Sentimental Mood

Bass 'works out' on 'Be-bop', with a vengeance! Solid 'Bop' 'Blues' An exceptional Debut Album, for which Bass has assembled a formidable 'line-up'! Recommended! (The All Music Guide) Here, on this premiere album with Mickey as Leader, Composer, Arranger, Conductor and Featured Artist we find him surrounded by some very old and dear, tried and true friends both socially and in this case, most importantly, professionally. This Album is dedicated to Duke Ellington and Bobby Timmons. One gentleman, an extremely profound influence both Musically and Orchestrally, and the other an equally profound Artist and 'stablemate'. I have often said that the new is because of the old, consequently the old will always be a part of the new; such is the attitude of Mickey Bass, who will tell you without the slightest hesitation or reservation, that it was Jimmy Blanton, Oscar Pettiford and Ray Brown who were the men to first establish what modern Bass playing was to be about. They were inventors of their time... The new wave as it were. 'In those days when I was coming along, you didn't just walk up on the stand and play without having your stuff together, or you would find yourself, both Musically and also socially 'ostracized'. That's the way it was, and it was beautiful because you were being silently instructed that you must play it right, or not at all. You had to learn the Music, learn your Instrument, and learn it right!' Nowadays everyone wants to be 'cool'. Some of the players, who can't quite master the Music or it's' science, make what they think are a lot of 'relative' sounds, and then they call it 'free' or 'outside' or 'space'. Quite often, this would appear to be an attempt to disguise their lack of musical knowledge. They listen to 'Trane' and Ornette and a few others and then they try to imitate them. When you explain to these same young people, that their idols, such as the above mentioned players, spent many private, agonizing hours toiling over their Music, and their Instruments.....they then have very little to say. Mickey Bass is a man who is always doing something or getting ready to do something: 'I love Be-Bop, I grew up in it, and on it. I want to perpetuate it, because there are a lot of Musical Architects who are no longer with us..... There is no future without a past, as far as the Music is concerned'. Mickey Bass is a good man, a good friend and a damn good Bass player. ( from the liner notes written by Ted Ross ) 'I believe in playing it 'straight-ahead', and also in playing the 'changes' says Bass. Rooted in the great traditions set out by Ellington, Parker and Gillespie, Bass has followed his philosophy to a tee with standards like Dukes' 'Caravan' and 'In A Sentimental Mood' and on the Dietz/Schwartz classic 'Alone Together', plus a trio of originals. Ably supported by Saxophonist Chico Freeman, Trumpeter Oliver Beener, Trombonist Kiani Zawadi, Pianists John Hicks and Mickey Tucker plus Percussionists Michael Carvin and Ray Mantilla, Bass sets down solid channels for the soloists through his steady playing and provocative arrangements. The well-traveled Bassist has strong credentials; in addition to his own group heard here, Mickey has worked with Jackie McLean, Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Rollins, Carmen McRae and Billy Eckstine. Except for an outing in his own 'Bahama Mama', Bass stays mostly in the background, leaving the limelight for his cohorts. Among the galvanizing soloists, the dynamic Freeman cuts an especially impressive swath. On Tenor forays in 'Alone Together' and 'Caravan', he plunges forward with biting tone and Coltrane-like intensity. For 'Sentimental Mood' his Soprano soars with rhapsodic lyricism.' (Chuck Berg) 'Freeman enjoys a privileged moment on this Mickey Bass LP. Bass' arrangement of 'In A Sentimental Mood' is a lush setting for his warm soprano. Elsewhere, however, the mood is far from sentimental - this is 'no-holds-barred' 'Hard-bop', with even 'Alone Together' cadenced, and sent marching along at a militant bounce - and Freemans' Tenor solos on the remaining