Med Flory

Med Flory - Go West Young Med! Med Flory and his Orchestras 1954-1959 (2001) {Fresh Sound FSR-CD 506}
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© 1954-59, 2001 Fresh Sound Records | FSR-CD 506
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Big Band / Saxophone

Med Flory has enjoyed both a profitable music career and successful stints as a television and film writer and actor. His alto sax and clarinet work are deeply influenced by the classic bebop sound, notably the playing of Charlie Parker. Though he doesn't directly emulate Parker, Flory's sound, phrasing and approach reflect his reverence for his music. He played clarinet and alto with Claude Thornhill in the '50s, and tenor with Woody Herman. Flory formed his own New York band in 1954, then moved to the West Coast two years later.

Woody Herman - Live At Monterey (1959) {Atlantic Jazz 7567-90044-2}
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© 1959 Atlantic Jazz / Warner | 7567-90044-2
Jazz / Big Band / Cool / Swing / Clarinet

At the 1959 Monterey Jazz Festival, Woody Herman headed an all-star orchestra that served as the house band for the weekend in addition to performing its own sets. The lineup is quite remarkable, including Herman on clarinet or alto, both Al Porcino and Bill Chase on first trumpets, Conte Candoli and Ray Linn taking trumpet solos, trombonist Urbie Green, Victor Feldman on piano and vibes, guitarist Charlie Byrd, bassist Monty Budwig, drummer Mel Lewis, baritonist Med Flory, and the tenors of Zoot Sims, Don Lanphere, Bill Perkins, and Richie Kamuca. Nearly every one of these players is featured in one spot or another.

Terry Gibbs Dream Band - Flying Home, Volume 3 (1959) {Contemporary CCD-7654-2 rel 1988}
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© 1959, 1988 Contemporary Records / Fantasy | CCD-7654-2
Jazz / West Coast Jazz / Big Band / Vibes

The third CD in this five-volume series draws its material from the same live sessions that resulted in the first two Terry Gibbs Dream Band releases, but contains all previously unheard performances. Ranging from well-known standards ("Avalon," "I'm Getting Sentimental Over You" and "Flying Home") to more recent tunes ("Airegin" and Gibbs' "It Might As Well Be Swing") and originals by arrangers Bill Holman, Bob Brookmeyer and Al Cohn, the music stays consistently colorful and swinging. Gibbs had some of the top L.A.-based players in his big band, which lasted from 1959-62, and among the key soloists on this set are trumpeter Conte Candoli, Bill Holman, Bill Perkins and Med Flory on tenor, and altoists Joe Maini and Charles Kennedy.

Terry Gibbs Dream Band - Volume Two: The Sundown Sessions (1959) {Contemporary CCD-7652-2 rel 1987}
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© 1959, 1987 Contemporary Records | CCD-7652-2
Jazz / West Coast Jazz / Big Band / Vibes

The legendary Terry Gibbs Dream Band, a notable unit that from 1959-62 made a few albums for Mercury and Verve, was well served by the five CDs of previously unreleased material released by Contemporary in the late 1980s. Vol. 2 has charts by Bill Holman, Al Cohn, Manny Albam, Lennie Niehaus and Med Flory on six swing-era songs and four later tunes, including Gibbs' "The Fat Man." Of the soloists featured during this live set, which also resulted in part of Vol. 3, vibraphonist Gibbs, trumpeter Conte Candoli, altoists Joe Maini and Charlie Kennedy, Bill Perkins on tenor and pianist Lou Levy are most notable. Recommended for fans of swinging big bands.

Chasin' The Bird (1977). For their fourth album, Supersax continued its practice of recreating recorded Charlie Parker solos harmonized for a full saxophone section. What was different this time around was that with one exception, all of the solos were taken from concerts rather than studio dates. The result is that the ensembles sound fresher (since Bird's live improvisations are generally not that well-known) and longer. Trumpeters Blue Mitchell and Conte Candoli, trombonist Frank Rosolino and pianist Lou Levy get solo space, and highlights include "Shaw Nuff," "Drifting on a Reed," "Dizzy Atmosphere" and a six-minute rendition of "Night In Tunisia"…

Supersax's debut recording is still their best. The unusual group, who plays Charlie Parker solos harmonized for a five-piece saxophone section but with no individual sax solos (at least not on record; live they always did stretch out), found their own niche. With Conte Candoli as the trumpet soloist and a rhythm section comprised of pianist Ronnell Bright, bassist Buddy Clark (who along with altoist Med Flory was the original co-leader), and drummer Jake Hanna, on this recording they brought back quite a few of Bird's classic solos, including "Just Friends," "Parker's Mood," "Lady Be Good," "Hot House," and most notably the rapid "Ko-Ko."

Dave Pell Octet - Plays Burke & Van Heusen (1953) {Fresh Sound FSR-CD504 rel 2000}
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© 1953, 2000 Kapp Records / Fresh Sound Records | FSR-CD 504
Jazz / West Coast Jazz / Bop / Saxophone

The Dave Pell Octet was one of the great West Coast jazz-style cool combos of the 1950s. This CD reissues the band's two Johnny Burke/Jimmy Van Heusen albums. Lucy Ann Polk sings eight of the 16 selections, and she is a major asset, displaying a relaxed, straightforward, basic, and winning approach, warmly uplifting each song. The arrangements are by Shorty Rogers, Wes Hensel, Bill Holman, Bob Enevoldsen, Jack Montrose, Med Flory, Jim Emerson, and Buddy Bregman.

Eddie Shu & Bob Hardaway - Jazz Practitioners (1954-55) {Bethlehem Toshiba-EMI TOCJ-62084 rel 2001}
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© 1954-55, 2001 Bethlehem / Toshiba-EMI | TOCJ-62084
Jazz / Cool / Bop / Trumpet / Saxophone

Not that this artist isn't pretty cool; far from it. Credited either as Bob Hardaway or Robert Hardaway, he spent much of the 20th century at the top of the studio musician scene in Los Angeles, playing a bewildering array of woodwind instruments — even bass clarinet, English horn, and alto flute — on a tall stack of records that stylistically give the impression of having been snatched at random out of a burning used record store, the Partridge Family, Dinah Washington, Bonnie Raitt, and his efforts with the Eddie Shu/Bob Hardaway Jazz Practitioners among them.