Gary McFarland

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William

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Has anyone here investigated the music of this rather obscure vibist/arranger/composer? Because of several Creed Taylor-produced Verve sessions, he's remembered by jazz people as a pop sellout almost exclusively. And indeed, it's in that capacity that I've enjoyed his music for some time. Two of his groovy Verve albums, Soft Samba and The In Sound, were reissued on CD in Japan and have been available at Dusty Groove. They're wonderful little small-group pop confections, very gentle and sensitive music. Fans of the early A&M sound might very well enjoy them.

But in addition to those pleasant projects, Doug Payne ( http://www.dougpayne.com/ ) and Dusty Groove have made me aware of McFarland's capacity for expressing deep emotion in a more "serious" vein. Allow me to recommend two albums, both released by impulse! records in 1966:

Zoot Sims: Waiting Game - big ol' "sax with strings" album arranged by McFarland and featuring Zoot on tenor sax. What continues to blow me away on this album (aside from the shimmering, fragile beauty of the whole record) is a beautiful version of McFarland's song "One I Could Have Loved." Fans of Wes Montgomery will remember this tune as "Theme From 13" from the Verve album Jimmy & Wes: The Dynamic Duo. On that album, Oliver Nelson arranged it in a very eerie way and subtitled it "Death March"; on the Sims album, the same tune is arranged as a swinging waltz, featuring Zoot in duet with the British jazz harpist David Snell.

Steve Kuhn: The October Suite - I've been spending a lot of time listening to this one lately. It features Kuhn (piano) with Ron Carter (bass) and a very young Marty Morrell (drums) in the acoustic trio format, augmented by a couple of "classical" groups--string quartet on side one, woodwinds on side two. McFarland's involvement was as composer and arranger of all six tracks. I have to say, this is among the most expressive, eloquent, communicative albums I've bought in quite a while. As the title might lead one to expect, the feeling of the compositions is in an autumnal bag, with McFarland again bringing great depth and a surprisingly broad palette of colors to the table.

Both of these albums are, incidentally, perfect music for the fall and winter seasons... and they really deserve to eclipse Gary's reputation as a purveyor of lightweight bossa pop. Any jazz fan oughta pick up both of these Japanese CD's wherever they can find them.

- William
 
William said:
Has anyone here investigated the music of this rather obscure vibist/arranger/composer?

I have an album of McFarland & Clark Terry called Tijuana Jazz, where he plays some marimba. It's on Impulse!, but I haven't listened to it in a long, long time. I'll have to pull it out again.


Capt. Bacardi
...just finishing with the Christmas tree, online...
 
Thanks, William, for bringing up a personal fave. In 1969, my high school biology teacher sponsored a student 'Jazz Club' and hipped me to Gary McFarland via 'The October Suite'. The teacher shared how, while at home listening to Side 2 starting with 'Traffic Patterns', he dozed off and after 'Childhood Dreams' and 'Open Highway' the side ended and he found this dream journey like no other. (If you're thinking he was into drugs -- he wasn't, we were.) Shortly after playing it for us, I found a deleted mono copy (Woolworth's, 57 cents) and am looking at it now as I write. I must say, for all you A&M Corner regulars who are taken by Herb's Alpert's suave image, you should check McFarland's ultra-cool 'look' on this cover, taken by photographer Charles Stewart. A previous Impulse jazz album,'Point of Departure', also has a great Pete Turner cover photo of Gary and the music is a jazz sextet with Richie Kamuca, Jimmy Raney, Steve Swallow, and Mel Lewis (if one can be judged by the company one keeps!).
My next McFarland acquisition in '69 was 'America The Beautiful', a big band musical indictment of America selling its soul and natural resources to corporate Amerika -- a prescient work even more relevant today.
I can't tell you the numerous deleted Verve Lps I passed on from 1970-89, cause I assumed (along with nearly all jazz critics) that they were lightweight. During the 90's I was dealing in used record albums and on the front end of the Bachelor Lounge Pad Movement which tipped me to McFarland's 'In Sound', 'Soft Samba Strings', 'Scorpio and Other Signs' and 'Sympathetic Vibrations'. I've got one word for his scat singing and whistling: "disarming". A fascinating blend of pop/jazz -- and my wife loves it. Win-Win.
 
William said:
Has anyone here investigated the music of this rather obscure vibist/arranger/composer? Because of several Creed Taylor-produced Verve sessions, he's remembered by jazz people as a pop sellout almost exclusively. And indeed, it's in that capacity that I've enjoyed his music for some time. Two of his groovy Verve albums, Soft Samba and The In Sound, were reissued on CD in Japan and have been available at Dusty Groove. They're wonderful little small-group pop confections, very gentle and sensitive music. Fans of the early A&M sound might very well enjoy them.

- William

OK, I have Gary McFarland's SKYE LP's; DOES THE SUN REALLY SHINE ON THE MOON? (SK-2), AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL (SK-8- and my favorite, TODAY (SK-14). Great to dig out and listen to this time of year. 'Course Skye was also home for LP's by the likes of another vibist, Cal Tjader, drummer-turned vocalist, Grady Tate, and of course, my favorite, guitarist, Gabor Szabo. These people offered the label a lot of traditional Jazz trappings combined with a more commercial bent, as well. In particular, Tjader, whose SOUNDS OUT BURT BACHARACH (SK-6) which was STRICTLY commercial fare and could of been a TWO-RECORD SET. 'Course you had a few "One Shots" like percussionist Armando Peraza and a female folk act, Wendy & Bonnie. Did try BUTTERSCOTCH RUM (w/ Peter Smith) and didn't quite taste as good as the drink. :laugh:

I've found Gary's impulse! recordings to be a little tedious, despite my fondness for the label. They just doesn't have the zing that CTi (and A&M/CTi) have had. On impulse!, Gary has three LP's to his credit, THE OCTOBER SUITE, POINT OF DEPARTURE and PROFILES, which was a live album, and the the only thing good on it was "Mountain Heir" which luckily made it onto my Gabor Szabo GREATEST HITS Double-LP.

Tried Gary's Verve LP's, too. THE IN SOUND (featuring some good guitar moves by Gabor Szabo, but a lot of bad singing and bad lyrics to his songs), SOFT SAMBA (the best one he did) and SOFT, SAMBA STRINGS (second best). Again, strictly for the Jazz Purist, despite covering of a Beatles Tune or two and kind of "Inventing" Lounge Jazz as we know it, not to mention having the best knack for Vocalese this side of most Brasilian groups and artists. Did enjoy SCORPIO AND OTHER SIGNS, however. (Watchyer Sign?) :D

Dave

Gioccho Adesso: Gary Mc Farland "Berimbau" TODAY

...with two EXCELLENT Beatles covers opening Side 1, and Side 2; "Because" and "Get Back", respectively. Some outstanding musicians, like Grady Tate, Ron Carter, Sol Gubin, Sam Brown, and of course, 'The Amazing Airto'...and where else are you going to find the version of "Everybody's Talking" that Nillson, Glen Yarbrough and many others WISH they covered??...
 
Gary McFarland entered music pretty late in life and was always termed as the "Adult Prodigy". A shame he died 31 years ago after someone poisoned a drink of his in a bar.

He had a very short career, and with Norman Schwartz in 1968, founded Skye Records, which folded in 1970. Schwartz died in 1995 and DCC was very kind to release a lot of those old Skye titles "for the next generation" on CD.

A shame with the potential and talent he had, he was not able to record or perform anymore, just as his product seemed very promising. And stuff very much likely to shape the Jazz World in the next decades.

And I, despite being a "knee high", DO remember hearing a lot of his stuff in the supermarket in Kalamzoo and Jackson and Cadillac, where I lived between the time I was born and three. And at the produce market near Flat Rock, where my grandparents lived, too.

Dave

Gioccho Adesso: Gary McFarland "God Only Knows" DOES THE SUN REALLY SHINE ON THE MOON? Skye SK-2
 
FYI-Delta/Laserlight recently released the Tjader /Bacharach album on CD,leading one to believe they have access to the catalog . I have not seen any of the other Schwartz holdings(DCC also put some Gryphon pieces out in the '90s). I also wonder if any Musicmasters will return. I have never heard a good thing about Norman Schwartz-seems like an also ran Norman Granz/Creed Taylor with the worst of both. Mac
 
You can still get many of the deleted Skye CDs (Tjader/McFarland/Szabo) pressed by DCC from a wild (but honest) audiophiole dealer, Tom Port ([email protected]) who recently bought all their remaining stock of regular (non-gold) CDs. Tom has got a dealer site on ebay (search for seller: dccblowout) where he's selling them in small bundles where the unit cost is $2-3 (see: Latin Jazz -- 5 DCC Sealed Audiophile CDs $13.99). By contacting Tom, you can probably make your own bundle of specific Skye titles for slightly more.
As for Norman Schwartz and Gryphon -- hey, no problem here. Schwartz, along wih Nat Shapiro, produced some legitimate jazz LPs by Michel Legrand, Louis Hayes, Bob Brookmeyer, and Phil Woods in nicely annotated gatefold jackets during the mid-late 70's. They've been common cut-outs in jazz bins for years at $5-8 each. (As a fan of the lush jazz arranging of Claus Ogerman, I highly recommend the Japanese CD of 'The Concert Legrand' recorded in '75 at Olympic Studios, London, superbly engineered by Keith Grant.)
 
Mac, I'm glad I'm not the only person in the world who's heard October Suite. First time I listened to it was on a foggy Sunday morning in November. I had been spurned the previous evening by a young lady of whom I was (am) quite fond, and I drove around the Virginian back roads, watching the leaves fall, playing this CD in the player. I may not have been sent on a "dream journey" but there was a profound sense of commiseration. This experience probably loses something in the retelling, but at the time, it was (as they say) a mind-f***.

For reference, here are the two covers Jim mentioned above, both demonstrating impulse!'s characteristic class and taste:

PointOfDeparture.jpg
OctoberSuite.jpg


Although I didn't mention Point Of Departure in my first post, it's a great album too. IMO, the only weak link is the trombone player, Willie Dennis, who sounds a bit lost at times. The presence of Prez-ophile Richie Kamuca on tenor more than makes up for Dennis, though--Kamuca is in confident, swinging, lyrical form throughout the LP. The sound of the album is very individual (unusual frontline, with no piano in the rhythm section) and the compositions are first-rate as well. This one is worth seeking out right next to the Steve Kuhn and Zoot Sims impulse! discs.

Regarding Gary's Profiles LP on impulse!, I have yet to hear it. I'm far more inclined to buy CD's than LP's, and Profiles has never been on CD to my knowledge. In general, I'm more fond of Gary's impulse! and Verve output than his Skye recordings (although all of them have a special place in my heart).

- William
 
Nice scans, William. I appreciate the Impulse cover visuals for the benefit of Corner regulars. The only Skye release I've got is 'America The Beautiful' and am leery of plunking more than $5 on any others. I did own his last release,'Butterscotch Rum', which had some interesting tracks. By this time, Skye had folded and McFarland was on Buddah (!). An amazing, unpredictable recording run of 10 years with a mysterious end. (Keep an eye on your bartender and your drink.)
Snappy
 
I believe Skye's masters ended up at Buddah at one point--a Tjader compilation called TJADER-ADE showed up on that label as well, featuring tracks from his three Skye LPs. IIRC, the Skye label itself may have been owned partially by McFarland when it was founded. It was certainly short-lived. As for CDs of Skye material, DCC Jazz released all three original Tjader albums on CD. DCC also had two McFarland titles, but I don't know if they came from Skye or not.
 
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