Manny Albam & Ernie Wilkins- The Drum Suite

dscn5276-800x790This was a pricey one at $4.00.  It looked interesting enough.  Somehow, I can not get away from those jazz drum albums. I also think that I had just seen Whiplash around the time of this purchase.

Manny Albam
Manny Albam
ernie-wilkins-2
Ernie Wilkins

 

 

 

I realize that jazz drum albums are not everybody’s cup of tea.  This album, released in 1956, features six movements written expressly for drummers.  However, this is far from an album of just drum solos.  The songs are led by the orhestra with extended drum breaks.  The band leaders on this, Manny Albam and Ernie Wilkins were both sax men who took up arranging and composing.  The drummers on this record are Osie Johnson, Gus Johnson, Teddy Sommer, and Don Lamond, all accomplished in the world of jazz.  These men are also all dead today.

O Johnson
O Johnson
G Johnson
G Johnson
Sommer
Sommer
Lamond
Lamond

The Allmusic review states that this album is free of gimmicks and I can agree with this. Although it is a drum-centric album, in my mind, the drums do not steal the show. It is pretty much a straight jazz album. Albam and Wilkins’ arrangements are the star here.  dscn5277-800x796

Link to Allmusic Review.

Anyway, for a sample, I went with the last movement “The Octopus” which features all the drummers together at the beginning and the end of the movement.donlamond_leetanner

This is a decent record but I was really hoping for a more gimmicky, solo driven record with less horns and more drums.  And although they succeeded in producing a good album that was not drum overkill, well perhaps I am that minority that was looking for overkill. Meh for me.

 

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