1954 · Album
Kessel Plays Standards
Recorded 1954–1955 · Contemporary · Produced by Not specified
Kessel's Standards: Inventive Swing with an Oboe
Bob Cooper's jazz oboe cuts through boppish frameworks with genuine rarity and personality.
From the opening notes, this is a guitar-driven session with real swing and careful arrangement. Barney Kessel leads small groups through standards with inventive frameworks—the charts aren't straight bebop heads, they're worked-out constructions that give each tune shape and air. Claude Williamson and Hampton Hawes trade off on piano, and the rhythm section (Monty Budwig or Red Mitchell on bass, Shelly Manne or Chuck Thompson on drums) locks tight without pushing. The standout element is Bob Cooper's jazz oboe, genuinely rare in 1954 jazz. It's an odd voice over these tunes—woody, slightly plaintive—and it forces the arrangements to breathe around it rather than settle into standard bebop muscle.
Kessel was already a working studio and session player by this point, and it shows. He's not grandstanding; his guitar sits in the pocket, occasionally stepping forward with clean single-note lines but mostly supporting the ensemble. That humility works. These aren't vehicle showcases. They're balanced small-group readings where everyone has something to do, and nobody overstays their turn.
The material spans the jazz canon—standards reimagined without being precious about it. Yanow's assessment captures it well: the oboe and the inventive frameworks give what might otherwise be straightforward bop reissue its own color and restraint. This is solid craftmanship, not a breakthrough, but it remains a likeable entry in Kessel's early-1950s output.
Who's playing
Monty Budwigbass
Red Mitchelldouble bass
Claude Williamsonpiano
Hampton Hawespiano
Barney Kesselguitar
Bob Coopertenor saxophone
Shelly Mannedrums
Chuck Thompsondrums
Where next?
More by Barney Kessel
Barney Kessel, Volume 3: "To Swing or Not to Swing" 1955
Barney Kessel, Volume 1: Easy Like 1956
Some Like It Hot 1959
Feeling Free 1969
The musicians on this record
The Drum Sessions 1975
Shelly Manne
plays drums (drum set) here
plays drums (drum set) here
For Real! 1961
Hampton Hawes
plays piano here
plays piano here
Bob Brookmeyer Featuring John Williams & Red Mitchell 1963
Red Mitchell
plays double bass here
plays double bass here
The Bob Cooper-Conte Candoli Quintet 1995
Bob Cooper
plays tenor saxophone here
plays tenor saxophone here
