Cashbox : 10/22/1955

Buck Clayton, a Count Basie alumnus, pays tribute to the great artist as he jams Count Basie favorites for this newest Clayton release. Also making appearances are Woody Herman, who sits in on the Jumpin’ At The Woodside number for kicks; and Coleman Hawkins, heard on all four sides, who is however standout on the Blue and Sentimental number. The Clayton aggregation is filled with top talent, tho space does not allow listing them all. A most enjoyable album for everyone.

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The Virginian-Pilot
Robert C. Smith – 11/13/1955

Another of the Buck Clayton jam sessions dear to George Avakian’s heart, perhaps the best of them, at that. Plentiful contributors include Ruby Braff, Coleman Hawkins, Al Cohn, Joe Newman, Billy Kyle and Jo Jones. A fine Jumpin’, a new Blue and Sentimental, other Basie favorites. First-rate trombone work by Benny Green, good Hawk, a loose, happy feeling to the entire 12-inch set.

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Down Beat : 11/02/1955
Nat Hentoff : 4 stars

This is another of the large, long, and always swinging Clayton-led jam sessions held on occasion in Columbia’s studios on 30th St. George Avakain has again helpfully supplied a complete schedule of choruses – a procedure, I repeat again, that should be mandatory on all jazz LPs with fair-sized groups. (Avakian’s is inaccurate here on Broadway, omitting the Clayton contribution before Waslohn.). Personnels alter on the various sides, but among those present are Ruby Braff, Buddy Tate, Buck Clayton, Coleman Hawkins, Bennie Green, Joe Newman, Urbie Green, Woody Herman, Lem Davis, Charlie Fowlkes, Al Cohn, Jo Jones, Billy Kyle, Freddie Green, Steve Jordan, Walter Page, Milt Hinton, and the less known pianist Al Waslohn (a Jimmy Dorsey alumnus whom Buck Clayton had heard in Columbus, Ohio) and trombonist Dicky Harris (a member of the Arnett Cobb band.)

There’s even a tap dancer, Jack Ackerman, in Basie. Ackerman is no Baby Lawrence, but he presents a mildly interesting rhythmic contrast to the musicians. If Avakian wanted a jazz dancer, why didn’t get Baby, the greatest of all? An oddity on the date is that Avakian spliced a final take of the fast-driving Woodside from four sections, two each from two entirely different sessions (and even 3/4 different rhythm sections). I’m not sure I approve of the principle involved, but it worked out well here and I wouldn’t bet that I’d have known the difference if Avakian hadn’t told the truth in his notes. There are several high spots all through the set, and much lusty blowing. There are more than enough kicks to warrant adding this to your library. Good record sound and such a corny cover.

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Liner Notes by George Avakian

More jamming by Buck Clayton and his all-stars, and this time, appropriately enough, the repertoire comes from the books of the great Count Basie band of the late thirties and early forties, which was not only home for Buck but also several of the other sidemen on these improvised performances. Moreover, several members of Basie’s present band are also on hand in these recordings.

The title piece of this collection is a rarity. Jumpin’ at the Woodside was originally recorded at the end of the session in which Woody Herman sat in for kicks on the eve of his take-off for Europe in 1953, and contained some great blowing but fell apart at the finish. Everybody was rather beat, so the date was called off without another try at this number. On the next date, however, an ending was made for it, and finally four sections (two from each session) were spliced together for a complete performance. This kind of splicing is common enough in arranged popular music, but piecing together music from two jam sessions is probably unique. The rhythm section on the first part of the completed montage consists of Jimmy Jones (piano), Steve Jordan (guitar), Walter Page (bass), and Jo Jones (drums). At Buck Clayton’s solo following Al Cohn‘s first two choruses, we switch to the later session, where Billy Kyle, Freddie Green, and Milton Hinton replace Jones, Jordan, and Page. Joe Newman‘s solo closes this stretch and Al Cohn’s second two-chorus solo marks a return to the first date. Then back again to the second session with the Clayton-Newman chase.

Broadway, record on still a third session, features some new faces to Clayton jam sessions: trombonists Bennie Green (who leads his own band) and Dicky Harris (sideman with Arnett Cobb), trumpeter Ruby Braff, who was working at the time with Benny Goodman octet at Basin Street, and pianist Al Waslohn, who Buck Clayton had heard out in Columbus, Ohio and had last been around town with the Jimmy Dorsey band. This group also played on Rock-a-bye Basie, which ahs the extra attraction of the recorded debut of tap dancer Jack Ackerman. Jack had broken it up in a surprise appearance with the Chet Baker quintet at the Charlie Parker benefit at Carnegie Hall a few nights earlier. It seemed like an interesting idea to ask him to come down to the studio for this session, and it turned out to be even more than that. Jack’s career has included touring as the soloist in Morton Gould’s Tap Dance Concerto (recorded by Danny Daniels and composer Gould with the Rochester Orchestra on Columbia ML 2215).

Blue and Sentimental, which was Herschel Evans‘ tenor sax showpiece with the Basie band just before he died in 1939, features Coleman Hawkins, who still stands as one of the great giants of jazz. In the thirties, Hawkins’ only real rivals were Chu Berry, Herschel, and Lester Young; this is a kind of reverse tribute to the master. (Oddly enough, this recording took place on a session which did not include Buddy Tate, who not only replaced Herschel in the Basie band but also came from his home town of Sherman, Texas.)