Artist.......: Freddie Hubbard And Jimmy Heart
Album........: Jam Gem Live At The Left Bank
Label........: Hyena Records
Genre........: Jazz
Catnr........: HYN 9340
source.......: CDDA
rip.date.....: Sept-02-2006
str.date.....: 2005
quality......: VBR/44,1Hz/Joint-Stereo
Url..........: n/a
track title time
01. All Members 04:01
02. Bluesville 10:09
03. Lover Man 12:11
04. What Is This Thing Called Love? 11:25
05. Autumn Leaves 17:52
Runtime 55:38 min
Size 74,0 MB
Release Notes:
For those of us who weren't able to attend any of
the now-becoming-legendary Left Bank Jazz Society
sessions, Label M's continuing documentation of the
excitement within the Famous Ballroom provides the
best available substitute for having been there.
Better yet, these Left Bank Jazz Society sessions
now are being documented for the attention of the
world beyond Baltimore, allowing jazz fans to
realize how legendary jazz musicians performed in
the informal venues that were less controlled than
the studio recordings, but at the same time were
also more interactive.
It's hard to compare the Left Bank Jazz Society
performances that Label M has released so far
because they're as individual as the musicians whom
the Society recorded on its little reel-to-reel
machine. Stan Getz' was just as inspired as Sonny
Stitt's. A large part of the reason for the
excitement inherent in the CD's is the crowd
reaction, raucous and good-humored. These events
must have been eagerly anticipated by jazz-hungry
Baltimoreans because the musicians' oneness with
the audience is reminiscent of that of the big
bands' in the 1930's and 1940's.
The horns are doubled on Jazz Gems, Jimmy Heath
obviously having a good time in concert with
Freddie Hubbard from beginning to end. Indeed, the
intensity of the music grows through the recording,
eventually reaching multi-chorused Heath
improvisations on ôAutumn Leavesö after he
seemingly yielded the spotlight to Hubbard for most
of the night.
Heath and Hubbard capture the audience's
imagination from the start as they trade phrases on
ôAll Members,ö Knox providing the drum rolls
between choruses and the noise from the crowd
growing audibly over the tune's five minutes. When
the group stretches out on the next tune,
ôBluesville,ö the crowd without exaggeration goes
wild, whooping and hollering as Hubbard plays with
a gritty drive over a cadence like Benny Golson's
ôBlues March.ö
The encouragement of the crowd leads Hubbard to
half-valve and smear and growl and flutter and buzz
his way through ôLover Manö as Heath provides the
harmonic lines behind him. The stretched-out
versions of ôWhat Is This Thing Called Loveö and
ôAutumn Leavesö leave the Left Bank Jazz Society
members with memorable performances that they must
have talked about for years afterward.
In the liner notes, Jimmy Heath writes that he
still remembers that evening in Baltimore. A local
favorite, Heath's profile appears on the LBJS's
logo, and the Society recommended him for an
honorary doctorate degree. An important connection
between the Baltimore jazz enthusiasts and the New
York musicians, Heath was instrumental in securing
the talent that the Society craved.
Producer Joel Dorn and recording engineer Gene Paul
remember the indescribable excitement within the
jazz venues like the Famous Ballroom, and they took
great pains to leave in the crowd's reaction, as
well as to enhance the clarity of Heath's and
Hubbard's playing. As the Left Bank Jazz Society
releases continue, it becomes obvious that the feel
of those venues doesn't exist today at the same
level. As documentation of jazz musicians playing
at their height in reaction to the crowds'
encouragement, the Label M releases are proving to
be unique and irreplaceable.