Into the Hot (Gil Evans album)

Last updated
Into the Hot
Into the Hot.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJanuary 1962 [1]
RecordedSeptember 14, October 6, 10 & 31, 1961
Studio Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Genre Jazz
Length41:30
Label Impulse!
A-9
Producer Creed Taylor
Gil Evans chronology
Out of the Cool
(1961)
Into the Hot
(1962)
The Individualism of Gil Evans
(1964)
Cecil Taylor chronology
New York City R&B
(1961)
Into the Hot
(1962)
Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come
(1962)

Into the Hot is an album released under the auspices of Gil Evans featuring a large ensemble under the direction of John Carisi and the Cecil Taylor Unit. [2] The album was released on the Impulse! label in 1962.

Contents

Composer/trumpeter John Carisi's three tracks are performed by an orchestra drawn from the top ranks of New York jazz and studio musicians and features solos by Phil Woods.

Cecil Taylor's contribution consists of two tracks by Taylor and a quintet with Archie Shepp, Jimmy Lyons, Henry Grimes and Sunny Murray. The group expanded to a septet with the addition of Ted Curson and Roswell Rudd on a third track.

The Cecil Taylor recordings from this album were also released on Mixed in 1998, along with tracks by Roswell Rudd's sextet, as well as on The Dedication Series Vol. III: The New Breed (1978). [3]

Background

Evans had recorded his previous album, Out of the Cool , for Impulse! in late 1960. Despite the fact that it received excellent reviews, Evans decided to back out of his contract with the label, as he wasn't sure he had enough material for a new album, and had also decided to leave Impulse! for Verve, following producer Creed Taylor. Evans then handed over his remaining Impulse! session dates to Johnny Carisi and Cecil Taylor, each of whom produced enough material for one side of an LP. Impulse! released the new album, Into the Hot, with Evans' photo on the cover, which was visually similar to that of Out of the Cool, and the music attributed to "The Gil Evans Orchestra". However, according to Evans biographer Stephanie Stein Crease, the album "was not at all a Gil Evans album. Gil did not perform on it, nor did his orchestra, nor was there any of his music on it. When asked why he chose Carisi and Taylor for this windfall, Evans, who'd admired their work as composers, said that was the only way he could hear their music." [4]

Carisi recalled: Evans "got ahold of Cecil Taylor and me... He got his own group, I got up my own group, and Gil acted as an A&R man. He sat there in the booth, and asked for certain things to be played over again... he didn't write one note. If you read the liner notes, you see that everything was done by other people." [5] Similarly, Creed Taylor reflected: "We just kind of wound up with that Into the Hot thing... I just don't look back. I was there and that was that." [5]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Down Beat Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [6]
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [7]

In a review for AllMusic, Scott Yanow described Carisi's contributions to the album as "disappointingly forgettable", but called Taylor's music "quite adventurous and exciting, the main reason to acquire this somewhat misleading set." [2] Mark Corroto, writing for All About Jazz, commented: "Evans' release introduced many listeners to Taylor and the revolutionary artists Jimmy Lyons, Archie Shepp, Roswell Rudd, Henry Grimes, and Sunny Murray. The music... is, for lack of a better term, swingin.' Lyons and Shepp's saxophones address the growing storm whipped up by Ornette Coleman while the pulse of the music threatens to tear itself away from the bebop revolution. Revisiting this skillfully remastered music sixty years on might not give us that original 'shock of the new' experience, but it remains quite surprising. Taylor orchestrates not unlike Charles Mingus as a means to proffer his growing confidence in his keyboard language." [8]

In an interview, pianist Alexander Hawkins stated the following re. Taylor's contribution to the album: "it's absolutely gripping; and more than all of his other albums, it's a Rosetta Stone for understanding where he came from, and what was to come, and how he fits into contemporary music generally – not just jazz. It's got the characteristic of a manifesto. I can't think of anything like it! It somehow shows directions he didn't take, which makes it even more rewarding and inspirational. He's so quixotic that you can't say his entire language was mapped out – but there's a lot here... It grabbed me from the start. I'm a complete Ellington junkie, so I understood this record immediately – if not fully, then intuitively. It's so Ellingtonian in concept as far as composition goes. Plus, there are definitely pianistic precedents in there – not just Ellington, but Tatum, Powell and Monk." [9]

Pierre Giroux, writing for MusicWeb International, remarked: "John Carisi... was a self-taught trumpeter of little note, with one exception. He penned the composition 'Israel' which Miles Davis recorded as part of his Birth Of The Cool album and also for which Bill Evans had a particular affinity. None of Carisi's compositions written for this session... come even remotely close to the quality of that previously mentioned piece, even though he tries to emulate some of the touches and flourishes that Evans produced with such luminescent ease. Cecil Taylor's efforts are purely in the 'avant-garde' style and are not for the faint of heart. While the quality of the musicianship is undoubted and the execution is assertive, it is well beyond anything Evans would have imagined." [10]

In a review for Jazz History Online, Amy Duncan wrote: "Following his 1961 big band masterpiece, Out of the Cool, one might expect Gil Evans' next album to be a further development of the same theme, but that's not what happened. Instead, Into the Hot gave exposure to two other musician/composers, trumpeter John Carisi and pianist Cecil Taylor. According to one of the participants, Evans' only role was go out and get the sandwiches at lunchtime... Overall, Into the Hot isn't everyone’s cup of tea, but it's an excellent showcase for two of jazz's outstanding figures." [11]

Track listing

  1. "Moon Taj" (John Carisi) - 8:25
  2. "Pots" (Cecil Taylor) - 5:50
  3. "Angkor Wat" (Carisi) - 6:24
  4. "Bulbs" (Taylor) - 6:55
  5. "Barry's Tune" (Carisi) - 3:43
  6. "Mixed" (Taylor) - 10:13

Recorded September 14 (track 3), October 6 (track 5), October 10 (tracks 2, 4, & 6) & October 31 (track 1), 1961

Personnel

Supervised and Conducted by GIL EVANS

The John Carisi Orchestra, tracks 1, 3, & 5

The Cecil Taylor Unit, tracks 2, 4, & 6

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Lacy (saxophonist)</span> American jazz musician (1934–2004)

Steve Lacy was an American jazz saxophonist and composer recognized as one of the important players of soprano saxophone. Coming to prominence in the 1950s as a progressive dixieland musician, Lacy went on to a long and prolific career. He worked extensively in experimental jazz and to a lesser extent in free improvisation, but Lacy's music was typically melodic and tightly-structured. Lacy also became a highly distinctive composer, with compositions often built out of little more than a single questioning phrase, repeated several times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archie Shepp</span> American jazz musician

Archie Shepp is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Johnson (jazz musician)</span> American musician (1941–2021)

Howard Lewis Johnson was an American jazz musician, known mainly for his work on tuba and baritone saxophone, although he also played the bass clarinet, trumpet, and other reed instruments. He is known to have expanded the tuba’s known capacities in jazz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Curson</span> American jazz trumpeter

Theodore Curson was an American jazz trumpeter.

<i>Birth of the Cool</i> Miles Davis album

Birth of the Cool is a compilation album by American jazz trumpeter and bandleader Miles Davis, released in February 1957 by Capitol Records. It compiles eleven tracks recorded by Davis's nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 1949 and 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roswell Rudd</span> American jazz trombonist and composer

Roswell Hopkins Rudd Jr. was an American jazz trombonist and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Mantler</span> Austrian jazz trumpeter and composer

Michael Mantler is an Austrian avant-garde jazz trumpeter and composer of contemporary music.

<i>The Jazz Composers Orchestra</i> (album) 1968 studio album by Jazz Composers Orchestra

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra is a 1968 album by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra recorded over a period of six months with Michael Mantler as composer, leader and producer. Many of the key figures in avant-garde jazz from the time contributed on the album including Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Gato Barbieri, Larry Coryell, Roswell Rudd, and Carla Bley. The album's finale features a two-part concerto for Cecil Taylor and orchestra.

John E. Carisi was an American trumpeter and composer.

Robin Kenyatta was an American jazz alto saxophonist.

<i>Four for Trane</i> 1965 studio album by Archie Shepp

Four for Trane is a studio album by tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp released on Impulse! Records in 1965. Four of the five tracks were composed and originally recorded by John Coltrane and rearranged by Shepp and trombonist Roswell Rudd. The other featured players are trumpeter Alan Shorter, alto saxophonist John Tchicai, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Charles Moffett. Coltrane himself co-produced the album alongside Bob Thiele. The album was Shepp's first release for Impulse!

<i>New York City R&B</i> 1972 studio album by Buell Neidlinger / Cecil Taylor

New York City R&B is a 1961 free jazz album originally recorded at a session by bassist Buell Neidlinger but subsequently reissued under joint names with the pianist Cecil Taylor.

<i>Mama Too Tight</i> 1967 studio album by Archie Shepp

Mama Too Tight is an album by Archie Shepp released on Impulse! Records in 1967. The album contains tracks recorded by Shepp, trumpeter Tommy Turrentine, trombonists Grachan Moncur III and Roswell Rudd, tuba player Howard Johnson, clarinetist Perry Robinson, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Beaver Harris in August of 1966.

<i>Cell Walk for Celeste</i> 1988 studio album by Cecil Taylor

Cell Walk for Celeste is an album by Cecil Taylor recorded for the Candid label in January 1961 but not released until 1988. The album features performances by Taylor with Archie Shepp, Buell Neidlinger and Denis Charles. Additional recordings from these sessions were released on New York City R&B in 1971 and Jumpin' Punkins in 1987.

<i>Jumpin Punkins</i> 1977 studio album by Cecil Taylor

Jumpin' Punkins is an album by Cecil Taylor recorded for the Candid label in January 1961 but not issued in the States until 1987. The first release was in Japan by Victor in 1977 as Cecil Taylor All Stars Featuring Buell Neidlinger. The album features performances by Taylor with Archie Shepp, Buell Neidlinger and Denis Charles with Billy Higgins, Clark Terry, Roswell Rudd, Steve Lacy and Charles Davis added on one track. Additional recordings from these sessions were released on New York City R&B in 1971 and Cell Walk for Celeste in 1988.

<i>Mixed</i> (album) 1998 compilation album by Cecil Taylor/Roswell Rudd

Mixed is a compilation album of two avant-garde jazz sessions featuring performances by the Cecil Taylor Unit and the Roswell Rudd Sextet. The album was released on the Impulse! label in 1998 and collects three performances by Taylor with Archie Shepp, Jimmy Lyons, Henry Grimes and Sunny Murray with Ted Curson and Roswell Rudd added on one track which were originally released under Gil Evans' name on Into the Hot (1961). The remaining tracks feature Rudd with Giuseppi Logan, Lewis Worrell, Charlie Haden, Beaver Harris and Robin Kenyatta and were originally released as Everywhere (1966). Essentially these are the three Cecil Taylor tracks from the "Gil Evans album" teamed with Roswell Rudd's Impulse album Everywhere, in its entirety.

Discography for jazz pianist Cecil Taylor.

<i>Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants)</i> 1985 studio album by Cecil Taylor

Winged Serpent is an album by Cecil Taylor recorded in Milan, Italy on October 22–24, 1984 and released on the Soul Note label. The album features performances by Taylor with Jimmy Lyons, Enrico Rava, Tomasz Stanko, Frank Wright, John Tchicai, Gunter Hampel, Karen Borca, Andre Martinez, William Parker and Rashid Bakr who are billed as The Orchestra of Two Continents.

<i>Communication</i> (Jazz Composers Orchestra album) 1965 live album by Jazz Composers Orchestra

Communication is the debut album by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra featuring compositions by Michael Mantler and Carla Bley performed by Paul Bley, Steve Lacy, Jimmy Lyons, Roswell Rudd, Archie Shepp, John Tchicai, Fred Pirtle, Willie Ruff, Ken McIntyre, Robin Kenyatta, Bob Carducci, Kent Carter, Steve Swallow, Milford Graves, and Barry Altschul. The album was released on the Fontana label in 1965. AllMusic described it as "one of the masterpieces of creative music in the '60s".

<i>Everywhere</i> (Roswell Rudd album) 1967 studio album by Roswell Rudd

Everywhere is an album by American jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd featuring studio performances recorded in July 1966 for the Impulse! label.

References

  1. "Billboard". February 17, 1962.
  2. 1 2 3 Yanow, Scott. "Gil Evans Orchestra: Into the Hot". AllMusic. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  3. Cecil Taylor Sessionography accessed 9 July 2009
  4. Crease, Stephanie Stein (2002). Gil Evans: Out of the Cool: His Life and Music. A Cappella. p. 248.
  5. 1 2 Kahn, Ashley (2006). The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. W. W. Norton. p. 56.
  6. Down Beat: May 24, 1962 vol. 29, no. 11
  7. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (1992). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP and Cassette. Penguin Books. p. 354.
  8. Corroto, Mark (March 10, 2021). "Cecil Taylor: Mixed To Unit Structures Revisited". All About Jazz. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  9. Hawkins, Alexander (January 11, 2019). "Life-Changing Albums: Gil Evans' 'Into the Hot'". JazzWise. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  10. Giroux, Pierre (2012). "Gil Evans: Out Of The Cool... Into The Hot". MusicWeb International. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  11. Duncan, Amy (March 5, 2019). "Gil Evans: Into The Hot". Jazz History Online. Retrieved March 24, 2021.