Joe Holiday - Mambo Jazz, 1951-54 PRESTIGE- CD OJC

CD release OJCCD 1786-2 Joe Holiday - Mambo Jazz

Billy Taylor & Joe Holiday - Mambo Jazz PRESTIGE PRLP 171, 1953- lp 10'' 7 tracks

1 Hello to You Holiday 305
2 Nice and Easy Holiday 224
3 Blue Holiday Dennson, Dixon, Holiday 336
4 This Is Happiness Collazo, DeLaRosa, Menendez 256
5 Mambo Holiday Holiday 506
6 Mighty Like a Rose Nevin 313
7 I Hadn't Anyone Till You Noble 320
8 Like Someone in Love Burke, VanHeusen 301
9 Donde Brito, Fischer, Ransom 308
10 Joe Black Mambo Holiday 245
11 Serenata Anderson, Cisneros 312
12 Cuban Nightingale Holiday 259
13 Cotton Candy Holiday 238
14 And Now It Is Love Holiday 218
15 My Funny Valentine Hart, Rodgers 318
16 Martha's Harp Holiday 246
17 Sleep Lebieg 247
18 Besame Mucho Skylar, Velazquez 242
19 I Don't Want to Walk Without You Loesser, Styne 241
20 Fiesta Holiday 255
21 I Love You Much Holiday 252
22 Chasin' the Bongo Holiday 305
23 It Might as Well Be Spring Hammerstein, Rodgers 505

OJCCD 1786-2 Joe Holiday - Mambo Jazz

Joe Holiday (ts) Jordin Fordin (org) Clarence Johnson (b) Milton Hayes (d) Nick DeLuca (bgo)
NYC, December 13, 1951
259 Hello To You
260 Nice And Easy
261 Blue Holiday
262 This Is Happiness
263 Mambo Holiday
264 Mighty Like A Rose
265 I Hadn't Anyone Till You
266 Like Someone In Love

Sam Woodyard (d) Ulysses Hampton (bgo, cga) replaces Hayes, DeLuca
NYC, July 31, 1952
347 Donde
348 Joe Black Mambo
349 Serenata
350 Cuban Nightingale

Idrees Sulieman (tp) Eddie Bert (tb) Earl Warren (as) Joe Holiday (ts) Cecil Payne (bars) John Acea (p) Franklin Skeete (b) Max Roach (d)
NYC, March 4, 1953
457 Cotton Candy
458 And Now It Is Love
459 My Funny Valentine
460 Martha's Harp

Joe Holiday (ts) Billy Taylor (p, org) Earl May (b) Charlie Smith (d, cga) Jose Mangual (bgo) Ubaldo Nieto (tim) Machito (maracas)
NYC, December 9, 1953
534 Sleep
535 Besame Mucho
536 I Don't Want To Walk Without You
537 Fiesta

Joe Holiday (ts) Billy Taylor (p, org) Earl May (b) Charlie Smith (d, cga)
NYC, August 25, 1954
610 I Love You Much
611 Chasin' The Bongo
612 It Might As Well Be Spring

Review by Scott Yanow
This CD reissues five of Joe Holiday's sessions, all of his output for Prestige. Holiday is joined on all but four of the 23 selections by Latin percussion (including for four songs the maracas of Machito) along with a jazz rhythm section that includes either the early organist Jordin Fordin or pianists Billy Taylor or John Acea. An all-star horn section is on one date but in general the focus is on Joe Holiday's cool-toned and swinging tenor. Most of the selections are quite melodic and, although Holiday was probably aiming this music at a dancing audience, jazz listeners should find much of interest on the enjoyable and (at 73 minutes) generous set.
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Biography by Eugene Chadbourne
While not as well-known as Stan Getz, this tenor saxophonist has had a similar career, minus the psychological torture. Born Joseph Befumo in Sicily during the mid-'20s, he was a hard bopper whose commercial career took off when he mastered and began recording a world music style, in this case the mambo. A single in this style, enthusiastically entitled This Is Happiness, was a hit in 1951, a status that not surprisingly led to more recording opportunities, including a series of sessions for Prestige featuring top modern jazz players such as drummer Max Roach and pianist Billy Taylor. Vocalist supreme Sarah Vaughan also did well recording Holiday's original composition Serenada. His father was a clarinetist who moved his family to New York City when Holiday was about a half a year in age. Based out of Newark, the saxophonist began leading his own combos as early as the mid-'40s. Holiday's initial recording sessions were done for the King outfit at the outset of the subsequent decade. He featured percussion heavily on his recording dates, wisely making use of players from Machito's Afro-Cubans. Mambo Jazz, a CD of his Prestige sessions, was reissued in 1994. Holiday also has great talent as an abstract painter, some of his canvases using jazz musicians as a theme.