Listening to Prestige 371: Gigi Gryce

Two of the tunes on this Gigi Gryce album were written by Norman Mapp, a new name to me. His Wikipedia entry mostly quotes from his obituary, and most of what people have to say about him is what a great guy he was. This is standard fare for an obituary, of course, and maybe Gryce recorded two of his tunes out of friendship (or maybe Gryce has signed him to his back-owned, musician-friendly publishing company).

Or maybe the tunes were really that good. I listened to

Mapp's original of "Blues in Bloom" (with Clark Terry, Seldon Powell, Tommy Flanagan, George Duvivier, Dave Bailey) and I was impressed. More than impressed. I've added it to my 100 Songs for Driving playlist. Mapp has a voice reminiscent of Joe Williams and King Pleasure, but his songs are the real attraction. They're so fluid, the long looping lines and sudden changes of direction reminiscent of vocalese, but "Blues in Bloom" seems to be entirely a Mapp composition. It's no wonder that Gryce decided to record it. It's a wonder that it hasn't become a jazz

standard. Or that Mapp didn't become a star in the jazz world. I guess he was working the same side of the street as Joe Williams and Jon Hendricks. But surely there was room for one more.

That being said, Gigi Gryce does a wonderful job with "Blues in Bloom." He's working again with the group he's had together for the last few albums, and if there's something to be said for throwing guys together and letting them (see my Lem Winchester entry, just before this one), there's also a lot to be said for musicians working together and developing a rapport. I love the way Gryce and Richard Williams work together. And Richard Wyands--listening to the way three of them parcel out the head to the other Mapp composition, "Monday Through Sunday," is a treat. And they keep that closeness as they head into the improv and get farther out.

The Bryce compositions are excellent, not among his best known. "The Rat Race Blues" is a tour de force. If you think Wyands is playing fast on his first solo, wait'll you hear Gryce and Williams. And this isn't bebop fast; it's something different. It's rat race fast--bursting with nervous energy. "Boxer's Blues" is a lovely blues, at back to a more normal tempo.

The final cut, "Strange Feelin'," is by Sam Finch, about whom I could find nothing at all except a mention in a 1959 Billboard that Sam Finch is starting his own record label, Finch Records, and its first release would be a recording by Sam Finch. The search was complicated not only by the fact that there's a contemporary musician named Sam Finch, but there's also another label called Finch Records, started in Cincinnati in 1957, with quite a decent catalog of gospel music, and a handful of blues, including one by a Prestige alumnus, H-Bomb Ferguson. So maybe Sam ran into copyright problems and couldn't get his label off the ground.  Perhaps he was a publishing client of Gryce's. It's a decent tune, very mainstream bebop, and a satisfying listen.

Listening to Prestige Vol. 3, 1957-58 is now available!

and also:

Listening to Prestige, Vol. 2, 1954-56

Listening to Prestige, Vol. 1 1949-53