Billboard : 09/26/1964
Special Merit Pick

Plenty of excellent commercial jazz-pizzaz. Terry and an entourage of outstanding sidemen such as Ben Webster, Roger Kellaway, Walter Perkins, Milton Hinton and Phil Woods, play up a happy and most groovy storm. The moods do vary, featuring a smoothy rendition of In a Mist, by Beiderbecke to the elegant Ellington repertoire, which Terry is more than familiar, for a medley (Ellington Rides Again) of Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Perdido and I’m Beginning to See the Light.

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Asbury Park Press
Don Lass : 10/03/1964

Veteran trumpeter Terry here finds himself in the company of five musicians whose careers also reflect much of jazz history. Terry is an artist whose style incorporates ingredients of most of the giants in the field including Armstrong, Davis, Gillespie, Beiderbecke, and Eldridge. Yet, as with the other soloists on this session, his playing in the final analysis is a thing of his own. Ben Webster was a pioneer of the tenor saxophone and his style is still a major influence. Alto saxophonist Phil Woods owes much to the late Charlie Parker, the first of the modern jazz saxmen. But his playing also shows a debt to the mainstream saxophonists of the 30s and early 40s such as Benny Carter and Pete Brown. Pianist Roger Kellaway and drummer Walter Perkins are the youngest members of the sextet but their styles, as with the others, defy strict categorization. Bassist Milt Hinton, like Webster in this 50s, has played with jazzmen of every school and is respected by all.

Apparently much thought went into the selection of material and sidemen for this album. It is one of the best of the recent releases by small band jazz groups. No one musician dominates the tracks. Instead all play well as soloists and as accompanists. Webster, who is playing his best since the Ellington days of 1940-43, has a surging, powerful solo on Ellington’s Rockin’ in Rhythm while his statement on Impulsive, in contrast, is warm and emotionally compelling. Terry, who doubles on fluegelhorn, pays tribute to the late Bix Beiderbecke on In a Mist, a sensitive arrangement by Bob Hammer, with a moving, lyrical solo. In contrast again, Terry’s horn sizzles on Rockin’ and in a medley of Ellington tunes. His virtuosity is also vividly defined on the difficult passages of Return to Swahili. Woods has several excellent sax solos but it is his flued, inventive clarinet work that is a real surprise.

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Elmira Star-Gazette
Harold Stern : 08/15/1964

It’s a long wait between Impulse releases, but they’re usually well worth waiting for. The current group, numbering 14 LPs is the company’s outstanding bundle to date. There are no fringe albums, no throwaways. Every album is an example of good modern or mainstream jazz. The package abounds in major jazz talents, performing at their best.

When one company offers so much that is so good at the same time it is difficult to go into much detail.

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Is there a more recorded trumpeter than Clark Terry? Even so, how many others share his ability to record so much and make everything sound fresh? The Happy Horns of Clark Terry is aptly titled and sidemen Ben Webster, Walter Perkins (drums) and Phil Woods (alto and clarinet) help immeasurably.

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Hackensack Record
Doug Hall : 11/07/1964

Terry is a well rounded first-class jazz soloist who shows here he is equally at home with trumpet or fluegelhorn. He is joined by other major talents including Ben Webster on tenor sax and Phil Woods on alto sax in a program that has a lot Ellington in it. Rockin’ in Rhythm, Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me, and others are done with taste and a solid happy beat.

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Pittsburgh Courier : 11/28/1964
Phyl Garland : 5 stars

Another who sailed forth to solo recognition after spending nearly a decade with the Ellington orchestra is Clark Terry. Most recently, he gained new fans via TV, due to this featured spots on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight” show.

Terry possesses the technical mastery, control and tonal brilliance which have been so woefully neglected by too many of the younger artists. He’s in top form on The Happy Horns of Clark Terry.

Here is a successful blending of two jazz generations as Terry is joined by tenor saxophonist Ben Webster, another Ellington stalwart, bassist Milt Hinton of Webster’s generation; 22-year-old Roger Kellaway on piano; young Walter Perkins on drums, and Phil Woods on alto sax and clarinet.

This indeed is a happy set, the “horns” referring to Terry’s trumpet and fluegelhorn. He is sharp, musically witty and constantly refreshing on Return to Swahili, which recalls an earlier effort by him and Art Blakey; slightly nostalgic on the Beiderbecke classic In A Mist and digs deeply into Ellingtonia for Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, Perdido and I’m Beginning To See The Light.

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Down Beat : 10/08/1964
Don DeMichael : 3.5 stars

Terry is in fine fettle on this pleasant album – his best as a leader since the 1961 Color Changes and a vast improvement over the recent Cameo-Parkway attempts at commercialization. The emphasis is on brightly swinging tempos and warm, extroverted playing with a strong flavor of Ellingtonia, and the musicians – differences in age and experience notwithstanding – are a very compatible lot.

There is ample solo space for all three horns, plus several spots for pianist Kellaway, whose best moment is on Conversations. This track also has a rare Hinton solo, and Perkins gets a workout on Swahili, a trumpet-and-drums specialty dating back to Terry’s first album. As a rhythm team, the three men leave nothing to be desired.

Woods fluent clarinet is heard on Rhythm and Impulsive, but is his alto that stands out, especially on Conversations, on which he adapts John Coltrane elements to his own distinctive style. At times, his happy, free-wheeling playing brings to mind the feeling Pete Brown engendered in his prime.

Webster is most relaxed on Nothing, seeming to inspire Terry, who follows him, to his most moving solo on the album. The tenor man also shines on Johnny Hodges‘ nostalgic Impulsive, on which his playing recalls that of the composer, and he turns in a typically “pleading” chorus of minor blues on Conversations.

Terry concentrates on trumpet, saving his mellow fluegelhorn for the romantic Towers. His command of the horns is enviable, and his well-known capacity for adapting himself to the demands of a wide variety of playing situations is the more remarkable because it has not adversely affected his own musical profile, which has remained unmistakably individual. The opposite of many young trumpeters, who seem to lack interest in tone and coloration, Terry employs the full range and potential of his instrument. His fast valve work and expert triple-tonguing can be sampled on Rhythm and Swahili (the latter also shows his range, as he leaps from low-register growls to piercing shrieks); his use of mutes fits the feeling (Harmon on Impulsive, plunger on See the Light), and his open sound can be hot (Nothing) or cool and pure (Mist). And whatever the expressive device, the music comes out as his own.

The sole drawbacks on this set are the brevity of some tracks, on which a bit of stretching out would have been welcome, and the rather uninspired arranging. Bob Hammer‘s scoring of Bix Beiderbecke‘s lovely Mist is a mistake. It is too episodic and destroys the unity of the composition. The piano piece can be successfully adapted for orchestra (as it was for Bunny Berigan in 1939 by Joe Lippman), but it should not be tampered with. The jerkily phrased ensemble writing on Rhythm is no improvement on Ellington, either.

Good as this record is, it remains a mystery why nobody as yet has released a record of the excellent quintet co-led by Terry and valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. Within the context of this happy group, the talent of the trumpeter finds expression to a degree as yet uncaptured on records.

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Liner Notes by George Hoefer

Clark Terry, after spending almost a decade with Duke Ellington‘s orchestra, went out on his own to establish a lucrative career as a staff musician at the National Broadcasting Studios and as a freelance recording artist in New York City.

Trumpeter Terry plays music like the person he is – a well balance, happy, whimsical, creative artist. His technical facility, flexibility, and timeless approach have put his services in great demand. Those who take particular notice of personnels listed on the album covers of the various studio recording groups can attest to the frequency with which he receives calls for the use of his talent.

Why is Terry’s horn so popular? An important consideration, well illustrated here on Happy Horns, is that the trumpeter has acquired a knack for adapting his facile technique (which encompasses effects ranging from Armstrong through Gillespie) to the various jazz styles without losing his own personal identity.

For this album, which dips heavily into the Ellington repertoire for tunes, Terry has selected a group of fellow jazzmen, who like himself, defy categorization.

Ben Webster, ten years older than Terry and an Ellington regular between 1939-43, is paired with Phil Woods, who was born a decade after the trumpeter.

There is a similar disparity between the ages of the members of the rhythm section: Milton Hinton, a contemporary of Webster’s, melds his work with that of two comparative youngsters, whose arrival on the jazz circuit has taken place, in both cases, since 1959.

The session opens with a lively ensemble introduction to the Harry Carney-Duke Ellington classic refrain of 1930, Rockin’ in Rhythm, driven by a demanding rhythm led by the drummer; Perkins sustains this drive throughout the track. The group then goes into a series of solos with each player staying within the mood of the tune, but presenting freshly-conceived improvisations: Woods’ clarinet solo is in the Barney Bigard style, but the ideas are modern; Terry’s long solo opens a la Gillespie, but soon settles into a typically Terry modern improvisation (it bears no resemblance to the famed Cootie Williams R. in R. solo that eventually evolved into the tune Peckin’; Woods’ alto saxophone solo, although Charlie Parker-inspired, is a fitting contrast to the virile Ben Webster tenor that follows it. The tenor segues neatly into the closing ensemble where the theme, so familiar to the many dancers who worked at the old Cotton Club, is repeated. This track, the longest on the session, vividly points up the fact that the best jazzmen can bridge time and styles.

Track 2, pianist Bob Hammer‘s sensitive arrangement of Bix Beiderbecke‘s rarely heard In a Mist, offers an entirely different jazz mood. It is effectively performed on the soft-voiced flugelhorn by Terry. The soloist, using Bix’s piano improvisation as a base, plays his own ideas and in the middle of the rendition pays homage to Beiderbecke with one of Bix’s familiar trumpet phrases. Pianist Kellaway, whose fine work has just been noticed in the last year, plays a too-short bit on the side. He has been heard around New York with the Clark Terry-Bobby Brookmeyer Quintet at the Half Note and as a solo performer at The Most on Second Avenue.

Terry’s original, Return to Swahili, is a highly descriptive piece taken at a rapid tempo. The trumpeter, working mostly in a duo with Perkins, displays considerable technical virtuosity on both open and muted horn, as does Perkins on drums. The composition relates to the Swahili language of the Mohammedan Bantu people of Zanzibar and the neighboring East Coast of Africa.

The closing track on side one is a medley of well known Ellington numbers aptly entitled Ellington Rides Again. Kellaway starts the performance off with a Dukish piano intro and follows through to hold the three segments together as a single rendition. Phil Woods gives a vibrant version of Johnny Hodges on Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, originally Never No Lament), Webster goes into a tenor solo of Juan Tizol‘s Perdido, and Terry’s trumpet winds up the Ellington roller coaster ride soloing I’m Beginning To See the Light.

A recent Johnny Hodges composition, Impulsive, a catchy melody, serves to get side two off to a fine start. There is a piano solo by Kellaway, effectively accompanied by Perkins using his brushes; a restrained trumpet solo; a delicate Webster offering; Woods, again on clarinet, and a closing ensemble.

Kellaway’s sparkling piano opens Do Nothin’ ‘Til You Hear From Me (originally Concerto for Cootie – 1940) and is followed by a thoughtful, sensitive Ben Webster solo. Terry makes an exciting entrance and his trumpet solo builds as it goes along accompanied by some lightly barrelhouse piano. Toward the end Webster reenters with several short phrases in answer to Terry’s emphatic statements.

Bob Hammer’s Jazz Conversations is a composition in the modern gospel vein. An ensemble introduction is followed by Terry’s solo trumpet accompanied by Milt Hinton’s bass with Perkins’ drums later joining in before Kellaway’s solo. The alto, tenor, and bassist Hinton also present solos before the final ensemble.

The set winds up with High Towers again featuring Terry on flugelhorn accompanied by a Latin beat. The track has short alto and tenor solos, as well as the alto dueling with the flugelhorn. There is also a piano solo highlighting the unusual rapport the 22-year-old Kellaway has with his instrument.

This album, with its variety and contrasts, shows how jazzmen from different eras can come together in a single mood – in this case predominantly Ellingtonia – and produce an interesting and worthwhile fresh approach to jazz identified with the past.