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Artist: The Med Flory Quintet
Album: Sunday Afternoons at the Lighthouse Cafe, Hermosa Beach
Genre: Mainstream Jazz
Label: Woofy
Released: 2005
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
01. Lester Leaps In (Young) - 12:12
02. The Song Is You (Kern-Hammerstein) - 11:42
03. Lover Man (Davis-Ramirez-Sherman) - 9:12
04. Have You Met Miss Jones (Rodgers-Hart) - 10:46
05. West Side Blues (Saunders) - 12:59
06. The Wildest Gal in Town (Fain-Yellen) - 2:16
07. It's You or No One (Cahn-Styne) - 8:12
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Personnel:
Med Flory - alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, vocals
Carl Saunders - trumpet
Tom Ranier - piano
Dave Carpenter - bass
Frank Capp - drums
The Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach is one of the most legendary of the surviving jazz clubs, being the home for Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All-Stars in the 1950s. Although it has not been a fulltime jazz club for 30 years, the Lighthouse showcases straightahead jazz on Sunday afternoons just as it did a half-century ago.
Med Flory has been an important figure in jazz since the 1950s. He was a member of the Claude Thornhill Orchestra in 1950 and was back with Thornhill in time for some memorable recordings in 1953. He toured with Woody Herman, had his own big band in 1954 and played with Ray Anthony. Flory settled in Los Angeles in 1956 where he continued working with Anthony, played with Stan Kenton and was in Terry Gibbs Dream Band. He performed at the first Monterey Jazz Festival with his own band in 1958. Much of the 1960s he spent working as an actor and a writer of screenplays although he always played music. In 1972 Flory and bassist Buddy Clark formed the classic group Supersax which used Charlie Parker's solos harmonized for a saxophone section as the basis for its repertoire. Supersax worked on and off for 30 years, helping keep the legacy of Bird and bebop very much alive.
Since that time, Med Flory has often led small combos in Los Angeles-area clubs. For his appearance at the Lighthouse, he is heard in excellent form on tenor and alto interacting with a freewheeling all-star quintet. Carl Saunders, one of the most talented trumpeters in jazz today has perfect control over his horn. He can play endless flowing lines and can hit high notes very quietly as he shows during his spectacular solos. Tom Ranier has long been a consistent and inventive piano soloist, bassist Dave Carpenter is a tasteful virtuoso and drummer Frank Capp swings hard no matter what the setting.
An uptempo 12-minute version of Lester Leaps In gets the session off to a fiery start. Flory, Saunders and Ranier all have creative solos with the pianist at one point playing unaccompanied. The Song Is You features Saunders taking the melody and Flory providing improvised counterpoint. Notice how the saxophonist's closing phrase in his solo is echoed by Ranier. Flory's improvisation on Lover Man finds him building on the style of Charlie Parker in his own fashion, influenced by Bird but being far from just a mere copy. Hove You Met Miss Jones is taken at a fast tempo with Flory, Saunders, Ranier and Carpenter all creating some of their best solos. West Side Blues gives the musicians a chance to dig into a blues. The Wildest Gal In Town is a change-of-pace, a vocal feature for Flory who has always been an underrated singer.
The enjoyable program wraps up with a rapid version of It's You Or No One which is introduced by Tom Rainer before the fluent solos of Carl Saunders and Med Flory.
No further analysis or play-by-play is needed. Fans of bebop will love this exciting set by five of the best.
review by Scott Yanow