By 1952, Count Basie was back in the big band business after disbanding and leading an octet. He was signed to Norman Granz’s Clef Records label and was building a new book. Redman contributed Jack and Jill to the library (this is not to be confused with the pop song co-written by Martin Block and was played by the Will Bradley and Glenn Miller bands).
Happily, the original score is at Schomburg. I wrote out a copy and it was published.
There are fascinating things about this piece. There were several small cuts for recording and a different ending from Basie, but that is not what was fascinating. The original score had string parts, and the other fascinating thing is that there is an incomplete “Jack and Jill Part II.” Was this originally conceived as a suite, or even a ballet?
His work with Pearl Bailey brought him together with the incredible drummer Louie Bellson, and a piece that he originally called “Peacock Alley” became “Penthouse Alley” for Bellson, who also had a recording deal with Norman Granz. Alas, this was not recorded.
Bellson later joined the Dorsey Bros. Orchestra, and no doubt brought Redman and the Dorseys together. Redman wrote a feature for Jimmy called “My Girl Friday” which is in the Schomburg collection.
Back in 1946, Redman had a stock arrangement published of his tune Coffee Light. He recorded the tune in 1957 with a small group including Coleman Hawkins. He is the whistler here.
In 1957, Redman made a record for the Golden Crest label, owned and operated by Clark Galehouse, who’d played tenor saxophone in bands led by jazz violinist Joe Venuti and vocalist/songwriter Seger Ellis during the big band era. Redman put together an all-star unit, which included Sy ‘Red’ Press, who’d been in the Dorsey band, and was my saxophone teacher and later one of the top contractors for Broadway shows.
Here are tracks from that album, At the Swing Cats Ball:
- Black Velvet (with Coleman Hawkins)
- My Girl Friday (that’s Redman on alto)
The performance rights organization SESAC sought to get more radio play, so they recorded a series of transcriptions of original material. Participants included Woody Herman, William Russo, Si Zentner, Elliot Lawrence, Sy Oliver, Marian McPartland, and Redman. Here are some tracks from those sessions.
- Donnybrook (Charlie Shavers, James Cleveland, Hank Jones, Joe Wilder, Al Cohn and George Barnes solo)
- Coffee Light
- At the Swing Cats Ball
As a bonus, here is a track from a Babs Gonzalez 1949 record date for Capitol, where Redman plays soprano sax, St. Louis Blues. How he came to be on this date, which was a bopper’s delight and was the first recording of tenor saxophone legend Sonny Rollins, is a true mystery.
Redman passed in 1964.
[ ASMAC Board member Dave Black recently published His Time was the Greatest: My Louie Bellson Story, sharing about the impact Louie Bellson had on his life. Read the book review. —Ed. ]
