Warren Vache - Iridescence (1991)

Concord Records is proud to present the debut of Warren Vache's "Iridescence" in compact disc format. The liner notes from the original 1981 release appear here, providing the listener with an historical perspective on the careers of the distinguished musicians who contributed to the making of this album.
When a wise old head and a wise young head interact on each other, the result can be a musical form of iridescence - which is "the many-colored appearance caused by the interference effect of light rays striking the outer and inner surface layers of various bodies", according to Messrs. Funk and Wagnalls, the dictionary people.
Actually, that definition is not why this album is called "Iridescence", although it might very logically be. The album takes its name from the tune, "Iridescence", by Hank Jones, the wise old head, a tune that Hank played for Warren Vache, the wise young head, when they had their first meeting to make plans for this album. Warren showed what a wise young head he was by immediately seizing "Iridescence" and another Hank Jones original, "No Regrets", for the album.
That preliminary get-together was one of the infrequent occasions when Hank and Warren have worked together, although they first played together when Warren joined Benny Goodman's band in 1974 and Hank was Benny's pianist. The only times that Warren played with Hank after that until this session, was with Benny at two or three festivals. The fact that they have not played together more often is something that Warren regrets.
"What goes on in that cat's mind is incredible," Warren declared, stressing his admiration for Hank, "You can just watch the gears turning. His solos are marvelous and when he's accompanying you he's always making decisions about what direction the harmony's going to go. He's so quick about harmonizing and voice leading. He's got the knack of making you sound better than you really are.
"I've got a freedom to play with him that I don't have with other people. I can get some outside note and, if it's melodically feasible, Hank will make it sound right. You can take chances because Hank will play something that will make it sound right in context."
That's why Warren seized Carl Jefferson's suggestion that he record with Hank. He had intended to get Hank's suggestions for other members of the group. But one night, coming back from an airport in a cab with Scott Hamilton, the saxophonist, he asked Scott for his suggestions and Scott nominated George Duvivier and Alan Dawson. Warren accepted both names because, he says, "Scott and I have worked together a lot and he knows what I'm comfortable with."
"Scott and I worked with Alan at LuLu's in Boston," Warren recalled, "and I found that Alan just lights the fire. I call him Prometheus. And George's lines and timing are magnificent. I tend to get very mic conscious and nervous when I'm playing but George and Hank and Alan are very laid back, professional cats who keep me from climbing the walls."
Warren picked all the tunes, most of them well known standards except for Hank Jones' "Iridescence" and "No Regrets". The one not-so-familiar tune is "Sweet And Slow" which Warren chose because he was looking for something to have fun with. Hank was playing piano in the Fats Waller musical, "Ain't Misbehavin'", at the time, so Warren thought a Fats Waller tune would be ideal. He picked "Sweet And Slow" under the impression that Waller wrote it. But, it turned out, he did not—Waller only recorded it. "Sweet And Slow" was written by Harry Warren and Al Dubin for a 1935 movie musical, "Broadway Gondolier", in which Dick Powell played a singer who rose to fame on a radio program sponsored by Flegenheim's Odorless Cheese. It was dropper from the film score (which also included "Lulu's Back In Town") amid hints that it was too suggestive for the standards set by the Legion of Decency in those puritanical years.
Warren Vache began playing "Sweet And Slow" a couple of years ago when he was with pianist Tom Fay at the Crawdaddy in New York.
"The song has a lot of possibilities," says Warren and he demonstrates some of them in this version as he growls, stretches, explodes short, penetrating yawps and, on the second chorus, builds a beautifully controlled, raw and rugged solo.
Playing games with sound is something that Warren enjoys. That is why he gave up the trumpet five years ago in favor of the cornet (which he alternates with flugelhorn on this album.)
"With the modern cornet," he explained, "you're not limited to the old traditional fat, mellow cornet sound. If I throw the tuning slide in a quarter of an inch, I could play lead in a big band and nobody would ever know it was a cornel. I can play soft and feel that I've got the whole horn vibrating. When I played soft on a trumpet, I could never get the horn to ring. But when I play soft on the cornet, it doesn't seem as if there's enough hair on the sound to be shaved."