About the things I play: I'd say my treatment of tunes should be classed as repertoire rather than a particular jazz style. This is probably due to the fact that years ago when I first started to play jazz, I would imitate various jazz greats such as Earl Hines, Tatum, and Cleo Brown. (She was the first musician I'd ever heard who played eight-beat piano.) With imitation we can come close but we never really achieve what we try to achieve by imitation, at least I didn't. So I started to develop each tune as an individual composition rather than trying to play every tune in the same style. I had the best luck with this kind of approach, and now I have a repertoire built up over twenty years Incidentally, I usually write the piano parts out note for note even though when I play I never work from the music. This is a kick I got on years ago. I think we get the sound we do because a lot of our stuff is worked out carefully. It isn't what you'd call free improvisation.
—Mel Henke, 1956
Tracklist
Total time: 85:54 min.
CD 1
01. Dream A Little Dream Of Me (Kahn-Schwendt) 3:42
02. I Can't Give You Anything But Love (McHugh-Fields) 3:03
03. Sentimental Journey (Brown-Green) 2:32
04. Frankie & Johnny (Traditional) 3:43
05. Where Or When (Rodgers-Hart) 5:00
06. Sleepy Time Down South (Renee-Muse) 4:50
07. The Man I Love (G. & I. Gershwin) 5:48
08. Ain't Misbehavin' (Waller-Razaf) 3:15
09. Kammenoi Ostrow (Anton Rubinstein) 3:52
10. Four Deuces (Alex North) 2:57
11. Nola (Felix Arndt) 3:32
12. Liza (G. & I. Gershwin) 3:25
CD 2
01. In A Little Spanish Town (Wayne-Lewis-Young) 3:33
02. Little Rock Getaway (Joe Sullivan) 2:19
03. Mean To Me (Turk-Ahlert) 3:27
04. Toccata (Pietro Domenico Paradies) 2:25
05. Stardust (Carmichael-Parish) 3:34
06. Turkey In The Straw (Traditional) 1:29
07. Shock Treatment (Mel Henke) 2:21
08. Pennies From Heaven (Johnston-Burke) 2:26
09. Tea For Two (Youmans-Caesar) 3:40
10. I Surrender Dear (Barris-Clifford) 4:25
11. Cocky Coo-Coo Clock (Mel Henke) 2:27
12. In A Mist (BIx Beiderbecke) 4:25
13. Frenzied Flight (Mel Henke) 3:04
Album details
Sources:
CD 1, from the 12-inch album "Dig Mel Henke" (Contemporary C5001)
CD 2, from the 12-inch album "Now Spin This! Mel Henke, Vol.2" (Contemporary C5003)
Personnel on "Dig Mel Henke":
Mel Henke (piano), Bill Newman (guitar), Bob Reed (bass), Lou Singer (drums).
Recorded in Hollywood, November 15 & 19, 1954
Personnel on "Now Spin This!":
Mel Henke (piano), Bill Newman (guitar), Bob Reed (bass), Shelly Manne (drums), or Sammy Weiss (drums on #4,5,9).
Recorded in Hollywood, October 4, 5 & 10, 1955
Sound engineer: John Palladino
Recording supervisor: Roy DuNann
Photography: Alex de Paola, Tommy Mitchell & Pauline Annon
Cover design: Robert Guidi (Tri-Arts)
Liner notes: Mel Henke
Sessions originally produced by Lester Koenig
This compilation produced for CD release by Jordi Pujol
Mono · Digitally Remastered
Blue Moon Producciones Discograficas S.L.
