Billboard : 07/28/1956
Score of 80

Re-issuing of Prestige 10-inch LP 195 with four Bennie Green selections from Prestige EP 1304. The Kai Winding–Jay Johnson material dates from the early months of their unique two-trombone ensemble. It still sounds exciting – and still goes over well with the customers. Green’s trombone is in a more relaxed groove, as one expects in a string-backed setting. He plays ballads like Stardust, There’s a Small Hotel and Embraceable You with big, warm tone. A solid commercial set.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

Jay and Kai Quintet
Recorded December 3, 1954

Jay Jay Johnson and Kai Winding have formed a group. Why didn’t such a natural combination band together before? It’s almost like asking why jazz musicians don’t work more often. The important fact is that they are together and Jazz will benefit.

Their association is not necessarily a new one (on a permanent basis that is) and although it may not have been the dream of each to have a combo jointly, it very likely might have been a subconscious desire because there has always been a respect for and enjoyment of each others’ playing.

They started from opposite directions. Kai from his birthplace in Aarhus, Denmark and Jay Jay from his in Indianapolis. Kai came to the United States with his parents in 1934. Both served their apprenticeship with various small-name bands. After this came the name bands. Kai played with Benny Goodman and Stan Kenton. At the same time Jay Jay was with Benny Carter and Count Basie. And then came New York. Who that knew them will ever forget the halcyon days of the Forties when the music that they tagged “bop” flowered on both 52nd St. and Broadway. I remember nearly falling off my chair at the Spotlite Club in 1946 when I first heard Jay Jay sit in with Dizzy Gillespie and rip off intricate ensemble and solo passages with fluency equal to that of Diz. There were other nights at the same club, and Jay Jay fronting a quartet with an old grey felt beanie hanging on the bell of his horn to give a singularly delightful tonal effect. Then there was the Roost in 1948 with Kai coming into his own in a group with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Allen Eager and blowing mightily every night from under the artificial tree.

Their careers have crossed and run parallel at different times. When the great Miles Davis band recorded for Capitol, Kai was in on the first sessions and Jay Jay replaced him on the later ones. The Chubby Jackson All Star Band (Prestige 105) had both as its trombone section and their “conversation” choruses on Flying The Coup were actually the forerunners of the present group.

Don’t get the idea that I’m going overboard into the sea of nostalgia. I’m just standing by the rail on the ship of reality looking back over the horizon. Jay Jay and Kai played great in those days but they are playing greater today. They have combined as mature and polished musicians who still have the love of jazz and the fire to play it. The years in which Jay Jay inspected blueprints at the Sperry factory and Kai worked in the studios reading ordinary scores during the early Fifties did not dull their ardor. During this period both were playing at sessions and recording occasionally. Kai returned to the jazz scene on a full time basis first. In June of 1954 Jay Jay left Sperry and by August the duo was established as a touring unit.

The three musicians who were chosen as the supporting rhythm trio as not among the best-known but the reasons for their choice is made evident by their work in this album.

A Baltimorean by birth, pianist Dick Katz is perhaps best known. Dick received his main musical education in New York, graduating from the Manhattan School of Music in 1950. After studying with Teddy Wilson at Juilliard in that same year, he free-lanced until 1953 when he joined Tony Scott with whose quartet he remained for a year before responding to the call of Kai and Jay Jay. Dick, who lists among his favorite pianists John Lewis, Art Tatum, Al Haig, Hank Jones and Teddy Wilson, recording quite a bit with Scott. His solos here are not as lengthy as those but show clearly that his thinking and facility in execution have reached a new point of sharpness.

Al Harewood is a Brooklyn boy whose brother drummed in local clubs. In 1944 when his brother left for service, Al started fooling around with the drums, never studying formally but playing along with records. In 1947 his brother got him his first “gig” and he’s been with it ever since. A friend of his, Arthur Edgehill (a fine drummer himself) introduced him to Jay Jay. Al’s work is always pulsating, tasty, never obstructive.

Bassist Peck Morrison has worked with Lucky Thompson, Billy Graham, Art Farmer and Lou Donaldson. He has also made numerous R&B record dates including King Pleasure‘s Red Top. When asked about his favorites he replied “Always dug Jimmy Blanton‘s playing.” His own playing is steady and sure and shows the results of wonderful practical experience mentioned above. He’s a not-so-old pro.

The selections of tunes and their renditions point up the cohesion and great empathy in the ‘boning of Kai and Jay Jay. Listen to Don’t Argue where each takes a bar (Kai starts) in stating the theme and makes it sound like one ‘bone, or to Dinner For One where the blend is a beautiful thing all by itself.

They play in the same idiom and their sounds and ideas run in the same channel at odd times although each has his own distinct personality. Kai is brasher, Jay Jay drier. Both speak the same language of jazz with different dialects.

Jay Jay Johnson and Kai Winding have formed a group. Jazz will benefit.

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Bennie Green with Strings
Recorded May 13, 1952 in Chicago

The wedding of the jazz soloist with a string section is a risky thing. The soloist must be complemented by the strings but also retain his power. The strings cannot venture past their limit of sweetness or the soloist, however strong he may be, becomes emasculated.

Bennie Green,Bennie Green emerges here with his warmth and strength intact, well transmitted by his large sound. The ballad standards serve him well but he is especially provocative in Osie Johnson‘s Serenade to Love.

The string section is capably manned by a mixture of some of Chicago’s best symphony and studio musicians. Bennie recorded this set while in the Windy City with Earl Hines.

Hines rhythm section of that time is also present. John Malachi is well known as the pianist with the Billy Eckstine band and later as Billy’s accompanist. He is now in the same role with Sarah Vaughan. Tommy Potter was the bassist in that famed Eckstine band and also did yeoman work with Charlie Parker for many years. Osie Johnson, an equally talented drummer and arranger, wrote all the arrangements for this date. Since leaving the Hines group a few years ago establishing headquarters in New York, he has won wide recognition His swinging drums and pen are much in demand.

These selections are in what might be described as a “relaxed jazz groove.” Bennie Green again proves that his capabilities lie in many directions.