Billboard : 07/28/1956
Score of 75

Green‘s broad, middle-of-the-road trombone is the product of his experience in a wide variety of commercial bands and jazz combos, from the bop era to the present day. He looks upon himself as an entertainer, and he purveys a brand of jazz that has a basic, swing-rooted appeal. The healthy rhythm impulse behind his playing is perhaps the most enjoyable thing about it. The only other horn in this set is the tenor of Charlie Rouse, who has been playing with Green this past year and mirrors his ideas. The fine rhythm section includes Paul Chambers, Osie Johnson and Candido.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

To Bennie Green the important thing is to swing. The freedom of the beat combined with musical quality is his main objective. I suspect that one of the main reasons for this healthy attitude is the solid background that Bennie absorbed with the Earl Hines band. Just as you would connect Buck Clayton with Count Basie or Chubby Jackson with Woody Herman, even though they are no longer with those bands, Bennie Green is automatically associated with Earl Hines because of the three different times he was with him.

In 1942, as a youth of nineteen, he first joined the Earl. The band included Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan and Billy Eckstine. Later that year he left to join Horace Henderson but was soon drafted. During his stay in the service he played with the 343rd Army band in Illinois. After his discharge came Bennie’s second turn with Hines from 1946 until 1948. Then he had a small group with Gene Ammons for three months before joining the Charlie Ventura combo. Enjoying a featured role with Ventura from March 1948 until 1950 brought great recognition to Bennie. On leaving, he free-lanced around New York with his own small group including Budd Johnson and in 1951 headed another group for the Billy Eckstine concert tour. It was later that year that Bennie and Earl became associated for the third time when Hines reformed his band, this time a small unit. He stayed with Earl until 1953 and once again set out on his own. Immediately he utilized the trombone and tenor sax combination that he had previously shown a liking for in his stints as a leader with Ammons and Johnson. Billy Root was the original member and Charlie Rouse his replacement in 1955.

Charlie Rouse, a jazz veteran at 29 was born in Washington, D.C. He played with Billy Eckstine’s band in 1944 and was with Dizzy in the original big band venture of 1945. Later he was associated with Tadd Dameron and in 1949-1950 was with the Duke Ellington organization His lines descend from Bird’s and he enjoys the playing of the Sonnys, Stitt and Rollins and also Hank Mobley but does not sound like any of the above four.

Candido Camero, known better as simply Candido, was born near Havana, Cuba in 1921. He made his American debut at the Downbeat Club in New York when Dizzy Gillespie introduced him to Billy Taylor. Since then he has recorded with Taylor, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, George Shearing and Bennie Green as well as the Latin groups of Joe Loco, Tito Puente and Machito.

Pianist Cliff Smalls and Bennie have a musical relationship that dates back to the Hines band of 1942 when Cliff sat in the trombone section with Bennie and also played piano when Earl was fronting. Many of you will remember him as Billy Eckstine’s accompanist in the late Forties. He later was with Earl Bostic.

A very gifted young bassist from Detroit is Paul Chambers. He was heard with the groups of Sonny Stitt and Paul Quinichette and as house bassist at the Cafe Bohemia in Greenwich Village. Presently he is with Miles Davis.

Drummer Osie Johnson is another Hines man having been Bennie’s groupmate in 1952-53 small band. Originally from Washington, D.C., Osie is also a talented composer and arranger.

The tunes in this set show off the versatility and verve of Bennie Green, one of the individual stylists in jazz today. His is a voice that is distinct and distinctive.

Body and Soul has been done in jazz countless times. Bennie was well aware of this but he also knew that his arrangement was different from any other. It starts out in ballad style. After one chorus the tempo switches to up, then to mambo, back to swinging and finally slow once again. A very symmetrical composition.

Laura, the other long track in the set, is a contrast of moods too. Charlie Rouse starts slow, then Cliff Smalls takes it in double time. Bennie comes in slowed down again, and after his solo he and Charlie beguine it for eight bars before slowing it down and out.

Say Jack is a singing and swinging riffer dedicated to Jack Walker, dulcet toned and pear shaped disc jockey of WOV, and also to all hip Jacks and jocks all over the world.

Sometimes I’m Happy benefits from Bennie’s swinging treatment with the rocking beat laid down by Candido and Osie.

The remaining numbers are from another session recorded September 22, 1955 with the same personnel minus Candido. These have never been released on LP before.

Hi Yo Silver represents Bennie’s debut as a blues singer. Groovin’ the Blues is the band doing just that. The other two numbers are presented here for the first time on any speed. One Track is a medium tempo riffer and Travelin’ Light is Bennie traveling the solo road alone.