BLP 4197

The Three Sounds - Out Of This World

Released - April 1966

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, February 4, 1962
Gene Harris, piano, organ; Andrew Simpkins, bass; Bill Dowdy, drums.

tk.7 Out Of This World
tk.9 Girl Of My Dreams
tk.11 Just In Time

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, March 7, 1962
Gene Harris, piano; Andrew Simpkins, bass; Bill Dowdy, drums.

tk.1 You Make Me Feel So Young
tk.3 I'll Be Around

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, March 8, 1962
Gene Harris, piano; Andrew Simpkins, bass; Bill Dowdy, drums.

tk.12 My Silent Love
tk.17 Sanctified Sue
tk.20 Out Of The Past

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Girl of My Dreams	Sunny Clapp	March 7 1962
Out of the Past	Benny Golson	March 8 1962
Just in Time	Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Jule Styne	February 4 1962
I'll Be Around	Alec Wilder	March 7 1962
Side Two
My Silent Love	Edward Heyman, Dana Suesse	March 8 1962
Sanctified Sue	Gene Harris	March 8 1962
Out of This World	Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer	February 4 1962
You Make Me Feel So Young	Mack Gordon, Josef Myrow	March 7 1962

Liner Notes

SIX or seven years must have passed since Alfred Lion called up to tell me about a new group in town that he wanted me to hear.

"They're called the Three Sounds," he said. "Piano, bass and drums, and I really believe they are going to be something."

I must admit that I was skeptical. Any group could call itself the Three Sounds; after all, the name didn't attach any particular value or quality to the sounds. And any group can be composed of piano, bags and drums; in fact, it seemed to me that this instrumentation, having been used so frequently through the years, offered the least possibility of developing into anything of lasting musical value or commercial success.

The group, formed in 1956 in South Bend, Ind„ had been working around Washington, D.C. The men had just arrived in New York and were playing at the Prelude, a since-forgotten spot that was then on a jazz kick, at 126th Street and Broadway.

After hearing a couple of sets I cast aside my misgivings. There was a certain quality in Gene Harris' approach to the piano, an undefinable yet personal character to the percussion Of Bill Dowdy, and a sturdy, dependable feeling about Andy Simpkins' bass lines. But above and beyond these, there was an esprit de corps, which when you come right down to it is only a fancy way of saying that they dug each other. The ensemble feeling, and the strong spirit of honest, happy, earthy jazz, often with a funky or gospelish soul touch, lifted the Three Sounds out of the Just-another-piano-bass-and-drums category.

Sure enough, Alfred Lion's prophetic powers Were justified again, just as they had been in the career stories of Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Jimmy Smith and so many others. Within a couple of years the Sounds were building a strong following in the night chub circuit all over the country. Watching them at work—most recently at the It Club in Angeles, where they have become firm favorites and return as often as possible — I have always been impressed by the increasingly natural manner in which they seem to tune in on One another. Familiarity instead of breeding contempt, has nurtured togetherness. With only one exception (Ramsey Lewis) the Sounds have been together longer with unchanged personnel than any other trio in jazz. This is at least a substantial part Of the secret of their success.

Out Of This World is the name of a twenty-year-old Harold Arlen melody heard in this album. "Out of this world" is a pretty good summation of the qualities represented by the young lady on this album (see cover). Put them both together, along with a few other elements described below, and you have an out-of-this-world album.

Girl Of My Dreams is the opening track. It's also the oldest song in the set. dating back to 1920 — 12 years before Simpkins was born and 13 before Dowdy and Harris.

Like so many sons that go through the six blues-bound hands of the Sounds, Girl Of My Dreams gets pretty funky right from the start. By the second chorus it is downright nasty, and by the third it has reached what used to be called the nitty-gritty before the square grabbed hold of that phrase. Bill's tambourine effects and Andy's robust sound underline this typically well-constructed workout by Gene.

Out Of The Past is a lyrical composition by Benny Golson, whose work has always appealed to the Sounds; they have recorded two or three of his songs. notably Blues After Dark in the Feelin' Good album (4072) . Notice the agreeable. relaxed way Andy fills in the gaps during Gene's delineation of the ballad. The tempo soon doubles up, but even at twice the pace it still lopes along quite moderately. The original slow pace and subdued mood returns later to complete a well-rounded performance.

Just In Time, though of comparatively recent origin — it originated in the Jule Styne score of the Broadway musical Bells Are Ringing — is a natural for swinging. The melody hardly moves at all for the first six measures; this enable. the soloist to emphasize the rhythmic aspects of his approach to a routine on it, which suits Gene Harris admirably. Bill Dowdy contributes a couple of solos later on which are neither exhibitionistic nor overlong, just tasteful and excellently executed.

The most engaging put of this track is the sequence that begins with Andy walking and the piano playing simple riffs along with him. Andy takes over for a full solo chorus, but then there's a carefully and suspensefully delayed ending — another deft illustration of the Sounds' unusual capacity for building something with form and substance out of what was originally a very basic 32-bar song.

I'll Be Around is an Alec Wilder composition that goes back to the early 1940s. Again the very personal touch of Gene Harris — which here as almost always means the very blues-conscious touch — gives the interpretation a very special quality.

My Silent Love, another standard pop song, has a very striking note of contrast when Bill and Andy keep hitting staccato beats right on the nose while Gene fills in the empty space — one, two, three, four — between those beats with his own elaborate flourishes.

Sanctified Sue. as you might suspect, brings a touch of gospel to the session in a Gene Harris original. The Sounds really take care of business when this type of material is on hand. What struck me on listening to this track was the vast difference between a sanctified-type song played by one of the pseudo-funk outfits, Who have a way of making the whole thing seem very self-consciously folksy, and the same kind of tune as played by a group that means every note and every chord. It's a difference that's hard to explain in words, but the Sounds make the answer very obvious in music.

Out Of This World, as noted previously, is a Harold Arlen song of 1945. Here the Sounds take their time to get their own thing going. There is a long introduction based on a fascinating figure with a blues feel before Gene launches into the melody. And when I say melody I mean melody; despite the very personal Three Sounds touches and the freedom that prevails, there is a great respect throughout for the original line — another virtue common to many of the reworkings by the trio of well known material.

The set closes with a Joe Myrow song of a decade or so ago, You Make Me Feel So Young, best known through its Sinatra association. What struck me about this one was the neat interplay between the three men in the opening and closing passages of this attractive arrangement.

It has been said recently by some dissatisfied citizens that music, and particularly jazz, needs to escape from the "tyranny" of harmony as we know it, from the "limitations" Of our present tonal system. and from the "strait-jacket" of the regular pulse. If and when that day comes, Messrs. Harris, Dowdy and Simpkins may be forced to shut up shop. All I can add is: take your time coming, day!

— LEONARD FEATHER

Cover Photo and Design by REID MILES
Model: LEE HENDERSON (American Model Agency)
Recording by RUDY VAN GELDER