Continuing the new Moodsville Acoustic Sounds series with three classic 1960 releases from Prestige Records’ celebrated Moodsville imprint. Arriving November 6 are The Tommy Flanagan Trio’s Moodsville, Volume 9, Coleman Hawkins’ At Ease With Coleman Hawkins (Moodsville, Volume 7), and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis with Shirley Scott’s Moodsville, Volume 4.
Built for late-night listening, Moodsville paired leading jazz musicians with standards and ballads in relaxed, melodic settings. These three albums capture that idea from different angles, from Tommy Flanagan’s elegant trio playing to Coleman Hawkins’ unmistakable tenor and an unusually restrained session from the normally hard-swinging team of Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Shirley Scott.
Each title features all-analog (AAA) mastering from the original tapes by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab. The LPs are pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Quality Record Pressings (QRP) and presented in faithfully reproduced tip-on jackets. All three albums will also be available digitally, including in hi-res audio.
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SETTING THE MOOD
Launched by Prestige Records in 1960, Moodsville offered an alternative to both improvisation-heavy jazz releases and the more formulaic mood music of the era. The concept was simple: invite serious jazz musicians to slow things down and explore the melodies and feeling at the heart of great ballads.
Active through 1963, the imprint released more than three dozen albums by artists including Gene Ammons, Yusef Lateef, and Kenny Burrell. Many were captured by legendary engineer Rudy Van Gelder at his Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey studio, including all three albums featured in this latest installment.
The result was music that could set a mood without fading into the background, giving some of jazz’s most distinctive players room to reveal a quieter side of their artistry.
THE TOMMY FLANAGAN TRIO: MOODSVILLE, VOLUME 9
Recorded in 1960, Moodsville, Volume 9 brings pianist Tommy Flanagan together with bassist Tommy Potter and drummer Roy Haynes. The slower tempos fit Flanagan especially well, leaving plenty of room for the graceful, understated playing that became one of his signatures.
By then, the Detroit-born pianist had already built an extraordinary résumé. After moving to New York in 1956, Flanagan appeared on landmark recordings including Sonny Rollins’ Saxophone Colossus and John Coltrane’s Giant Steps. He would later become Ella Fitzgerald’s longtime accompanist while continuing a prolific career as a leader.
Here, though, the pleasure is in hearing Flanagan within his favored trio setting, turning familiar melodies into something intimate and unmistakably his own.
COLEMAN HAWKINS: MOODSVILLE, VOLUME 7
If Moodsville was made for ballad players, Coleman Hawkins was an ideal fit. The tenor saxophone giant could play with ferocious intensity, but At Ease With Coleman Hawkins puts his romantic side front and center across eight standards.
Hawkins is joined by pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Wendell Marshall, and drummer Osie Johnson for a 1960 session recorded by Rudy Van Gelder. Rather than simply settling into the background, Hawkins bends, colors, and reshapes each melody with the commanding tenor sound that had already influenced generations of jazz musicians.
Miles Davis once said, “When I heard Hawk, I learned to play ballads.” At Ease makes it easy to hear why.
EDDIE “LOCKJAW” DAVIS WITH SHIRLEY SCOTT: MOODSVILLE, VOLUME 4
Moodsville, Volume 4 catches Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Shirley Scott in an unusual setting. Known for their fiery collaborations, the pair dial things back here, and Scott leaves behind the organ altogether to play piano for the entire session.
Produced by Esmond Edwards and recorded at Van Gelder Studio, the album teams Davis and Scott with bassist George Duvivier and drummer Arthur Edgehill for a collection of down-tempo standards.
The change of pace offers a different perspective on a partnership better known for hard-driving swing. Davis’ muscular tenor remains unmistakable, but with Scott at the piano and the tempos relaxed, there’s more space to hear the subtleties in their musical chemistry.
LISTENING NOTES
“In the Blue of the Evening” – The Tommy Flanagan Trio
Start here for Flanagan at his most elegant. With Potter and Haynes giving him plenty of breathing room, there’s nowhere for the piano to hide, and no reason for it to.
“Come Sunday” – The Tommy Flanagan Trio
Flanagan takes on Duke Ellington at a suitably unhurried pace, making this one for the headphones after everyone else has gone home.
“For You, For Me, For Evermore” – Coleman Hawkins
Want to understand what made Hawkins such a master of the ballad? Put this on. His tenor does almost as much talking between the notes as it does on them.
“Serenade in Blue” – Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis with Shirley Scott
Forget the incendiary Davis-Scott organ workouts for a moment. Scott is on piano, the temperature is turned down, and their chemistry sounds completely different.
“The Very Thought of You” – Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis with Shirley Scott
A standard tailor-made for the Moodsville concept, giving Davis room to trade some of his usual firepower for warmth and melody.
AFTER HOURS, AGAIN
Moodsville lasted only a few years, but its premise has aged remarkably well: put distinctive jazz musicians in a room, slow the tempo, choose great songs, and let their personalities do the rest.
With Moodsville, Volume 9, At Ease With Coleman Hawkins, and Moodsville, Volume 4, the Moodsville Acoustic Sounds series brings three very different interpretations of that idea back into focus, newly mastered from the original tapes and presented for a new round of late-night listening.
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