unison clarinet ‘flutter’ is utilized in the background; Mose takes eight and leads into the clarinet unison close.

A brisk blues closes side one, and again, the interplay on the opening and closing portions underline how well these guys work together… Zoot stomps in for the first solo stint, (preceded by a short, but exhilarating, four bar bit with Brother Al) and goes on to play six of his best choruses on this record. Al follows suit with seven equally ‘wailing’ choruses, Mose and Teddy have two apiece; and then Zoot initiates a brace of three choruses of ‘fours’ with drummer Stabulas that leads to the close. On the fours, Al alternates with Zoot in the interplay with the drummer.

Halley’s Comet, to lean on the obvious, is a flying up-tempo opus. The ‘walking’ feeling is established in the opening section. Zoot is first in the solo spotlight; Al is next; a chorus of alternate ‘fours’ by the two tenor men follow with Zoot leading off; Mose has a chorus, and then after a short ensemble, there is a most delightful interweaving of the two horns topped off by a drum break by Stabulus. After all this excitement, there is nothing to do but bring back the theme and take the tune out.

Coming down from the Comet, we proceed to the extremely melodic, medium tempoed You’re A Lucky Guy. Between the rather straightforward ensemble opening and close, there is mellow vintage Cohn and Sims, (in that order) a pleasantly written sixteen bary ensemble, and a pithy eight bar solo by Allison.

Wailing Boat, one of Cohn’s swingingest up-tempo compositions, done originally for the Maynard Ferguson band, is given small group treatment here for the first time. It spots three solo choruses by Al, followed by an ensemble interlude, Zoot for three, and two choruses of bristling four bar interchanges with drummer Stabulus where Al and Zoot alternate, once again. Al plays the first four, and you can adjust your scorecard accordingly. Allison is up next for two choruses which, in turn, initiates the close. It is to be noted that Stabulus plays the release on the close.

Just You Just Me, taken at a ‘flagwaver’ tempo, closes the album. Highlights: characteristic interweaving of the two horns in the opening section; ensemble riffing in the close, the ensemble-drum interchanges in the latter portions of this track, and Nick’s charming little tag on the end of the tune. The solos in order are: Al, Zoot and Mose, who plays the intro to the tune also…

We rest our case. The substance of the evidence lies within, and there can only be one verdict.