CD1
"Junior"
1. A Smooth One
2. Miss Jackie’s Delight
3. Whisper Not
4. Love For Sale
5. Lilacs In The Rain
6. Small Fry
7. Jubilation
8. Birk’s Works
9. Blues For Beverlee
10. Junior’s Tune
Junior Mance – Piano
Ray Brown – Bass
Lex Humphries - Drums
The Soulful Piano Of Junior Mance
11. The Uptown
12. Ralph’s New Blues
13. Main Stem
14. Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup
15. Playhouse
16. Sweet And Lovely
17. Oo-Bla-Dee
18. I Didn’t Care
Junior Mance – Piano
Bobby Thomas – Drums
Ben Tucker - Bass
CD2
The Soulful Piano Of Junior Mance
1. Swingmatism
Junior Mance – Piano
Bobby Thomas – Drums
Ben Tucker – Bass
Junior Mance Trio At The Village Vanguard
2. Looptown
3. Letter From Home
4. Girl Of My Dreams
5. 63rd Street Dreams
6. Smoky Blues
7. 9.20 Special
8. Bingo Domingo
9. You Are Too Beautiful
Junior Mance – Piano
Larry Gales – Bass
Ben Riley – Drums
Big Chief!
10. Big Chief
11. Love For Sale
12. The Seasons
13. Filet Of Soul
14. Swish
15. Summertime
16. Ruby, My Dear
Junior Mance – Piano
Jimmy Rouser – Bass
Paul Gusman – Drums
The musical story of Junior Mance continues to be
written as the 84-year-old pianist remains an active performer in
concerts and clubs as well as with his recording career. With an extensive
back catalogue along with this wonderful re-issue from Avid of his
late fifties and early sixties sessions, we are treated to a pianist
of creative shrewdness who is steeped in a bluesy approach to the
material.
CD1
“Junior”& The Soulful Piano Of Junior Mance
Junior Mance was born in Chicago in 1928 and self-started on the piano at the age of 5. He tells Marc Myers of JazzWax in an interview on January 5, 2011,
he took his first gig in Chicago at the age of 10. As a teenager, he worked with Gene Ammons where he did his first recordings in 1947 and 1949 and in 1950
he was in the band for a Gene Ammons-Sonny Stitt date. Subsequently he was part of an early Cannonball Adderley Quintet and spent time with Dizzy
Gillespie. He was also the accompanist for Dinah Washington and can be heard on Dinah Jams and In The Land Of Hi-Fi.
In these first trio sessions under his own name, Mance laid the groundwork with his nimble touch and expressive flair. There can be no better way of doing
this than by having bassist Ray Brown as part of your trio. With his rock-solid beat and deep tone, Brown makes Mance a better player on each track of “ Junior”. With additional unwavering support from drummer Lex Humphries, Mance builds his style from the opening bars of A Smooth One.
Each track is a treat but there are several worth special mention. Love For Sale is an up-tempo gem with Mance dancing over the keys with glossy
flair. Mance demonstrates that he can deliver the goods with his own compositions including Jubilation, Blues For Beverlee and Junior’s Tune. Brown supplies an impeccable solo on “Blues” that underscores Mance’s understanding of that musical expression.
Mance’s continued development as a pianist is evident on “Soulful” and although bassist Tucker and drummer Thomas established an off-the-cuff
interplay, the missing steadying influence of Ray Brown is noticeable. Nevertheless Mance shows no fear and continues to exhibit a dramatic grasp of tone
and touch. Working his way through the tunes that he has chosen for the album, Mance shows interest in a broad range of musical styles but with a grounding
in the blues. Starting with his own composition The Uptown and then seguing into Milt Jackson’s Ralph’s New Blues Mance delivers the
tunes with a cool self-confidence and soulful style. Much has been made about the similarity of playing style with one of his contemporaries Ray Bryant,
and that is eerily evident on Bryant’s composition I Don’t Care. The session ends with a Jay McShann classic Swingmatism which for
reasons of time constraints starts off CD2.
CD2
Junior Mance Trio At The Village Vanguard & Big Chief!
The year 1961 was a momentous one for Junior Mance. He won Down Beat’s International Critics’ Poll as The New Star Pianist, and he recorded a live session
at The Village Vanguard to much acclaim. However, this session should not in any way be confused with the idolatry that was bestowed on the Bill Evans
Village Vanguard stay that took place in June of 1961. Nevertheless Mance did acquit himself with distinction and gave his fans the kind of music they had
come to expect. Starting off with one of his own compositions entitled Looptown in honor of Chicago’s “el” train gives his fingers a blazing
workout. Carrying on with the Chicago-based themes are two more of Mance’s efforts, Letters From Home and Smokey Blues, each of which
contains funky blues lines that develop terrific support from bassist Larry Gales and drummer Ben Riley. For an interesting change of pace the ballad You Are Too Beautiful gives Mance the opportunity to show that he was a virtuoso with a poetic awareness.
The origin of the album name Big Chief! is without
an adequate explanation other than the fact that it was recorded with
Mance’s working unit and that bassist Jimmy Rouser brought a sonorous
Ray Brown feel to his playing and thus pushed Mance along with
cadenced fluency. The tracks presented here are only part of the original
album, which has been condensed for time purposes. There are several
tracks worth mentioning, including a blazing tempo rendition of Love
For Sale which surpasses the version done on CD1. The George
and Ira Gershwin standard Summertime is offered in ¾ time
which gives it an entirely new dimension. Finally the Thelonious Monk
classic Ruby, My Dear with its ascending chord changes is
always a pianist's challenge but one which Mance shows he is up to.
While Junior Mance may not be an innovator, in this re-issue he demonstrates that he has an individual, percussive and swinging relationship with the
piano.
Pierre Giroux
CD Reviews
Avid AMSC 1090
