Cohn, Green and Newman are the common element to all of the
recording sessions, leading bands ranging from septets to nonets.The
Natural Seven was inspired by the Kansas City Seven drawn from the Count
Basie band of the 1930s and while the arrangements by Cohn and Manny
Albam swing lightly in the style of Basie's septet, the focus is more on
originals written for the session rather than simply recreating earlier
recordings. Joining them are pianist Nat Pierce, trombonist Frank
Rehak, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Osie Johnson, highlighted by the
upbeat unison horn line in Cohn's "Pick a Dilly" and Albam's swinging
"Jump the Blues Away." Johnson even adds a vocal on his fun-filled
"Osie's Blues." ohn's other session as a leader includes Thad Jones with
either Joe Wilder, Bernie Glow or Phil Sunkel on third trumpet, with
Dick Katz doubling on valve trombone and trumpet, pianist Dick Katz and
bassist Buddy Jones subbing for the previous personnel. Once more, Cohn
and Albam split up the arrangements, with the tenor saxophonist
benefiting from the quartet of brass players accompanying him. "Rosetta
and the leader's "Cohn Not Cohen" are among the highlights.
Freddie
Green was known for his superb timekeeping in the Basie band, a tenure
which lasted a half-century until his passing in 1987, just a few years
after the leader. Mr. Rhythm marked the first issued under his own name,
plus eight of the dozen songs are Green's compositions, with Green
sticking to playing rhythm throughout the date. Cohn, Albam and Ernie
Wilkins provide the swinging arrangements of the mostly blues-oriented
material, while Cohn doubles on both clarinet and bass clarinet in
addition to playing tenor sax. Two dates led by Newman in 1955 also fit
in nicely, with either Frank Rhak or Urbie Green on trombone, Wilkins or
Gene Quill on alto sax, and Pierce or Dick Katz on piano. Newman, who
tended to be overshadowed by many of the other swing and bop trumpeters
active at the time, shines on both open and muted horn, while featuring
his musicians prominently throughout both dates. Green's "Corner Pocket"
and a buoyant treatment of the standard "Exactly Like You" especially
stand out. Most of this music was reissued on CD during the 1980s and
1990s, though none of it remained in print for long.
DISC ONE
1. A Kiss To Build A Dream On (A) 3:31 - (Hammerstein-Kalmar-Ruby) Arranged by Manny Albam
2. Doggin' Around (A) 3:02 - (E. Battle-H. Evans) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
3. Jump The Blues Away (A) 2:58 - (Ed Lewis) Arranged by Manny Albam
4. Jack's Kinda Swing (A) 3:36 - (Al Cohn) Arranged by Al Cohn
5. The Natural Thing To Do (A) 3:01 - (Al Cohn) Arranged by Al Cohn
6. A.C. Meets Osie (A) 2:43 - (Al Cohn) Arranged by Al Cohn
7. Baby Please (A) 3:05 - (Al Cohn) Arranged by Al Cohn
8. 9:20 Special (A) 2:59 - (Warren-Palmer-Engvick) Arranged by Manny Albam
9. Pick A Dilly (A) 3:30 - (Al Cohn) Arranged by Al Cohn
10. Count Me In (A) 3:34 - (Al Cohn) Arranged by Al Cohn
11. Freddie's Tune (A) 3:27 - (Freddie Green) Arranged by Al Cohn
12. Osie's Blues (A) 2:30 - (O. Johnson-M. Albam) Arranged by Manny Albam
13. Up In The Blues (B2) 2:34 - (Freddie Green) Arranged by Al Cohn
14. Down For Double (B1) 4:00 - (Freddie Green) Arranged by Al Cohn
15. Back And Forth (B2) 2:18 - (Freddie Green) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
16. Free And Easy (B1) 3:26 - (Freddie Green) Arranged by Manny Albam
17. Learnin' The Blues (B1) 3:29 - (Dolores Vicki Silver) Arranged by Manny Albam
18. Feed Bag (B2) 2:59 - (Freddie Green) Arranged by Manny Albam
19. Something's Gotta Give (B1) 2:54 - (Johnny Mercer) Arranged by Al Cohn
20. Easy Does It (B1) 3:43 - (S. Oliver-J. Young) Arranged by Manny Albam
21. Little Red (B2) 2:09 - (Freddie Green) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
22. Swinging Back (B1) 3:23 - (Freddie Green) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
23. A Date With Ray (B1) 4:53 - (Freddie Green) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
24. When You Wish Upon A Star (B1) 2:39 - (N. Washington-L. Harline) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
DISC TWO
1. Pretty Skinny Bunny (C) 2:27 - (Ernie Wilkins) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
2. Leonice (C) 3:35 - (Joe Newman) Arranged by Manny Albam
3. Jack's Wax (C) 2:30 - (Al Cohn) Arranged by Al Cohn
4. Topsy (C) 3:15 - (E. Durhan-E. Battle) Arranged by Manny Albam
5. Captain Spaulding (C) 3:28 - (Al Cohn) Arranged by Al Cohn
6. I Could Have Told You (C) 2:56 - (J. Van Heusen-C. Sigman) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
7. Soon (C) 2:41 - (G. Gershwin-I. Gershwin) Arranged by Manny Albam
8. Limehouse Blues (C) 3:24 - (P. Braham-D. Furber) Arranged by Al Cohn
9. Dream A Little Dream Of Me (C) 2:35 - (Andre-Kahn-Schwandt) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
10. Corner Pocket (C) 2:42 - (Freddie Green) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
11. If I Could Be With You (C) 3:07 - (J. P. Johnson-H. Creamer) Arranged by Al Cohn
12. It's A Thing Of The Past (C) 2:41 - (Manny Albam) Arranged by Manny Albam
13. Lullaby Of Birdland (C) 3:08 - (George Shearing) Arranged by Manny Albam
14. Top Hat, White Tie And Tails (D) 2:46 - (Irving Berlin) Arranged by Manny Albam
15. You Can Depend On Me (D) 3:32 - (Hines-Carpenter-Dunlap) Arranged by Manny Albam
16. We'll Be Together Again (D) 3:40 - (F. Laine-C. Fischer) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
17. It's Bad For Me (D) 3:19 - (Cole Porter) Arranged by Al Cohn
18. Exactly Like You (D) 3:16 - (J. McHugh-D. Fields) Arranged by Al Cohn
19. Shameful Roger (D) 2:46 - (Manny Albam) Arranged by Manny Albam
DISC THREE
1. The Daughter Of Miss Thing (D) 2:30 - (J. Newman-E. Wilkins) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
2. Sometimes I'm Happy (D) 3:00 - (Youmans-Caesar-Grey) Arranged by Manny Albam
3. Sweethearts On Parade (D) 2:40 - (C. Newman-C. Lombardo) Arranged by Al Cohn
4. Slats (D) 3:56 - (Joe Newman) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
5. Lament For A Lost Love (D) 3:10 - (Ellington-Bigard-Mills) Arranged by Al Cohn
6. Prefidia (D) 2:51 - (A. Dominguez-M. Leeds) Arranged by Ernie Wilkins
7. Rosetta (E1) 4:29 - (E. Hines-H. Woode) Arranged by Al Cohn
8. The Song Is Ended (E2) 2:45 - (Irving Berlin) Arranged by Manny Albam
9. Linger Awhile (E3) 3:23 - (V. Rose-H. Owens) Arranged by Manny Albam
10. Every Time (E1) 2:19 - (W. Farrar-W. Kent) Arranged by Al Cohn
11. Haroosh (E3) 4:02 - (Al Cohn) Arranged by Al Cohn
12. Just Plain Sam (E1) 2:56 - (Manny Albam) Arranged by Manny Albam
13. I'm Coming Virginia (E3) 2:31 - (D. Heywood-W. Cook) Arranged by Al Cohn
14. Cohn, Not Cohen (E2) 2:45 - (Al Cohn) Arranged by Al Cohn
15. A Little Song (E2) 2:46 - (Al Cohn) Arranged by Al Cohn
16. Foggy Water (E2) 2:48 - (Manny Albam) Arranged by Manny Albam
17. Sugar Cohn (E3) 3:07 - (Manny Albam) Arranged by Manny Albam
18. Alone Together (E1) 3:29 - (H. Dietz-A. Schwartz) Arranged by Manny Albam
(A) Joe Newman, trumpet; Frank Rehak, trombone; Al Cohn, tenor sax; Nat Pierce, piano; Freddie Green, guitar; Milt Hinton, bass; Osie Johnson, drums, vocal on "Osie's Blues."
Arranged by Al Cohn, Manny Albam and Ernie Wilkins
Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City on February 3, 1955
Originally issued as AL COHN - THE NATURAL SEVEN, RCA Victor LPM-1116
(B) Joe Newman, trumpet; Henry Coker, trombone; Al Cohn, tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet; Nat Pierce, piano; Freddie Green, guitar; Milt Hinton, bass; Jo Jones (B1) or Osie Johnson (B2), drums.
Arranged by Al Cohn, Manny Albam and Ernie Wilkins
Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City on December 18, 1955
Originally issued as FREDDIE GREEN MR. RHYTHM, RCA Victor LPM-1210
(C) Joe Newman, trumpet; Frank Rehak, trombone; Ernie Wilkins, alto sax; Al Cohn, tenor sax; Nat Pierce, piano; Freddie Green, guitar; Milt Hinton, bass; Shadow Wilson, drums.
Arranged by Al Cohn, Manny Albam and Ernie Wilkins
Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City on February 8, 1955
"Lullaby Of Birdland" originally issued on VARIOUS ARTISTS - LULLABY OF BIRDLAND, RCA Victor LPM 1146
All other tunes originally issued as JOE NEWMAN - ALL I WANNA DO IS SWING, RCA Victor LPM-1118
(D) Joe Newman, trumpet; Urbie Green, trombone; Gene Quill, alto sax; Al Cohn, tenor sax; Dick Katz, piano; Freddie Green, guitar; Eddie Jones, bass; Shadow Wilson, drums.
Arranged by Al Cohn, Manny Albam and Ernie Wilkins
Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City on October 3 & 4, 1955
Originally issued as JOE NEWMAN - I'M STILL SWINGING, RCA Victor LPM-1198
(E) Joe Newman, Thad Jones, Joe Wilder (E1) or Bernie Glow (E2) or Phil Sunkel (E3), trumpets; Nick Travis, trumpet, valve trombone; Al Cohn, tenor sax; Dick Katz, piano; Freddie Green, guitar; Buddy Jones, bass; Osie Johnson, drums.
Arranged by Al Cohn and Manny Albam
Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City on May 9 (E1), May 14 (E2) and May 16 (E3), 1955
Originally issued as THE JAZZ WORKSHOP - FOUR BRASS, ONE TENOR, RCA Victor LPM-1161
