Personnel:
Joe Wilder (tp), Urbie Green (tb), Tony Scott (cl, ts), Zoot Sims (as, ts), Al Cohn (ts, bs), Trigger Alpert (b), Ed Shaughnessy (d), Marty Paich, Tony Scott, Dick Hyman (arr)
Reference: FSRCD 1665
Bar code: 8427328616652
The most immediately noticeable reason for feeling excited about this album is spelled out by the personnel, for this is surely one of the most impressive collections of sheer jazz talent assembled in a recording studio, fitted together into a smooth-working unit. The man responsible for this project was Trigger Alpert, long recognized as a sure and sensitive bass player. Emphasizing sturdy, unhackneyed standards, his aim was to create music that would be funky and swinging, and he wanted to achieve this by rounding up an all-star septet backed by some of the best arrangers available.
The musicianship of all seven musicians is superb, with Trigger and Shaughnessy laying down a formidable piano-less, big-sounding, firmly pulsing beat. The solos by all are consistently excellent, and the charts supplied by three highly skilled modern jazz arrangersMarty Paich, Dick Hyman and Tony Scottproduced some remarkably happy and swinging music.
"A traditional jazz bassist and bandleader, Trigger Alpert issued one album on Riverside in 1956 titled Trigger Happy! It had an all-star lineup with Tony Scott, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Joe Wilder, Urbie Green, and Ed Shaugnessy joining Alpert. Alpert studied music at Indiana University in the late '30s, then played with Alvino Rey in New York during 1940; he toured and recorded with Glenn Miller in the early '40s. Alpert worked briefly with Tex Beneke and did a radio program with Benny Goodman. He later recorded with Bud Freeman, Ella Fitzgerald, Muggsy Spanier, Roy Eldridge, Louis Armstrong, Ray McKinley, and Bernie Leighton in 1945 and 1946. He worked with Frank Sinatra, Woody Herman, and Jerry Jerome in 1946 and 1947, and had recording sessions with Artie Shaw, Coleman Hawkins, the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Mundell Lowe, Don Elliott, Gene Krupa, and Buddy Rich from 1950-1962. During that time, he also worked for CBS. Alpert left the music business in 1970, becoming a photographer."
Ron Wynn -All Music Guide
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"Trigger Alpert is not a name familiar to me but he is, obviously, a man with great connections because he persuaded Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Joe Wilder, Urbie Green, Tony Scott and Ed Shaughnessy to join him for this 1956 studio set; a mouth -watering prospect. He, also, used the same powers of persuasion to enlist the considerable arranging talents of Marty Paich and Dick Hyman who, together with Tony Scott, produce sparkling treatments of the lesser known tunes of Gershwin, Rodgers and Porter.
The music lives up to its promise, eight delightful mid tempo tracks of straight ahead, uncomplicated music. The pianoless septet combining tenor and baritone saxes, trombone, trumpet, and clarinet with Sims doubling on alto, Scott on tenor and Cohn on baritone sax is an exciting and unique one.
Predictably the solo count is high. Sims has never been known to play a boring note and Joe Wilders masterly muted trumpet work is outstanding especially on The Likes of You. Tony Scotts capricious clarinet adds a surrealist touch.
But the big plus for me is the unsurpassable Urbie Green, a man heard from too little today. His immaculate, cultured sound is one of the great joys of Mainstream jazz and here he is in majestic form. Alpert proves to be a sturdy, musicianly bassist and Shaughnessy is, as usual, a trustworthy anchor.
The music is so craftily scored that it gives the impression of a jam session. It has the feeling that it was all done in first takes. What is very obvious is that all the musicians are having fun."
John Martin (October, 2014)
The Jazz Rag Magazine
