1949-1950

by James Moody

Overview

Whether you think you're already hip to James Moody, or if you aren't hip to him at all, be sure and check this stuff out! It's rare, it's beautiful and the solos are extraordinary. What you have here is essentially Moody's European tour journal. This phonographic diary takes us through Stockholm towards the end of 1949 and then to Paris in February and April of 1950. Moody is hanging with the French and the Swedes. They have been carefully studying the twists and turns of American bop. The arrangements are intricate and very contemporary. Don't worry about the goofy titles. "Three Bop Mice" and "Flight of the Bopple Bee" are actually fine pieces of work, hot and busy, composed and executed by this formidable sax and flute man from Georgia who got his start working with Dizzy Gillespie. Much of what we know about Moody comes from a stream of American records issued and reissued over a span of more than 50 years. His early European recordings are of inestimable value in their own light and as context for the rest of his work. "Three Bop Mice" seems to refer to the front line of three wicked tenor saxophones. Good thing this jam runs for nearly six minutes! It gives the guys kicking room. When Moody approaches a ballad, the results are often stunning. "Laura" is exquisite and "Body and Soul" pulsates with Moody's personal blend of languid urgency. "I'm in the Mood for Love" is the divine original take of a set of variations that would help to spawn the entire vocalese tradition, bearing forever the altered title "Moody's Mood for Love." Some will involuntarily detect echo-premonitions of Eddie Jefferson as the improvisations effortlessly unwind. Who would have guessed that the lovely upper register chorus, which Eddie would always sing in a disarming falsetto, was originally devised by the Swedish pianist Thore Swanerud? "Lester Leaps In" turns out to be the blueprint for Jefferson's wonderful vocalese outing "I Got The Blues." He obviously owned each of these Swedish records and learned them by heart. A pity he didn't get a chance to devise note-for-note lyrics to Moody's improvisations on "Indiana" "Dexterious" and "Good Bait," as these too are brilliant. The next jaw-dropper is "Blue and Moody," which proves to be the record that Eddie Jefferson turned into "Birdland Story," that exciting number heard on the 1956 Flute 'N the Blues album. This one CD holds the key to so many of James Moody's greatest records. Two 1950 Parisian sessions led by pianist Jack Dieval explore unusual harmonic realms, presenting ideas and tonalities that would take root over the next ten years. This is progressive music, unusually advanced for its day. Annie Ross sings in her most bizarre, pleasantly disorienting manner during "Le Vent Vert." Next, the Ernie Royal All-Stars punch out a five-minute "Period Suite." Russell Procope blossoms during a six-and-a-half-minute excursion through "Perdido," neatly bisected during Pierre Michelot's bass solo. Everybody ought to own a copy of this glorious disc. It is a glowing emerald deeply set in the precious lapidary of James Moody's music, surely some of the greatest music the world will ever hear. ~ arwulf arwulf

Product Details

Release Date:	08/07/2001
Label:	Classics
UPC:	3307517116925

Tracks

1. Laura
2. Car Rider
3. Three Bop Mice:, Pt. 1-2
4. I'm in the Mood for Groovin
5. The Flight of the Bopple Bee
6. Body and Soul
7. I'm in the Mood for Love
8. Lester Leaps In
9. (Back Home Again In) Indiana
10. Good Bait
11. Dexterious
12. Over the Rainbow
13. Blue and Moody
14. Bebop Tune No. 1
15. Michelle by Accident
16. Le Vent Vert
17. Emef
18. Headlight
19. Big Chief Peckhem
20. Period Suite:, Pt. 1-2
21. Perdido, Pt. 1
22. Perdido, Pt. 2

Album Credits

Performance Credits

James Moody   Primary Artist,Sax (Tenor)
Ernie Royal   Primary Artist,Trumpet
Arne Domnerus   Primary Artist,Sax (Alto)
Annie Ross   Primary Artist,Guest Artist,Vocals
Pierre Michelot   Guest Artist,Bass
Kenny Clarke   Guest Artist,Drums
Russell Procope   Guest Artist,Sax (Alto)
Nat Peck   Trombone
Jacques Dieval   Piano
Rolf Berg   Guitar
Ted Kelly   Trombone
Thore Swanerud   Piano
Anders Burman   Drums
Goesta Theselius   Piano
Richard Frost   Drums
Jack Noren   Drums
Yngve Akerberg   Bass
Emmanuel Soudieux   Bass
Raymond Fol   Piano

Technical Credits

Jimmy McHugh   Composer
Jacques Dieval   Composer
James Moody   Composer
Edward Heyman   Composer
Dorothy Fields   Composer
E.Y. "Yip" Harburg   Composer
Ervin Drake   Composer
David Raksin   Composer
Johnny Green   Composer
Robert Sour   Composer
Hans Lengsfelder   Composer
Anatol Schenker   Liner Notes
Count Basie   Composer
Frank Eyton   Composer
Johnny Mercer   Composer
Lester Young   Composer
James F. Hanley   Composer
Arne Domnerus   Composer
Harold Arlen   Composer
Ballard MacDonald   Composer
Juan Tizol   Composer
Alvin Hankerson   Composer
Tadd Dameron   Composer