Personnel:
Matthew Gee (tb), Kenny Dorham, Joe Newman, Russell Jacquet (tp), Ernie Henry, Lou Donaldson (as), Frank Foster, Illinois Jacquet (ts), Frank Wess (ts, fl), Cecil Payne (bs), Joe Knight, Elmo Hope, Johnny Acea (p), Wilbur Ware, John Simmons, Percy Heath, Al Lucas, Eddie Jones (b), Art Taylor, Art Blakey, Shadow Wilson, Osie johnson (d)
Reference: FSRCD1153
Bar code: 8427328611534
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Matthew Gee (1925-1979), who belatedly had the opportunity to record this album, “Jazz by Gee!,” his first and only one as a leader, in 1956, was one of many talented jazzmen who earned the solid and lasting respect of his peers without ever achieving the public recognition they clearly deserved. Leonard Feather described Gee as one of the “best and most underrated of bop-influenced trombonists.”
Gee was first influenced—not only in style but in his decision to play the trombone—by hearing Trummy Young, who was playing ahead-of-his-time trombone with the Jimmie Lunceford band. After attending Alabama State College, where he built a musical reputation, Gee arrived in New York. His first big band job was with Erskine Hawkins’s band. After military service, he worked with Dizzy Gillespie in 1946, the Gene Ammons-Sonny Stitt group, Count Basie, and Illinois Jacquet, before freelancing in the New York area. From 1959 to 1963, he played intermittently with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Later, in the 1960s, he played in small groups with Paul Quinichette and Brooks Kerr, and in big bands with Sonny Stitt and Johnny Griffin.
Gee’s favorite trombonists were J.J. Johnson and Benny Green, and some of his admiration for them could be heard in his work. But there was even more in his driving, plunging style that was uniquely Gee; and it was high time that a lot more people appreciated just how much jazz that was.
The supporting cast here rated his “star” billing. In the septet numbers, tenor sax Frank Foster, trumpet Kenny Dorham, and baritone sax Cecil Payne stood out. The quintet featured Ernie Henry, one of those few altos with a defined sound and his own ideas, in addition to the inevitable debt to Charlie Parker. The rhythm section in both sessions was driven by Art Taylor. Joe Knight, a young pianist from Brooklyn, provided remarkably solid support throughout. Bass was shared by formidable veteran John Simmons and respected Chicago newcomer Wilbur Ware.
Matthew Gee’s limited discography as a leader prompted us to add five bonus tracks from albums by other artists, featuring Matthew as a soloist and sideman.
—Jordi Pujol
"Trombonist Matthew Gee was primarily a section player and a valuable sideman, but as this CD reissue shows, he could have been a significant soloist too. The two sessions (Gee's only two as a leader) feature him in an unusual quintet with altoist Ernie Henry (the trombone-alto blend has a unique sound) and at the head of a septet also including trumpeter Kenny Dorham, tenorman Frank Foster, and baritonist Cecil Payne. The music is quite bop-oriented and mixes together standards with three swinging Gee originals. An underrated and generally overlooked gem by a forgotten trombonist."
—Scott Yanow (All Music Guide)
