Leroy Vinnegar – Leroy Walks!

Leroy Walks!: the bassist sets the direction

In jazz, a walking bass line moves step by step through the harmony while carrying the pulse. Leroy Vinnegar made that musical responsibility the guiding idea of his first album as a leader. On Leroy Walks!, six of the seven titles contain the word “walk”; the seventh, On The Sunny Side Of The Street, already belongs in the same neighbourhood through its reference to a street. This playful connection holds the programme together. It also brings forward a musician whose work listeners may first have encountered within the accompaniment of somebody else’s recording.

Recorded in Los Angeles in 1957 and released by Contemporary Records in 1958, the album features a sextet: Vinnegar on double bass, Gerald Wilson on trumpet, Teddy Edwards on tenor saxophone, Victor Feldman on vibraphone, Carl Perkins on piano and Tony Bazley on drums. That lineup offers a broader perspective than a bass showcase alone. Two horns, two instruments with harmonic and melodic possibilities, plus bass and drums can create a richly connected conversation. A leader need not occupy the foreground continuously for his conception of an ensemble to become apparent in the resulting music.

The recordings came from one July date and two September sessions. Walk On and Walkin’ belong to July 15, 1957; Would You Like To Take A Walk and Walking By The River to September 23. September 1957 is documented for the remaining three pieces, although surviving accounts disagree about the exact day. The album therefore does not need to be embellished with an apparently complete daily chronology. Its consistent personnel across several sessions are more important: six musicians develop a coherent programme whose light-hearted title concept rests on a very concrete musical foundation.

Seven routes through a shared idea

Vinnegar’s own composition Walk On opens the record. At more than eight minutes, it is the longest selection on this edition and gives the album an expansive opening frame. It is followed by Would You Like To Take A Walk, written by Mort Dixon, Billy Rose and Harry Warren, and On The Sunny Side Of The Street, by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh. One original and two compositions from elsewhere share the first side. The thematic connection comes from their selection, rather than from all the music having been written specifically for this particular recording project.

Side B begins with Walkin’, credited here to Richard Carpenter. Next come Walkin’ My Baby Back Home by Fred E. Ahlert and Roy Turk, I’ll Walk Alone by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, and Walking By The River by Una Mae Carlisle and Robert Sour. The names open a small panorama of songwriting traditions. Language connects the pieces through walking; the sextet connects them musically. That relationship is particularly attractive: the album title supplies an idea, but each composition retains its own shape. A common denominator need not result in a uniform collection of performances.

The sequence can therefore be explored on two levels. First, follow the thread linking the titles and hear the record as a complete programme. On another visit, the instrumentation may become more prominent: how is attention distributed between trumpet, tenor saxophone and vibraphone? At which points do you become especially aware of the bass? A different partner can become the focus on each return to the record. The shared theme retains its outline while attention moves freely within the small ensemble. The concept invites the listener into the music rather than replacing what the six musicians make of it.

Six musicians with clearly distinguished responsibilities

Gerald Wilson participates here as a trumpeter, while Teddy Edwards plays tenor saxophone. Their instruments form the sextet’s horn front line, with Feldman’s vibraphone and Perkins’ piano opening further melodic possibilities behind them. Victor Feldman also appears in the credits under the term “vibraharp”; this names the same instrument. It does not create two players or two separate personnel positions. In a small group especially, keeping the actual people in view matters. An extra line could otherwise suggest an ensemble which simply does not exist in that form on the recording.

Carl Perkins also requires precise identification: this is the jazz pianist, not the rock ’n’ roll guitarist with the same name. With Vinnegar and Tony Bazley, he forms the group’s piano-based rhythmic core. Feldman broadens its instrumental colours without becoming a second pianist. All six players are documented for the album. An instrument list describes their roles within the ensemble; it does not claim that everybody must be playing at every moment. Silence, changing foregrounds and the relationship between accompaniment and melody are among the possibilities that give a group of this size its flexibility.

Feldman also contributed arrangements. Sources differ on the number of pieces assigned to him, so no precise total is asserted here. Lester Koenig produced the album, while Roy DuNann and Howard Holzer belong to its technical history. Holzer is specifically credited with mixing On The Sunny Side Of The Street, Walkin’ My Baby Back Home and I’ll Walk Alone. Nat Hentoff wrote the sleeve notes. These production and writing responsibilities remain separate from the six performing musicians, even though they are equally part of the documented process through which the finished record took shape.

The Contemporary reissue on 180-gram vinyl

The Contemporary Records Acoustic Sounds Series presents Leroy Walks! as one 180-gram stereo LP playing at 33⅓ rpm. Bernie Grundman handled the explicitly all-analogue mastering from the original tapes, with pressing by Quality Record Pressings. Released on June 16, 2023, this edition carries catalogue number CR00594 and shop SKU ACONC 594. Its documented presentation includes a tip-on jacket and a QRP rice-paper inner sleeve. These are features of the reissue; the musical performances and the six players involved belong to the recording sessions of 1957. Keeping those dates apart helps identify the edition correctly.

Three pieces on the first side and four on the second preserve the complete seven-track album. The LP provides a continuous way to experience the concept without spreading the selections over additional records. All-analogue mastering is a specified feature of the production chain, not a substitute for an individual assessment of the sound. Record weight alone does not establish the value of a recording either. The initial attraction lies in Vinnegar’s idea, his personnel and his repertoire. The traceable specifications then help a collector identify the particular edition through which to explore that music at home.

If you want to buy Leroy Walks! on vinyl, the album offers a bassist in the role of programme-maker and leader. It makes an especially appealing companion to My Fair Lady, where Vinnegar plays within Shelly Manne and André Previn’s trio. Here his own name stands at the front, and five partners bring the shared idea to life. You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and dispatch from Hilden. Please consult the purchase area for current availability and delivery information. A description of a particular pressing does not promise that copies are presently available.

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

Musicians

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

• Leroy Vinnegardouble bassParticipation: All tracks
• Gerald WilsonLater portrait: 1988trumpetParticipation: All tracks
• Teddy Edwardstenor saxophoneParticipation: All tracks
• Victor FeldmanPortrait reference: Existing portrait; no claim to be from this session.vibraphoneParticipation: All tracks
• Carl PerkinspianoParticipation: All tracks
• Tony BazleydrumsParticipation: All tracks

Produced by Lester Koenig. Recording: Roy DuNann and Howard Holzer. Mixing credit for A3, B2 and B3: Howard Holzer. Arrangements: Victor Feldman; the documented total is disputed. Liner notes: Nat Hentoff. Cover design: Robert Guidi and Tri-Arts; photograph: Peter James Samerjan. Reissue mastering: Bernie Grundman (2023).