Joe Magnarelli Quintet - If You Could See Me Now (2018) [Hi-Res]

The idea of this recording came about when musician and Cellar Live owner Cory Weeds was visiting Victoria BC in late 2017. I was playing him some of my favourite compositions of Tadd Dameron as 2017 was the year of his centennial and I had recently devoted a radio show to his recordings.
I suggested to Cory that he should consider recording a CD devoted to Dameron compositions.
A week or so later Cory phoned to say that he had sounded out trumpeter Joe Magnarelli about the idea and found him really excited about the project. I suggested tenor saxophonist Ralph Moore as the other horn in the quintet and Magnarelli was keen to work with him as Moore was touring and recording again after a long sojourn with the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
The rhythm section chosen by Magnarelli consists of three leading jazz musicians with substantial recording experience both as leaders and sidemen. Anthony Wonsey, a first call pianist, has recorded on numerous sessions and as a leader of his own groups. Dezron Douglas on bass is one of the most sought after young bassists in New York today. George Fludas, a drummer in great demand flew in from Chicago for this session.
Before I knew it I was a co-producer of the recording. You have to be careful what you say to Cory Weeds! If You Could See Me Now, devoted to Dameron’s compositions is close to the heart of the leader Joe Magnarelli because he learned and practiced many of these songs as a devotee of trumpeter Fats Navarro (1923-50) when he started playing jazz. In 1947-48 Tadd Dameron co-led one of the most innovative jazz groups in the bebop movement with Navarro. While rehearsing the band, Joe was given one previously unrecorded Dameron tune, Sando Latino, by trumpeter Don Sickler. While this CD has some well known compositions by Dameron, Magnarelli has also chosen compositions that have rarely been recorded, showing the breadth of Dameron’s oeuvre and also Joe’s knowledge of Dameron’s compositions. The recording was made at the DiMenna Center, a superb acoustic recording venue in the heart of midtown Manhattan in the presence of a live audience by the acclaimed recording engineer Jimmy Katz.
The arrangements of the tunes by Joe Magnarelli remain true to the beauty and grace of Dameron’s compositions. The CD opens with a swinging version of Lady Bird composed in 1939 when he was arranging and writing for Billy Eckstine.
The Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra was the first to record it in 1947, and it has remained one of Dameron’s most popular compositions. On A Misty Night, one of the most beautiful tunes Dameron composed is played at a medium tempo with Magnarelli playing the flugelhorn. It was first recorded in 1956 by Dameron’s quartet featuring John Coltrane. Next up is Bula Beige. This is the second studio recording of this blues tune. Dameron recorded it on his Prestige date Fontainebleau in 1956. He wrote and arranged it for Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey. While they didn’t record the tune, it was a part of their performance repertoire. Two radio airchecks of this tune featuring the Dorsey brothers exist on record.
A swinging version of The Tadd Walk, a boppish tune follows, very faithful to the original arrangement recorded by Fats Navarro and Dameron in 1947. It has rarely been recorded in recent times and the musicians stretch out on their solos. The title track, the beautiful ballad If You Could See Me Now was inspired by the coda of Dizzy Gillespie’s solo on Groovin’ High in 1945. Originally written by Dameron for Sarah Vaughan with lyrics by Carl Sigman, it made her a star when it was issued on the Musicraft label in 1946. This is Joe Magnarelli’s feature on the flugelhorn, with both Ralph Moore and Anthony Wonsey taking gorgeous solos as well. The ballad The Dream Is You was recorded by Milt Jackson on his album Big Bags for Riverside records and it is followed by I Think I’ll Go Away which was recorded by the Dameron-Navarro sextet featuring the singer Kenny Hagood. This is the second time these two beautiful ballads are appearing on a recording. Sando Latino is recorded for the first time and arranged as a gentle bossa and the last tune on the CD is Super Jet, a tune that swings madly and Magnarelli, Moore, Wonsey and Fludas take superb solos.
Saxophonist Dexter Gordon called Dameron the “romanticist” of the bop. The music on this CD will confirm this.
- Shaukat Husain, Straight No Chaser