Mercury Records Collection: SR-60188: Swing Softly Red

SR-60188: Swing Softly Red / Red Prysock

Label Type :	black Mercury type C
Matrix Number :	SIDE-A	SR 60188-A-MS1 FF
	SIDE-B	SR 60188 B-MS1 FF

Comments

Equivalent release: Mercury MG-20512 (mono).

Inside The Groove

Super-bad Honker Red Prysock on the mellow side - but very soulful, dirty and supreme!

Personal Impression (and brief notes)

Some famous R&B saxophone honkers later switched to mellow “mood music” - Sil Austin did, Sam “The Man” Taylor did.

Red Prysock might try to do the same on this session, but his play doesn't sound the same at all. His tenor still sounds very soulful like Ben Webster on the mellow tunes, while he plays up-tempo swingy (and black enough) tracks on other tunes. Fortunately, he is backed up with a steady big combo, mostly consisting of his frienly pals. No strings, no boring arrangements.

This LP is not merely a mood album - great soulful album indeed!

Strictly Personal Rating (to what extent I could enjoy this album)

8 out of 10

Track Listing

SIDE-A
A-1	PB1479 (17495)	Stella By Starlight (Victor Young & Ned Washington)	2:38
A-2	PB1477 (17493)	Teach Me Tonight (Gene DePaul & Sam Cohn)	2:00
A-3	PB1480 (17496)	Without A Song (Vincent Youmans, Williams Rose & Edward Eliscu)	2:14
A-4	PB1475 (17491)	Mr. Wonderful (Jerry Bock, Larry Holofeener & George Weiss)	2:29
A-5	PB1468 (17484)	Moonlight In Vermont (John Blackburn & Carl Suessdorf)	3:10
A-6	PB1469 (17485)	Flamingo (Ted Grouya & Ed Anderson)	2:29
SIDE-B
B-1	PB1470 (17486)	Stardust (Hoagy Carmichael & Mitchell Parish)	3:27
B-2	PB1467 (17483)	I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart (Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, John Redmond & Henry Nemo)	2:33
B-3	PB1473 (17489)	Shooting High (Ted Koehler & Jimmy McHugh)	1:55
B-4	PB1474 (17490)	On The Sunny Side Of The Street (Jimmy McHugh & Dorothy Fields)	2:30
B-5	PB1472 (17488)	My Funny Valentine (Lorenz Hart & Richard Rodgers)	2:07
B-6	PB1471 (17487)	Spring Is Here (Ridhard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart)	3:23

Personnel

Personnel/recorded date/master numbers confirmed with the Ruppli's discography.
(“The Mercury Labels - A Discography” by Ruppli and Novitsky, Greenwood Press, 1993)

The Ruppli's book only mentions “Red Prysock (ts) + ?”, but the liner-notes on the back cover tells us the actual members at the session as shown below.

Furthermore, the liner note also has mistakes - James Powell is credited as trombone player, while he is alto sax player; William Wells as saxophonist, but maybe is a trombone player better known as Dickie Wells. Many thanks to Masayuki Hatta-san for helping me indentify the members!

Organ sound can be audible at least on A-2 and B-2, while the liner note mentions Howard Whaley as only a pianist.

Emmit Berry (as Emmet Perry) (tp), Taft Jordan (tp), Don Cole (tb), William Wells (aka Dickie Wells) (tb),
James Powell (aka Jimmy Powell) (as), Red Prysock (ts), Clarence Wright (bs),
Howard Whaley (p, org), Eddie McFadden (g), Milt Hinton (b), Panama Francis (as David Fancis) (ds),
Bill Rodriguez (bongo), George Laguna (conga).
Recorded in New York City in 1958.

Recording Director: Hal Mooney.
Stanley Franck: engineer.

The Artist Also Appears on...

Red Prysock (ts) :

Mercury MG-20088 : Rock 'N Roll
Mercury MG-20211 : Fruit Boots (reissue of Wing MGW-12007)
Mercury MG-20307 : The Beat
Mercury MG-20434 / SR-60106 : Battle Royal!! / Sil Austin and Red Prysock
Mercury MG-20512 / SR-60188 : Swing Softly Red
Wing MGW-12007 : Fruit Boots

Mercury MG-20089D : Hit Parade, Vol.7 / Various Artists
Mercury MG-20167 : The Best In Bands - Sweet & Solid / Various Artists
Mercury PPMD-1-12 / PPSD-1-12 : Mercury Perfect Presence / Various Artists
Mercury SRM-2-600 : Original Gold Soul: 21 All Time Soul Greats / Various Artists