Clark Terry’s 1979 Holland Radio Broadcast

courtesy of Naxos of America

Yesterday Danish Storyville Records released its latest album of a historical jazz performance. Live in Holland 1979 documents a live broadcast of the Clark Terry Big Bad Band made at the Hilversum Studio in Holland on September 6 of the aforementioned year. Most likely an audience was not present in the studio, meaning that the performance could only be experienced over the radio. Terry himself provided an introduction (in English) for each selection. This will be particularly helpful for those listening to this album through streaming or MP3 download (available on the same Amazon.com Web page as the CD), since the liner notes by Quincy Jones are only available as part of the CD packaging.

Those following this site probably know by now that, where production is concerned, I am very far from sanguine about Storyville. The bottom line is that there is much to be gained from documents of historical jazz performances, but Storyville tends to minimize that gain by showing little regard to the true value of those documents. At least the back cover of the CD provides a complete account of all of the members of Terry’s band (many of whom are introduced through Terry’s spoken remarks). On the other hand the track listing itself is problematic with what seems to be totally arbitrary decisions in when to include the composer’s first name. More egregious, however, is the presentation of the opening track, Phil Wood’s “E’toile,” which is printed on the back cover as “A Toi!”

One of the key assets of this album is Terry’s sense of humor. That first surfaces on the performance of Billy Strayhorn’s “Rock Skippin’ at the Blue Note,” when Terry makes it a point to introduce what is probably the shortest solo in jazz history, performed on bass trombone by Richard Boone. Terry’s own tour de force is, as always, his performance of “Mumbles.” Those unfamiliar with this piece should know that it is exactly what the title identifies it to be, which is basically the ultimate reductio ad absurdum of scat singing.

Terry died on February 21, 2015. I was fortunate enough to listen to him in performance in Herbst Theatre, when he appeared as guest artist with the Hank Jones Trio during the SFJAZZ Spring Season in 2004. As expected, he delivered “Mumbles” as his “signature offering.” Listening to him go at it in a concert setting was positively jaw-dropping. Listening to the live broadcast content on this new Storyville release was enough to transcend the many foibles of the album, all of which are due to Storyville and none of which have anything to do with Terry.