Jim Timmens – Porgy & Bess / Showboat / Gilbert & Sullivan / Hallelujah Spirituals – 2CD

Revisited versions arranged and conducted by Jim Timmens

Four orchestral albums featuring great jazz soloists

This CD release presents four albums excellently conceived and orchestrated by conductor-arranger Jim Timmens. The pieces here have survived countless versions through the years, but were blessed this time by different, intelligent planning and the warm wit of several highly gifted jazzmen contributing some arrestingly eloquent improvisations.

The first CD is dedicated to the enduring Gershwin opera 'Porgy and Bess' and the Jerome Kern musical comedy hit 'Showboat'. The second CD puts the comic operas of 'Gilbert & Sullivan' in a jazz context, and the later 'Hallelujah!' does the same to a dozen spirituals. The rich and polished colors used by Timmens produced a gorgeous set of performances with brilliant sound and rhythmic strength, to reveal a worthwhile jazz dimension.

Track Listing:

CD1:
1. It Ain’t Necessarily So - 3:58   2. Bess, You Is My Woman Now - 4:33   3. I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’ - 2:23   4. My Man’s Gone Now - 3:09   5. There’s A Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon For New York - 3:24   6. Summertime - 4:05   7. A Red Headed Woman - 3:03   8. Oh Bess, Oh Where’s My Bess - 3:27   9. A Woman Is A Sometime Thing - 3:49   10. Oh Lawd, I’m On My Way - 3:58   11. Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man - 4:15   12. Dandies On Parade - 3:26   13. Make Believe - 4:07   14. Ol’ Man River - 4:19   15. Bill - 3:30   16. Dance Away the Night - 2:47   17. Why Do I Love You? - 4:04   18. After the Ball - 3:06

CD2:
1. We Sail the Ocean Blue - 2:52   2. With Catlike Tread Upon Our Prey We Steal - 2:23   3. A Wandering Minstrel - 2:20   4. The Flowers That Bloom In Spring - 2:39   5. When I Was A Lad - 2:49   6. I Am the Very Model of A Modern Major General - 2:50   7. I Am the Captain of the Pinafore - 2:23   8. I’m Called Little Buttercup - 3:06   9. Poor Wandering One - 2:00   10. Farewell, My Own - 2:52   11. Tit Willow - 3:32   12. Three Little Maids From School - 2:20   13. Here’s A How-Dee-Do - 2:40   14. Joshua - 2:39   15. Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child - 3:33   16. It’s Me - 2:57   17. Let My People Go - 2:56   18. Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen - 2:57   19. Go Tell It On the Mountain - 2:47   20. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot - 2:49   21. The Blind Man - 3:25   22. Me and Zeke - 2:12   23. The Gospel Train - 2:53   24. Hold On - 2:49   25. I Didn’t Hear Nobody Pray - 2:36

Sources:

CD 1 - Tracks #1-10, from the album "Porgy and Bess Revisited" (Warner Bros WS 1260)
CD 1 - Tracks #11-18, from the album "Showboat Revisited" (Warner Bros WS 1324)

CD 2 - Tracks #1-12, from the album "Gilbert & Sullivan Revisited" (Warner Bros WS 1258)
CD 2 - Track #13, from the album "Jazz Festival in Stereo" (Warner Bros WS 8015)
CD 2 - Tracks #14-25, from the album "Hallelujah! Spirituals in Stereo Brass" (RCA Victor LSP-2029)

· "Porgy and Bess" composed by DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin
· "Showboat" composed by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern
· "Gilbert & Sullivan" composed by William S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan
· "Hallelujah!" are all traditional folk songs

Personnel on "Porgy and Bess Revisited":

Soloist Cast
Cootie Williams as Porgy (trumpet on #2,3,7,8,10)
Rex Stewart as Sportin’ Life (trumpet on #1,5)
Hilton Jefferson as Bess (alto sax on #2)
Lawrence Brown as Serena & Clara (trombone on #4,6)
Pinky Williams as Jake (baritone sax on #9)

Collective personnel includes Bernie Glow, Joe Wilder, Ernie Royal, Al Derisi (tp), Urbie Green, Eddie Bert, Sonny Russo (tb), Sid Cooper, Walt Levinsky, Al Klink, Boomie Richman, Pinky Williams (reeds), Buddy Weed (p), Barry Galbraith (g), Milt Hinton (b), Don Lamond (d). Plus string section.

Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City, late 1958

Personnel on "Showboat":

Soloist Cast
Doc Severinsen as Julie (trumpet on #11 & 15)
Ernie Royal as Joe (trumpet on #14)
Hilton Jefferson as Magnolia (alto sax on #17)
Lawrence Brown as Ravenal (trombone on #13)
Walt Levinsky as Kim (clarinet on #16)

Collective personnel includes Jimmy Maxwell, Ernie Royal, Doc Severinsen, Joe Wilder (tp), Joe Bennett, Eddie Bert, Lawrence Brown (tb), Sid Cooper, Harold Feldman, Al Klink, Gene Allen (reeds), Buddy Weed (p), Barry Galbraith (g), Milt Hinton (b), Don Lamond (d). Plus string section.

Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City, April 1959

===========================================================

Personnel on "Gilbert & Sullivan":

Collective personnel includes Donald Byrd, Nick Travis, Joe Wilder (tp), Jimmy Cleveland, Tyree Glenn, Frank Rehak (tb), Hal McKusick, Al Klink, Gene Allen, Phil Woods (reeds), Hank Jones (p), Joe Venuto (vib), Kenny Burrell, Mundell Lowe (g), George Duvivier (b), Nick Stabulas (d).

Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City, December 18, 1958

===========================================================

Personnel on "Hallelujah!":

Collective personnel includes Joe Wilder, Doc Severinsen, Ernie Royal, Jimmy Maxwell, Bernie Glow, Al De Risi, Mel Davis (tp), Urbie Green, Jimmy Cleveland, Sonny Russo (tb), Jimmy Buffington, Ray Alonge (frh), Joe Venuto (vib), Barry Galbraith (g), Milt Hinton (b), Don Lamond, Sol Gubin, Nick Stabulas (d).

Recorded at Webster Hall, New York City, February 20, 1959

===========================================================

Original recordings produced by George T. Simon & George Avakian

"Porgy and Bess" Photo by Gene Kornmann / Design: Tri Arts
"Showboat" Photo by Tommy Mitchell / Design: Don Feld
"Gilbert & Sullivan" cover Illustration: Jim Jonson
"Hallelujah!" cover illustration: H. Garrido

This compilation produced for CD release by Jordi Pujol