BST 84316 (NR)

Frank Foster

Released - 2007

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, January 31, 1969
Burt Collins, trumpet, piccolo trumpet; Jimmy Cleveland, trombone; Ed Pazant, alto sax, flute, oboe; Frank Foster, tenor sax, contra-alto clarinet; George Cables, piano; Buster Williams, bass; Mickey Roker, drums.

3322 tk.1 Slug's Bag
3323 tk.7 Buster Brown
3324 tk.15 Fly By Night
3325 tk.23 Hip Shakin'
3326 tk.27 What's New From The Monster Mill
3327 tk.31 The House That Love Built

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Buster Brown	Stanley Turrentine	January 31 1969
Slug's Bag	Mickey Tucker	January 31 1969
What's New From The Monster Mill?	Frank Foster	January 31 1969
Side Two
Hip Shakin'	Frank Foster	January 31 1969
The House That Love Built	Frank Foster	January 31 1969
Fly By Night	Rahsaan Roland Kirk	January 31 1969

Liner Notes

Dexter Gordon told me that he first met Frank Foster when the young soldier still in uniform (c. 1952) asked Dexter if he could sit in. Dexter asked him what he wanted to play and Frank selected "Cherokee," a suicidal choice for any young tenor player standing next to Dexter Gordon. Dexter's amusement turned to respect and awe as the young man tore into the tune.

So much of Frank's professional identity is tied to the Basie band, in which he was a prominent soloist and composer/arranger from 1953—64 and which he led after Basie's death for 9 years, that the vast body of work he has created outside that sphere is often given short shrift.

His first U. S. record as a leader came in May 1954 when he cut a 10" LP for Blue Note and participated in dates by Elmo Hope and George Wallington soon thereafter. Manhattan Fever was his return to the label, though he was a frequent contributor to Duke Pearson and, later, Elvin Jones dates.

The album didn't sell well and a second album recorded nine months later sat on the shelf until now. All but one tune from that session is added to Manhattan Fever as bonus material. A version of Dave Burns's "Buster Brown," which was to have led off the album as the obligatory funky first tune, is omitted because of time limitations. But the best music from the 1969 date is here and it is exceptional.

The instrumentation is the same as the first album with the addition of a second reedman in the form of Ed Pazant. Not exactly a household word in jazz, Pazant was a ten-year veteran of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra and was a member of Pucho and the Latin Soul Brothers at the time of this recording. Burt Collins and Jimmy Cleveland were ubiquitous in New York studios at the time but it is rare to hear Collins stretch out as much as he does here.

The rhythm section is motored by the equally ubiquitous Buster Williams and Mickey Roker, but this was only the second recording session for a-year-old George Cables.

The material and the performances are superb. Pianist Mickey Tucker's "Slug's Bag," probably named for Slug's Saloon on the Lower East Side of New York, is an intriguing original, which would have lent itself well to a big band treatment. The soloists are Cleveland, Collins, Pazant on flute, Foster, and Cables. 'What's New from the Monster Mill" is marvelously scored and performed with constant horn backgrounds behind the two soloists (Cleveland and Foster) and a haunting intro and outro. "Hip Shakin"' (recorded twice by Grover Mitchell's big band in the '80s) has that kind of groove that makes you grateful that Mickey Roker is the drummer. Cables, Foster, Collins, Pazant on alto, and Buster Williams are the soloists. This is the first version of "The House That Love Built," a beautiful ballad feature for Foster without any other horns. He subsequently recorded it as a sideman for Hilton Ruiz and Elvin Jones, and as the title tune of his 1982 Steeplechase album. Rahsaan Roland Kirk's "Fly By Night" made its debut on Kirk's brilliant 1967 album The Inflated Tear. Foster scores it for piccolo trumpet, trombone, alto clarinet, and oboe. Cleveland, Foster on alto clarinet, and all three members of the rhythm section solo.

It's gratifying to see that this music, imbued with such care and creativity, is released at last.

— MICHAEL CUSCUNA, 2007