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Happy House

by Chris Kelsey

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1.
Happy House 06:20
2.
Ramblin' 06:24 video
3.
4.
5.
Congeniality 06:50
6.
Lorraine 10:05
7.
8.
Free Improv 06:40
9.
Dee Dee 02:35
10.
Enfan 06:15
11.
12.

about

This is a new remixed and remastered (by Larry Hutter) version of this classic UR recording by Happy House. At the genesis of the Unseen Rain Records label, producer Jack DeSalvo had the idea to get saxophonist Chris Kelsey and trombonist Pat Hall together, intuiting a shared sensibility for forward looking swinging improvisation. Chris and Pat wasted no time in putting together a quartet for an Ornette Coleman repertory project. Kelsey had long been a proponent of Ornette and Hall had recorded the Ornette tune Beauty is a Rare Thing on his first album Multiple Question Choice (UR9998). Powerhouse drummer Dean Sharp and Illuminatti founder and electric bassist Joe Gallant rounded out the quartet.

Unseen Rain released the album to wonderful reviews, including from Downbeat, "Ornette Coleman’s influence over jazz is so powerful and omnipresent, it can seem atmospheric at times, detectable in trace elements or in whole cloth. The latter angle is at work on this lively tribute to Coleman’s early music, by a band of bold players named after a famous Coleman tune.

Taking the early Coleman chordless quartet in a semi-fresh direction, the limber alto (and soprano) turns of Chris Kelsey and the rumbling, rambling pulse of Dean Sharp’s drumming accesses memories of Coleman and original drummer Billy Higgins. But Don Cherry’s trumpet voice has been replaced by Pat Hall’s impressive trombone playing, and even more divergent from the historical source is Joe Gallant’s lanky and sometimes chordsnatching electric bass role. From the cheerful title track and then the popular “Ramblin’,” it is evident that this foursome is channeling a Coleman-centric spirit, at once free and vibrant. A slinky, slow “Legend Of Bebop” is in sharp contrast with the brisk topsy-turvy energy of “Fifth Of Beethoven.”

Throughout, the foursome lays sympathetically into the shape and emotional vibe of the repertoire. The obliquely mournful balladry of “Lorraine” gets its ruminative due, just as the charging “Broadway Blues,” “Dee Dee” and the liberating finale, 'Enfant,' spin out an aptly dizzy path, sounding like a rebel kin to bebop."—Josef Woodard

Pat Hall ruminated about the project thusly, "When presented with the opportunity to put a group together, Chris Kelsey and I quickly decided to do Ornette Coleman’s early stuff.

We talked about how much we loved those records and how it’s so hard to imagine now the controversy this music caused in the late fifties; these quirky, logical melodies that are so familiar to most of us now.

And then we started to lay down some rules. It must swing. That’s what made those records so great, they swung. Ed Blackwell, Billy Higgens, Charlie Haden, Scott LaFaro, Don Cherry and Ornette seemed to have this Vulcan mind-meld connection to each other. The two horns need to breathe, bend, attack, sustain as one.

So with these things in mind we reached out to Dean Sharp and Joe Gallant and after the first rehearsal it was obvious to all of us that this was going to be something really special. The final product of this recording has surpassed my wildest hopes and expectations."— Pat Hall

Engineer Larry Hutter's new mix brings a startling clarity to the entire proceedings, in line with his other remarkable work for the label.

This edition includes alternate takes of both Dee Dee and Enfan.

credits

released May 19, 2019

CHRIS KELSEY - straight alto and soprano saxophone
PAT HALL - trombone
JOE GALLANT - bass
DEAN SHARP - drums

Recorded at Tedesco Studio
Mixed and Mastered by Larry Hutter
Photos and design by Qua’s Eye Graphix
Produced by Jack DeSalvo

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