Deep in the Stacks: Your Daily Jazz LP Podcast
Every day, Danny from Kissa Kissa -- the Japanese-style jazz vinyl bar in Crown Heights, Brooklyn -- pulls one album from the stacks and tells you who made it, why it matters, and what to listen for. Three minutes, one record you need to hear. Calendar-driven picks tied to recording dates and artist birthdays, plus deep cuts from the Kissa Kissa collection.
Deep in the Stacks: Your Daily Jazz LP Podcast
Serenade To A Bus Seat — Clark Terry Quintet (Riverside Records, 1957)
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On this date in 1957, Clark Terry walked into a New York studio with one of the most underrated rhythm sections in jazz history, and cut an album that somehow slipped through the cracks. This is Deep in the Stacks, today's album, Serenade to a Bus Seat by the Clark Terry Quintet. Clark Terry was 36 and still playing in Duke Ellington's orchestra when he made this record for Riverside. He was moonlighting as a leader, and the quintet he assembled was ridiculous. Johnny Griffin on tenor, Winton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. That rhythm section was the engine behind Miles Davis at exactly the same moment. Griffin was tearing through the New York scene with a ferocity that would soon make him a household name among jazz listeners. Terry chose eight tracks that let everyone stretch out, from Bebop standards like Donna Lee to his own quirky original compositions. The title track Serenade to a Bus Seat sounds like exactly what it is, Terry's wry tribute to life on the road, touring city to city, but somehow this album never got the attention it deserved. Maybe it came out at the wrong moment, right in the middle of the hard bop explosion when every label was flooding the market. Riverside folded a few years later, and the record disappeared. Start with the title track Serenade to a bus seat. Terry's trumpet enters with this melody that's simultaneously lonesome and sly, like he's making fun of his own road weariness while still feeling it. That's Terry at his most conversational, never showing off, just talking through his horn, but when the quintet wants to burn, they absolutely can. Jump to boomerang for the other side of this group. Serenade to a Bus Seat by Clark Terry Quintet. Sometimes the best records are the ones that got away the first time around. I'm Danny from Kissakissa in Brooklyn. Go put on a record, we'll see you tomorrow.