TRACK: “Lean on Me”
ALBUM TITLE: 2, 3, 4
LABEL: Impulse
PERSONNEL: Shelly Manne Duo, Trio, Quartet: Shelly Manne, drums; Coleman Hawkins, tenor sax; Hank Jones, piano; Eddie Costa, vibes, piano; George Duvivier, bass
RECORDED: February 1962
REVIEW FROM: Jazz Bass Artists of the 1950s by Dave Hunt
The Shelly Manne trio—Costa, Duvivier and Manne—begins this 56-bar Eddie Costa original (in A-A-B-A form, 16-16-8-16) by structuring the first 16 bars of the melodic statement in a 3-way conversational style. Almost equally they share short, abrupt note patterns of less than a bar in length. Incomplete thoughts are initiated by each artist freely, knowing full well that a phrase may not resolve itself appropriately until one or the other of the artists has commented improvisationally. The longer-than-usual melodic statement is followed by two rollicking Costa piano choruses (112 bars), with the second dominated by explosively rumbling octaves in the lower register. This was a stylistic signature for which he was becoming known at the time of his premature death in an auto accident in the summer following this recording.
Duvivier performs just a single chorus, but what a lesson in eighth note and eighth note-triplet construction it is. Utilizing fundamental syncopation of the same note values, he demonstrates how effective a solo can be with fewer notes if they are chosen wisely from harmonic guidelines. Artistry then becomes a matter of musical conception rather than a prominent display of technique.
Costa next engages in one chorus of 8-bar exchanges with Manne, who, even by current standards, constructs intriguing drum kit patterns with unusual phrase timings. The supposed out chorus is uneventful, but then Costa, Duvivier and Manne return to their earlier three-way conversational phrasing concept for an entire chorus and even continue it throughout an extended tag.
This track demonstrates how three first-rate artists can make magic by subordinating their jazz expertise to sensitive ears. Costa and Duvivier had never before appeared with Manne.