Plas Johnson - This Must Be The Plas! Johnson Mood For The Blues (2014)

Plas Johnson (ts, as, bs), Larry Bunker, Gene Estes, Vic Feldman (vib), Paul Smith, Ray Johnson (p), Ernie Freeman (org), Howard Roberts, Bill Pitman (g), Red Callender (b), Earl Palmer (d), Gerald Wilson, Rene Hall (arr).

During the late Fifties and early Sixties in the US the saxophone of Plas Johnson was a ubiquitous sound on radio. Known as the horn behind the hits, he was famous as the tenor sax on the celebrated 1963 Pink Panther main theme recording. Born near New Orleans, he moved to the west coast at a very young age and there launched a career that made him one of the most sought-after studio musicians on the Los Angeles scene, with a great reputation built largely on his remarkable ability to play any style of music with taste and restraint.

The two Capitol albums here epitomize this. On This Must Be the Plas! (1959), he is accompanied by three small groups with slight personnel changes, and although Plas is the main voiceon tenor, baritone and alto saxeverybody else in the group has his own solo space. Mood for the Blues (1960) features Plas on tenor with strings and rhythm, the tasteful arrangements of Gerald Wilson and René Hall forming a fine background for his solo work. Also included here is his first single for Capitol, including his smash hit The Big Twist and Come Rain or Come Shine. His warm tone and naturally easy style is as greatly admired by other musicians as it is by jazz and pop music fans. It resulted in the kind of soulful, pretty and well-controlled sound that gave universal enjoyment.