The Great Kai and J.J.1961
This is the first Impulse album, produced by Creed Taylor, one of the few records he did produce for the label before leaving to take over Verve.
I have two statements that are important to understand what I think about this album:
1. As a collection of individual musical performances this is a brilliant record.
2. In a small ensemble, 2 of the same instrument (especially trombones) make it a novelty performance that detracts from the musical gestalt. This might have been overcome, but Creed Taylor is probably not the producer for this project, given his connections with the worst of the pop music genre.
I think you have to first recognize and appreciate that the first track on the first Impulse album is "This Could be the Start of Something Big". Frankly, I could have done without this tune, it lacks any kind of subtlety. It's missing, I suppose, maturity: how obvious is this? Not only the title's allusion to the start of the new record label, but also that it is a big band-style tune that Steve Allen used as the theme song for his incarnation of the Tonight Show. If they had played the tune with a tongue-in-cheek styling, (I have seen several reviews that call it "witty".) it might have added something to the album, but the tune was played too earnestly, too conformist for it to be able to stand up 50 years later.
Along those same lines is the 6th tune on the album, Side by Side.Remember the lyrics, give this a little thought, and you have to ask yourself, did they seriously record this for a trombone-duet album? I understand that it has become a standard that everyone performs. But sweet lord...have a little bit of self control. And trombone players wonder why they don't get any respect. It is a good thing that Ebony and Ivory hadn't been written yet, these two would have been all over that one.
I think that my only other major criticism of this album is going to be that they try way too hard to differentiate between Winding's and Johnson's trombones. They do play straight on a couple of the tunes (which are the best on the record, see my comments about Blue Monk in one of the later paragraphs.), but in general they seem to spend a lot of time and effort to make sure that you can distinguish the two. Most of this time and energy is spent in trying to musically justify the use of mutes and slightly odd timbres that each of two use throughout the album.
This bothers for me two reasons. First, it is insulting to your fans. It is playing down to them. Which makes their effort no better than any of the Brittney Ray Swift crap that passes for music. I think one of the first rules of music is to play your music with honesty and dignity and let the fans rise to the occasion. Sometimes they won't like it or understand it, but you have at least maintained your credibility as a musician.
Second, and obviously related to the other reason, is that playing like that significantly compromises the artistic value of the music. It is nothing more than adjusting the music to make it easier to listen to so that you avoid exposing a creative emptiness on the musician's part. This genre of music is based on taking a chance, sometimes you fail. But not taking a chance means you are just making a pop album. The Great Kai and J.J. ends up in that record bin more often than it should.
Its important to note that much of my criticism is probably equally directed at the musicians and at Creed Taylor, the producer of the album. Taylor is often blamed for much of the direction that popular music has taken, and this album is a good example of his work.
Which brings me to my first statement from above: that this is a collection of brilliant individual musical performances in spite of Taylor's producing and its other cheesinesses.
Both Winding and Johnson are brilliant musicians. Blue Monk, the third tune, is the best on the album, it is an example of what the entire album could have been. Neither wastes energy trying to play anything other than what they are. The solos are what bop trombone should be, they use the advantages of the instrument to express their ideas without exposing the limitations of the trombone. (I should also point out that the arrangement is excellent, good arranging is a lot like having a good director for a movie, you don't even realize that the movie had a director because he gives the actors' performance primacy. Arrangers should do the same thing for musicians.)
Bill Evans' piano on the album is the performance that pushes it from an above average record to one that even casually serious jazz fans should own. It is seriously worth listening to this album several times just paying attention to Evans. He knows exactly how to accompany the group, twinkling when needed, leaving gaps, accentuating the lead. Absolutely exceptional brilliance. He makes this album, he steals the show from the two leaders.
I feel somewhat contradictory about this album. I can criticize it for its cheesy novelty. I don't like its pandering to the listener. The song selection leaves something to be desired. At the same time I enjoy it. Even after listening to it fairly intensively for the last week, it still intrigues me. Leaving behind the lesson that maybe technical considerations should be set aside, don't get too caught up in the intellectual, left-brain analysis of the music. In fact, it is probably in your best interest to try and shut off that part of your mind and just let music settle into you. Music is art, and while you might not appreciate it in the academic sense, you might not be impressed by the technical musical accomplishment, that does not mean that it can not be enjoyed for its entertainment value.
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