Kenny Burrell was a young guitarist from Detroit, and Blue Note recorded him often in 1956. His first record for the label, Introducing Kenny Burrell (BLP 1523), came out that year. This second one was put together from the same busy spring, and Leonard Feather, in the original notes, makes a point of its variety: eight tunes, about a dozen sidemen, and no more than five of them on any one track.
The music comes from four days. On March 12, 1956, at Audio-Video Studios in New York, Burrell led a quintet with Frank Foster on tenor, Tommy Flanagan on piano, Oscar Pettiford on bass and Shadow Wilson on drums. Five tunes from that day are here, two of them by the rhythm section without Foster. On May 29 and 30 he was at Van Gelder's in Hackensack with Flanagan, Paul Chambers, Kenny Clarke and Candido on conga; most of what they cut went to the first record. Feather notes that Burrell, Flanagan and Chambers were old friends from Detroit. On the night of May 31 Burrell sat in with Kenny Dorham's Jazz Prophets at the Cafe Bohemia in Greenwich Village. The Jazz Tome's page lists only the three studio dates and leaves this one out.
Side one opens with "Get Happy," with Burrell as one of five in the rhythm team.
Launched by a sequence of riffs, Cándido later takes over the spotlight.
Leonard Feather, original liner notes
"But Not for Me" is Burrell on his own, the one tune kept from May 30 for this record. "Mexico City," Dorham's tune, comes from the club: an alternate take to the one on Dorham's own Cafe Bohemia record, with Burrell soloing first and comping behind Dorham. "Moten Swing" reaches back to Kansas City and the early Basie band.
Side two is all March. Burrell's "Cheeta" is a quartet piece on the chords of "I Got Rhythm," with guitar and drums trading at the end. Foster comes back for "Now See How You Are," a blues, "Phinupi," which is fast, and the old pop song "How About You."
Down Beat's Dom Cerulli liked it, though his review names Frank Wess on tenor where the session listing and Feather have Foster.
Burrell is a guitar man to watch.
Dom Cerulli, Down Beat, July 25, 1957
The sleeve was designed by Reid Miles around a drawing by Andy Warhol.
The record came out in April 1957. In 2000 both Burrell records were put together on one double CD, Introducing Kenny Burrell: The First Blue Note Sessions.
