The finest early album of the down-homiest picker among modern jazz guitarists.  

Incredible LP. One that makes you jump and shout and way wow wow wow and hmm this is something else.

He wasn’t much on my mind, Herb Ellis, back in the days. I was obsessed by crackerjack guitarists like Grant Green, Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino. Also, I was put off by the first Ellis record that I bought, Nothing But The Blues. Too much cliché patterns for my sake.

Of course, his work with Oscar Peterson couldn’t be neglected. Rhythm guitarist beyond peer. The Freddie Green of modern mainstream jazz. (Later on, I learned that Ellis – who started out with the Casa Loma Orchestra and Jimmy Dorsey, got famous with O.P.’s trio, worked in the L.A. studios for years, returned on Concord with dozens of records – was also part of the mostly forgotten trio Soft Winds with pianist/vocalist Lou Carter and violinist Johnny Frigo, ahead of their time with a chamber music-ish format that combined Nat King Cole with MJQ and foreshadowed The Hi-Lo’s. Versatile cat, Herb Ellis.

Then came, after the excellent debut Ellis In Wonderland and Nothing But The Blues, wow wow wow and booom: Meets Jimmy Giuffre.

Why does it affect me so strongly?

Is there anybody as down-home among modern jazz guitarists as Herb Ellis? Take a listen to Ellis/Giuffre’s Goose Grease, sassy opening cut, the most hill-billy-ish tune on the album, or A Country Boy, Herb’s bluesy winner. Ellis comes from Lester Young and Charlie Parker, but earthy is his middle name and I love that so much: slurs, bends, all those little connecting licks you’ve heard somewhere else… T-Bone Walker, Lefty Frizell, Jimmy Bryant. Dirty boots walking through the mud in the Appalachian mountains. Scent of magnolia fields. Fresh apple pie. Back porch bliss!

Besides, the development of his solos is textbook stuff, creative pattern after pattern building up tension to smoothly resolved finales.

It’s the combination with Jimmy Giuffre’s arrangements that does another trick. The music runs smoothly and with gusto like Kris Kristofferson’s convoy. Comforting warm blend of saxes, no brass. Deceptively simple, nifty and effective underscoring of Ellis’s lines. Check out the bittersweet mood that is conveyed by the sax section during When Your Lover Has Gone‘s finale. Or the subtle shift of tempo at the end of Remember. Everything about the fast-paced People Will Say We’re In Love is meaningful and connected.

(Can’t say enough of Jimmy Giuffre, super-creative guy whose stature among jazz fans continues to grow as time goes by).

And how’s that for a band? Giuffre and Richie Kamuca on tenor, Art Pepper and Bud Shank on alto, Jim Hall on rhythm guitar, Lou Levy on piano, Joe Mondragon on bass and Stan Levey on drums. West Coast-based modernists par excellence.

Truly irresistible stuff. Finally really felt what Herb Ellis was about!

Listen to the full album on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI9AoqfKibI&list=RDgI9AoqfKibI&start_radio=1