Billboard : 03/02/1957
Score of 72

Except for its shorter duration, this set is similar to the all-star jam session put out by Columbia. Actually, by present market standards, there are no blockbuster names here, and few solo contributions that really set sparks flying. Good spots are by Billy Butterfield, Charlie Shavers, Lou McGarity, Urbie Green and Coleman Hawkins. Look for fair sales to middle-of-the-road jazz fans.

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Audio
Charles A. Robertson : 04/1957

The burgeoning of record companies on Manhattan Island and the encroachments of television have placed a premium on studio space of any acoustic worth. In a continuing search, Capitol has ferreted out the ballroom of Riverside Plaza, a small hotel on a quiet upper West Side street, and it is admitted to be one of the best by competing audio men. Its properties are given a thorough test by twelve top swingmen in an exhilarating allout session which points up how important good acoustics are to big band sound.

The trumpets of Billy Butterfield and Charlie Shavers make the rafters ring with some of their best work on record. Coleman Hawkins turns out a fine chorus on every number and is allowed to extend himself on Out of Nowhere. Everyone is given a chance to solo: Urbie Green and Lou McGarity, trombones; Peanuts Hucko, clarinet; Earl Warren, alto; Jerry Jerome, tenor. Art Ryerson, guitar, is the powerhouse of the rhythm section as with Milt Hinton, bass, he sets a tempo reminiscent of Django Reinhardt when he backed Hawkins for the French Swing label. Lou Stein, piano, and Osie Johnson, drums, are in good form. There is a definitive Undecided, I Want to be Happy, Broadway, the title tune and Escape Hatch which takes its line from a song so long in the public domain as to be traditional. You will be surprised when you spot it. Dave Cavanaugh produced what I hope will be the first of a long series at Riverside.

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The Gramophone (UK)
Edgar Jackson : 08/1957

A jam session is always a gamble, with the odds against every musician hitting peak form. Even though the ensemble riffing was planned ahead, most of the jazz on this LP is jam session music. Solo follows solo without much attempt at integration. Only Billy Butterfield really stands up to the pace. His style much altered since he played with the old Bob Crosby band, he performs robustly yet lyrically in Broadway, Session At Riverside, Escape Hatch and Out Of Nowhere. Otherwise the solos vary from track to track. Session At Riverside, an up-tempo 12-bar blues, inspires everyone to play fairly well. Coleman Hawkins swings happily in Escape Hatch, but overdoes things in most of the other numbers. Charlie Shavers strikes fire from time to time, and Earl Warren cuts loose on the blues with surprising fervour. The rhythm section moves lissomly all the way, with Lou Stein throwing in a few Count Basie phrases.

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Jazz Monthly (UK)
Paul Rossiter : 08/1957

This is a jam session performance which maintains a high level of interest. Recorded at the Riverside studio in New York City, it includes several of the sessioneers who are heard today on so many releases, but also gives us the opportunity to listen to Coleman Hawkins in top form. Without doubt, Hawkins is the star of the session, and his driving solos are quite incomparable. Out of nowhere and Undecided are the outstanding tracks and Escape hatch seems the least cohesive. One error that is avoided is that of packing in solos from every musician on each number and as a result Hawkins and the others are given a chance to develop their choruses. Shavers is very much a matter of taste, but he is usually exciting here without becoming flashy. The other musicians are highly competent, rather than inspired, yet they seldom allow the tension to slacken. The rhythm section is excellent throughout, with Hinton superb. One is pleased to see Jerry Jerome and Earl Warren back on a record, and while their solos are not exactly distinguished they perform more than capably. In all, a most likeable release.

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Jazz Today
Bill Coss : 06/1957

I did the notes on this one so I’m prejudiced in its favor even though somewhat discouraged by some additions and deletions in those notes as printed on the LP liner, some of which deletions will constitute part of this review. There are six tracks with Shavers, Butterfield, McGarity, Green, Hawkins, Hucko, Jerome, Warren, Stein, Ryerson, Hinton and Johnson — a mate to the 1956 Session at Midnight, recorded with the West Coast counterparts of these lusty commandos. As such it is good, honest jazz of the late 1930’s: recording director Dave Matthews suggested to the musicians that that was what he wanted and Milt Hinton said: “That’s us, all in our late 30’s.” Contrary to the notes, Charlie Shavers snored through problem choruses on Out of Nowhere. He was tired. There were no people in the hall “vocalizing with the band,” as it somehow says in the notes. (Strangely enough Capitol vice-president Lee Gillette said that the Shavers story made good liner copy, but it still wasn’t used.) Also, you should have read the original, long dialogue before Escape Hatch, which reflected some of the musicians’ attitudes toward the music they were playing (notably Urbie Green’s). Album note difficulty aside, however, you’ll find it a swinging swing session with the kind of spirit which you more justly expect from a steadily working group.

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Kansas City Star (Kansas City, MO)
R.K.S. : 04/14/1957

A group of top-flight jazzmen intent on making a multitude of jubilant sounds are presented in Session at Riverside on Capitol. This is jamming, happy, swing played by 12 sidemen now residing in New York and thereabouts. It may be a poor comparison, but this record reminds us of the old Metronome All-Star bands that used to try to blow the roof off the recording studios. In the recording-date jam session business, this record is a notable success. The men: Charlie Shavers, Billy Butterfield, Coleman Hawkins, Peanuts Hucko, Jerry Jerome, Earl Warren, Urbie Green, Lou McGarity, Lou Stein, Art Ryerson, Milt Hinton, Arvell Shaw and Osie Johnson.

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Miami Herald (Miami, FL)
Fred Sherman : 04/28/1957

Gone are the days when people paid to dance. And we’ll probably never see again the time when a band-leader can afford a dozen top men behind the monogrammed music racks. The alternative is found in Session at Riverside, a Capitol production (T-761). Here are a baker’s dozen from America’s best jazz men playing four classics and two heady pieces. Limiting the program has expanded the head of steam. Nothing intimate here except for a couple Coleman Hawkins’ solos. Trumpet work by Charlie Shavers and Billy Butterfield stands out, as do solos by Urbie Green, Lou McGarity and Lou Stein.

If cool jazz chills you, this one is for you.

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Toronto Globe and Mail (Toronto, Ontario)
Richard J. Doyle : 03/01/1957

While Decca underlines the fact that painstaking effort went into the planning of The Ballerina record, Capitol hastens to point out that the case was just the opposite with two of its newest: Blue Serge (T742) and Session at Riverside (T761). Serge, of course, is Serge Chaloff, who explains: “I picked out the best rhythm section around and just told them to show up… no rehearsals… no tunes set… and trusted to luck and good musicianship.” Probably a measure of luck helped here but sound musicianship is certainly the ace in the hole. Sonny Clark, piano, Jo Jones (tops in Down Beat poll), drums, and Leroy Vinnegar, bass, back up Chaloff’s relaxed style, with a good deal more than competence. The tunes include: A Handful of Stars, The Goof and I, Thanks for the Memory, All the Things You Are, World on a String, Susie’s Blues and Stairway to the Stars.

Producer Dave Cavanaugh, for Session at Riverside, assembled a dozen musicians and gave them these instructions: “We’re here to relax and play some jazz that really swings.” And while there are uneven edges in this session and combinations that don’t quite come off, on the whole this is a worthwhile — and occasionally, exciting meeting of: Billy Butterfield and Charlie Shavers, trumpets; Coleman Hawkins, Peanuts Hucko, Jerry Jerome, and Earl Warren, reeds; Urbie Green, and Lou McGarity, trombones; Lou Stein, Art Ryerson, Milt Hinton, Arvell Shaw and Osie Johnson, rhythm. Songs include I Want to be Happy, Broadway, and Out of Nowhere. How informal this session was is indicated by the fact that about half the musicians had other dates and had to skip before the final tune was recorded.

Yet, spontaneity is the best feature of both of these records. It may lead to a certain amount of muddiness — but on the whole it produces verve.

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Down Beat : 03/21/1957
Nat Hentoff : 3.5 stars

A free-swinging east coast answer (in part) to Capitol’s Session at Midnight cut in Hollywood. The style is primarily swing era with each minimally arranged track consisting of a string of solos, all identified in Bill Coss’ lucid notes. The rhythm section is vital, and the blowing is all competent.

Hawkins is the major soloist with particularly consistent additions by Green. Also valuable are Butterfield and McGarity. It’s all casual and direct, but I doubt if it will rank as one of the essential LPs. Good for kicks in general, especially for the buyer with pronounced swing era tastes.

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Liner Notes by Bill Coss

Early in 1956, Capitol issued an album, Session at Midnight, which presented twelve of the outstanding swing musicians in Hollywood in an informal reading of four standards and two originals. Capitol had a parallel idea in mind almost before the tapes were edited: an East Coast version of the same kind of date, using musicians of equal stature, strewing jazz inhibitions to the wind.

On May 25, 1956, another group of twelve top swingmen gathered in New York at the Riverside Plaza ballroom, where Capitol frequently makes recordings. On hand too was Capitol producer Dave Cavanaugh, who had supervised Session at Midnight, and was now all set for the Riverside date. “We’re here,” said Dave, “to relax and play some jazz that really swings.” Bassist Milt Hinton, who overheard this, said, “We’re all with you on that.” And on that note, unabashed informality began in earnest.

Unabashed? Take I Want to be Happy, during which the decibel needle never dropped below the red line, a kind of warning to the listener that excitement is on a high level. As on most of these tracks, everyone contributed to the head arrangements. Here, Charlie Shavers started the routines, Osie Johnson formulated the ending, and Jerry Jerome assigned the solo positions. Of special note are Peanuts Hucko’s bubbling choruses in and out of the ensemble; the fourth and fifth choruses, which are Hawkins with a vengeance; the splitting of four bars apiece by Shavers and Butterfield, Charlie starting the shooting; and the free and madly swinging ending.

Informal? Take Escape Hatch, the appropriately titled last tune in the album. It began something like this: Urbie Green: “What’ll we do for the last thing?” Coleman Hawkins: “All we need is a line; let’s see if we can work one out.” Needless to say, they did find a line, on which McGarity and Butterfield wail with effect, and the final two choruses swing with the greatest abandon under the whip of Charlie Shavers.

The title song, Session at Riverside, was another joint contribution. Shavers and Cavanaugh developed the initial idea; Stein and Butterfield broadened some of the developments. Here you’ll find fine Ryerson guitar, excellent Shavers, preaching alto by Earl Warren, and the most modern side of Hawkins.

Broadway is one of those tunes, a standard that musicians of every age and style seem to fall into when the need is for a bright-tempoed vehicle for jamming. Shavers and Hawkins are in great form here.

Undecided is the most successful example of Charlie Shavers the songwriter. As if in appreciation for that, all twelve men really dig into the rhythm of this, adding even more vitality to the excellent solos by Butterfield, Hawkins and Stein.

Out of Nowhere, one of the Coleman Hawkins classics, was an overtime recording — a track pulled out of nowhere, almost. Most of the musicians had already gone by this time; both Hinton and Johnson had other jobs calling them. So, with ten minutes in which to record, the pressure was really on.

The first three takes were spoiled one way or another. On the fourth, Hawkins forgot that he had only two choruses and continued blowing into McGarity’s solo. The fifth take, which had to be the last, seemed perfect until, during Lou Stein’s solo, a frightful noise filled the hall, spoiling that take too. Consequently, the track had to be remade the next day, with Arvell Shaw substituting for Milt Hinton. None of them knew, I’m sure, that the noise was caused by a couple of people in the hall outside, doing some impromptu vocalizing with the band. In any case, Stein, Butterfield, Hawkins, and McGarity make it all glitter.

From a critic’s point of view, the major interest in all selections, outside of individual solos, was one, often remarked upon, which never fails to amaze me: the sureness and rapport which such a group of professionals brings to such a session, managing to impart a vigor and cohesion in ensemble and an anticipation in solos which one customarily expects only from groups which have played for many months together. That is part of the joy and fun of this music, of this album: a practical, musical maturity which gives strength to each expression. If, as Fats Waller once said, speaking of the difference between Dixieland and Swing, “Swing is educated jazz,” these are all professors of a high degree.

Trumpets: Billy Butterfield and Charlie Shavers are two of the most in-demand swing trumpeters in the country. Billy was born in Ohio in 1917, played through the bands of Bob Crosby, Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman, fronting his own band from 1946 to 1947, leaving it to become one of the most respected studio musicians in New York while maintaining his jazz stature through recording and occasional gigging. Charlie was born in New York City in 1917, worked with Lucky Millinder, John Kirby and Tommy Dorsey among others, receiving fame with them all as an arranger as well as a soloist; one of the few to bring a completely distinctive style to swing trumpet.

Reeds: Coleman Hawkins, Peanuts Hucko, Jerry Jerome and Earl Warren. Coleman was born in Missouri in 1904. If anyone could be called the father of the tenor, his pioneering on that instrument would certainly assure and insure that title for him. A richly gifted musician, with few peers, he has managed to keep abreast of the several styles of jazz within which he has lived and played with such intensity.

Peanuts, who plays the clarinet solos, was born in Syracuse in 1918 and is a graduate of the Jenney, Bradley, Spivak, Miller, McKinley and Teagarden bands; now doing post-graduate work in New York’s studios. A remarkably versatile musician, he has recorded with nearly every kind of jazz group. Jerry Jerome was born in Brooklyn in 1912. Until he joined his studio friends in 1942, he had played in the bands of Miller, Norvo, Goodman and Shaw. He is a tenorman in the Hawkins tradition. Earl Warren (Ohio, 1914) worked with Count Basie as lead alto and vocalist from 1937 to 1945, serving as a musical director for the Count during that time. He returned to the Basie band twice during the intervening five years, but most of his current activities center around free-lance musical direction in New York and Washington.

Trombones: Urbie Green and Lou McGarity. Urbie was born in Alabama in 1926, played with Savitt, Carle and Krupa before he came of age and into national fame with the Woody Herman band in 1951. Since leaving Woody in early 1954, Urbie’s hard-to-categorize trombone has been one of the most-worked sliding horns in New York’s recording studios. Lou (Georgia, 1917) played with Goodman and Scott until 1943, when he began studio work and a profitable companionship with the Eddie Condon Regulars. In the Teagarden tradition, Lou has always been a vital soloist.

Rhythm: Lou Stein, Art Ryerson, Milt Hinton, Arvell Shaw (on Out of Nowhere only), and Osie Johnson. Lou was born in Philadelphia in 1922, played with McKinley, Miller, Ventura and a whole set of jazz groups of different persuasions. An extremely versatile pianist, he is able to play with every kind of jazz group. Art Ryerson is part of a fast-vanishing group — the rhythm guitarist. Milt Hinton (Mississippi, 1910) is another musician who has played, and can play, with almost any jazz group. Long admired for his musicianship and tone, he is constantly in demand. Arvell Shaw was born in St. Louis in 1923 and is best known for his long tenure with Louis Armstrong. Osie Johnson, like Milt Hinton, is constantly in demand in New York. Born in Washington in 1923, he is a thoroughly schooled drummer, in the Don Lamond tradition, who can make a rhythm section breathe while it shouts.