INTRODUCING FREDDIE GAMBRELL

New Zealand Listener, Volume 41, Issue 1052, 23 October 1959, Page 15

INTRODUCING FREDDIE GAMBRELL

The Chico Hamilton Trio IERSONNEL: Freddie | Gambrell (piano), Ben Tucker (bass) and Chico Hamilton, (drums). Items: "Devil’s Demise," "You’re the Cream in My Coffee," "Midnight Sun," "Five Minutes More." Recorded March 24, 1958. Chico Hamilton leads a quintet which is one of the most keenly sought after groups for night club work in America today. Its musit is respected and its ideas refreshing. To keep it that way, Chico is constantly searching out new talent and men such as Buddy Collette, Fred Katz, Paul Horn and Jim Hail are all Hamilton discoveries. His latest is pianist Freddie Gambrell. Gambrell first displayed a sense of rhythm on the bongoes and the conga but at the age of ten showed some interest in playing the guitar. A year later, he took his first formal training and the chosen instrument, a violin. Then followed the trumpet and the piano and it was not until he turned seventeen that he decided to concentrate solely on the piano and modern jazz in particular. He also knows his way around the trom-

bone, tuba, French horn, mellophone, cello, bass, harmonica, tonette and flute; and before he lost his sight, about five years ago, he had written nearly three hundred compositions. These included works for string quartets, symphony orchestras and concertos for a flute and a violin. Ben Tucker’s catchy little riff melody "Devil's Demise" spots all three musicians.

Chico’s drum work has seldom sounded finer while Tucker plucks his way all over the bass producing a rich, round tone. Together they brew up quite a storm behind the pianist. There is a Monkish fascination about Gambrell’s music. Modern as they come yet surprisingly melodic with it, he gets a great deal out of the piano even though he works in a comparatively small area of the keyboard. His chords are his forte rather than his single note passages and they have just that something that make them sound new and exciting. Whatever else they are, they are really full! The "Demise" bows out with a touch of "Savoy" and then some of the loveliest music ever recorded. With Tucker’s melodic bass working overtime, Gambrell produces chords that defy description, they are so beautiful, and the listener is left begging for more. "Cream" is introduced by Tucker who spends most of the first chorus on a two beat kick. Freddie has his own ideas about this standard, and his path and that of composers De Sylva, Brown and Henderson seldom cross. The last chorus with its deeply thoughtful chord work and its snatch of "In a Little Spanish Town" is the highlight of the track. As with Thelonius Monk, one wonders whether the chords employed are right, but after careful consideration you realise that they are, just! Lionel Hampton's "Midnight Sun"

receives a J. Arthur Rank presentation. Gambrell lets this lovely ballad transport him into another world. Note values are changed slightly to allow for his thapsodising, and. with one or two Garnerisms, the "Sun" takes on a haunting midnight hue. Rather a_ similar effect was created by Debussy in his impressionistic musi¢ and by its unusual beauty it has commanded attention. The fact that Gambrell is blind, too, adds something to his music. I often have that same feeling when I listen to Shearing improvising at will on a ballad. Somehow or other their music gets right at you, and you and the musician are one. The experience is wonderfully satisfying. Don’t overlook the sympathetic accompaniment provided ‘ by Tucker and Hamilton-their lot was not an easy one on this track. The rather pedestrian "Five Minutes More" gets a real work-out. From the opening chorus Gambrell has you guessing as to what might happen next. In the middle section of this three-minute arrangement he latches on to something that Stan Kenton wrote in his early days and uses it to good effect

as a basis for improvisation. The perceptive listener will also catch the brief snatch of Duke Ellington’s "Satin Doll." I feel fairly certain that such quotes are not the result of prior thought and they certainly add listening interest to the music, Here then is Freddie Gambrell, a new name in the realms of jazz. I can now understand what Chico Hamilton

meant when he said: "About three years ago, when I was in San Francisco, I went to Bop City. As I walked in I heard this fantastic piano being played by a young man whom I, at the time, didn’t know. I was so impressed while listening to him play that I felt I must sit in with him and so I did. Introductions followed as a matter of course and I found that this complete musician was, Freddie Gambrell. "It’s a funny thing about pianos and piano players. There are so many, but yet so few, and I sincerely believe that Freddie is and will be among the few. I think he will develop into one of the real giants." Yes, Gambrell has a lot of worthwhile things to say. Won’t you be receptive? Playing; Station 1YA, November 12,

10,37 p.m.

Ray

Harris