Broadway Tunes Through a Flute
Chick Corea's piano helps give Herbie Mann's Broadway detour its bite.
Chick Corea is the name to hang this record on. He plays piano on four of the tracks, and his presence is what keeps Herbie Mann's take on Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley's songs from sounding like a polite lounge session. Corea was still early in his career here, and you can hear him leaning into the songs with a light, quick touch that sits well against Mann's airy flute.
The album draws on tunes from the Broadway musical The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd, recorded for Atlantic in 1965. Mann wasn't a theater guy, so the project is less about faithful adaptation and more about a jazz flautist finding grooves inside show tunes. The arrangements are built around his flute and a rotating cast of rhythm players, with Corea and Roger Kellaway handling the keyboard duties across different tracks.
AllMusic reviewer gave it three stars and called it one of Mann's less significant projects of the 1960s, which is fair. This is not where to start with Mann. Go to Herbie Mann Plays The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd (1965) only if you want a pleasant, slightly novel detour, or if you're following Corea's early sideman work.
Who's playing
Earl Maybass
Chick Coreapiano
Roger Kellawaypiano
Mundell Loweguitar
Gene Bertonciniguitar
Turk Van Lakeguitar
John Hitchcocktrombone
Mark Weinsteintrombone
Herbie Mannflute
Bruno Carrdrums
Carlos “Patato” Valdéscongas
Dave Pikevibraphone
[unknown]strings
Where next?
More by Herbie Mann
All 36 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
