Audio
Charles A. Robertson : September, 1957

When Cecil Payne was a youngster in Brooklyn, he wanted to emulate Lester Young on the tenor saxophone. But he started out on the alto sax at the age of thirteen, having found an admirable teacher in Pete Brown, who lived on the same block. Later, when playing with big bands, he found a baritone sax came in handy. On this awkward instrument he gradually increased his proficiency until he is now able to handle it with ease and lightness, giving expression to a fluency of phrasing more often associated with the tenor he once desired.

In his first LP as a leader, Payne plays baritone and enjoys a chance to show at length the qualities which have made him a valued sideman for so long. That he is nimble on his horn is only a part of his talent. There are those who will think him best on the slow ballad How Deep Is The Ocean?, or under-lining the trumpet by Kenny Dorham on the four numbers by the quintet. In the rhythm section are Duke Jordan, piano; Tommy Potter, bass; and Art Taylor, drums. One of the newest of the small labels, Signal has placed its engineering in the hands of Rudy Van Gelder. The deep tones of Payne’s baritone will please the sound fan.

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Billboard : 07/08/1957
Score of 70

On the jazz scene since the mid 40s, this is baritonist Payne‘s first album under his own name. His blowing is commanding, especially in its rhythmical aspect. Cohorts K. Dorham, D. Jordan, T. Potter and A. Taylor, also are stirring in solo stints. Because Payne is not a “name” outside of New York, dealer help is necessary to provoke interest of jazz buyers. Don Schlitten cover has display value.

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Cashbox : 08/03/1957

Signal has thrown the jazz spotlight on Cecil Payne for the first time on disks, varying the combo from a quartet to quintet. It also puts to the test Payne’s swinging and ballad style on baritone sax. The artist hits the mark with this foundation, notably performing with vitality, and warmth. Personnel include Art Taylor (drums); Kenny Dorham (trumpet) and Duke Jordan (piano). Evergreen and original material. Jazz disk with stature.

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San Francisco Chronicle
Ralph J. Gleason : 08/04/1957
Album of the Week

A very fine free-swinging modern jazz session by Dizzy Gillespie‘s former baritone saxophonist. The group includes K. Dorham, T. Potter and D. Jordan and the entire package – cover, notes and music – is topnotch.

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Santa Barbara News-Press
William D. Laffler : 08/10/1957

For many years the tenor sax was the dominant instrument in the saxophone section, with the alto and baritone always playing as a team.

However, early in the 1950s the alto sax began demanding attention, taking the lead breaks in such pop tunes as The Happy Wanderer.

But until a few weeks ago the baritone sax remained in the background of the section, coming in only for harmony or effect, now the baritone sax may have its say.

A fellow named Cecil Payne cut an interesting LP on the Signal label to give the baritone sax its rightful place as a solo instrument. What Payne can do with this horn is unbelievable. He can play it for almost 40 minutes without tiring the listener. Its gentle deepness is soothing.

Signal thought this fine LP, made up for four quintet numbers and for quartet offerings, was such a forerunner of good things to come for the baritone sax they they packaged it just as Cecil Payne.

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Saturday Review
Nat Hentoff : 08/31/1957

Turning full-freshet into modern jazz, there is an album on the Signal label which announces the valued return to activity of this small, discerning firm. Cecil Payne represents the most satisfying playing yet recorded by the thirty-four-year-old baritone saxist of the title. Payne‘s playing experience dates from the vintage bop days of the mid-1940s, and he probably enjoyed his most consistent renown to date during a 1946-49 stay with the Dizzy Gillespie big band. His previous performances have sometimes been marred by a hesitancy in execution, ragged conception, and unpredictable tone; but in this collection his sound is large and muscular while his ideas are logical, personal and airily (for a baritone) integrated. His rhythm section contains the growingly authoritative young drummer, Arthur Taylor; bassist Tommy Potter, another primary modernist who deserves more recognition; and the surprisingly neglected pianist Duke Jordan, one of the few of Bud Powell‘s generation to have evolved his own style. It is marked by conceptual concision, harmonic freshness, usually relaxed pulsation, and a singing piano sound. Added to these four on the second side is the swift, assured, nearly liquid trumpet of Kenny Dorham, yet another old grad of the polemical 1940s.

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Down Beat : 09/19/1957
Don Gold : 3.5 stars

Baritone saxist Payne works with a quartet, which becomes a quintet when Dorham plays. The results are satisfying if not wholly rewarding.

There is a kind of retrogression here, a kind of return to Bird for comfort, but there are creative moments as well. One of the major flaws here is common to many of the recordings of the bop-as-such-will-rise-again school. This is the every-man-for-himself philosophy which doesn’t assist in creating a group sound. The de-emphasis thematic material for improvisational fury contributes to this same result.

Nevertheless, there are inspired moments here. For me, the two best tracks are Arnetta, an up-tempo Payne original, and a frenetic Groovin’ High, with Payne and Dorham recreating the past joyously.

Payne plays tastefully here but seems somewhat limited in conception. Dorham, with flurries of notes, gives the quintet sides added life. Jordan, a too-often underestimated pianist, plays creatively and cleverly. Potter and Taylor support in inspired fashion. Two of the originals, by the way, Chessman’s and Saucer, were contributed by Randy Weston.

Although Payne’s limitations and a lack of integration in the group prevent unqualified recommendation of this set, there is a sincerity of expression and competent musicianship to compensate partially. And Groovin’ High is one of the most inspired tracks on any LP.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

“Always a sideman; never sides of his own.” That has been the Cecil Payne story until now. It is a story that, in many ways, is typical of other jazzmen’s stories and yet has its own peculiar twists. The very reason why Cecil plays the baritone saxophone is a case in point.

If you’re a fatalist, you will say that Cecil was destined to play the baritone and that is all there is to it. Although he plays the instrument as if it had been made for him and vice versa, I, not being a fatalist, ascribe it to the low notes in an arrangement of Ain’t She Sweet. But, as they say, (and don’t you often wonder who they are?) I’m ahead of myself.

Cecil McKenzie Payne was born in Brooklyn, NY on December 14, 1922 into a musical family. His mother played piano and his father, Oliver, the saxophone. A sister is a singer and two uncles play in an Elk’s band in Philadelphia.

As a child, Cecil was given singing, violin and guitar lessons but at the age of 13, when he heard Lester Young play on Count Basie‘s record of Honeysuckle Rose, he said, “Dad, buy me a saxophone.”

Cecil got his horn. It was not a tenor like Lester’s but an alto sax. It so happened that the renowned Pete Brown was living on the same block and Cecil was fortunate enough to study with the rotund alto saxophone star for four years until he was 18.

Cecil’s first band was a local outfit under the leadership of Clarence Briggs. For the most part he played alto but there was an arrangement of Ain’t She Sweet that required certain low notes and Cecil bought a silver baritone just to play those notes.

In 1942, Cecil started his own small group which included Max Roach on drums and Leonard Hawkins on trumpet and in 1943 he took part in sessions at the 78th Street Taproom with Roach, trumpeter Vic Cousen, “a pianist named Tinney and Ebenezer Jones on bass.” Here he met Charlie Parker who used to sit in. Bird made a profound impression on him even then and later became his greatest influence.

The Army called Cecil in 1943 and there he remained until 1946, spending most of his time as a clarinetist in the 291st Army Band. After his discharge he returned to New York and soon after was hired by J.J. Johnson for his first record date. Cecil played alto and Bud Powell was on piano. The titles were Jay Jay, Coppin’ The Bop, Jay-Bird and Mad Bepop.

Later in the year, Clark Monroe, then operating the Spotlite Club on 52nd Street recommended Cecil to Roy Eldridge who was bringing a big band into the club. Roy’s brother Joe was playing alto with the band but Roy did need a baritone player. Cecil mentioned that he played baritone, although he hadn’t touched it since the Clarence Briggs days, and got the job. During the time Eldridge was at the Spotlite, Dizzy Gillespie came by several times. He was changing baritone players at the time and offered Cecil the chair. It seems that Dizzy owned the baritone in his band and when Cecil accepted the job, he also bought the baritone. Incidentally, it’s the one he still plays today.

With Gillespie, from late 1946 until early 1949, Cecil received more and more chances to solo. Many of you who heard the band and/or own the records, will remember his work on Ow and Stay On It among others.

After leaving Dizzy, he worked with Tadd Dameron at the Royal Roost and with James Moody. Since 1950 he has bene with Illinois Jacquet’s band on three different occasions and has done many rhythm and blues recording dates, playing solos on sides by Patti Page and Dinah Washington.

In 1956, Cecil toured Sweden with Rolf Erickson’s group and on his return, teamed up with pianist Randy Weston’s trio for jazz club engagements at the Café Bohemia and elsewhere.

Cecil relates that while rehearsing with Max Roach and Kenny Dorham in 1950, a change was effected in his style at the urging of the two. He began to tongue more and play more notes. His ability to play faster increased perceptibly.

Payne’s first alto recordings show a curious combination of the Swing style (some of Pete Brown had definitely rubbed off on him) with the later developments of Parker. The following baritone solos with Gillespie reveal a deeper penetration into the Parkerian mode while the small group recordings made in the Fifties point up the maturation into a personal groove within the Parker heritage. The ability to play fast has been assimilated into the overall Payne make-up as a means rather than an end. His playing on Duke Jordan’s album (Signal S 1202) is indicative of this and he reiterates the warm facts here, in his first LP under his own name.

If you have followed the releases on Signal Records, you know that much attention is given to proper programming of material and in seeing that a variety of sound is afforded by utilizing different size groups within the same LP. This album is no exception. As in the Gigi Gryce and Duke Jordan LPs which preceded it, Cecil Payne’s recordings are presented by two groups; one is a quartet, the other a quintet.

The quartet side features Cecil backed by the excellent rhythm section of Duke Jordan, Tommy Potter and Arthur Taylor.

Duke has the wonderful faculty for performing consistently well and adds his fine performance here to his other Signal triumphs (Jazz Laboratory Series, vol. 1, S 101 and Duke Jordan, S 1202).

Tommy Potter, who was Duke’s teammate in Charlie Parker’s great, late Forties quintet, is an ever steady section man and capable soloist.

Arthur Taylor, one of the most active drummers in the New York area, rounds out the trio with his lifting support.

A ballad form the late Thirties, This Time The Dream’s On Me, opens the side. Cecil has raised the tempo considerably from the original. In addition to the leader’s horn, Tommy Potter and Art Taylor are heard in solo spots.

Another ballad, the beautiful standard How Deep Is The Ocean?, is taken at ballad tempo. After one of those masterful Jordan introductions, Cecil descends a couple of thousand fathoms and explores the ocean floor for two choruses before he and Duke surface in splitting the final chorus.

Chessman’s Delight, which derives its name from a club in Brooklyn where musicians used to gather to play chess and sometimes rehearse, is the first of two Randy Weston originals in this album. Its mysterious, minor theme is improvised on in medium tempo by Cecil and Duke with a chorus of “fours” between Cecil and Art Taylor before the theme is restated.

Cecil’s composition Arnetta, is dedicated to his mother and is a happy, swinging line that features alternating rhythmic patterns during the theme and the solos of Payne and Jordan. Art Taylor’s short bit leads back to the theme.

The fluid, scintillating trumpet of Kenny Dorham makes the group a quintet for side two. Kenny, who has really come into his own in the past few years with the Jazz Messengers, his own Jazz Prophets and the Max Roach group, is one of the most valuable trumpeters playing today.

Saucer Eyes, the second Randy Weston original, alternates between smooth gliding and staccato jumping in its melody line. A thoughtful Payne is followed by equally sensitive Dorham and Jordan solos.

A Payne-Jordan collaboration is the minor key Man Of Moods. After swinging solos by Cecil, Kenny and Duke, there are some spirited rounds involving Cecil, Kenny and Art Taylor.

The solidly grooving blues by Cecil is entitled Bringing Up Father. Both the beat and the solos (by Cecil, Kenny, Duke and Tommy) are direct and to the point.

As a set closer, Dizzy Gillespie’s Groovin’ High is an admirable choice. Cecil and Kenny play it as it hasn’t been played for some time with Duke underlining expertly. It makes a thrilling close (and what else could have followed it?) to an album that is typical of the unadorned, powerful and very substantial talent that is Cecil Payne’s.