"Overseas" is an album by pianist Tommy Flanagan and his trio, recorded in 1957. It was Flanagan's debut album as a leader and was made in Sweden whilst touring with J. J. Johnson.
Pianist Tommy Flanagan was touring Europe as part of trombonist J. J. Johnson's band in 1957 when he was given the chance to lead a recording session for the first time. Flanagan added bassist Wilbur Little and drummer Elvin Jones for the session in Stockholm on August 15, and this album was the result. Most of the compositions were Flanagan originals.
Overseas was released by Prestige Records. Very similar selections of tracks were also released as Tommy Flanagan Trio by Metronome and as Trio Overseas by Prestige. All of the tracks from the session were later issued by DIW as The Complete Overseas.
The Penguin Guide to Jazz complimented Flanagan's touch and "trim melodic ideas".
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"Relaxin' at Camarillo" is a composition by jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. It is inspired by his six-month stay in Camarillo State Hospital in Ventura County, California, after serving a prison term for arson and resisting arrest. The tune is a blues in C major and has become a jazz standard.
The title "Relaxin' at Camarillo" was a reference to Parker's stay in Camarillo State Hospital in Ventura County, California, a mental health inpatient facility. He had been sent there to recuperate from alcohol and drug addiction after he was briefly jailed for setting fire to his Los Angeles hotel room bed sheets and running naked through the hotel lobby while intoxicated. According to musicologist and Parker scholar Henry Martin, Parker wanted to call the tune "Past Due", and was not happy with the title assigned by Dial Records that referenced the difficult episode in his life:
The title of the piece was apparently Ross Russell’s and refers to Parker’s recuperation at Camarillo State Hospital from July 1946 through January 1947. Parker himself wanted to call the piece “Past Due” but was apparently overruled by Russell. In several Bird Flight broadcasts, Phil Schaap has suggested that Russell may have insisted on the title in analogy to a recording by Muggsy Spanier called “Relaxin’ at the Touro” (Spanier-Bushkin, 1939), which referred to [Spanier's] recovery from alcoholism at a hospital in New Orleans.
After release, Bird was able to record it along with three originals by trumpeter Howard McGhee: "Cheers", "Stupendous" and "Carvin the Bird". Parker recorded the tune with McGhee on trumpet, Dodo Marmarosa on piano, Wardell Gray on tenor, Barney Kessell on guitar, Red Callender on bass and Don Lamond on drums. The tune was originally recorded in C major, and has become a jazz standard. Ted Gioia, commenting in West Coast Jazz: Modern Jazz in California, 1945-1960, has referred to the original recording as a "sinuous blues", a 12-bar blues that is a "further testimony to the subtlety of Parker's rhythmic phrasing". Gioia considers it to have been one of the finest recordings Parker made in California. Roy Porter and David Keller consider "Relaxin' at Camarillo" to be a "great bop classic".
Guitarist Joe Pass recorded it in 1964 for his album Joy Spring. Saxophonist Joe Henderson released an album of the same name, featuring the recording, in 1979. It was later recorded by pianist Cedar Walton. Jazz Journal International stated in 2009 that Walton "provides a stimulating introduction to Parker's Relaxin' At Camarillo. Cedar's solo here is one of his best on a disc that is chock full of glowing solos."
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Tommy Flanagan - Overseas (1957).
Tracklist:
1. Relaxin' at Camarillo (Charlie Parker).
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Personnel:
1. Tommy Flanagan - piano
2. Wilbur Little - bass
3. Elvin Jones - drums.
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Genre: Jazz/Bop
Recorded: at Metronome Studio, Stockholm, Sweden; August 15, 1957.
Format: LP
Release: 1958 (US)
Label: Prestige - PRLP 7134
Producer - Bob Weinstock
Design - Esmond Edwards
Engineer - Gosta Wiholm.