I've been on the trail of this album ever since I did a history of saxaphonist Harold Vick and came across the killer track "H.N.I.C", which apparently stands for 'Head N#@@er In Charge'. So a few weeks ago, I went into ebay with all guns blazing, fought the good fight, and here we are ....
In 1966, three years after his organ n' sax debut "Steppin' Out", Vick released two quite different albums on RCA Victor : the latin-flavoured "Caribbean Suite" and the relatively straight-ahead "Straight Up".
Discography minutiae :
"Commitment" was generally thought to also have been recorded in 1966, languishing in the vaults until Muse put it out in 1974. However, due to some help from the folks over at the Organissimo forums, it seems that this album was most probably recorded for RCA Victor on May 1-2, 1967. Sessions on those dates are listed as having exactly the same lineup, with three same-named tracks. The other four tracks here are the Vick compositions, so I think we can safely assume that he re-named them seven years later. This would mean there are still three unreleased tracks somewhere, including a version of "Sunny".
It remains a mystery why this album was shelved for seven years. Vick released one more album with RCA, 1968's orchestrated "Watch What Happens". He went on to Encounter Records for the funky "Power Of Feeling" in 1973 under a pseudonym, then had a heart attack in April 1974. However, by August he was back in the studio recording "Don't Look Back" for Strata-East.
Sometime in the last four months of 1974, Muse released these 1967 recordings as "Commitment", and then Strata-East released "Don't Look Back". Independent label war ?
Annnnnnyway ... these sessions were and are worth excavating :
While the instrumentation is the same as that of "Straight Up" from the year before - saxaphone, guitar, vibes, piano, bass and drums - this is a more live, less orchestrated band who break out more often, harking back to some of the rawness of the "Steppin' Out"album.Even in straight-ahead jazz tracks like "Commitment" and "Out Of It" there's a sense of communication between the soloists that is sometimes missing from Vick's more heavily 'arranged' albums from the 60s. Vick flourishes in this looser atmosphere, and his playing is beautiful and lyrical throughout.
There's a fantastic up-tempo take on Jimmy Heath's "A Time and A Place" , which you may know from Heath's 1974 album, or versions by Art Farmer, Milt Jackson and others. The jazz dancers should cream themselves over this one, with solid solos from Vick's tenor, pianist Walter Bishop Jr (last seen here with "Cubicle"), vibesman Victor Feldman, and guitarist Malcolm Riddick showing some Grant Green-like moves.
Victor Feldman, who's a significant presence on this album, takes over Bishop's piano chair for "H.N.I.C" to contribute a fiery, percussive piano solo that winds around Vick's flute throughout the track.While mostly heard on tenor sax on this album, Vick switches to soprano for a beautiful reading of "Wild is the Wind" , supported just by Feldman's vibes, and Bishop's piano, backed by sparse work from Herb Bushler's bass and Mickey Roker on drums.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this album, leave a comment and let me know what you think. Download links and more Harold Vick albums are below.
TRACKLIST / MUSICIANS
Corrected as much as possible from an original Discogs entry - unsure who's on bass for some tracks.
| 01 | Commitment (5:10) | |
| Drums - Mickey RokerBass - Ben TuckerGuitar - Malcolm Riddick Piano - Walter Bishop Vibraphone - Victor Feldman Tenor Saxaphone - Harold Vick Written By - Harold Vick | ||
| 02 | H.N.I.C. (5:00) | |
| Drums - Mickey RokerBass - Ben Tucker Piano - Victor Feldman Flute - Harold Vick Written By - Harold Vick | ||
| 03 | A Time And A Place (6:10) | |
| Bass - Ben Tucker Drums - Mickey Roker Guitar - Malcolm Riddick Piano - Walter Bishop Vibraphone - Victor FeldmanTenor Saxaphone - Harold Vick Written By - Jimmy Heath | ||
| 04 | Out Of It (5:30) | |
| Bass - Herb Bushler Drums - Mickey Roker Guitar - Malcolm Riddick Piano - Walter Bishop Vibraphone - Victor FeldmanTenor Saxaphone - Harold Vick Written By - Harold Vick | ||
| 05 | Wild Is The Wind (4:18) | |
| Bass - Herb Bushler Drums - Mickey RokerPiano - Walter Bishop Vibraphone - Victor Feldman Soprano Saxaphone - Harold Vick Written By - Dimitri Tiomkin , Ned Washington | ||
| 06 | Blue Gardenia (4:24) | |
| Drums - Mickey Roker Bass - Herb Bushler Piano - Victor FeldmanTenor Saxaphone - Harold Vick Written By - Bob Russell , Lester Lee | ||
| 07 | From Within (4:48) | |
| Bass - Herb Bushler Drums - Mickey Roker Guitar - Malcolm Riddick Piano - Walter Bishop Vibraphone - Victor FeldmanTenor Saxaphone - Harold Vick Written By - Harold Vick | ||
PRODUCTION CREDITS Recorded May 1-2, 1967 at Bell Sound Studios, New York.Muse Records MR-5054
Released in 1974
Producer, Liner Notes - Fred Norsworthy
Artwork By - Ron Warwell
Photography - Jim Dunn
SESSION INFORMATION
(Presuming that four Vick compositions here were later re-named)
New York, May 1st 1967Harold Vick (fl,ts) Vic Feldman (p,vib) Walter Bishop Jr. (p) Malcolm Riddick (g) Ben Tucker (b) Mickey Roker (d)
UPA1-4086 Sunny (unissued) RCA
UPA1-4087 Reflections
UPA1-4088 Home is where love is
UPA1-4089 A time and a place
UPA1-4090 Like Alice
UPA1-4091 Where butterflies play
UPA1-4092 Pitco blues
New York, May 2nd, 1967
Bob Bushner (b) replaces Tucker, rest same
UPA1-4093 Blue gardenia (unissued) RCA
UPA1-4094 Wild is the wind
UPA1-4095 Leave it the way it is
UPA1-4096 Where butterflies play
HAROLD VICK DISCOGRAPHY
1963 "Steppin' Out" at Ile Oxumaré
1964 rejected Blue Note sessions May 27th
1966 "Straight Up" at Call It Anything
1966 "The Caribbean Suite" at Orgy in Rhythm
1967/74 "Commitment" (released 1974) in comments here.
1967 "Watch What Happens" also at Never Enough Rhodes
1973 "Power of Feeling" (Vicks as "Sir Edward") also at Never Enough Rhodes1974 "Don't Look Back" also at Never Enough Rhodes
1977 "After The Dance" at My Jazz World
HAROLD VICK SIDEMAN DISCOGRAPHY with links
is HERE.
POST CREDITS
Vinyl rip by Simon666This vinyl is a little worn. I used a new needle, but there's some mild distortion here and there, not too bad.
Album links in this post go to : Ile Oxumare, Orgy In Rhythm, Call It Anything.
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