Jim Chapin - Jim Chapin Sextet And Octet (Feat. Phil Woods) (2016)

Don Stratton, Jimmy Nottingham (tp), Billy Byers, Urbie Green (tb), Phil Woods, George Dorsey (as), Bob Wilber (ts), Sonny Truitt, Hank Jones (p), Chuck Andrus, Wilbur Ware (b), Jim Chapin (d).

Sources:Tracks #1-4, originally issued on a 10" LP as "Jim Chapin Ensemble" (Prestige PRLP213); Tracks #1-4, plus #5-8 issued on a 12" LP as "The Jim Chapin Sextet" (Classic Jazz CJ-6); Tracks #9-15, issued on a 12" LP as "Profile of a Jazz Drummer Skin Tight" (Classic Jazz CJ-7). 24-Bit Digitally Remastered.

A name new to me and possibly to many readers, Jim Chapin was regarded highly as a drumming technician and educator, the author of at least two big-selling books, star of an instructional video and a regular at drum clinics. High-profile jazz gigs were not his style, and this album contains his only recordings as a group leader.

There’s quite a contrast between the sessions. The first perhaps owes something to the Shorty Rogers Giants, given credence by the fact Chapin had sat in with Rogers and colleagues at the Lighthouse, Hermosa Beach. Phil Woods is suitably boppish on Cherokee, but often recalls the sweeter tones of Art Pepper, with his own Jazz Crossroads and the eponymous tune by Sonny Truitt both evoking a decidely West Coast feel - incidentally, there cannot be many examples on record of Woods the arranger, more’s the pity on the evidence here. If you were asked to guess who led the group, the drummer would be in the frame. By the next date, drums are everywhere. We are told Chapin got together with Bob Wilber, who did the actual arrangements, and what they came up with was a kind of mini-Buddy Rich effect. Not to put down the level of solos: Wilber stomps engagingly on every track and Urbie Green justifies his high reputation, though Jimmy Nottingham’s habit of bursting into solos at full blast seems more suited to a big band. In short, worth checking out for scarcity value, with the assurance that the best bits are pretty good. ~Ronald Atkins