He takes some nice solos on that record. "Lava", as I think the liner notes mention, is an "Avalon" contrafact. He gets to comp more on some tunes than others...
"Segment" is pretty hot for Ed . "Don't You Know I Care" and "Careless Love" have some good, laid-back bluesy solos from Ed too.
Two years earlier, Concord put him in the rhythm section for Benny Carter's "A Gentleman and His Music". I'd say he gets less spotlight there than on the Peplowski date. Other than the Rosemary Clooney albums, he doesn't show up as a backing musician on Concord all that much, unfortunately. The Rob McConnell Jive 5 album is one more Concord small-group date with Ed, and he doesn't have to fight for space with a pianist.
Yesterday I found a place selling a download of the 1996 tribute album "Portraits In Jazz: A Tribute To Wes Montgomery" (which is so rare there's not even a listing for it on discogs.com).
Ed fronts a trio for "September Song" and "Twisted Blues", and they are brilliant. I have no idea who is on bass and drums--probably some of his regular associates like Neil Swainson and Terry Clarke or Barry Elmes--but they do a great job too. The site is based in the U.K. and looks legit to me (and my transaction went smoothly, via PayPal), but I'd never heard of it. No liner notes were included in my download, just a cover image.
VARIOUS / 7 ARTS ENTERTAINMENT - Portraits In Jazz: A Tribute To Wes Montgomery - Boomkat
I've been wanting to hear this Wes tribute album ever since I read this story shortly after Ed died (which kind of stands out from most other remembrances that appeared after his death):
Bill King - The Radioland Jazz Session
The stage had been set and microphones strategically placed. This would be the setting for a significant undertaking between me and my Jazz Report Magazine/Radioland Records partner Greg Sutherland. From 1995 – 1997 we recorded three tributes to giants of jazz: Oscar Peterson, Wes Montgomery and Stan Getz. This began as a wish list and cause to bring together some of Canada’s finest jazz musicians to a specific project. In every sense, the projects succeeded beyond expectation.
The Wes Montgomery tribute – Portraits in Jazz in its own universe, is consequential. Over two sessions the east side of Canada was represented by six distinctive stylists: Peter Leitch, Reg Schwager, Rob Piltch, Ted Quinlan, Sonny Greenwich, and Ed Bickert. Each artist came with a rhythm section of their choosing; an original or standard with Wes in mind and a reinterpretation of a Montgomery classic.
Every musician has a routine, and at times a peculiar set of rituals that play out before the audio engineer is set to press record. On this evening in 1996, Ed Bickert was “game on.” We worked 6-midnight – two songs in three-hour segments. Ed was slotted in the middle. With amp in place and his “living/breathing” Fender Telecaster perfectly situated on a chair next to him, we anticipated it would only be “punch the button and roll.”
Not the case!
Ed may have physically been in the room, but elsewhere in thought. A good portion of time passes when Ed returns to his seat, lifts the guitar and fiddles with the dials to his amp. While listening, we notice Ed’s sound growing darker and darker – more bass colouring and less treble – nothing that matched the previous players. Rather than interfere, Greg and I decided we’d leave all production fixes to mixdown sessions.
With rhythm section in place, two songs were chosen – “September Song” and Wes Montgomery’s “Twisted Blues,” we were ready to roll. Then comes the lighting of the Marlboro. Ed smoked the hard stuff – not those chemically enhanced menthol types or cigarette “lites.” Bickert gently places the Telecaster aside, steps in front of the wood paneling then raises the glorious pleasure stick to the lips, lights and drifts out of reach of the session at hand. Meanwhile, Greg and I begin to estimate the length of time this journey will require.
Both of us lose track.
Ed was now on “planet Ed”, and Greg was more than willing to enlist a search party to rescue. I cautioned and suggested we wait, knowing the recording will most likely be a “one take” situation. That it was! Ed eventually found his comfort zone and delivered two remarkable responses. To this day, I can’t help but marvel at the ingenuity in those tracks. The chordal patterns and sweet, sweet improvised patches are note-to-note perfection.
Before playback, we tinkered with Ed’s sound. Oh man, were we setting ourselves up for the “misplay of the century.” I asked the engineer “can we get a sound something closer to Pat Metheny”- and that he did. Ed arrives with Marlboro burning, listens, then nods his approval. Fuck me! He went for it. To this day, those two tracks are crystalline in their sound and utterly brilliant.
UPDATE: A similar tribute record was recorded for Stan Getz as part of the same series, and Bickert backs up Rick Wilkins in a quartet for 2 tracks. Also available for download from Boomkat.com:
VARIOUS / 7 ARTS ENTERTAINMENT - The Power Of Beauty: A Tribute To Stan Getz - Boomkat
Ed plays on "I'm All for You" (a Wilkins original that sounds kind of like Blue Note hard bop from 64-66) and "You Go to My Head", with Ron Collins on bass and Barry Elmes on drums. The tracks naturally sound like outtakes from Ed's "I Wished on the Moon" album. Ed gets decent amount of space on these tracks, which are both 6+ minutes.
Enharmonics
Today, 09:59 AM in Theory