Personnel:
Bobby Shew (tp, flh), Gordon Brisker (ts, fl), Bill Mays (p & Fender Rhodes), Bob Magnusson (b), Dick Berk (d, perc), David Levine (perc)
Reference: FSRCD 997
Bar code: 8427328609975
"I was pleased and flattered when my good friend Bobby Shew asked me to write something on this album. Bobby’s performance is outstanding, along with great performances by his sidemen. Bobby sets the whole mood for this session with his expressions and emotions of beauty and happiness, along with fine flute and tenor by Gordon Brisker, who complements the front line. Bobby Shew has been my friend for the past twenty years. We’ve played together a great deal and enjoyed all the musical experiences we’ve shared. It goes without saying that Bobby possesses great talent and will be a big influence to up-and-coming musicians, but it is his sensitivity that makes him a great artist."
—Conte Candoli (1981)
"Over many years of recording albums with my various groups, this Play Song LP was at the top of my list of absolute favorites. I am so humbled, pleased, and flattered that Jordi Pujol and Fresh Sound Records has chosen to release it on CD. I could not be happier!! Thank you, Jordi!"
—Bobby Shew (2020)
Ringer of the Week ★★★★★
"Back in the 70s and 80s, for five bucks you could go into one of half a dozen jazz clubs any night of the week and catch a first class set or two. LA was filled with studio cats looking for a venue to work out there chops at night. Trumpeter Bobby Shew was making a nice living at the time, as well as the other guys on this 1981 recording, Gordon Brisker/ts-fl, Bill Mays/p-key, Bob Magnusson/b, Dick Berk/dr-timb and David Levine/cong, and they got together for a session that mixes originals and covers with a mix of electric and acoustic that worked perfectly well back in the day before the Neo-Conservative movement came along and froze jazz creativity into a time warp.
“Olvera Street” mixes muted horn and flute into a festive and upbeat latin groove supported by Mays’ keyboards, and Levine percolates with an infectious pulse on “Surprise Samba” . Flute and horn blend like butter and honey on waffles on the sweet “No Hurry” while the bluesy and s ltry title piece has both tenorist Brisker and trumpeter Shew in big toned moods. Shew bops with delight with the kinetic rhythm team on “The Dancing Bishop” and glistens with Mays on the sublime read of Clifford Brown’s “La Rue”. Modern, creative, swinging, un-derivative…does anyone play like this anymore?!?"
—George W. Harris (March 11, 2021)
https://www.jazzweekly.com
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"Après le superbe “Telepathy” en duo avec son pianiste Bill Mays, cette nouvelle réédition du trompettiste est une autre pépite à découvrir absolument.
Six morceaux et moins de quarante minute de musique: on aurait presque voulu que ce LP, que Bobby Shew décrit comme son préféré dans sa discographie et dont c’est la première réédition en CD, dure encore un peu plus longtemps!
Le joyeux Olvera Street et ses accents brésiliens, le thème semé d’embûches et la vélocité à se rompre le cou des improvisations de The Dancing Bishop, dans la plus pure tradition hard-bop, ou les chorus enchaînés du festif Surprise Samba prouvent la cohésion de ce sextette qui, s’il venait tout juste de se former, avait déjà toutes les qualités pour conjuguer exécution sans faille et énergie contagieuse. Pas de doute cependant, ce sont les trois autres morceaux du disque qui en font véritablement un indispensable : on ne se lasse pas des accords solaires de Play Song au-dessus desquels Bobby Shew et Gordon Brisker planent avec élégance, ni du bien nommé No Hurryoù la basse tout en glissandi de Bob Magnusson et le Fender Rhodes cristallin de Bill Mays plantent un décor nocturne éclairé d’un rayon de lune. Quant à La Rue, composé par Clifford Brown pour sa femme - il ne l’enregistrera jamais, mais les liner notes nous apprennent que c’est de sa veuve que Bobby Shew en a reçu la partition - c’est le joyau de cet album. Réarrangé et joué en duo par Bobby Shew et Bill Mays en une performance époustouflante, ce bijou de lyrisme prend une dimension cinématique qui rappelle celle que le duo avait donnée à “Telepathy”, enregistré en 1978."
—Yazid Kouloughli (Mars, 2021)
Jazz Magazine
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"Trumpeter Bobby Shew and some of his favorite Los Angeles-based players of the early 1980s (tenor saxophonist Gordon Brisker, keyboardist Bill Mays, bassist Bob Magnusson, drummer Dick Berk and percussionist David Levine) perform five group originals, plus Clifford Brown's "La Rue," on this spirited modern mainstream LP and long out of print. Fortunately it's available again on CD. "Surprise Samba" is a highlight."
Scott Yanow -All Music Guide
