*f Jau& Slues

Review
TheAmerican
Y0L"8110.8 1982
AUGUST
 TAKEN & TRANSCRIBED BY CHRISTOPHER KUHL
CADENCE: Let's talk about Bebop.
Record Reviews
COMPLETE PERSONNELS, TITLES' DATES. ETC,
P H I L W O O D S : l t ' s t h e m u s i co f t h e f u t u r e . I s t i l l h a t e t h e HEAOING CAN BE FOUND IN THE TEXT OF THE PAI
TNFORMATTON CONCERNTNG ANY RECORDS REVIE
word. lt's a dreadful word; we Americansuse such deniqrat- NOT BE AVAILABLE AT YOUR RSCORD STORE CAN
inq words about this music:Jazzor Bebop.Thereare not high STAMPEO, SELF . AODRESSED ENVELOPE TO CADE
cliss words. But it's street music so you have to use the
vernacufar.In Bebop or modern Jazz You can play as fast HELENMERRILL. can De r
pitch and
as humanly possible'withas many chord changesor as slow CASAFORTE. really in
within the confinesof tonal music.Unfortunate-
as possible-al'l INNERCITY IC 1125. in ali a
ly,'the recognitionfor this alwayscomes later and is given Natural Sounds/ Antonlo's Song/ Vera Cruzl
Wave/ So Many Stars/ Like A Lover/ Too challengin
to vounqerrTrustclans. Marvellous For words/ How Insensitive/ l'm a I
Casa Forte/ Close Enough For Lc've. 36:44. even if t,
CA'D: Y6u studied at Juillard, correct? Cotlective parsonnel: Merrill, voc, string musrcal aL
P.W.: Riqht. I studied composition and the clarinet. You section Incl. Charles McCrackerl, cello; Sal Clayton.'
weren't allowed to studv the'saxophonewhile I was a student Niitlco, ts; Urbie Green, tb; Jir Butfington'
Peter Gordon, John Ctark, fr. hn; Bucky
PSrticula.
there. I wanted to be a iazz musicianeversince I was fourteen Pizzarelll, Joe Beck, gtr; GeorgE Mraz, b;
strained,

vears old. When I first heardJohnny HodqesPlay "14/hsn15. Franclcso Centeno, el- b; Grady Tate, Oom
total
cnaracter
de
um Romao or Ron zito, dr; steve Kroon'
Liqhts Went Down" and "Rabbit Steps-Forward," I said, Rubens Bassini, perc; Torrie Zito, p' and notasac
"this is it, this is what I want to do." -My lhr-ee.influences arr. APrll and MaY 1980. direct ani

o
= were Benny Carter,Johnny Hodgesand CharlieParkerin that nerther c1
THE JOHN LEWIS ALBUM singanq hi
order. FOR NANCY HARROW, even rl -
CAD: You were once in CharlieBarnetsband.... FINESSEFW 3768I. cnaracter
II P.W.: I qot a iob as a tenor player in CharlieBarnet'sband. Sometimes I'm Happy/ The Thrill ls Gone/ routine:
It was ifre onty chair openl although the alto saxophone Shio Without A Sait/ Distant Lover/ My
Shlp/ Don't Blame Me/ As Long As lt's
also com,

is mv instrument. I then' played with Neil Hefti and Dick of exprr-s

L Hymbn. I always had a quirtei in school and we travelledto

About Love/ lt Never Entered My Mind. a bit repe

o
38:36.
Lewrs
Harrow, voc; Lewls, p; Frank Wess, fl; Joseph
Florida and New York State. Kennedy, Y; Marc Johnson, b; Howard persona :
CAD: And you alsospent time with Monk - correct? Collins, gtr; Connie Kay, dr. April and May his own :

P.W.: lwason the ro'adwith TheoloniusMonk between1967 -

+t 1968; and it'was a great learningexperience.He taught me
19 8 1 .
In short, l'd say that these two vocal albums
MJO o':i
no dou i'

rI
E economy. Man, all thi greatshaveit: Miles,Dizzy".--Ygup].ay
one note insteadof 200. When you are young and tull ot flre
fall into the "good, but not great" category.
The Merrill album is a bit surprising. One
extramusical thing is the cover picture where
and beca
ation F:
staYs o.
you try to play all the notes.-lt'sa growing process. Miss Merrill looks about twentv years younger a IDU tll -' I

I ! CAD: How hasyour music changed/ - than ever before, which goes to prove that lteautrlu
with will power and less hamburgers there t h i s Ir s : :
Ffnt.i Mv muii6 ii an expressidno! me and ldon't know if
3t, I can reallychange;I'm tdo closeto it; you ought to asksome-
might still be hope for us all. {informed
that the plcture
ntm on
plarnt a:

a
sources have confirmed
is in fact Miss Merrill and not her daughter mav oe
one else. o r s o m e o r o f e s s i o n a lm o d e l ) .
m i q ht
CAD: Whatdo you think of Disco? The surprise of the music was that in T hour:'

(3 P.W.: I neverthink about it. lt hasnothingto do with my life.

ln this country there is pop music and art music. Musicisde-
Merrill's case I'vc become used to expecl
the unexpected personal twists in per-
o ewc cr'- "
G taprrn

o fined as qood' if it sellb.American recordingcompaniesare formance and arrangement of often otherwise

familiar material. This is not the case here.
showinqnb responsibilityfor the stateof Jazz today..The.big Most of the material is sung very straight, BOB \
music c"orporationshave'donethe most to set back Jazz than and the album as a whole seems to be more PRETI
any othei single force; and on the other side of the coin commerciallv oriented than what is usually INDI.\
- and National Public
t h e c a s ew i t h M s . M e r r i l l . This 1s'
im'att-indepenfent record companies This is all done in very good taste, however.
= Radio are doing the most in its behalf.\{/hen,l '50swas a young The material, for the most part quite subdued
I Thoug'
A Fra: i
man recording"for PrestigeRecordsin the they only and in a Latin vein, is nicely arranged by Love
-'

JI told you to frake a good*Jazz album. The musicianhas to

make'hisown mind urr whetherto play pop or serlousrnu.slc
Torrie Zito for a variety of settings. Four
tracks are by strings and rhythm, another
three have brass instead of the strings, and
Liqht.5
Neloms,
It s c:l
and the record company must not confusethe issue.byasl<.ing
rF him to cut a cross-overrecord.Today, I don't h-ear.the q.ually with Sal Nistico as a most welcome soloist,
two tr3cks are by cetlo and rhythm, and
J:loyec I
Like:,,'
Jazz that can be possiblyconsideredworthy.of reissuein 20-
a-
I one (Wave) is a piano/vocal duet. ts a pa
grouno.
30 yearsfrom noi,v.But-Jazzis a very durablemusicform, so
'Atlanta, Even when singing straight as this, Merrill
manages to maintain an overall Jazz feeling
iheie-i hope. Georqia3/9/81 through her lazy delivery, which sometimes shown a
For a rnore extensive interview see Vol. 5, No. | 0
Page 14 - cadence - august 1982