John Lewis Small Groups

Jowett, Garth S.

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Jan 31, 1994, 9:27:00 PM1/31/94

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Frank Lepkowski asked to add a few more words to my comments about
John Lewis's two small group albums. While I do a radio show, I have
always found that writing about music reminds me of the difficulties
that medieval herbalists had in trying to describe plants to their
apprentices. Try describing a plant.."it is green, with leaves, and a
yellow flower in the middle"..you get the drift. Only with the
advent of printing was it possible to draw pictures and have these
reproduced reasonably accurately to enhance the cause of medicine.
In the meantime, many people died because the apprentice chose the
wrong plant.

The music needs to be listened to, but at least I can say something
about these two albums that may help.

P.O.V. (Columbia PC33534) can often be found in cut out bins. It has
never been reissued. The personnel are: John Lewis,piano; Richard
Davis, bass; Mel Lewis, Drums and perussion; Harold Jones, flute;
Gerald Tarack, violin; Furtunato Arico, cello. The flutist, and the
two strings do not solo, but lend "texture" to the essentially piano
trio album, but what texture, and what mood! Lewis has never swung
more (and THAT is really saying something), and this is certainly the
remarkable Richard Davis's most significant outing that I have
heard. Mel Lewis is his usually wonderfully understated self,
especially on brushes (of which he was the modern master). The album
has some intriguingly complex shifts in tempo, a John Lewis trade
mark, and some extraordinary compositions such as Lyonhead and
Beach-head, both originally written for the documentary "Cities are
for People", and Lewis's waltz in honor of his wife, Mirjana of My
Heart. (Which he later recorded with the MJQ). I knew this would be
hard to describe...try it you'll like it!

"Kansas City Breaks" was recorded in NYC on May 25-26, 1982. The group
consists of Lewis, piano; Marc Johnson, bass, Howard Collins, guitar,
Shelley Manne, drums; Frank Wess, flute; and Joe Kennedy, Jr, violin.
It is on Finesse FW 39187. It was available briefly on CD, and I
missed my window of opportunity to get it. (Does anyone know if it is
still available?) This was, I believe, one of Shelley Manne's last
studio recordings. Much more traditionally swinging than P.O.V., it
offers the usual incredible Lewis compositions, where the complex
heads suddenly burst into the most satisfying groove, riding the
rhythm section much like a surfer on a long wave. There are several
MJQ standards here (Valeria, Django), and several newer compositions
such as Sacha's March and Kansas City Breaks. Again, a very satisfying
mixture of intellect (the compositions and arrangements) with the
heart (the unrelenting "swingingness" of the rhythm section). which
always leaves me wanting much more.

I should add that I have just about everything that John Lewis has
recorded, with the MJQ and on his own. One day he will receive the
universal recognition that his genius truly deserves. (The Japanses
already understand this!) If we play the game, as I often do with my
students in a different context, of "who will be remembered in the
pantheon one hundred years from today"....there is no doubt that John
Lewis's light will be waaaaay up there!

The beauty can only be found in the listening..this is jazz at its
finest!

Garth Jowett,
"The Sounds of Jazz"
KTRU-FM Houston.
gjo...@uh.edu

william.j.hery

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Feb 1, 1994, 9:28:23 PM2/1/94

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com...@elroy.uh.edu (Jowett, Garth S.) writes:
>...There are several MJQ standards here and several newer compositions
>such as Sacha's March...

Is that a new composition? When I heard the album (KC Breaks), I thought
it sounded like something from one of the old Lewis or MJQ Atlantic albums,
and even the title sounded familiar. I assumed it was named for Sacha Distel,
the French guitarist who is the co-leader on the Lewis' old AFTERNOON IN
PARIS album, but its not on that album. I'm pretty sure that it was recorded
on a more recent MJQ album also.

Bill Hery
AT&T Bell Labs
201-386-2362
w.h...@att.COM

Jowett, Garth S.

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Feb 2, 1994, 1:48:00 AM2/2/94

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Bill Henry asked about John Lewis's composition "Sacha's March". This
is what I know about the history of that intriguing tune. It is named
after John's son Sacha, who may be named after his friend Sacha
Distel, who co-lead that wonderful (hear that Rhino/Atlantic) album
"Afternoon in Paris" (1957). I first came across the tune on Lewis's
album "Sensitive Scenery"in December, 1976 (Japanese CBS 2SAP349 --
NEVER RELEASED IN THE US!!!). It then reappeared on the "Kansas City Breaks"
album, (May, 1982) and then was featured on the MJQ album "Echoes"
(March, 1984) on Pablo D2312-142.

Does anyone know of other places it may have appeared?

Garth Jowett
Houston.

Larry Lewicki

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Feb 2, 1994, 3:18:56 PM2/2/94

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Sacha's March also appeard on an album called "I Remember Bebop".
I got this back in the late 70s - it features several pianists
doing solo piano renditions of various bop composer's works -
for example John Lewis performed John Lewis, Al Haig performed
Dizzy's stuff, Barry Harris I think did Monk. I haven't listened
to this for a while but I can get some more information if anyone
else would like (i.e. record company, more songs etc.). I really
liked Al Haig's version of Salt Peanuts.
L^2