BST 84434

The Three Sounds - Babe's Blues

Released - 1986

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, August 13, 1961
Gene Harris, piano; Andrew Simpkins, bass; Bill Dowdy, drums.

tk.1 Shiny Stockings
tk.9 Work Song
tk.14 Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
tk.21 Walking The Floor Over You
tk.22 Sweet And Lovely
tk.26 Blue Daniel
tk.29 Wait A Minute
tk.30 Stairway To The Stars
tk.33 Lazy Cat

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

tk.16 Babe's Blues

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Babe's Blues	Randy Weston	August 13 1961
Wait a Minute	Gene Harris	August 13 1961
Work Song	Nat Adderley	August 13 1961
Blue Daniel	Gene Harris	August 13 1961
Sweet and Lovely	Gus Arnheim, H. Tobias, Jules LeMare	August 13 1961
Side Two
Shiny Stockings	Frank Foster	August 13 1961
Walking the Floor Over You	Ernest Tubb	August 13 1961
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea	Harold Arlen, Ted Koehler	August 13 1961
Stairway to the Stars	Matty Malneck, Mitchell Parish, Frank Signorelli	August 13 1961
Lazy Cat	Gene Harris	August 13 1961

Liner Notes

Gene Harris and Bill Dowdy were born within 15 days of each other in 1933 in the town of Benton Harbor, Michigan. Harris began playing the piano at age nine with no formal training. His first loves were Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson and later Erroll Garner. Dowdy did not become engrossed with the drums until the age of sixteen. But he was a quick learner, and while still in high school, the two young men had a trio. Both men entered the armed services upon graduation, and their paths parted momentarily.

Coincidentally, each man got released from service in 1954. Harris freelanced with a variety of bands throughout the South and the Midwest. Dowdy settled in Chicago where he studied his instrument and worked with blues bands and such notable soloists as J.J. Johnson and Johnny Griffin.

Their paths crossed again when they formed The Four Sounds in 1956 in South Bend, Indiana, with bassist Andy Simpkins and a succession of tenor saxophonists. Simpkins, born in Richmond, Indiana, in 1932, was originally a clarinetist and pianist. It was between his years at Wilburforce College and his Army stint that he discovered the bass.

The Four Sounds became, before long, The Three Sounds, working throughout Ohio with the likes of Al Hibbler, Lester Young, Sonny Stitt and other notables who travelled as soloists. It was during this time that they became friends with Horace Silver, who often played Cleveland at that time. Horace recommended them to Blue Note's Alfred Lion.

The trio later toured with Sonny Stitt and settled in Washington, D.C., where they worked as a trio and again as a house rhythm section for soloists passing through. Kenny Burrell and Miles Davis were among those who added to the praise of Silver and Stitt.

In September, 1958, the trio finally came to New York to work the Offbeat Club, opposite Stuff Smith. Things began happening fast. That month Alfred Lion signed them to Blue Note and did two recording sessions with them. They also served as the rhythm section for a Nat Adderley quintet date on Riverside with Johnny Griffin. It was clear that they had come to New York to stay. In February of the next year, they recorded a third session of their own and an album with Lou Donaldson entitled LD Plus Three (Blue Note 4012). Unfortunately, their only other lengthy recorded encounter with a horn was another session for Blue Note in 1960, which produced Stanley Turrentine's Blue Hour (4057). Another album's worth of material with Turrentine is still unreleased. They also cut one title with Ike Quebec in 1962 with Harris switching to organ.

From September, 1959, until June, 1962, The Three Sounds went to Rudy Van Gelder's on fourteen different occasions under the auspices of Blue Note, recording a vast amount of material. As a working unit, they usually needed only one or two takes to get a tune. A session could bear anywhere from six to twenty tunes.

All but one title from this album of previously unissued material comes from the August 13, 1961, date that was also the source of their Hey There (4102). Typically, the set is balanced by a program of great thirties standards, big band jazz tunes such as Frank Foster's Shiny Stockings, contemporary jazz tunes such as Nat Adderley's Work Song and Gene Harris originals such as Lazy Cat.

One first here is the trio's flirtation with country music with their treatment of Walking The Floor Over You. This predates Ray Charles' transformation of country and western material into soulful masterpieces. And country tunes would later play an even larger role in the bands repertoire. The Three Sounds recorded a lot of Ellingtonia throughout their Blue Note sessions, but this solid version of Shiny Stockings and their slow reading of L'il Darlin ' from 4044 were their only ventures into Basie territory.

While it is not surprising to see The Work Song in their repertoire, it is delightful to see the late Frank Rosilino's Blue Daniel included. The trombonist originally wrote the tune in 1959 for Shelly Manne's band. Shelly recorded for Contemporary, and a year later Cannonball Adderley recorded it for Riverside. Coincidentally, both versions were cut live in San Francisco and included Victor Feldman at the piano. Phineas Newborn recorded it for Contemporary in 1964.

The tune's most recent recorded revival came in 1979 when Ben Sidran wrote and sang lyrics to it.

On March 8, 1962, the trio recorded a number of tunes which appeared on Black Orchid (4155) and Out Of This World (4197) as well as this rousing rendition of Randy Weston's Babe's Blues. It is interesting to note that their version of Weston's Saucer Eyes comes from the same session.

Babe's Blue is a classic Weston waltz blues, which the pianist first recorded for United Artists in 1958. Betty Carter gave it lyrics and recorded it the following year. Weston is responsible for so many major jazz compositions that too many have slipped by the wayside. This is one of them.

The combine of Harris-Simpkins-Dowdy left Blue Note in mid-1962 and recorded a number of albums for Mercury and Verve before returning to Blue Note in October of 1966. But success had diluted the trio's original impact, and their repertoire had become overrun with fanciful, inferior pop tunes of the day.

Bill Dowdy left in early 1967 to be replaced by longtime Jimmy Smith drummer Donald Bailey. By the end of 1968, both Simpkins and Bailey were gone. The albums made under the banner The Three Sounds thereafter were generally Gene Harris albums with heavy orchestration. Harris continued to use the name, but eventually dropped it in the early seventies. Even though the name had survived that long, the sound was long gone.

Harris continued to record for Blue Note until 1976, adding an array of electronic keyboards to his set-up and a clear R & B direction to his music. Happily, Gene returned to his lusty, rousing acoustic piano style in the early eighties. He has lent his talent to albums by a variety of artists and co-leads a trio with bassist Ray Brown. Recently, Stanley Turrentine has been a frequent guest artist with the band. Simpkins began a long association with George Shearing immediately upon leaving The Three Sounds, an association that lasted on record and in personal appearances until 1974. Recently, he recorded with Kenny Burrell. Bill Dowdy, who was the group's business manager as well as drummer, has not been heard on the jazz scene since leaving the trio.

This album is a reminder of what the real Three Sounds were all about.

—MICHAEL CUSCUNA