Bob Greene, Bobby Gordon, Howard Alden Trio

Bob Greene (1922-2013) is best remembered for his 1974 album The World Of Jelly Roll Morton. While he played in trad jazz settings in the 1950s recording a quartet set in 1950 and working with Sidney DeParis and Johnny Wiggs, he spent a long period away from music, employed as a speechwriter including for Lyndon Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy. Greene returned to music in the mid-1960s, making recordings with Ernie Carson, Jim Robinson, Zutty Singleton, and Albert Nicholas, and playing on the soundtrack of the Pretty Baby movie. His last full record was made in 1982 other than a 2008 GHB album titled Bob Greene, Bobby Gordon, Howard Alden Trio.

In his liner notes for the latter CD, Greene talks about how fragile Gordon (who was 19 years younger than the pianist) was for this set; this would be the clarinetist’s next-to-last recording. Greene writes that he had to alter his style a bit, de-emphasizing the Jelly Roll Morton influence in favor of playing lighter like Jess Stacy so Gordon would feel comfortable. The tempos on this CD are mostly slower and relaxed.

Greene leaves plenty of space for Gordon, who as usual shows the inspiration of Pee Wee Russell (although without Russell’s eccentricities) and Joe Marsala while not wandering too far from the melodies. Guitarist Howard Alden is only on a few selections, emerging to save the first version of “Stardust” (where the clarinetist was clearly lost) and taking worthy solos on “Singin’ The Blues” and one of the two recordings of “I’m Confessin.” Greene, who begins and ends the release with tasteful solo versions of his “All That I Ask Is Love,” also creates a memorable and fresh “Tiger Rag” as a solo piece in the Morton style. Otherwise, this is a laidback outing of standards (only “You Tell Me Your Dreams” gets a bit hot) with the emphasis on Bobby Gordon’s attractive tone.

Bob Greene, Bobby Gordon, Howard Alden Trio
GHB BCD-517
www.jazzology.com

Scott Yanow

Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings. Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.