Bob Zieff - The Music of Bob Zieff (2016)

Bob Zieff was born June 4th, 1927, in Lynn, Massachussetts, about 9 miles north of Boston University, where he studied harmony, composition and musicology. In 1953, at the request of modern violinist Dick Wetmore, he composed an eight-section suite, full of open spaces for improvisation. The stimulating compositions Zieff wrote were built of fresh, intriguing lines, interesting harmonic routes, and a sense for the whole rather than a succession of parts. His challenging charts were happily recorded by Wetmore’s quartet for Bethlehem, but the label didn't release them until two years later on a 10-inch album. Unfortunately Dick Wetmore did not have much commercial appeal, and despite the good reception of the music, Zieff’s compositional style was far too complex for the American market. Compounding the matter, 10-inch records were being rapidly replaced by the new 12-inch vinyls, and so the release was a flop.

Zieff’s imaginative writing and individual musical mind attracted his friend pianist Dick Twardzik, who asked Bob to give him private lessons in composition. When in 1955 Dick went with Chet Baker’s quartet to Europe, he took with him several of Zieff tunes. Most of them were recorded by the trumpeter in Paris, and back in the U.S. Chet introduced a couple of Zieff’s tunes to the repertoire of his new crew. About them, jazz authority Nat Hentoff said in 1956: “Zieff is a writer from whom more should be heard.”

Keeping Hentoff’s suggestion to heart, Fresh Sound has put together, sixty years later, this 2-CD set including all available recordings of his finest compositions and arrangements, featuring in some cases unusual instrumentations. This intriguing portrait of Bob Zieff’s music is highly complemented by a fascinating essay written by the composer himself.