Audio
Charles A. Robertson : February 1958

In this discursive exposition of his pianistic abilities Randy Weston touches up some popular tunes and improvises on three of his own bright themes. Handsome support on the trio numbers comes from drummer Willie Jones and Ahmed Abdul-Malik, whose bass engages in fertile exchanges with the piano. On the calypso Run Joe, In a Little Spanish Town, and an original blues, an able quintet is formed by the addition of Cecil Payne on baritone sax and Ray Copeland on trumpet, as Wilbert Hogan takes over on drums. Payne switches to alto on You Needn’t, a characteristic piece by Thelonious Monk. Weston handles himself well in the assorted settings and is inventive on Don’t Blame Me and How High the Moon. A capable composer, he should be ready to develop a more individual group sound for the trio. If it is to stand out from a dozen similar groups, it needs its own distinctive voice. Weston is creative in the accepted format and could easily turn some of his originality to the seeking of new forms, even though it means curbing some of his choruses. A fine recording by Dave Hancock.

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Billboard : 08/05/1957
Score of 76

Highly attractive rhythmic and harmonic inventiveness by pianist Weston, his trio and combo. An especially fine job on How High The Moon. Good fare for jocks, and set could move well for dealers. Excellent cover will help. Very readable liner notes by Paulette Girard.

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Pasadena Independent
George Laine : 08/24/1957

With Abdul-Malik and Jones, Weston‘s trio has been playing a jazz course in the east, principally in New York. In this LP, however, they are augmented on three selections by the two horns and it varies the fare nicely. Weston is an agile pianist who manages to say something without losing his groove. It’s a good LP.

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San Francisco Chronicle
Ralph J. Gleason : 12/01/1957

This is a pianist to watch; he has everything it takes and at any minute is going to emerge as a major jazz voice. This is a good LP, done with the help of two horns and rhythm. It’s well recorded, too.

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Down Beat : 09/19/1957
Dom Cerulli : 3 stars

Weston is a pianist of constant growth and vitality, but his excursion here is uneven. He is capable of doing, and has done, considerably more with his talent. Not that this is in any sense a bad record, but rather more is expected of Randy based on the promise of earlier recordings and in-person hearings.

The strong point here is the variety of settings against which he is cast, although some of the group performances are listless in comparison to the trio’s spirit on Moon and its taste on Don’t Blame Me. Copeland plays well, as does Payne, perhaps the result of bringing two horns to the date, a happier blend than the earlier efforts with just the baritone-piano combination.

Loose Wig, a trio side (as are Tracks 3, 5, and 8), sets a moody, gray mood. Run Joe, set in Latin American tempo, is routine. The trio’s Don’t Blame Me is more like it, with Weston exploring the melody and creating a handsome series of choruses.

Weston’s three compositions – Wig, Theme, and J&K – indicate that more of his own work could make for more stimulating excursions all around.

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Liner Notes by Paulette Girard

Randy Weston is a guy with a sense of humor. There is a touch of whimsy in everything he plays.

“A lot of people tell me that,” said Randy.

We were about to listen to a playback of his new LP.

The first track was a thing called Loose Wig, a Randy Weston original. I commented on the weird quality, effect in large part by the use of chromatic progressions.

“Well,” he said, “a loose wig – that’s a nice way of sayin’ someone’s insane.”

“Funny,” I told him, “the thought that popped into my head the first time I heard the tune was ‘What can you expect when the wig is loose?’ How and when did you happen on the idea, and what made you decide to use it on the date?”

“I don’t know,” said Randy, “I don’t really know when I wrote the tune. Sometimes, after I’ve written a thing, I don’t think about it too much until people start commenting on it. Then I include it in my permanent repertoire, and record it if I can.”

“Who’s on that side with you?”

“It’s a trio side, Abdul-Malik on bass, and Willie Jones on drums.”

“How about the next number, Run Joe, who’s on that?”

“Ray Copeland on trumpet, Cecil Payne on baritone, and Wilbur Hogan‘s on drums here. Abdul-Malik’s on bass again. He’s on bass throughout the entire LP.”

We listened for a while.

“Well?” I asked.

“S’all right.”

“I can’t help smiling when I hear it,” I said, “and believe me, it is difficult to sit still!”

Randy laughed as the side ended.

“Who is being vocal?” I asked. “Which of the guys?”

“Vocal!?!?”

We started Run Joe again with the volume up a little. Randy listened. “I have a habit of singing when I play. It’s not really singing. It’s a sort of groan. Yeah – that’s me.”

We listened some more. Against the calypso beat the trumpet, piano and baritone each blew a chorus, everything fading out at the end.

I looked at Randy, who like myself was smiling again, and said, “And Joe slowly disappears into the setting sun?”

The record ended.

Said Randy, “He’s gone.”

The third cut, A Theme For Teddy is another Weston original.

“What’s the story on this one?” I asked.

“I wrote this for Ted Muller, the disc-jockey now in Stamford, Connecticut.”

“How’d that come about?”

“Oh, he caught me at a good moment, while I was in the Berkshires – up in the mountains where it’s quiet and there’s lots of time to write. We worked only three hours a night. I guess I’ve done a lot of my writing there.”

“Well, Ted had this disc-jockey program in Pittsfield, Mass., and used to come by and listen to me almost every night, and he asked me to write a theme for him. That’s how that happened.”

It’s a very pretty theme. A trio side again with Jones and Malik, it’s set at a relaxed pace. The piano improvisation is imaginative and well-integrated. In the bridge of the last chorus there is a nice exchange between piano and bass. It is effective, and Randy employs the pattern frequently on the LP.

We listened to side 4, In a Little Spanish Town, with Hogan on drums, Copeland on trumpet, and Payne on baritone. First you hear the ensemble. Then Cecil Payne takes you out to the suburbs. In the third chorus, Copeland goes out a bit further, and in the fourth chorus Randy moseys along the countryside for a while. Finally we have the ensemble again, and they take you back to town.

“When did you start studying the piano?” I asked Randy.

“When I was about fourteen I started studying with a private teacher. My father made me take lessons. I couldn’t stand it, but it went on for three years. Then we all quit, the music teacher, my father and me! Later on I got interested in playing jazz, but not right away.”

“Did you ever do any more studying?”

“When I got out of the service. I studied theory and harmony for a year and a half.”

I asked Randy what his immediate and future plans were.

“I’d like to keep the trio intact, do recording dates, that’s about it at the moment. I try to get in a few rehearsal hours with the trio each week.”

“Do you like being a musician?”

“Yeah, I like being a musician. I like to write tunes – I like composing – anything that has to do with music. What I want to do is apply folk music to jazz. You can retain the folk rhythm and improvise against it. You can do calypso, waltzes, anything!”

“Outside of all that I have no ‘plans’. If I can accomplish these things, I’ll be satisfied.”

Randy had flipped the disc, and started the second side; the first number, a trio rendition of Don’t Blame Me, (Malik and Jones). It’s the only tune on the LP that gets ballad treatment. In the first chorus, Randy stays close by the melody. His embroidery evokes an atmosphere of nostalgia. There is a lift in the second chorus, as Randy departs further from the melody line. All through there are touches of that whimsical humor which identifies Weston’s style.

When the number ended, Randy’s comment was: “I tried to emphasize simplicity.”

The J.K. Blues began. This it the entire ensemble again. Hogan on drums. After the intro, the ensemble plays the theme through, followed by a trumpet chorus, a baritone chorus, the piano, and bass, and finally the ensemble again.

This was another Weston original so I asked if there was a story to this one.

“I was playing at the Sugar Hill in Newark,” said Randy. “This young lady came down and asked me to play blues. What I played was too sophisticated for her. She asked would I play the low down kind, so I wrote these blues for her. Her initials are J.K.”

“By the way,” I asked, “How is it that you used two different drummers?”

“Hogan is now with Lionel Hampton, but we once worked together. Well, Hampton was in town at the time we did this date, so I just thought I’d like to use him.”

The next number, You Needn’t, was already playing. Jones, on drums and Payne on alto. Randy said he’d wanted to use this tune by Thelonious Monk for a long time.

The character of the Monk original is out of left field. The alto boldly announces the theme and then goes on to improvise. Randy picks up the third chorus and later on we get some bass. The last time through, we hear the theme again, and the ending comes off a bit like a shaggy dog story – it leaves you hanging?

The final number on the LP is How High The Moon, a trio performance. After the intro, a swift tempo is established by the drums. Randy plays the melody high in treble, and gets a music-box effect. As if this were not in sharp enough contrast to the jazz pace, piano and bass play the next chorus as a charming waltz while the drums move madly on. Next come three excellent piano choruses, followed by an outstanding bass solo, and some solid drum work. This number really goes. It’s an exciting way to end the LP, except that, as with all good things, you want to hear more!