Bill Russo

Featuring: Gail Brockman, Johnny Howell, Porky Panico, Dave Mulholland (tp), Bill Russo, Bill Porter, Tommy Shepard (tb), Phillip Farkas, Frank Brouk (flh), Larry Molinelli (fl), Kenny Mann, Bill Trujillo, Sandy Mosse (ts), Dan Handby (bs), Lloyd Lifton, Eddie Baker

In the late Forties trombonist and composer Bill Russo, a young and prominent disciple of Lennie Tristano, was already leading his own experimental studio bands in Chicago. He always composed with a concern for jazz, and did much in the field of advanced orchestral writing, finally rising to fame when successful bandleader Stan Kenton hired him in early 1950. He became one of Kenton’s most brilliant orchestra arrangers, but decided to return to his hometown in 1955 to continue writing and conducting. He proved to be an extraordinarily well-informed individual in diverse areas, with the felicitously stimulating personality of one who is always an intellectual but never an intellectual snob. He worked in the jazz and classical fields and, in his opinion, a good symphony musician could play really swinging jazz if it was properly written. And he brought a much needed insistence on integrity to the music. This CD compiles the most important of his early works, including The World of Alcina, a ballet score in five dances which Russo defined as “a piece written in terms of my background in jazz.”

Track Listing:

A RECITAL IN NEW AMERICAN MUSIC
01. An Esthete On Clark Street
02. Sposin’
03. Cathy
04. Cookie
05. Ennui
06. Gloomy Sunday
07. Vignette
08. Strange Fruit

SHELBY DAVIS
09. I Can’t Get Started
10. My Man

QUINTET AND SEPTET
11. Under The Greenwood Tree
12. The First Saturday In May
13. Speculum
14. Bill’s Blues
15. L’affaire Bugs
16. For My Sister

THE WORLD OF ALCINA
17. First Dance. Solo of Girl
18. Second Dance. Solo of Boy
19. Third Dance. Chorus and Solo of Girl
20. Fourth Dance. Duet for Boy and Girl
21. Fifth Dance. Chorus, Solo of Boy, Solo of Girl, Ensemble

Sessions made in Chicago between 1951 and 1956