Shelly Manne, The Three And The Two
From 1954, some of the West Coast school's most ambitious jazz recordings.
Lovers of '50s experimental jazz need to know about this album — it's kind of gotten lost and needs rediscovering. Consisting of 1954 trio and duo selections, these are among the most ambitious and underappreciated recordings of the West Coast school of jazz during its heyday in the '50s. The first six selections feature Manne, trumpeter Shorty Rogers and Jimmy Giuffre on clarinet and tenor and baritone saxes. Some of the pieces are influenced by classical music: Giuffre's "Pas de Trois" employs the rondo form, Manne's "Flip" uses two-voice contrapuntal work to suggest the canon and Rogers uses the 12-tone row-style technique on his composition "Three on a Row." These pieces also contain some of the first recorded examples of third-stream jazz — "Abstract No. 1" is a rare example of a pre-Ornette Coleman free jazz recording and even on the standard "Autumn in New York," Manne doesn't play a steady beat, instead working as a colorist and melodic player. To this day, these sides retain their wonderfully fresh, open quality.
Things get even more stimulating when Manne teams with pianist Russ Freeman for the album's final six cuts. On Freeman's exciting "The Sound Effects Manne," Manne's playful, quirky breaks fill in the nooks and crannies with flash and humor. "Everything Happens to Me" finds Manne playing canny, subtle variations behind Freeman, while he implies but does not explicitly state the beat on "Billie's Bounce" as Freeman tries out some boogie-woogie moves. Freeman is a unique musician — with a very strong, active left hand, he plays more percussively than most bop or post bop pianists. He and Manne make a fascinating pair: on "Speak Easy" there are passages when he and Manne interweave their parts, neither being the lead man, and to hear these two masters at play is one of jazz's great pleasures.
