Perfection: Harry James in the Late '50s/Early '60s

Two big bands that knock me out from the late 1950s and early 1960s are the ones led by Count Basie and Harry James. Both could swing the house sideways, but both knew when enough was enough. Basie, of course, invented the concept of just enough, but James's decade-straddling band is often overlooked for the same quality. James's near-stalker passion for Basie is well known ("Two O'Clock Jump) but less known is that during this period, they shared the same arrangers, including Neal Hefti and Ernie Wilkins. Bill Holman and Jack Haskell were also fundamental to James's updated swing sound.

Both bands packed a lyrical punch built on a riff, and their charts were always tasty. Today, I'm going to prove my point with six Perfection tracks of the James Gang in the stereo era [photo above of Harry James]:

Here's Neal Hefti's Bells (April 1958), with Harry James (tp); Nick Buono, Ollie Mitchell and Bob Rolfe (tp); Ray Sims and Bob Edmondson (tb); Ernie Tack (btb); Willie Smith (as); Herb Lorden (cl,as); Sam Firmature (ts); Bob Poland (ts,bar); Ernie Small (bar); Jack Perciful (p); Dennis Budimir (g); Russ Phillips (b) and Jackie Mills (d)...

Here's Ernie Wilkins's Fair and Warmer (1958), with Harry James, Rob Turk, Nick Buono, Bud Billings and Vern Guertin (tp); Ray Sims and Dick "Slyde" Hyde (tb); Dick McQuary (b-tb); Willie Smith and Pat Chartrand (as); Sam Firmature (ts); Modesto Briseno (ts,bar); Ernie Small (bar,fl,tb); Jack Perciful (p); Terry Rosen (g); Russ Phillips (b) and Tony DeNicola (d)...

Here's Bill Holman's Here's One, with the same band...

Here's Jack Haskell's J. Walkin' (1958), with Harry James, Nick Buono, John Audino, Ollie Mitchell and Bob Rolfe (tp); Ray Sims and Bob Edmondson (tb); Ernie Tack (b-tb); Willie Smith and Herb Lorden (as,cl); Sam Firmature and Ernie Small (ts); Bob Poland (bar); Jack Perciful (p); Dave Koonse (g); Marvin Shore (b) and Jackie Mills (d)...

Here's Wilkins's Get Off the Stand (May 1959), with Harry James, Nick Buono, John Audino, Ollie Mitchell and Bob Rolfe (tp); Ray Sims and Bob Edmondson (tb); Ernie Tack (b-tb); Willie Smith and Herb Lorden (as,cl); Sam Firmature and Ernie Small (ts); Bob Poland (bar); Jack Perciful (p); Dave Koonse (g); Marvin Shore (b) and Jackie Mills (d)...

And here's Neal Hefti's The Creeper (May 1961), with Harry James, Rob Turk, Nick Buono, Bud Billings and Vern Guertin (tp); Ray Sims and Dick "Slyde" Hyde (tb); Dick McQuary (b-tb; Willie Smith and Pat Chartrand (as); Sam Firmature (ts); Modesto Briseno (ts,bar); Ernie Small (bar,fl,tb); Jack Perciful (p); Terry Rosen (g); Russ Phillips (b) and Tony DeNicola... 

Other Perfection tracks in this ongoing series...

• Paul Desmond and Jim Hall: Any Other Time, go here.
• John Coltrane: You Say You Care, go here.
• Quincy Jones: Funk Junction, go here.
• Art Farmer's Work of Art, go here.
• Miles Davis: A Gal in Calico, go here.
• Gene Krupa: Mulligan Stew, go here.
• Dave Brubeck: The Duke, go here.
• Horace Silver: The Back Beat, go here.
• Horace Parlan: Up & Down, go here.
• Dexter Gordon: Society Red, go here.
• Barney Kessel: You Go to My Head, go here.
• Count Basie: Corner Pocket, go here.
• Herbie Mann: Manteca, go here.
• Donald Byrd: Bronze Dance, go here.
• George Shearing: I'll Be Around, go here.
• Ammons & Stitt: You Talk That Talk, go here.
• Count Basie: Blues in My Heart, go here.
• Moonlight in Vermont, go here.
• Johnny Griffin / Matthew Gee, Here, go here.
• Jimmy Smith / Stanley Turrentine, When I Grow Too Old to Dream, go here.
• Chet Baker: Estate, go here.
• Jazz Studio 1: Tenderly, go here.
• Herb Pomeroy: Down Home Outing, go here.
• Frank Sinatra: There's a Small Hotel, go here.
• Bill Harris Herd: Blackstrap, go here.
• Gerry Mulligan: Westwood Walk, go here.
• Red Garland/Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis: We'll Be Together Again, go here.
• Bill Evans: Reflections in D, go here.
• Ted McNabb & Co.: Mountain Greenery, go here.
• Maynard Ferguson: Fox Hunt, go here.
• Serge Chaloff & the Herdsmen: The Most!, go here.
• Maynard Ferguson: Starfire, go here.
• Urbie Green, Please, go here.
• Machito, Conversation, go here.
• David Allyn, Love Is a Serious Thing, go here.
• Lennie Tristano, Wow, go here.
• Teddy Charles, Borodin Bossa Nova, go here.
• Gerry Mulligan, Night Lights, go here.
• Tommy Flanagan, In the Blue of Evening, go here.
• Stan Getz, Stella by Starlight, go here.
• Erroll Garner, It's the Talk of the Town, go here.
• Sonny Stitt, Miss Ann, Lisa, Sue and Sadie, go here.
• Jimmy Forrest, Soul Street, go here.