"Rare finds" week continues today with pianist Billy Taylor's Right Here, Right Now!, from November 1963, arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson. Like my post yesterday on Thad Jones arranging and composing for organist Jimmy Smith's Portuguese Soul (1973), today's album is even less well-known. It's long out of print on vinyl and, to the best of my knowledge, it never made the leap to the digital format, not even in Japan. Which is mind-blowing, considering the extraordinary quality of the album. [Photo above of Billy Taylor]
Recorded over three days in New York for Capitol and produced by Dave Cavanaugh, Right Here, Right Now! featured a knock-out band. On the songs That's Where It Is, A Lot of Livin' to Do, Right Here Right Now!, I Believe in You and Easy Walker, the band included Snooky Young, Ernie Royal, Doc Severinsen and Clark Terry (tp); Britt Woodman, Quentin Jackson and Urbie Green (tb); Tony Studd (b-tb); Phil Woods and Romeo Penque (as); Jerome Richardson and Stan Webb (ts); Danny Bank (bar) Billy Taylor (p); Ben Tucker (b); Grady Tate (d) and Oliver Nelson (arr,cond).
On the songs Afterthoughts, Stolen Moments, Give Me the Simple Life, Something Always Happens, Soul Sister, Freedom and I Wish I Knew, the band had a few changes: Joe Newman, John Bello and Thad Jones (tp) replaced Royal, Severinsen and Terry; and Wayne Andre (tb) replaced Green.
The arranging is some of Nelon's most engaging modernist work. Rather than ride roughshod over Taylor, Nelson sensitively wrote around Taylor, who is front and center with his trio. The band slides in and out to frame Taylor's improvised piano, and the results are beautiful. Taylor wrote Soul Sister, Easy Walker, That's Where It Is, Afterthoughts, Right Here Right Now (co-written with Ben Tucker), Freedom (also co-written with Tucker), Something Always Happens and I Wish I Knew, Taylor's first recording of I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to Be Free.
The album also features the third recording of Nelson's Stolen Moments. The first was recorded by Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis on Trane Whistle (1960), when the song was known as The Stolen Moment. The second and most famous version was on Nelson's own The Blues and the Abstract Truth (1961). The Taylor version opens with a bevy of flutes running the melody line followed by Taylor improvising throughout, with the orchestra echoing the melody . [Photo above of Oliver Nelson]
I'm still baffled that Capitol and today's many reissue labels have missed this one. Hopefully one of them will make Right Here, Right Now! available digitally. It's a masterpiece still sitting at the bottom of the analog ocean.
Oliver Nelson died in 1975; Billy Taylor died in 2010.
JazzWax notes: For my JazzWax interview with Billy Taylor go here for Part 1 (additional parts can be accessed via the link at the top of each post above the red date).
Billy Taylor and Oliver Nelson collaborated on a second album, Midnight Piano, in October 1964. More on this one at a later date.
JazzWax tracks: If you want the album and can't wait until a label gets around to reissuing it, you'll find it on vinyl at Amazon and on eBay.
JazzWax clips: Here's Stolen Moments...
Here's Afterthoughts...
And here's I Believe in You...
A special thanks to Dennis Galloway.