Polygon JTL 1
Jazz Today
10” LP
Recorded 21/2/55 & 16/3/55

Tracks

Side 1: A Ballad Medley
Soloists in order of appearance
Jimmy Skidmore: On The Alamo (Kahn & Isham Jones)
Cedric West: What’s New? (Haggart)
Keith Christie: Making Whoopee (Donaldson & Kahn)
Dill Jones: How Long Has This Been Going On? (Gershwin)
Harry Klein: Sweet & Lovely (Arnheim, Tobias & Lemare)
Kenny Baker: I’m Beginning To See The Light (Hodges, Ellington and George)
(recorded 16/3/55)

Side 2: Blues in Threes (Baker)
Soloists in order of appearance
Bruce Turner, Joe Harriott, Bertie King, Dill Jones, Keith Christie, Kenny Baker
(recorded 21/2/55)

Sleeve Notes

A well-known American jazz critic once asked Count Basie to define Swing. “Swing,” replied the famous band leader,” is four beats to the bar and no cheating!”

It is with a deferential bow in the direction of this greatest of swing vendors that we borrow this adroit definition as the watchword for the Jazz Today Unit.

Four beats to the bar and the accent on the soloist were the guiding principles in this first compilation, “Operation Jam Session ” – Side One of which presents six Jazz Today soloists in extempore variations on tunes of their own choice. The framework within which these variations are set – the introduction, built up last chorus, modulations and background figures – are the pen work of leader Kenny Baker, whose trumpet brings the side to a brazen finish.

Side Two is a rocking blues featuring the contrasting alto styles of Bruce Turner, Joe Harriott and Bertie King, with three choruses apiece from Dill Jones at the piano, Keith Christie trombone, and leader Kenny Baker on trumpet, who then swings the whole ensemble into a riffing ride-out. Hence the title “Blues In Threes.”

It would be easy to describe the Jazz Today Unit as an “All-Star” combination, for at least seven of its members as featured in “Operation Jam Session” are high-ranking pollsters in the famed Melody Maker popularity referendum. Indeed, Kenny Baker holds what must be a world record in the popularity stakes, having topped the poll by an over whelming majority for eight years running! Yet the idea was not to assemble a studioful of big names as such, but of musicians united in common purpose; men of high standing in the modern jazz field who have not allowed wayward experiments to lead them too far away from that basic principle which Count Basie proclaims as the cornerstone of the swingster’s philosophy : “Four beats to the bar and no cheating!”

Personnel

Kenny Baker (trumpet); Jimmy Skidmore (tenor); Harry Klein (bari.); Keith Christie (trom.); Dill Jones (piano); Cedric West (guitar); Frank Clarke (bass); Eric Delaney (drums). Bruce Turner, Joe Harriott and Bertie King (altos) on Side Two only.

Cover design
Photography: Walter Hanlon
Typography: Ian Bradbery

Recording
Balance: Bernard Marsden
Supervision: Denis Preston

Media/mentions