Product Review

Hi-Fi
24 BIT
DIGITALLY REMASTERED
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.