Claude Williamson: ‘Round Midnight (1956)
It's funny to see how much mail I get via this website from people who hope that I can help them out with this or that. Funny, because I've never considered myself to be someone who knows all that much about music in general and various artists and bands in particular. I am a listener, first and foremost, albeit a passionate one, and what I write about here and what is published on this website usually helps me to get a broader understanding of what I'm listening to. That it also interests one or two others is more like collateral damage (or a fringe benefit, whichever you prefer). The following is then perhaps a good example for what I've just been trying to state.
I had virtually no idea of who Claude Williamson was until I chanced upon some sound-bytes online. Yes, I already had some of his work with June Christy from the early 50s and Charlie Barnett's bebop big band from the late 40s, and I'm quite sure I have a lot of examples of his West Coast work with, for example, the Lighthouse All-Stars and, especially, with Bud Shank, but those are/were more fleeting glances and "drive-by" listenings than anything else. That name wasn't really on my radar and if it had popped up on a Trivial Pursuit card, the only thing I could have said is "Know him. West Coast, right?" Continue reading→
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