BLP 1594

Louis Smith - Smithville

Released - June 1958

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, March 30, 1958
Louis Smith, trumpet; Charlie Rouse, tenor sax; Sonny Clark, piano; Paul Chambers, bass; Art Taylor, drums.

tk.8 There Will Never Be Another You
tk.13 Smithville
tk.16 Embraceable You
tk.17 Later
tk.18 Wetu

Session Photos

Photos: Francis Wolff

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Smithville	Louis Smith	30/03/1958
Wetu	Louis Smith	30/03/1958
Side Two
Embraceable You	George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin	30/03/1958
There Will Never Be Another You	Harry Warren, Mack Gordon	30/03/1958
Later	Louis Smith	30/03/1958

Credits

Cover Photo:	FRANCIS WOLFF
Cover Design:
Engineer:	RUDY VAN GELDER
Producer:	ALFRED LION
Liner Notes:	ROBERT LEVIN

Liner Notes

MODERN jazz trumpet, after Dizzy Gillespie, took form in two distinctive concepts. One of the concepts remained closely allied to that of Gillespie’s and had its foremost exponent in Fats Navarro, of whose approach Gillespie was as much the animator as the precursor. Navarro continued Gillespie’s “hot” — extroverted, “virtuoso” tradition and mode only minor alterations which his own individuality naturally brought about, while Miles Davis (who, like Navarro, was originally a direct disciple of Gillespie’s) broke away almost entirely and initiated a “cooler”, introspective and more lyrical style. Davis’ method, which was probably motivated by his awareness of his, at that time, comparatively limited range and technical facilities (he once said “I realized I could never play all those notes, so I decided to play just the ones that counted.”) necessarily relied on an economy of notes, a considerably subdued sonority and a sense of conciseness. Clifford Brown (who was, basically, a descendant of Gillespie and Navarro) was one of the first of the young trumpet players, who attempted to integrate certain of the more lyrical characteristics of Davis’ approach with a virtuoso attack, to have the capacity to assimilate qualities of both, but he lacked Davis’ prerequisites of discipline and compression and died before he was able to develop them to the point where he could produce o successful consolidation. His project has been inherited by a group of relative “newcomers” that includes Lee Morgan, Donald Byrd, Bill Hardman and, most recently, Louis Smith.

Smith has talents and perceptions, akin to Brown, that could enable him to accomplish something of a fusion of these styles. He is also, I think, indicating the ability to overcome the more immediate problems that prevented Brown from reaching this goal. I am thinking, specifically, of a marked over-concern with, and undisciplined talent for, sensational mechanics that is particularly and naturally prevalent with young virtuoso musicians. Smith, like Brown, possesses an extraordinary mobility — a wide range and a crackling exuberance. But such powers have hurt as many musicians as they have aided because too often technique is relied on to the point where it becomes, in a sense, a means and on end in itself, resulting in the neglect of substantial musical content that it should be projecting. Smith seems to me to have o good depth of musical intelligence and intellect to support and supplement his physical skills and appears to be aproaching, through a developing sense of control and order, a solid melding of these components.

Born on May 20, 1931 in Memphis, Tennessee, Smith, whose first Blue Note LP was BLP 1584, began his study of the trumpet when he was thirteen and played it in his high school and college bonds (Tennessee State, which he attended on a scholarship). He continued his education with post-graduate work (majoring in Music) at the University of Michigan and was drafted into the Army in 1954. Upon his discharge he went to Atlanta, Georgia which has since remained his home base and where, at this writing, he is currently teaching and leading his own groups. He will probably join Horace Silver in early June as Art Former’s permanent replacement.

Thirty-four year old Charlie Rouse was born in Washington, D. C. and had his first important musical experiences with Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie during the early and middle forties. Later, he worked with Duke Ellington for a year and free-lanced, mainly in New York City, from 1950 until ‘56, when he co-formed “Les Jazz Modes” with Julius Watkins. Owing to his years, Rouse has had occasion to hear and digest, first hand, pre-Parker as well as post-Parker thought and what he plays today, while it has been ambiguously termed “hard bop”, has very strong ties with the jazz mainstream. You will hear, frequently, elements of Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster, as well as Parker and Sonny Rollins, in Rouse’s lines which have become increasingly fluent within the post several years.

Sonny Clark, Paul Chambers and Art Taylor comprise the sturdy, inwardly and outwardly propulsive, but unobtrusive rhythm section. Pianist Clark, born in Herminie, Pa. in 1931, has been greatly influenced, stylistically, by Bud Powell and Horace Silver and more generally by Thelonious Monk. He is a strong accompanist and on able soloist who hos worked with such diversified musicians as Buddy DeFranco, the “Lighthouse All-Stars”, Wardell Gray, Zoot Sims, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Mingus, etc. Chambers was born sixteen miles northwest of Herminie (in Pittsburgh) and four years later than Clark. Al. ready held in extremely high regard by his colleagues, Chambers has continued to explore the melodic capacities of the bass without neglecting its primary function as a rhythm instrument. He has been with Miles Davis since the latter half of 1955. Art Taylor was born in New York City in 1929. He is a particularly tasteful drummer in the Roach-Blakey tradition who has played with Bud Powell, Coleman Hawkins, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, and the “Jazz tab”, among many others.

Smith makes the basic statement on the basic theme in Smithville — a blues that might make Horace Silver envious, and which begins the session. It is easily the best recorded example of his work thus far. Rouse, Clark and Chambers also contribute effective solos.

Rouse (who is particularly passionate here), Smith, Clark and Chambers (bowed) take turns blowing on a functional set of changes in the rousing Wetu.

Embraceable You casts Smith in a more lyrical role which he handles with a gruff sensitivity. Clark plays a brief interlude and Rouse enters to offer a subtle shading for Smith before the close.

There Will Never Be Another You and Later provide ample blowing space for the entire quintet, and they take advantage of it with a progressively heated succession of expressive solos.

— ROBERT LEVIN

Cover Photo by FRANCIS WOLFF
Recording by RUDY VAN GELDER

Charlie Rouse performs by courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.