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Track List

1 Soft Winds 04:13
    by Benny Goodman (Regent Music Corp.)
2 Crisis 03:48
    by Barney Kessel (Composers Music)
3 The Little Rhumba 03:42
    by Shelly Manne (Composers Music)
4 Easy Living 03:23
    by Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin (Famous Music Corp.)
5 It's All Right with Me 03:41
    by Cole Porter (Buxton Hill Music)
6 Mack the Knife 03:55
    by Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, Marc Blitzstein (Harms, Inc.)
7 Raincheck 03:09
    by Billy Strayhorn (Tempo Music, Inc.)
8 Minor Mystery 05:52
    by Ray Brown (Contemporary Music)
9 I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over 04:38
    by Allie Wrubel, Herbert Magidson (DeSylva, Brown & Henderson, Inc.)
10 I Hear Music 02:57
    by Burton Lane, Frank Loesser (Famous Music Corp.)
11 Little Susie 03:57
    by Ray Bryant (Second Floor Music)
12 The Duke 04:55
    by Dave Brubeck (Derry Music Company)
13 So What 05:27
    by Miles Davis (Jazz Horn Music Corporation)
14 Misty 03:30
    by Erroll Garner (Octave Music Publishing Corporation)
15 Doodlin' 03:34
    by Horace Silver (Ecaroh Music, Inc.)
16 The Golden Striker 03:24
    by John Lewis (Rayven Music Co., Inc.)
17 Li'l Darlin' 05:30
    by Neal Hefti (W.C. Music Corporation)
18 The Blessing 04:51
    by Ornette Coleman (Songs of Concord)
19 This Here 06:40
    by Bobby Timmons (Orpheum Music)

Total Time: 81:06

About The Poll Winners Vol 2

By the time Barney Kessel, Ray Brown and Shelly Manne recorded Poll Winners Three! in November 1959, their collaboration had already produced two successful Contemporary albums. The name The Poll Winners had originated in the musicians' repeated success in the major jazz readers' polls of the 1950s. Kessel, Brown and Manne had each established themselves as leading figures on their respective instruments, and their positions in the Down Beat, Metronome and Playboy polls provided the occasion for Contemporary Records to bring them together as a trio.

The first two albums had established the basic character of the group. The Poll Winners, recorded in March 1957, and The Poll Winners Ride Again!, recorded in August 1958, presented the three musicians working with a repertoire that combined jazz compositions and songs from the broader American popular repertoire. The third album continued this approach but placed a somewhat greater emphasis on compositions associated directly with the musicians themselves and with contemporary jazz.

Poll Winners Three! was recorded at Contemporary's Studio in Los Angeles on November 2, 1959. Lester Koenig produced the session and Roy DuNann was the recording engineer. The album consists of ten performances by Kessel, Brown and Manne.

The three original compositions are significant in defining the album. Kessel's “Crisis”, Manne's “The Little Rhumba”, and Brown's “Minor Mystery” give each member of the trio an opportunity to contribute repertoire of his own. The album therefore does not rely solely on interpretations of established standards; the musicians' own compositions are integrated into the same program as the established repertoire. AllMusic likewise identifies Kessel, Manne and Brown as the composers of these three pieces.

The performances also reflect the musicians' established experience with swing and modern jazz. Kessel had developed from the Charlie Christian tradition into one of the leading guitarists of the bebop and post-bebop period. Brown had become one of the most influential bassists of his generation, while Manne had developed a distinctive approach to jazz drumming through his work with major ensembles and his extensive Los Angeles recording career.

The interaction among the three musicians is central to the recordings. A contemporary review of Poll Winners Three! described the album as a particularly vivid and rhythmically active trio recording, emphasizing the continuing dialogue between Brown and Manne and Kessel's combination of chords and single-note lines.

The fourth Poll Winners album, Exploring the Scene!, was recorded less than a year later, on August 30 and 31 and September 1, 1960, again at Contemporary's Studio in Los Angeles. Lester Koenig again produced the recording, with Roy DuNann as engineer.

The title of the album describes its repertoire directly. Rather than concentrating on the older popular-song repertoire that had supplied much of the material for the first two albums, Exploring the Scene! draws extensively on compositions associated with prominent contemporary jazz musicians.

The repertoire thus creates a particularly clear connection between the Poll Winners and the wider jazz scene of the period. Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Horace Silver, John Lewis, Ornette Coleman, Bobby Timmons and the other composers represented here were among the musicians whose compositions were shaping the contemporary jazz repertoire. Contemporary's later description of the album specifically notes that the trio was interpreting compositions by other musicians who themselves had achieved prominence in jazz.

“So What” is especially notable in this context. Miles Davis had recorded it with his sextet on Kind of Blue the previous year, making the Poll Winners' interpretation a contemporary reading of one of the best-known new jazz compositions of the period. “Doodlin'” brought Horace Silver's hard-bop repertoire into the trio's program, while “The Blessing” represented Ornette Coleman's developing musical language.

The album also includes compositions by musicians from different parts of the jazz tradition. John Lewis's “The Golden Striker” came from the Modern Jazz Quartet repertoire; Neal Hefti's “Li'l Darlin'” was associated with the Count Basie orchestra; Ray Bryant's “Little Susie” and Bobby Timmons's “This Here” represented the contemporary piano-led jazz scene. The repertoire therefore spans several strands of American jazz rather than representing one narrowly defined style.

Contemporary's decision to record these three musicians together had originally been connected with their popularity in the jazz polls. By the time of Exploring the Scene!, however, the concept had developed into a continuing recording project. The musicians were no longer simply being presented as the three winners of contemporary popularity contests; they had established a recognizable ensemble identity of their own.

That distinction is reflected in the album's critical reception. Leonard Feather's contemporary Down Beat review gave Exploring the Scene! three and a half stars and emphasized the mutual musical understanding among the three musicians. Later assessments have likewise singled out the album for its repertoire and ensemble playing, with Scott Yanow describing it as potentially the strongest of the Poll Winners' programs.

The recordings were made during an important period in the development of Contemporary Records. Lester Koenig's label had become closely associated with Los Angeles jazz, and Roy DuNann's engineering was an important part of the characteristic Contemporary sound. The Poll Winners' recordings belong to this studio tradition, with the three musicians recorded as a tightly integrated ensemble rather than as a large arranged production. Contemporary's documentation identifies Koenig as producer and DuNann as engineer for Exploring the Scene!.

Taken together, Poll Winners Three! and Exploring the Scene! document the Poll Winners at two successive stages of their recording career. The 1959 album continues the established repertoire while giving Kessel, Manne and Brown each an opportunity to contribute an original composition. The 1960 album looks outward toward the contemporary jazz repertoire, drawing on compositions by a broad range of musicians who were shaping jazz at the time.

The two albums therefore complement one another. Poll Winners Three! combines established standards with original material by the members of the trio; Exploring the Scene! turns its attention toward the contemporary jazz scene itself. In both cases, the music is built around the same three musicians and their ability to combine individual voices into a coherent ensemble.

These were the third and fourth albums in the original Poll Winners series. After Exploring the Scene!, the trio's principal Contemporary recording series came to an end, although Kessel, Brown and Manne would eventually reunite for another recording in the 1970s.

For the period documented here, however, these two albums represent the mature phase of the original Poll Winners project: Kessel, Brown and Manne, recorded by Contemporary in Los Angeles, working through their own compositions and through a repertoire that reflected the rapidly changing jazz scene of 1959–60.

EU Public Domain Notice
The historical sound recordings included in this release are in the public domain in the European Union. Blue Music Group has created a new digital restoration and mastering of these historical recordings. The digital restoration and mastering by Blue Music Group are protected by applicable copyright and related rights. Rights may differ in other territories, including the United States. This release is not intended for distribution in the United States.

Cover artwork: The original photographic image has been legally assessed as being in the public domain in the EU following the expiry of the applicable 50-year term under Section 49a. The image has been restored, enhanced and colorized by Blue Music Group. © Blue Music Group. All rights reserved.

Credits

Barney Kessel – guitar
Ray Brown – bass
Shelly Manne – drums

Tracks 1–10:
Recorded November 2, 1959

Tracks 11–19:
Recorded August 30, 31 & September 1, 1960

at Contemporary's Studio, Los Angeles, CA

Producer: Lester Koenig
Engineer: Roy DuNann