Vito Price - Swingin' the Loop (1958) LP

Born in New York in 1929, Vito Price, née Vito Pizzo, began playing tenor sax at the age of fourteen. After high school, he apprenticed on the road with various bands, as well as with Chubby Jackson's small group. He finally settled in Chicago in 1955, and went on to become one of the Windy City's top tenormen. In essence, Price has always been an exceptionally smooth swinger with a warm-toned horn, somewhat in the Al Cohn tradition. "Swinging the Loop" was his first album, and a promising start. Price himself said at the time that he was “not trying to blaze new paths.” So while no new trails were blazed and no frontiers were opened, Price emerged from the recording session with a valuable set of originals and standards that swing loose and easy. Five of the tracks feature a 10-piece band with a big, bold tone that was surely enhanced by the writing of Bill McRae. The other five are elevated by the incomparable guitar of Freddie Green, who joined in to make the quintet tracks that much more of a delight.


Tracks:

1 Swingin' the Loop (Price) 2:30
2 Mousey's Tune (Pizzo) 2:45
3 Why Was I Born (Kern, Hammerstein II) 2:40
4 Duddy (Price) 3:18
5 In A Mellow Tone (Ellington) 3:23
6 Eye Strain (Price) 2:42
7 Time After Time (Styne, Cahn) 2:50
8 Beautiful Love (Young, Van Alstyne, King, Gillespie) 3:08
9 Credo (Pizzo) 3:06
10 As Long As I Live (Arlen, Koehler) 4:14

Personnel:

[# 1-5]
John Howell, Bill Hanley - tp
Paul Crumbagh - tb
Barrett O’Hara - b tb
Vito Price - t & as [# 14]
Bill Calkins - bs
Lou Levy - p
Remo Biondi - g
Max Bennett - b
Marty Clausen - dr
Bill McRea - arr.
Recorded in Chicago ; January 25, 1958
[# 6-10]
Vito Price - ts
Lou Levy - p
Freddie Green - g
Max Bennett - b
Gus Johnson - dr
Recorded in Chicago ; January 20, 1958