Post by Erik Rupp on Oct 15, 2009 17:42:17 GMT -5
Woody Herman - Giant Steps (1973)
By 1973 Woody Herman was already a Big Band Jazz legend. His legend would grow that year with the release of his Grammy award winning album, Giant Steps.
Herman's career began in the 1930's as a clarinetist (and occasional saxophone player) for Jazz bandleaders such as Tom Gerun, Harry Sosnik, and Gus Arnheim, and then in 1934, he joined the Isham Jones orchestra. When Jones called it quits in 1936 Woody started his own band, largely made up of the remaining members of Jones' orchestra. In 1939 Woody had his first hit with the song, "Woodchopper's Ball," a song he would play live for the rest of his career. His band became known as The Herd (Woody Herman and his Herd), and then later on The Thundering Herd as the band became known for their musical power, especially live.
Woody was never one to rest on his laurels, nor was he content to simply remain stagnant musically. He always enjoyed pushing the envelope and adding new styles and musical flavors to his brand of Big Band Jazz. In 1971 Woody recorded an album, Brand New, with renowned guitarist Mike Bloomfield, an album definitely not for the Jazz purist.
By 1973 Woody was riding high as a legendary bandleader, and everything just fell into place. The right songs, the right arrangements, and the right band members led to one of the best albums of his long and distinguished career. That album was Giant Steps.
Woody's band truly was a big band. There were no fewer than seventeen members in that version of the Thundering Herd (not counting Woody himself, who still played clarinet and soprano sax in addition to leading the band). The album features such luminaries as Frank Tiberi (sax), Bill Stapleton (trumpet), and Joe Beck (guitar), and when you listen to Giant Stpes it is clear that the band was clearly well rehearsed, but not to the point of making the music sterile. There is still a great live vibe and a lot of feeling in the performances.
The album is well balanced, as the bombastic songs are always followed by a more laid back song, giving the album a great sense of flow from one track to another. And that is shown right off the bat with album opener, "La Fiesta," and the follow up track, "A Song For You."
"La Fiesta," is an uptempo Latin music influenced piece written by Chick Corea and arranged by Tony Klatka. It is indeed bombastic, while also having a great sense of dynamics. There is a frenetic beat under the entire song, but the power is raised and lowered as the musical parts dictate. Drummer Ed Soph propels the song at a high tempo and gives the song a large part of it's energy. His performance is spectacular, as are the performances of the entire band, but standout performances are given by Andy Laverne on the electric piano as well as Greg Herbert on piccolo. The push-pull of the dynamics actuall give the song more power as the moments that the band really starts to wail stand out even more as the parts build up in intensity. "La Fiesta," is what Big Band Jazz is all about, as the entire unit gets a chance to shine.
And then, as noted, Woody takes things down a big for the, "Ballad," (BIG quotes there), "A Song For You." It's actually more of a laid back funk groove than anything else. Woody plays a nice soprano sax solo here, and Bill Stapleton plays a tasteful flugelhorn solo as well. The song builds and descends much like, "La Fiesta," but all with that laid back funk beat as it's base instead of that frantic beat of the previous track. "A Song For You," is a very solid track, and the perfect change of pace after the album opener. And it also sets up the next song, "Freedom Jazz Dance," quite nicely.
"Freedom Jazz Dance," raises the energy level by a couple notches, and continues to show that 70's Funk influence in the grooves that the band plays. Bass player Wayne Darling really shines on this song. His bass parts are played with a great attack, and it's his bass parts that the song is largely built around. "Freedom," is uptempo, dynamic, and funky! The solos are just smoking on this one, as Andy Laverne (electric piano), Woody (soprano sax again), and Steve Lederer (tenor sax) just let it all hang out and play with fire and passion. The song just flies by, and the only gripe that can realistically be had about it is that at three minutes and fifty seconds in length it is just too darned short.
Then Woody takes the band into a territory that he had been well known for for over three decades at that point - the Jazz Blues song. "The Meaning of the Blues," does have a bit of the Blues at it's core, but also a lot of nice, tasty laid back Big Band Jazz as well. It's mellow, but it's not. Like almost everything on Giant Steps this one is dynamic and has loud moments to go with it's softer moments. The brass sections get into the act and blast with power, but not overpoweringly so. All of the pieces of this musical puzzle fit into place extremely nicely. Again, the solos by Jim Pugh on trombone are very tasteful and fit the song perfectly.
The dynamics of the album are largely like the dynamics of most of the songs on the album - push/pull, raise and lower, never static. The next song, "The First Thing I do," is the first middling song on the album. Not as laid back as, "A Song For You," or, "The Meaning of the Blues," but not as powerful and/or funky as, "La Fiesta," or, "Freedom Jazz Dance," this one falls right in the middle. Joe Beck's funky wah-wah filled rhythm guitar is a nice touch, and the horns and brass have some fairly staccato parts, with space in between the notes they play in most cases. The song is again far too short at only three minutes and twenty-four seconds long (and it fades out, too), but while it's there, "The First Thing I Do," is a very good track.
"Think On Me," is another of those laid back songs that were so prevalent in the early to mid 1970's. "Think," is dynamic and played with flair, and features some nice solo work that helps elevate the song above many other songs in this style.
Then comes the title track, "Giant Steps," which is the John Coltrane classic. The arrangement is frantic, spotlighting the sax section as well as the soloists (not surprising considering that it is a John Coltrane song). Frank Tiberi and Greg Herbert really get to shine with some outstanding sax solos here. This is some great Jazz as the band really gets to swing. Again, bassist Wayne Darling really shines on this track. Again the only gripe with this track is it's length - too short again at just under four minutes, and it's faded out to boot! As producers Woody and Ozzie Cadena really did the album a disservice by fading out the songs that they did.
So after the frantic and powerful, "Giant Steps," by now you know what's coming. This time it's, "A Child Is Born," a slow, laid back, bluesy piece that is extremely tasteful and well played. And short. This time, however, the length feels right.
And to close out the album Woody goes with the swingingest song on the album, "Be-Bop and Roses," which suits the album just fine, thank you. This is an uptempo song with (yet again) a nice sense of dynamics. It's not the best song on the album, but considering that there isn't a weak track on the album musically that certainly isn't a criticism. Again the band plays like a driver driving his car over a hilly road, raising and lowering the power as the flow of the song dictates. Alan Broadbent's arrangement of his own song is quite nice, and "Be-Bop," is the perfect song to end the album.
Listening to the album as a whole it almost sounds like one long, dynamic piece of music. It changes moods, styles, and tempos, but it's cohesive. The songs work together beautifully, and the song order was very well conceived.
As for the recording itself, Phil Ramone did a great job of engineering the album as each of the instruments has just enough space to stand out and be heard. The mix has the levels for each section just right, and the drums and bass are neither overpowering nor hard to hear (as they can be on some Jazz albums). Giant Steps sounds as good sonically as the songs do musically.
It's easy to hear how Woody and his band won the Grammy for Best Jazz Album of 1973 with this album. It's just that darned good.
4.75/5
By 1973 Woody Herman was already a Big Band Jazz legend. His legend would grow that year with the release of his Grammy award winning album, Giant Steps.
Herman's career began in the 1930's as a clarinetist (and occasional saxophone player) for Jazz bandleaders such as Tom Gerun, Harry Sosnik, and Gus Arnheim, and then in 1934, he joined the Isham Jones orchestra. When Jones called it quits in 1936 Woody started his own band, largely made up of the remaining members of Jones' orchestra. In 1939 Woody had his first hit with the song, "Woodchopper's Ball," a song he would play live for the rest of his career. His band became known as The Herd (Woody Herman and his Herd), and then later on The Thundering Herd as the band became known for their musical power, especially live.
Woody was never one to rest on his laurels, nor was he content to simply remain stagnant musically. He always enjoyed pushing the envelope and adding new styles and musical flavors to his brand of Big Band Jazz. In 1971 Woody recorded an album, Brand New, with renowned guitarist Mike Bloomfield, an album definitely not for the Jazz purist.
By 1973 Woody was riding high as a legendary bandleader, and everything just fell into place. The right songs, the right arrangements, and the right band members led to one of the best albums of his long and distinguished career. That album was Giant Steps.
Woody's band truly was a big band. There were no fewer than seventeen members in that version of the Thundering Herd (not counting Woody himself, who still played clarinet and soprano sax in addition to leading the band). The album features such luminaries as Frank Tiberi (sax), Bill Stapleton (trumpet), and Joe Beck (guitar), and when you listen to Giant Stpes it is clear that the band was clearly well rehearsed, but not to the point of making the music sterile. There is still a great live vibe and a lot of feeling in the performances.
The album is well balanced, as the bombastic songs are always followed by a more laid back song, giving the album a great sense of flow from one track to another. And that is shown right off the bat with album opener, "La Fiesta," and the follow up track, "A Song For You."
"La Fiesta," is an uptempo Latin music influenced piece written by Chick Corea and arranged by Tony Klatka. It is indeed bombastic, while also having a great sense of dynamics. There is a frenetic beat under the entire song, but the power is raised and lowered as the musical parts dictate. Drummer Ed Soph propels the song at a high tempo and gives the song a large part of it's energy. His performance is spectacular, as are the performances of the entire band, but standout performances are given by Andy Laverne on the electric piano as well as Greg Herbert on piccolo. The push-pull of the dynamics actuall give the song more power as the moments that the band really starts to wail stand out even more as the parts build up in intensity. "La Fiesta," is what Big Band Jazz is all about, as the entire unit gets a chance to shine.
And then, as noted, Woody takes things down a big for the, "Ballad," (BIG quotes there), "A Song For You." It's actually more of a laid back funk groove than anything else. Woody plays a nice soprano sax solo here, and Bill Stapleton plays a tasteful flugelhorn solo as well. The song builds and descends much like, "La Fiesta," but all with that laid back funk beat as it's base instead of that frantic beat of the previous track. "A Song For You," is a very solid track, and the perfect change of pace after the album opener. And it also sets up the next song, "Freedom Jazz Dance," quite nicely.
"Freedom Jazz Dance," raises the energy level by a couple notches, and continues to show that 70's Funk influence in the grooves that the band plays. Bass player Wayne Darling really shines on this song. His bass parts are played with a great attack, and it's his bass parts that the song is largely built around. "Freedom," is uptempo, dynamic, and funky! The solos are just smoking on this one, as Andy Laverne (electric piano), Woody (soprano sax again), and Steve Lederer (tenor sax) just let it all hang out and play with fire and passion. The song just flies by, and the only gripe that can realistically be had about it is that at three minutes and fifty seconds in length it is just too darned short.
Then Woody takes the band into a territory that he had been well known for for over three decades at that point - the Jazz Blues song. "The Meaning of the Blues," does have a bit of the Blues at it's core, but also a lot of nice, tasty laid back Big Band Jazz as well. It's mellow, but it's not. Like almost everything on Giant Steps this one is dynamic and has loud moments to go with it's softer moments. The brass sections get into the act and blast with power, but not overpoweringly so. All of the pieces of this musical puzzle fit into place extremely nicely. Again, the solos by Jim Pugh on trombone are very tasteful and fit the song perfectly.
The dynamics of the album are largely like the dynamics of most of the songs on the album - push/pull, raise and lower, never static. The next song, "The First Thing I do," is the first middling song on the album. Not as laid back as, "A Song For You," or, "The Meaning of the Blues," but not as powerful and/or funky as, "La Fiesta," or, "Freedom Jazz Dance," this one falls right in the middle. Joe Beck's funky wah-wah filled rhythm guitar is a nice touch, and the horns and brass have some fairly staccato parts, with space in between the notes they play in most cases. The song is again far too short at only three minutes and twenty-four seconds long (and it fades out, too), but while it's there, "The First Thing I Do," is a very good track.
"Think On Me," is another of those laid back songs that were so prevalent in the early to mid 1970's. "Think," is dynamic and played with flair, and features some nice solo work that helps elevate the song above many other songs in this style.
Then comes the title track, "Giant Steps," which is the John Coltrane classic. The arrangement is frantic, spotlighting the sax section as well as the soloists (not surprising considering that it is a John Coltrane song). Frank Tiberi and Greg Herbert really get to shine with some outstanding sax solos here. This is some great Jazz as the band really gets to swing. Again, bassist Wayne Darling really shines on this track. Again the only gripe with this track is it's length - too short again at just under four minutes, and it's faded out to boot! As producers Woody and Ozzie Cadena really did the album a disservice by fading out the songs that they did.
So after the frantic and powerful, "Giant Steps," by now you know what's coming. This time it's, "A Child Is Born," a slow, laid back, bluesy piece that is extremely tasteful and well played. And short. This time, however, the length feels right.
And to close out the album Woody goes with the swingingest song on the album, "Be-Bop and Roses," which suits the album just fine, thank you. This is an uptempo song with (yet again) a nice sense of dynamics. It's not the best song on the album, but considering that there isn't a weak track on the album musically that certainly isn't a criticism. Again the band plays like a driver driving his car over a hilly road, raising and lowering the power as the flow of the song dictates. Alan Broadbent's arrangement of his own song is quite nice, and "Be-Bop," is the perfect song to end the album.
Listening to the album as a whole it almost sounds like one long, dynamic piece of music. It changes moods, styles, and tempos, but it's cohesive. The songs work together beautifully, and the song order was very well conceived.
As for the recording itself, Phil Ramone did a great job of engineering the album as each of the instruments has just enough space to stand out and be heard. The mix has the levels for each section just right, and the drums and bass are neither overpowering nor hard to hear (as they can be on some Jazz albums). Giant Steps sounds as good sonically as the songs do musically.
It's easy to hear how Woody and his band won the Grammy for Best Jazz Album of 1973 with this album. It's just that darned good.
4.75/5