John Young Trio - Young John Young - Argo LP 612 - Argo first pressing, Black Label
John Young - Piano
Herbert Brown - Bass
Larry Jackson - Drums
Recorded : ? [not listed on sleeve, presumed to be sometime 1956, Chess Studios, Chicago]
Supervision: Phil Chess
Recording Engineer: Jack Weiner
Released: 1956?
Regular readers of this blog are probably already aware that I'm a big fan of John Young, a fantastic Chicago jazz player/pianist who had a really unique approach and sound who unfortunately is now largely forgotten these days and was overshadowed by such contemporaries as Ahmad Jamal and Ramsey Lewis. I call him Argo's great unsung hero who only produced a handful of fantastic solo sides while also being active as a sidemen on several notable Argo recordings in the early 1960s.
This is the first, and most elusive of his three solo sides on the label - cut several years earlier in 1956 when the Argo label was first getting off the ground as a subsidiary of Chess. He only cut two more sides for Argo; 1962's Themes and Things and 1963's Touch of Pepper before retreating from active recording. This is a very energetic and groovin' side which shows off Young's eclectic approach in many settings from straight ahead jazz to cabaret to even classical.
First reissued a few years back as a Japan only mini-LP CD which then went out of print rather quickly and goes for pretty outrageous sums these days. I had many opportunities to grab it but decided against it as I really hate buying CDs now and decided to wait until I could acquire the original vinyl. Finally caught a break earlier this month as I acquired a nice very good condition copy of a rather rare record for a very reasonable price. Pretty good fidelity for a record which is nearly 56 years old!
Get it
Wow! The John Young Argo records have been at the top of my want list for years. Thank you so much for making them available. John Young was a truly great artist who deserves to be heard.
ReplyDeleteThe second song quality is regrettable.
ReplyDeleteI'm not at all familiar with the man. But with such a recommendation, i need to hear this. Many thanks!
ReplyDeleteHello! I stumbled upon your blog not too long ago during a round-trip to soothe my relatively new Jazz-hunger for finally something other than just the absolutely fantastic Soil & Pimp Sessions, who were my initiation upon impact. I am yet way under-cultured in the topic with a faint suspicion that oldies equal a high possibility of being boring (you wouldn't believe some of the stuff I had to listen to as a child. No wonder I am late with all the basics...). And then I get blown into here! All these records that would never have had the chance of reaching my eardrums otherwise, rhythms dancing with life on the brink of extinction, after all these years! I listen to these people and - though I've always been and still am just a tinker, - I know this will be a lasting and expanding relationship with the genre, not something to get bored of, but maybe something to age along with. Thank you so much for giving us people this chance to apprecite these wonderful pieces!
ReplyDeleteHi Trevor
ReplyDeleteThanks for this!! Did you get the links? All the best, Bill
Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for another great post. This is great - why haven't I heard of this man before??
ReplyDeleteFist class sounds. Thanks for sharing these great sides.
ReplyDeletemerci
ReplyDelete