BLP 5054

Gil Melle - Volume 3

Released - August 1954

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, September 5, 1954
Gil Melle, baritone sax; Lou Mecca, guitar; Billy Phillips, bass; Vinnie Thomas, drums.

tk.4 Lullaby Of Birdland
tk.8 Ballade For Guitar
tk.10 Metropolitan
tk.18 Newport News
tk.19 Quadrille For Moderns
tk.20 Summertime

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Quadrille For Moderns	Gil Melle	September 5 1954
Ballade For Guitar	Gil Melle	September 5 1954
Lullaby Of Birdland	Shearing	September 5 1954
Side Two
Newport News	Gil Melle	September 5 1954
Metropolitan	Gil Melle	September 5 1954
Summertime	Gershwin	September 5 1954

Liner Notes

THE PROBLEM of breaking through the barrier between obscurity and recognition on the jazz scene is one that has, inevitably, confronted every musician of talent at one point in his career. For Gil Mellé, still in his early twenties, some of the bastions fell not too long after his first Blue Note releases on 5020, with the Quintet and Sextet and 5033, with a new quintet.

Since then, Gil has grown perceptibly in stature (though not physically — after reaching 6 ft. 4 in. he decided enough was enough). His musical ideas have matured, his direction has been more firmly established.

The format on which he settled for his newest adventure is a more compact, more permanent one than its predecessors. It is not merely a group assembled for a record session, but an organized unit of men with whom Gil has been rehearsing and preparing special material for several months.

In his own words, "It took two years of collecting names and phone numbers of talented musicians who are deeply interested in modern jazz. The musicians on this date are the result of this search." From playing tenor on his first LP and both baritone and tenor on his second, Gil evolved to full-time devotion to the baritone saxophone. "I feel more akin to the instrument, and it compliments this unit far better than a tenor," he says.

Concerning the unorthodox instrumentation he adds, "Years ago, I decided upon the guitar as a substitute for the piano, because it lends a light, undominating quality to a group. Besides being capable of playing piano-like changes it can also execute ensemble phrases that ordinarily would be given to a horn but certainly never a piano.

In other words the guitar plays a dual role, fully establishing a harmonic foundation, and playing solo and ensemble parts in the capacity of a horn. For these reasons, I (have used the guitar extensively for the past two years for recordings and public performances."

Assembled several months ago, the quartet had been experimenting continuously with ideas for the best use of its instrumentation before Gil wrote and recorded the selections heard here.

Lou Mecca, whose role is second in importance only to Gil's, is a Passaic resident. He has been through various .phases as an admirer of Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt and especially of Tal FarJow. Although essentially a jazzman, Lou has extensive classical background and particularly enjoys playing the works of Bach. In the course of earning a livelihood, he has worked with the Three Suns and Archie Bleyer. He is a long time friend of Johnny Smith.

Bassist Billy Phillips, too, has worked with commercial bands around New Jersey and New York; Vinnie Thomas, the drummer, got out of the service some six months ago and has thus spent most of his recent civilian life with Gil's group. His work in this set is a model of discretion and quiet swing.

The first thing that struck me, on listening to Quadrille For Moderns, the opening tune of the set, was the intriguing result of having the guitar play the role of a sort of musical aide-de-camp for the baritone sax. Though naturally pitched higher than the horn, it has the effect of a lower line in the ingenious underscoring and counterbalancing of Gil's phrases. A sense of careful preparation is also immediately evident, as is the authority and consistency of Gil's sound on baritone.

Ballade for Guitar was written by Gil specially for Lou Mecca. The latter takes the first 16 bars accompanied only by bass, expounding the theme gently in spread chords. You will hear in Lou's work a reminder of the halcyon Spanish guitar days when the sound was that of a full-bodied, six-stringed instrument with a metallic, biting edge. Although he uses an amplified instrument, the sound is closer to that of the traditional guitar and the style a distinct departure from the conventional single lines of most contemporary plectrists.

Lullaby of Birdland, the George Shearing opus that has grown in two years to the proportions of a full-fledged jazz standard, gets a few new twists, including some Latin-rhythm touches. Note the support given by Gil, in half notes, to Lou during his solo, and the reciprocal aid offered by the latter to Gil in his own passage.

Newport News is not related to Ella Fitzgerald's home town in Virginia, but to Newport, R. I.; where Gil presented this same quartet at the first national jazz festival in the summer of 1954. The piece was composed especially for this event by him and performed for the first time there. The use of ten-bar phrases and other constructional deviations lend this number a special piquancy. Phillips' solo and the drum breaks share the credits with the horn and guitar here.

Metropolitan, one of Gil's most charming melodies, starts with a downward phrase built on two Charleston beats. Lou's chorus this time flows gracefully, mostly in single-note lines in eighths. Another fine baritone chorus, a return to the theme and a last bridge in chords by Lou are the ensuing features.

The album concludes with a sensitive sample of what can be done to refresh a much-overworked standard without losing any of its inherent qualities. The long solo by Gil that occupies the first segment of Summertime is respectful of the melody and mood of the Gershwin piece, while Lou's figurations in the background offers engaging harmonic variations. The guitar solo that follows is perhaps Lou's most outstanding contribution to the album.

For the jazz listener seeking new instrumental combinations and ideas, this set represents another provocative offering by Gil Mellé, in a new and intriguing mold. For the 22-year-old saxophonist himself, it is a special accomplishment, for, in Gil's own words, "I think with this group I've found the format that's right for me."

We believe you'll agree.

Cover Photo by BILL HUGHES

—LEONARD FEATHER ( Down Beat Magazine)

Technical Data: The Wide Range recording characteristic includes frequencies from 20 to 18.000 cycles. Multiple microphone technique was employed, utilizing Telefunken microphones and Ampex Series 300 tape recorders. Mastering equipment included Fairchild variable pitch lathe, Grampian cutter and Thermo-Styius.

Recording Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder.

Complete Fifties Sessions CD Notes

A PAPER TIME CAPSULE WHEN MICHAEL COSCUNA advised me that a compendium of these early recordings was due for reissue, I must confess that a crescendo of uneasiness filled my soul as I sat down and prepared to listen, after so many years, to each track. I am a musician who has never been content with any of yesterday's efforts, and these half-century old preludes to a lifetime spent in the creation of cutting edge music could only serve to illustrate how much I needed to know and was able to accomplish in those early years.

I sit and listen. The recollections begin.

I wrote my first ever composition, "The Gears," during the time that I worked as a messenger on the Lehigh Valley Railroad (hence the title) at the age of 14 while also struggling with a tenor sax, the boxcars at Washington Street serving as my sole practice "studios." It was virtually unheard of in those days to use the voice as an instrument (excepting "scat") as I did in this piece. Notable. "Mars," "Four Moons" and "Venus" were composed soon afterwards and interspersed with many drawings and paintings, one of which won first prize in a Red Cross competition. Working in my favor was an insatiable passion for jazz spawned by a reasonably complete collection of Ellington which I had amassed from used record shops with my school lunch money. I was eight when I started collecting them. Duke's inventiveness on the Brunswick label. .. "Tishomingo Blues," "Black and Tan Fantasy" and especially "East St. Louis Toodle-oo" became heady stuff for me. I also saw the band at the Paramount and Adams theatres and can still name all of the players. At 13, Monk's music became the main occupant of my skull. The notion that I could ever be a jazzman, however, was, in Oscar Wilde's, words "a dream that far exceeds reality," a calling as privileged as priesthood and so I entertained no delusions of grandeur except, perhaps, to think of how Thelonious might approach playing the saxophone as a basis for my style.

I soon discovered that the things I needed to know could not be learned through instruction...only experience! To this day, I have never had a single lesson but my associations, through the years, with the world's most gifted musicians and artists who have illuminated my thoughts and given substance to my efforts. The list would be endless. For me, intense personal observation surpassed academia. I played gigs with Freddie Roach and the supremely gifted Joe Manning (vibes/piano and a close friend and protégé of Bud Powell and Milt Jackson.) Freddie, years later, became a Blue Note recording artist and Joe, heard here, died at 22. A great loss. At 16, during the Korean emergency, I lied about my age and enlisted in the Marine Corps. Discharged at 18, I spent many nights playing jazz in countless gin joints. Two years later, I met Alfred Lion and was given the opportunity of my life. He signed me to a one year contract (the first of five) to record for the greatest jazz label that ever was...Blue Note. Just look at the names on my records... Max Roach who was a legend to me even as a small boy. Oscar Pettiford who played on so many of cherished Ellington records. 1 sure was scared, which is saying a lot after having been in the corps. The faces of Red Mitchell, George Wallington and Eddie, Bert (a lifetime close friend) flash through mind as I continue listening to these old sides. Like Alfred, the man who most influenced my life, I too gave opportunities to young musicians that I knew and held in high regard. The debuts of Urbie Green, Joe Morello, Tal Farlow, Ed Thigpen, Lou Mecca, Bill Phillips, Joe Cinderella and others took place within these records. The tuba (Don Butterfield) and French horn (Julius Watkins) saw the first light of day as solo improvisatory instruments with me but, historically, the most important innovation in these works is that it is the first time ever (1951) that a guitar was used to replace the piano in small group instrumentation (the very basis of rock music). I thought that it was a sound idea since both instruments were fully capable of comping but the guitar's potential as a front line instrument (as with horns) was unlimited. Tal and others understood and much of the results are here. He has recently died (1998) and I feel as though I have lost a brother as I hear his flawless, timeless guitar and picture, in my mind, those enormous hands working their magic. The compositions on my first album were meant to be performed as "The Interplanetary Suite" and half of my fourth album features another suite, "Five Impressions Of Color." These compositional forms for a group were totally unique at the time.

My heated discussions with Max concerning the "unheard-of-at-the-time" false ending on the binary composition "Mars," blood dripping from my fingers (an accident) and down my horn while playing chorus after chorus and on the Patterns in Jazz date and arguments with Oscar concerning the use of a flatted ninth in the bass against a major chord at the very end of "Long Ago And Far Away" stand out in my recollection of myriads of anecdotes and incidents connected with these records. The picture of Pettiford and I that graces that album was taken at the height of our. ..shall I say... disagreement.

From the aforementioned, you might say that 11m a sort of "Jazz Chemist," an incurable experimentalist. I've spent my life living in and for the future. What did it all lead to? Virtually every innovation in electronic music was made by me...an awesome statement yet true. I challenge anyone to disprove it. Beginning in late 1958, I have systematically altered the course of music at its very foundations with a soldering iron and my passions. The following "firsts" are mine...live performance of electronic music ('68 Monterey Jazz electronic film score (Michael Crichton's The Festival and earlier) Andromeda Strain), electronic television score (Rod Serling's Night Gallery and earlier) plus the earliest electronic jazz recordings (TOME VI on Verve). I led the first "synth" group (the Electronauts) for years and created many instruments including the worlds first electronic wind instrument and the drum machine (see photos and back cover). All of this because Alfred, the futurist, believed in me from the very beginning. It began with these sides and today, to the chagrin or joy of millions, synthesis is a part of nearly all music.

I stop the turntable and think a bit more about "The Gears."

I had the privelege of being Alfred's closest friend during that decade and his retirement to a distant land for many years did not diminish our comraderie. One memorable night he called me and asked, as a personal favor to him, to record a modern version of "The Gears. I was truly amazed and flattered, but declined. After my experiences in music it would seem to be a mega step backwards. He was, however, very enthusiastic about my Mindscape album (Blue Note 92168) prior to its release so his concept of an updated version of my first composition was not idle speculation. "Let me think about it" I said. Two days later CNN announced his passing and the new "Gears" was no longer conjecture. The great man's last request was fulfilled and he was, as always, right..." The Gears" is important.

I created many record jackets for Blue Note and clearly I remember the cover on this album set. It was based on a fine photograph taken by Bill Huges during a Christmas concert with my group at Town Hall in New York City (1954). This same unit performed at the worlds first jazz festival at Newport and was billed as the most promising new group of the year. Shortly thereafter, our little band was honored to be one of the very first to be featured at Carnegie Hall in a concert for the people of Israel.

The album Gil Mellé Quintet/Sextet 5020 marked the beginning of Dr. Rudy Van Gelder's career as a recording engineer with Blue Note. I brought Alfred and Rudy together, the beginning of a most celebrated association.

A little faith goes a long way!
—GIL MELLE
1998