Another Sides

Here are a couple more sides I’ve had recently on my turntable, starting with Donald Byrd, Fancy Free. We don’t typically review records here at Jazz Collector, primarily because it is not a personal interest of mine. I started my journalism career reviewing jazz records and concerts, but stopped fairly early on because, as a non-musician, I didn’t feel qualified or comfortable criticizing the work of real musicians. I’m not criticizing other reviewers, just explaining how a personal decision set me on a different, and ultimately more rewarding career path, IMHO. If any of you out there feel like doing reviews, I’d be open to posting them on Jazz Collector; I just don’t like writing them myself. Because of this posture, I rarely get any promotional records, even on re-issues of records from the Jazz Collector Era, and even though I have written some reviews focused on the quality of the reissue and the packaging. Mosaic was kind enough once to send me a promotional copy of The Rosemary Clooney CBS Radio Recordings 1955-61 at my request. I gave it a lukewarm review and Mosaic never replied to another email I sent them. C’est la vie. All of which is to say that the copy of Fancy Free I had on my turntable the other night is, indeed, a reissue and was, indeed, sent to me as a promo by the record company, in this case Vinyl Me, Please, Classics. I don’t closely follow today’s market and was unfamiliar with their work. They reached out to me, asked if I wanted a sample copy and I said “sure.”

Fancy Free is definitely one of those one-sided albums for me; Side One, with the title tune “Fancy Free” and a Byrd-penned ballad “I Love the Girl.” I have an interesting history with this record, which features Byrd along with Frank Foster, Lew Tabackin, Julian Priester, Duke Pearson, Roland Wilson, Jimmy Ponder, Nat Bettis and John Robinson. You can look it up for more details. Back in the early 1970s, when I was first getting into jazz, ’70, ’71, ’72, the local shopping mall at Roosevelt Field on Long Island used to have free jazz concerts, just in the middle of the mall, with a mobile stand for the musicians, a few chairs and, mostly people standing around listening or just passing by on their way to J.C. Penney or Macy’s. It was really odd, but I remember seeing the great Teddy Wilson with a trio and at least one or two other concerts.

One of those concerts was a quintet or sextet led by Frank Foster. I went with my friend Dan as well as a group of his friends, who were a bunch of well-versed, very capable jazz musicians at Queens College, including a couple of tenor players who knew Foster personally and also knew his work. Since he was a sideman on Fancy Free, in between sets they all approached him and, it seemed, all they could talk about was Fancy Free. They asked him to play the title tune on his next set, and he was happy to oblige. I liked the tune, and also liked the fact that these local musicians whom I admired, who were my age and a bit older, were so familiar with the music and thought so highly of it. Right after the concert, I hustled over to the local record store in the Roosevelt Field mall, which was probably Sam Goody’s, and purchased a new copy of Fancy Free.

I got it home, put on Side One and was extremely pleased. Loved the title tune, loved the ballad. I got to listening to it over and over again, and it became a vital part of my regular rotation. The ballad “I Love the Girl” was so pretty and soft, I would often play it at night right before going to sleep. To be completely honest, that side was also a nice accompaniment for sex, and was also part of that regular rotation at times when I had a girlfriend and sex was regular. As for Side Two, I think I tried it once and decided early on that it wasn’t for me. At the time a lot of the jazz musicians were trying to emulate the rock musicians for whatever reasons, money among them. I guess I was a purist at heart and didn’t have a strong appreciation for that music, and I kind of dismissed Side Two of Fancy Free as being a part of that genre. So Side Two never made the rotation and Fancy Free became a one-sided record for me. Which was fine. But eventually, it fell out of the rotation, just naturally. As I’ve said before, I have the “problem” that so many of you would like to have of owning too many good records.

Then Vinyl Me, Please sent me a copy of their reissue of Fancy Free and I was like, what the hell, let’s listen. The listen confirmed what I had previously felt about the album, but perhaps a bit more. I love the title track and the ballad. In particular, “I Love the Girl” is even better than I had remembered it, a joy to hear, beautiful electric piano by Duke Pearson, pretty melody, nice solos by all. Interesting to recall in reading the liner notes by Nat Hentoff that Byrd had Barbra Streisand in mind when he wrote the song. At the time there were no lyrics written for it, and perhaps that still hasn’t happened.

As for the reissue itself. The sound is great, probably better than on the original Liberty Blue Note, although, I must confess, I didn’t make a comparison. The packaging with Hentoff liner notes are intact and the release is supplemented by a small booklet of additional notes written by Natalie Weiner. Apparently she’s quite prolific and I apologize for not knowing her work, but I do spend more time in the past than the present when it comes to music. I was very impressed with the notes she added and found them educational and enlightening, particularly being as unaware as I am with Byrd’s status and influence in hip-hop and fusion. Congratulations to Natalie and I will look for more of her work. If you have don’t have an original copy of Fancy Free, this would certainly be a worthwhile addition to any jazz vinyl collection. The sound is great and the additional liner notes add modern insight and new perspective.

There, I just did a review. Tada.

I titled this post Another Sides, so I do owe you a discussion of another side, which is from the album Art Farmer, Art, Argo 678. This is a quartet album from 1960 featuring Farmer with Tommy Flanagan on piano, Tommy Williams on bass and Albert “Tootie” Heath on drums. This is another album that I just loved and, again for reasons unbeknownst to me, it fell out of the rotation. It shouldn’t have because it is great. I just looked over at Wikipedia to get the year it was recorded and Farmer himself said this album was his personal favorite. It is mine as well, both sides. For this particular listen the other night I put on Side One which consists of “So Beats My Heart for You,” “Goodbye Old Girl,” “Who Cares?” and “Out of the Past.”

Just beautiful. I don’t know of any other jazz version of “Goodbye, Old Girl,” a little known but lovely song from the Musical “Damn Yankees.” The quartet just nails it, particularly Farmer. The accompaniment suits his playing perfectly and every track is a gem, both sides. Also “Out of the Past” is my favorite song by Benny Golson and I can listen to any version. Thus one, in particular, stands out, pretty and understated. If you have this album and are in the mood for something somewhat mellow, but also inventive and creative, give it a shot. If you can find it on one of the streaming services, that would suffice as well. Off the top of my head, I would stack this record up with any of the great trumpet quartet records that I know, including Quiet Kenny, The Musings of Miles or Candy. But, then again, I would need a close listen to those sides for a more valid comparison. Perhaps next time. Or perhaps our Jazz Collector readers will chime in with their own thoughts and passions. By the way, it also has a fantastic cover, below.