''Introducing Duke Pearson's Big Band'' is the eleventh album by American pianist and arranger
Duke Pearson
Columbus Calvin "Duke" Pearson Jr. (August 17, 1932 – August 4, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer. ''Allmusic'' describes him as having a "big part in shaping the Blue Note label's hard bop direction in the 1960s as a record produ ...
, featuring
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...
performances recorded in 1967 and released on the
Blue Note
In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical c ...
label.
[Duke Pearson discography](_blank)
accessed September 10, 2010 The album was rereleased with six bonus tracks from ''
Now Hear This'', Pearson's 1968 big band recording, on a single CD in 1998.
Reception
The
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...
review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 4 stars stating, "
earson'soriginals are continually unpredictable and memorable, and his arrangements, especially of the standards, are provocative and intriguing. While it might not appeal to fans of Pearson's wonderful small-group hard bop sessions, it is unquestionably an experiment that works, and one that confirms his remarkable skills and talents."
[Erlewine, S. T. ]Allmusic Review
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
accessed December 17, 2017
Track listing
All compositions by Duke Pearson except where noted
# "Ground Hog" - 3:06
# "New Girl" - 6:04
# "Bedouin" - 5:27
# "Straight Up and Down" (
Chick Corea
Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and " ...
) - 6:59
# "Ready When You Are C.B." - 2:56
# "New Time Shuffle" (
Joe Sample
Joseph Leslie Sample (February 1, 1939 – September 12, 2014) was an American keyboardist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Jazz Crusaders in 1960, the band which shortened its name to "The Crusaders" in 1971. He remained ...
) - 5:36
# "Mississippi Dip" - 2:35
# "
A Taste of Honey
''A Taste of Honey'' is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 19. It was intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalise British theatre and address social issues that ...
" (
Bobby Scott,
Ric Marlow
Eric "Ric" Marlow (born Sanford Phillip Schafler; December 21, 1925 – February 28, 2017) was an American songwriter and actor, best known for co-writing with Bobby Scott the song "A Taste of Honey" which won a Grammy in 1962. The song has bee ...
) - 5:29
# "
Time After Time" (
Sammy Cahn
Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premi ...
,
Jule Styne
Jule Styne (; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer best known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also became ...
) - 4:11
Bonus tracks on CD reissue: From "Now Hear This" (Blue Note 84308)
#
"Disapproachment" ( Frank Foster) - 5:49
# "Tones for Joan's Bones" (Corea) - 5:33
# "Minor League" - 6:37
# "Here's That Rainy Day
"Here's That Rainy Day" is a popular song with music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke that was published in 1953. It was introduced by Dolores Gray in the Broadway musical '' Carnival in Flanders''.
Frank Sinatra
Frank Sina ...
" ( Johnny Burke, Jimmy Van Heusen
James Van Heusen (born Edward Chester Babcock; January 26, 1913 – February 6, 1990) was an American composer. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song.
Life and car ...
) - 4:26
# "Make It Good" - 4:41
# " Days of Wine and Roses" (Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...
, Johnny Mercer
John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallich ...
) - 6:01
Personnel
*Duke Pearson
Columbus Calvin "Duke" Pearson Jr. (August 17, 1932 – August 4, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer. ''Allmusic'' describes him as having a "big part in shaping the Blue Note label's hard bop direction in the 1960s as a record produ ...
- piano, arranger
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestra ...
(tracks 1-9 & 11-15)
*Jim Bossy (tracks 10-15), Randy Brecker
Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock, and R&B.
Early life
Brecker was born on N ...
, Burt Collins, Joe Shepley, Marvin Stamm
Marvin Louis Stamm (born May 23, 1939) is an American jazz trumpeter.
Career
Stamm was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Stamm began on trumpet at age twelve. He attended North Texas State University, where he was a member of the O ...
- trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...
*Garnett Brown
Garnett Brown (January 31, 1936 – October 9, 2021) was a jazz trombonist who worked with The Crusaders, Herbie Hancock, Lionel Hampton, Earth Wind and Fire and others.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, he graduated from the University of Arkan ...
, Jimmy Cleveland
James Milton Cleveland (May 3, 1926 – August 23, 2008) was an American jazz trombonist born in Wartrace, Tennessee. (tracks 10-15), Benny Powell
Benny Powell (March 1, 1930 – June 26, 2010) was an American jazz trombonist. He played both standard (tenor) trombone and bass trombone.
Biography
Born Benjamin Gordon Powell Jr in New Orleans, Louisiana, he first played professionally ...
, Julian Priester
Julian Priester (born June 29, 1935) is an American jazz trombonist and occasional euphoniumist. He is sometimes credited "Julian Priester Pepo Mtoto". He has played with Sun Ra, Max Roach, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Herbie Hancock.
Bio ...
(tracks 1-9) - trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrat ...
*Kenny Rupp - bass trombone
*Jerry Dodgion
Jerry Dodgion (born August 29, 1932) is an American jazz saxophonist and flautist.
Dodgion was born in Richmond, California. He played alto sax in middle school and began working locally in the San Francisco area in the 1950s. He played in bands w ...
- alto saxophone, flute, piccolo
The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the s ...
*Al Gibbons - alto saxophone, flute, bass clarinet
The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave ...
*Lew Tabackin
Lewis Barry Tabackin (born March 26, 1940) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and flutist. He is married to pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi with whom he has co-led large ensembles since the 1970s.
Biography
Tabackin started learning flute at age 1 ...
- tenor saxophone
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...
* Frank Foster - tenor saxophone, arranger (track 10)
*Pepper Adams
Park Frederick "Pepper" Adams III (October 8, 1930 – September 10, 1986) was an American jazz baritone saxophonist and composer. He composed 42 pieces, was the leader on eighteen albums spanning 28 years, and participated in 600 sessions as a si ...
- baritone saxophone, clarinet
*Bob Cranshaw
Melbourne Robert Cranshaw (December 3, 1932 – November 2, 2016) was an American jazz bassist. His career spanned the heyday of Blue Note Records to his recent involvement with the Musicians Union. He is perhaps best known for his long associa ...
- bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gu ...
*Mickey Roker
Granville William "Mickey" Roker (September 3, 1932 – May 22, 2017) was an American jazz drummer.
Biography
Roker was born into extreme poverty in Miami to Granville (Sr.) and Willie Mae Roker. After his mother died (his father never lived w ...
- drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...
References
{{Authority control
Blue Note Records albums
Duke Pearson albums
1968 albums
Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio
Albums arranged by Duke Pearson