Howard McGhee – Maggie’s Back In Town!

The return of “Maggie”

“Maggie” was Howard McGhee’s nickname, giving Maggie’s Back In Town!! a personal meaning that Nat Hentoff emphasised in the original liner notes. By 1961 the trumpeter was again making a clear presence on the jazz scene. On June 26 he recorded this album in Los Angeles with Phineas Newborn Jr., Leroy Vinnegar and Shelly Manne. It is a quartet without a second horn: McGhee’s trumpet is joined by piano, double bass and drums. Seven selections document this particular stage of his renewed recording activity.

McGhee had experienced the movement from swing into bebop at close quarters, with earlier work in major bands and among the musicians developing modern jazz. For this 1961 session, his current understanding of his own voice was equally important. Speaking to Hentoff, he stressed his wish to play according to his own musical feelings. The album gives that intention a specific setting: original material, compositions by fellow musicians and familiar standards, with three partners connected to the active Contemporary recording world in Los Angeles.

Players with overlapping histories

McGhee had worked with Leroy Vinnegar at the Town Hill in Los Angeles, where “Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise” was part of their repertoire. The studio date therefore drew on experience developed outside the recording room. Vinnegar’s double bass and Shelly Manne’s drums join Phineas Newborn Jr.’s piano. Newborn had also played with McGhee shortly beforehand on Together Again!!!!. The four musicians came to the session through different paths, with several existing connections helping to place the new recording within an ongoing working community.

Lester Koenig produced the album, and Roy DuNann handled the recording at Contemporary. A William Claxton photograph on the back cover identifies the session date. Such details locate the record in a concrete situation: one quartet, one day and seven selections. That setting is particularly appropriate for an album whose title announces a return. McGhee’s renewed presence is expressed through the work itself, with partners who allow his trumpet to operate within a clearly defined instrumental group rather than a crowded gathering of additional guest soloists.

Connections through the compositions

Teddy Edwards contributes to the record as a composer. Both “Sunset Eyes” and the extended title piece are his works, although he does not play saxophone on the album. McGhee’s own opening “Demon Chase” also has an Edwards connection: he told Hentoff that the title was inspired by the energy of Edwards’ young son. These details place personal relationships behind three central selections. They connect the repertoire to the musicians’ lives in ways that are not immediately apparent from a list of titles alone.

“Brownie Speaks” closes the programme. McGhee chose Clifford Brown’s composition partly to draw attention to Brown’s work as a writer. The other pieces include “Willow Weep For Me”, “Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise” and “Summertime”, each with an established history of its own. The balance is specific: one McGhee original, two Edwards compositions, three standards and a piece by Brown. The title track receives more than ten minutes. Together the choices make the album both an expression of McGhee’s renewed activity and an acknowledgement of music and musicians important to him.

The Contemporary Acoustic Sounds edition

The reissue belongs to Craft Recordings’ Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series. Its catalogue number is CR00710, listed by the distributor as ACONC 710. This is a single 180-gram stereo LP at 33⅓ RPM, mastered and cut by Bernie Grundman. Craft describes the mastering as all-analogue from the original tapes. That is the publisher’s stated production method, rather than an independent audit of every stage. Quality Record Pressings manufactures the record.

The edition is packaged in a tip-on jacket, with Stoughton Printing identified as the printer. All seven selections retain their original order across two sides, without additional recordings. Introduced in 2024, this version preserves the programme made during the June 1961 session. The personnel, the background in Hentoff’s original notes and the choice of compositions together explain the album’s title: McGhee returns with his own material, personal musical connections and a quartet in which his trumpet is the sole horn voice.

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Series: Contemporary – all 24 records: sunny jazz from Los Angeles

Musicians

Participants and documented credit status. Track references correspond to the tracklist.

Quartet on all seven tracks. Teddy Edwards and Clifford Brown are composers, not additional performers.