1/3/2024 0 Comments Barney kessel![]() Compare that with "Blues For A Playboy", a track that certainly swings but is much more rooted in a bluesy sound that looks ahead to the hard bop sound that would soon be the choice of many musicians as the 1950s progressed. The initial soloists - Ted Nash's upbeat flute and Jimmie Rowles soulful piano lines - lead perfectly into Kessel doing his thing before the tune's theme reappears at the end. Listen to the opener "Cheerful Little Earful", a Gershwin number that Kessel turns into a relaxed swinging affair, but one that is far from a generic run-through. In other words, he is a real jazz artist, a commodity rare and not expendable in today's jazz field." As Andre Previn says in the liner notes, " swings like every member of a rhythm section wishes he could, he has a staggering amount of technique, a healthy respect for the traditional, a ceaseless curiosity for the experimental, and an admirable and lovely harmonic sense. The album certainly swings, but there is more to it than just that. The group was not full of names that have stayed familiar through the decades, but there are a few - Shelly Manne, Red Mitchell and Andre Previn - that certainly are familiar to even the most amateur jazz afficianado. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that Kessel did all the arranging of the tracks on this album. The large group was comprised of five woodwinds and a rhythm section, so the arrangements necessary to make an album this good was no small feat. ![]() He doesn't waste any notes, and is clearly just as comfortable in this group setting as he is playing with a trio. ![]() And, man, can Kessel swing with the best of them. Music To Listen To Barney Kessel By finds the guitarist as part of a larger ensemble, playing shorter tracks that fall somewhere between a cool jazz and swing jazz sound. Those are certainly head turning entries on any jazz player's resume. In the 1940s he was noted as being one of the first accomplished post-Charlie Christian jazz guitarists, and in 1944 he was a part of the classic early jazz film Jammin' The Blues featuring Lester Young and recorded with Charlie Parker during the Relaxin' At Camarillo recordings on Dial Records. Kessel was no newcomer to the scene, however, when he started to record with Lester Koenig's label. On "Makin' Whoopie", "Gone With The Wind", "I Love You" and "Fascinating Rhythm":īuddy Collette - Flute, Alto Flute, Clarinetīarney Kessel will always be best known in the jazz world for his run of albums on Contemporary from 1955 to 1960, all of which are excellent examples of modern jazz at it's finest. Howard Terry - Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, BasoonĬlaude Williamson - Piano ( replaces Rowles on "Love Is For The Very Young", "Mountain Greenery", "Indian Summer" and "Laura") ![]()
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