Search - Philly Joe Jones :: Mo Joe

Philly Joe in Swingin' London

Phasedin | New Jersey | 11/28/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ok, so this is out of print at the moment. Hopefully, that will change in the future.

There aren't a whole lot of dates by Philly Joe Jones as a leader. That's why it's nice to have as many as possible.

In the late 60's Philly Joe Jones (who passed away in 1985), left the USA jazz scene where he is still best known as the drummer for the classic (and probably best) version of the Miles Davis Quintet, along with John Coltrane, Red Garland on Piano, and Paul Chambers on Bass. He headed out to London (where he stayed a few years) after playing in a breakaway trio after the Miles Davis years as the drummer for Red Garland's trio along with Paul Chambers.

The all too brief liner notes on this Black Lion release (I believe the label no longer exists or, at least, is no longer distributed in the U.S.)state that this is the only record Philly Joe made during his London years. I don't know if that's true, and I would be surprised if no live club tapes ever surface from this time period (this is a studio album).

So what we have here is a rare opportunity to hear 2 Jones original compositions ("Mo' Joe" and "Trailways Express"), alsong with 4 standards: Tadd Dameron's "Ladybird"(Philly Joe played with jazz composer Dameron before his Miles Davis days), as well as Gershwin's "Gone, Gone, Gone" and 2 other often recorded standards "Baubles, Bangles, And Beads" and "Here's That Rainy Day".

The musicians Jones uses are not well-known, at least to American Jazz fans, except for Trumpeter Kenny Wheeler. The liner notes, which appear to be written around 1990 or so also mention that several of the other musicians on the recording have since passed away.

The general band consists of Bass, Piano, a couple of Saxophones, Trombone, and Trumpet along with Philly Joe's Drums.

The album is sadly, quite short at only 37:23. But, again, this was the age of the vinyl Lp record after all.

This recording covers 2 recording sessions. The first, on October 1 1968 is only represented by one track on the album, "Trailways Express". It makes me wonder: there surely must have been more material recorded on that day then this 4 minute track, no? Unless the group simply made several takes of the other tracks here but simply chose their favorite versions.

The remaining 5 tracks were recorded on Halloween, October 31, 1968. This time, though there's no reference to Dracula or any other monsters such as Philly Joe joked around on his earlier better known recording, "Blues For Dracula".

The real bonus here for Philly Joe fans-and the reason why fans would certainly want this to be in their collection of Philly Joe's works, is the fact that every single track here contains a drum solo of some sort. And, naturally being the band leader, the drums are nice and prominent in the mix. Several of the tracks actually start with a short solo drum introduction. I don't have everything Philly Joe recorded, but i've never heard any other recording that featured him to this extent.

I do recommend this."