Batland – Gigi Gryce
A swinging blues in a classic hard bop style, almost a riff head but not quite.
- Recording: Gigi Gryce - Donald Byrd - At Newport
- Recorded on: July 5, 1957
- Label: Verve (MGV 8238)
- Concert Key: F
- Style: Swing (medium)
- Trumpet - Donald Byrd
- Alto Sax - Gigi Gryce
- Piano - Hank Jones
- Bass - Wendell Marshall
- Drums - Osie Johnson
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This blues head recalls Clifford Brown's Sandu, but with a different set of accents. The head is played with a 2-feel, but the hits on beat 4 of the fifth, seventh and ninth measures propel the groove forward. In the second to last measure of the head, the bass doubles the melody to get back to the tonic. The ending tags the last four measures.
This song was recorded several times in the late 1950s. In addition to the Newport recording, the Jazz Lab quintet recorded a studio version one month later, with Paul Chambers on bass and Art Taylor on drums. Taylor had recorded the song earlier in 1957, in February, on his own album, "Taylor's Wailers." That album featured Donald Byrd and Wendell Marshall as well as Jackie McLean, Charlie Rouse and Ray Bryant.
Yet another version was recorded by Nat Adderley in March 1959 on his album "Much Brass." This version is unusual in that Slide Hampton, Sam Jones and Laymon Jackson, who appear respectively on trombone, bass, and tuba elsewhere on this album, are here playing tuba, cello, and bass! This version of Batland was mistakenly titled Blue Concept.
The Newport version featured here has a shout chorus that is part of this arrangement and comes in between the piano and bass solos. The extracted shout chorus reappeared in May 1960 attempting to assume its own identity as Blues Shout, from alto saxophonist Leo Wright's album of the same name.
Yet another version was recorded by Nat Adderley in March 1959 on his album "Much Brass." This version is unusual in that Slide Hampton, Sam Jones and Laymon Jackson, who appear respectively on trombone, bass, and tuba elsewhere on this album, are here playing tuba, cello, and bass! This version of Batland was mistakenly titled Blue Concept.
The Newport version featured here has a shout chorus that is part of this arrangement and comes in between the piano and bass solos. The extracted shout chorus reappeared in May 1960 attempting to assume its own identity as Blues Shout, from alto saxophonist Leo Wright's album of the same name.
Gigi Gryce
November 28, 1925 – March 17, 1983
Gigi Gryce was a fine altoist in the 1950s, but it was his writing skills, both composing and arranging (including composing the standard Minority) that were considered most notable. After growing up in Hartford, CT, and studying at the Boston Conservatory and in Paris, Gryce worked in New York with Max Roach, Tadd Dameron, and Clifford Brown. He toured Europe in 1953 with Lionel Hampton and led several sessions in France on that trip. Read more...