Harold Vick - "Commitment" (1967/74)

I've been on the trail of this album ever since I did a history of saxaphonist Harold Vick and came across the killer track "H.N.I.C", which apparently stands for 'Head N#@@er In Charge'. So a few weeks ago, I went into ebay with all guns blazing, fought the good fight, and here we are ....

In 1966, three years after his organ n' sax debut "Steppin' Out", Vick released two quite different albums on RCA Victor : the latin-flavoured "Caribbean Suite" and the relatively straight-ahead "Straight Up".

Discography minutiae :

"Commitment" was generally thought to also have been recorded in 1966, languishing in the vaults until Muse put it out in 1974. However, due to some help from the folks over at the Organissimo forums, it seems that this album was most probably recorded for RCA Victor on May 1-2, 1967. Sessions on those dates are listed as having exactly the same lineup, with three same-named tracks. The other four tracks here are the Vick compositions, so I think we can safely assume that he re-named them seven years later. This would mean there are still three unreleased tracks somewhere, including a version of "Sunny".

It remains a mystery why this album was shelved for seven years. Vick released one more album with RCA, 1968's orchestrated "Watch What Happens". He went on to Encounter Records for the funky "Power Of Feeling" in 1973 under a pseudonym, then had a heart attack in April 1974. However, by August he was back in the studio recording "Don't Look Back" for Strata-East.

Sometime in the last four months of 1974, Muse released these 1967 recordings as "Commitment", and then Strata-East released "Don't Look Back". Independent label war ?

Annnnnnyway ... these sessions were and are worth excavating :

While the instrumentation is the same as that of "Straight Up" from the year before - saxaphone, guitar, vibes, piano, bass and drums - this is a more live, less orchestrated band who break out more often, harking back to some of the rawness of the "Steppin' Out"album.

Even in straight-ahead jazz tracks like "Commitment" and "Out Of It" there's a sense of communication between the soloists that is sometimes missing from Vick's more heavily 'arranged' albums from the 60s. Vick flourishes in this looser atmosphere, and his playing is beautiful and lyrical throughout.

There's a fantastic up-tempo take on Jimmy Heath's "A Time and A Place" , which you may know from Heath's 1974 album, or versions by Art Farmer, Milt Jackson and others. The jazz dancers should cream themselves over this one, with solid solos from Vick's tenor, pianist Walter Bishop Jr (last seen here with "Cubicle"), vibesman Victor Feldman, and guitarist Malcolm Riddick showing some Grant Green-like moves.

Victor Feldman, who's a significant presence on this album, takes over Bishop's piano chair for "H.N.I.C" to contribute a fiery, percussive piano solo that winds around Vick's flute throughout the track.

While mostly heard on tenor sax on this album, Vick switches to soprano for a beautiful reading of "Wild is the Wind" , supported just by Feldman's vibes, and Bishop's piano, backed by sparse work from Herb Bushler's bass and Mickey Roker on drums.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this album, leave a comment and let me know what you think. Download links and more Harold Vick albums are below.

TRACKLIST / MUSICIANS
Corrected as much as possible from an original Discogs entry - unsure who's on bass for some tracks.

01		Commitment (5:10)
		Drums - Mickey RokerBass - Ben TuckerGuitar - Malcolm Riddick Piano - Walter Bishop Vibraphone - Victor Feldman Tenor Saxaphone - Harold Vick Written By - Harold Vick
02		H.N.I.C. (5:00)
		Drums - Mickey RokerBass - Ben Tucker Piano - Victor Feldman Flute - Harold Vick Written By - Harold Vick
03		A Time And A Place (6:10)
		Bass - Ben Tucker Drums - Mickey Roker Guitar - Malcolm Riddick Piano - Walter Bishop Vibraphone - Victor FeldmanTenor Saxaphone - Harold Vick Written By - Jimmy Heath
04		Out Of It (5:30)
		Bass - Herb Bushler Drums - Mickey Roker Guitar - Malcolm Riddick Piano - Walter Bishop Vibraphone - Victor FeldmanTenor Saxaphone - Harold Vick Written By - Harold Vick
05		Wild Is The Wind (4:18)
		Bass - Herb Bushler Drums - Mickey RokerPiano - Walter Bishop Vibraphone - Victor Feldman Soprano Saxaphone - Harold Vick Written By - Dimitri Tiomkin , Ned Washington
06		Blue Gardenia (4:24)
		Drums - Mickey Roker Bass - Herb Bushler Piano - Victor FeldmanTenor Saxaphone - Harold Vick Written By - Bob Russell , Lester Lee
07		From Within (4:48)
		Bass - Herb Bushler Drums - Mickey Roker Guitar - Malcolm Riddick Piano - Walter Bishop Vibraphone - Victor FeldmanTenor Saxaphone - Harold Vick Written By - Harold Vick

PRODUCTION CREDITS Recorded May 1-2, 1967 at Bell Sound Studios, New York.Muse Records MR-5054
Released in 1974
Producer, Liner Notes - Fred Norsworthy
Artwork By - Ron Warwell
Photography - Jim Dunn

SESSION INFORMATION
(Presuming that four Vick compositions here were later re-named)

New York, May 1st 1967Harold Vick (fl,ts) Vic Feldman (p,vib) Walter Bishop Jr. (p) Malcolm Riddick (g) Ben Tucker (b) Mickey Roker (d)

UPA1-4086 Sunny (unissued) RCA
UPA1-4087 Reflections
UPA1-4088 Home is where love is
UPA1-4089 A time and a place
UPA1-4090 Like Alice
UPA1-4091 Where butterflies play
UPA1-4092 Pitco blues

New York, May 2nd, 1967

Bob Bushner (b) replaces Tucker, rest same

UPA1-4093 Blue gardenia (unissued) RCA
UPA1-4094 Wild is the wind
UPA1-4095 Leave it the way it is
UPA1-4096 Where butterflies play

HAROLD VICK DISCOGRAPHY
1963 "Steppin' Out" at Ile Oxumaré
1964 rejected Blue Note sessions May 27th
1966 "Straight Up" at Call It Anything
1966 "The Caribbean Suite" at Orgy in Rhythm
1967/74 "Commitment" (released 1974) in comments here.
1967 "Watch What Happens" also at Never Enough Rhodes
1973 "Power of Feeling" (Vicks as "Sir Edward") also at Never Enough Rhodes1974 "Don't Look Back" also at Never Enough Rhodes
1977 "After The Dance" at My Jazz World

HAROLD VICK SIDEMAN DISCOGRAPHY with links
is HERE.

POST CREDITS
Vinyl rip by Simon666This vinyl is a little worn. I used a new needle, but there's some mild distortion here and there, not too bad.
Album links in this post go to : Ile Oxumare, Orgy In Rhythm, Call It Anything.
Please thank and support these bloggers if you click through ..

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Bennie Maupin - "Walter Bishop Jr." (2006)

'Walter Bishop Jr.'
DOWNLOAD WAV - MP3

As a follow-up to yesterday's "Cubicle" post, here's a beautiful track called "Walter Bishop Jr", by Bennie Maupin, from his 2006 album "Penumbra". I've put the whole track in the preview this time, so just have a listen and download it if you like it.

Saxaphone - Bennie Maupin
Percussion - Munyungo Jackson, Michael Stephans
Bass - Darek Oles

Walter Bishop Jr.- "Cubicle" (1978, Muse)

Several great tracks on this 1978 Muse album by keyboardist Walter Bishop Jr. , who's mostly on rhodes here and still has some of his Black Jazz flavors intact. "Cubicle" comes the year after his Muse album 'Soul Village' and features similar instrumentation and some similar textures. It's also a nice clean piece of vinyl.

There's still some rawness here - the album doesn't have 1978 slick arrangement/production values stamped all over it, even though the vast majority of these musicians seemed to be getting most of their work on CTI albums at the time. While then-ubiquitous pop/jazz session trumpeter Randy Brecker is here, his precision is nicely balanced with the more lyrical, loose work of trombonist Curtis Fuller, and saxophonists Rene McClean and Pepper Adams.

Over the course of his solo career, Bishop tended to re-record different versions of songs by himself and others from one album to the next. "Cubicle" is no exception, with half of the tracks having appeared on previous albums in occasionally radically different forms.

The opener "Valley Land" has rarely left my turntable since I acquired the record. Previously recorded as a piano trio instrumental on Bishop's 1974 "Valley Land" album, here it's beefed up into an energetic vocal track featuring a young Carmen Lundy in one of her first recordings.

It sounds like a Strata-East track from earlier in the decade, perhaps from Billy Parker's Fourth World, or even like a Doug Carn vocal track, with Ray Mantilla's latin percussion working upfront. Check it out on the preview. (Also, check out a few different versions of Carmen Lundy singing the classic track "Time Is Love" over at Private Press).


'Summertime' excerpt 

The album features Bishop's fourth recording of the standard "Summertime". He'd given blues-infused jazz readings of the track on 1963's "Walter Bishop Trio" and the 1964 recording on "Bish-Bash", then funked it up on his 1973 Black Jazz album "Keeper of my Soul", switching from piano to a harsh hammond organ that probably demanded a heavier backline than he had there.

The "Cubicle" version of "Summertime" is his funkiest yet - Bishop switches to rhodes, and this time is ably supported by the ubiquitous Billy Hart on drums, great percussion from Ray Mantilla - who put out an excellent solo album the year before - and a nice dirty baritone solo from Pepper Adams.
"Those Who Chant" receives a similar treatment to the version on 1973's 'Keeper Of My Soul', although the unison doubling of Joe Caro's guitar with Bishop's rhodes gives the melody a slight fusion edge (but thankfully not too much!). There's some nice rhodes solo work in the track as well - Bishop had just played acoustic in the earlier version. Caro's guitar work is generally in a restrained soul-jazz style, perhaps more suited to Bishop's work than Steve Khan's was on "Soul Village".

"Now, Now That You've Left Me" is a bossa-tinged piece that recalls some of the tracks on "Soul Village", or perhaps some of Kenny Barron's work from the same period. It's written by the album's producer Mitch Farber, who later released an album called "Starclimber" (1982) on Muse.
Bishop gives the rhodes treament to "My Little Suede Shoes" a favourite standard from his Charlie Parker days, and finally returns to his bop roots with an acoustic rendition of the title track "Cubicle", pre-cursing his return to a concentration on acoustic piano work that would follow this album.

DOWNLOAD WAV - MP3

TRACKLIST

01. 'Valley Land' - 6:34 - (W. Bishop Jr.)
02. 'My Little Suede Shoes' - 4:50 - (C.Parker)
03. 'Those Who Chant' - 7:08 - (W. Bishop Jr.)
04. 'Summertime' - 8:06 - (G. Gershwin - D. Heyward)
05. 'Now, Now That You've Left Me' - 6:35 - (M. Farber)
06. 'Cubicle' - 4:12 - (W. Bishop Jr.)

MUSICIANS

Bass [Fender] - Bob Cranshaw , Mark Egan (tracks 1,4)
Drums - Billy Hart
Guitar - Joe Caro
Keyboards - Walter Bishop, Jr.
Percussion - Ray Mantilla
Saxophone (Alto, Soprano, Tenor) - Rene McLean
Saxophone (Baritone) - Pepper Adams
Trombone - Curtis Fuller
Trumpet, Flugelhorn - Randy Brecker
Vocals - Carmen Lundy (track 1)
 
PRODUCTION DETAILS 

 Producer, Arranged By - Mitch Farber
Engineer - Elvin Campbell
Art Direction, Photography - Hal Wilson
 
WALTER BISHOP Jr. DISCOGRAPHY

1961 'Speak Low' at jazzdisposition or Pharoah's Dance
1961 'Milestones' ('Speak Low' with three alternate takes added)
1963 'The Walter Bishop Trio' (FLAC) at Sic Vos Non Vobis
1964-68 'Bish Bash' (MP3) at Pharoah's Dance
1964-68 'Bish Bash' (FLAC) at Call It Anything
1971 'Coral Keys' (FLAC) at Call It Anything
1973 'Keeper Of My Soul'
1974 'Valley Land' at Ile Oxumare1975 'Soliloquy' at My Jazz World
1976 'Old Folks' at Casqueria Fina Y Menudillos de Ocasion

1977 'Hot House' at Arkadin's Ark

1977 'Soul Village' 1978 'Cubicle' in comments here
1978 'The Trio' (with Billy Hart, George Mraz)
1988 'Just in Time'
1989 'Ode to Bird'
1990 'What's New'
1991 'Midnight Blue'
1998 'Speak Low Again'

POST CREDITS

Vinyl rip by Simon666

Apart from the discography, other album links in this post go to : My Jazz World, Ile Oxumare, Orgy In Rhythm, Sic Vos Non Vobis, Pharoah's Dance, Call It Anything, Private Press and Jazz Disposition.

Please thank and support these bloggers if you download their albums.

Oh. and this is Walter reading his poem about Max Roach :
"Max The Invisible Roach" :