Bluesnik
i've been playing the Krupa / Mulligan record this week and the record is even better than I recollected. Mulligan actually directed the band although the baritone solos were all by Danny Bank. The record was made a few years before the Concert Jazz band debuted and is a much larger ensemble. Phil Woods is exceptional on the recordings and the other soloists are pretty useful too. However, it is the drummer who is a revelation. The liner notes make reference to Krupa's enthusaism for Be-bop and the subsequent changes in jazz having always admired the newer generation of players and he comments that he liked to hear what a younger generation of players were coming up with and seeing how he could adapt his style to suit. Granted that the drum breaks remain charactistic of him, I was put in mind of the recent JL on Jo Jones which commented how that generation of drummers would use one particular element of the kit in the differing circumstances. This is the case here but there are odd moments where Krupa will use the snare in a fashion that ignores the first beat which really reminded me of Elvin Jones. This happens of a few occasions. Elsewhere, Krupa sticks pretty much to the symbols and doesn't get in the way.
Of course, the arrangements are the most interesting element. The track you recalled is, in my opinion, one of the least interesting (although it is very good although lacks the kind of counterpoint that Evans would have employed at this slow tempo) but the other tracks are more akin to what you expect with Mulligan. there is not a duff track on the disc , plenty of #11th's thrown around with abandon and some of the witty endings you would expect from some of the charts the Gillespie band played. There is a great deal of fun in the music, Charlie parker quotes incorporated here and there and a feel somewhat like a larger version of the BofC band. I love the way the baritone underpins the trombone section a few intervas lower on "The way of all flesh" and the boppish material which dominates someway manages to sound fresh and original as opposed to cliched. Older tunes like "Margie" are totally reinvented too. It is a really great album and the CD also adds some of the original versions of the arrangements for good measure which echo your commens about the musicianship but are not quite executed with the understanding of the 1958 recordings.
i've been playing the Krupa / Mulligan record this week and the record is even better than I recollected. Mulligan actually directed the band although the baritone solos were all by Danny Bank. The record was made a few years before the Concert Jazz band debuted and is a much larger ensemble. Phil Woods is exceptional on the recordings and the other soloists are pretty useful too. However, it is the drummer who is a revelation. The liner notes make reference to Krupa's enthusaism for Be-bop and the subsequent changes in jazz having always admired the newer generation of players and he comments that he liked to hear what a younger generation of players were coming up with and seeing how he could adapt his style to suit. Granted that the drum breaks remain charactistic of him, I was put in mind of the recent JL on Jo Jones which commented how that generation of drummers would use one particular element of the kit in the differing circumstances. This is the case here but there are odd moments where Krupa will use the snare in a fashion that ignores the first beat which really reminded me of Elvin Jones. This happens of a few occasions. Elsewhere, Krupa sticks pretty much to the symbols and doesn't get in the way.
Of course, the arrangements are the most interesting element. The track you recalled is, in my opinion, one of the least interesting (although it is very good although lacks the kind of counterpoint that Evans would have employed at this slow tempo) but the other tracks are more akin to what you expect with Mulligan. there is not a duff track on the disc , plenty of #11th's thrown around with abandon and some of the witty endings you would expect from some of the charts the Gillespie band played. There is a great deal of fun in the music, Charlie parker quotes incorporated here and there and a feel somewhat like a larger version of the BofC band. I love the way the baritone underpins the trombone section a few intervas lower on "The way of all flesh" and the boppish material which dominates someway manages to sound fresh and original as opposed to cliched. Older tunes like "Margie" are totally reinvented too. It is a really great album and the CD also adds some of the original versions of the arrangements for good measure which echo your commens about the musicianship but are not quite executed with the understanding of the 1958 recordings.
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