Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com
Don Elliott could play quite a few instruments proficiently. Starting in the early 1950s, Elliott recorded on vibes, mellophone, trumpet, bongos, marimba, xylophone, flugelhorn and a variety of percussion instruments. What's more, he was a superb vocalist. Like many multi-instrumentalists who liked to fool around with overdubbing, Elliott had a multitrack recording studio in New York and at his home in Connecticut.
Most of all, Elliott knew what sounded great. He had a producer's sensibility, which let him detach and think through what he wanted to record and how he wanted it to play out. He also was in a constant state of self-improvement as a musician, as can be heard on the Bill Evans album Tenderly: An Informal Session recorded in 1957 up at Elliott's Connecticut home.
A prime example of Elliott's superb work in the 1950s was A Musical Offering, which was recorded in June 1956 for ABC-Paramount and was produced by Creed Taylor, who had just arrived there from Bethlehem Records. On seven of the tunes, the sextet consisted of Don Elliott (tp,mellophone,vib), Herbie Mann (ts,fl), Al Cohn (ts,bar), Joe Puma (g), Vinnie Burke (b and Osie Johnson (d). The remaining five songs featured baritone saxophonist Sol Schlinger, who replaced Cohn. Quincy Jones wrote the arrangements.
According to Nat Shapiro's liner notes...
"When the notion of calling this collection of performances by Don Elliott and his cohorts 'A Musical Offering' dawned, it occurred to some cautious souls that this title might be constituted as being a trifle presumptuous. After all, these cats may be great, but could any one of them possibly be compared with Bach, the old gentleman who composed the original 'Musical Offering?'
"But the story of the 'Musical Offering' so intrigued us that we decided to go ahead anyway. It seems that back around 1740 or thereabouts, Frederick the Great of Prussia, a mean man with a flute, invited Bach over to sit on one of his sessions. Feeling mischievous, he blew an original theme for the composer and then dared him to extemporize a six-part fugue on the theme right there and then. Bach took this seemingly impossible request in his stride and tossed the thing off. Later on, he took old Fred's theme and used it as a basis for a set of 13 selections that he dedicated to the King. Thus—the 'Musical Offering.'
"Frederick the Great's counterpart at ABC-Paramount [Creed Taylor] did something vaguely resembling all of this historical stuff when he commissioned Don Elliott to get together this long-playing record. 'Take 12 good tunes,' he commanded, 'and go!'
The first place that Don went was to the residence of one Quincy Delight Jones Jr., a young and brilliant arranger of note. 'What I'm searching for is the sound of beautiful simplicity,' Elliott said. And so Quincy sat down and wrote 12 simply beautiful arrangements." [Photo above, Don Elliott, left, with Quincy Jones]
This album is a wonderful introduction to the musical sensibilities and mastery of Don Elliott, who died in 1984.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Don Elliott's A Musical Offeringteamed with his Jamaica Jazz, another gem, here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Soon...
And here's Rough Ridin', a song credited to Ella Fitzgerald, Hank Jones and William Tennyson. First recorded by Fitzgerald in 1952, the song's melody to my ear became the basis for Nelson Riddle's arrangement for Frank Sinatra's I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan, from his A Swingin' Affair album in 1956...
For comparison, here's Frank Sinatra's I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan...
Used with permission by Marc Myers
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