"One of the year's best CDs." - Bob Young, Boston Herald, February 21, 2003

"Eric Johnson's fine CD of the music of Herbie Nichols successfully sets this difficult music in a manner which every listener will find accessible. His arrangements provide a fresh instrumental context for the work of this underrated but important jazz composer, and he accomplishes this without compromising or diluting Nichols' original musical content. The playing is superb and appropriate to the style of the compositions." - Andy Jaffe, Lyell B. Clay Artist-in-Residence in Jazz and Director of Jazz Performance at Williams College.

"10 superb compositions, played with great respect and innovation. 10/10."
- Len Dobbin, the Mirror, Montreal, Canada

"Thank you and your players for a formidable contribution to this tectonic shift toward the enlightenment of the world's people." - Roswell Rudd, Jazz trombonist and friend of Nichols.

"...Johnson's style for the bebop idiom will reach that eclectic audience which this gifted jazz guitarist deserves... Eric has that capability to express his musical ideas with a supra-musical, natural, and an almost childlike expediency. This does not take anything away from his artistry. Kudos to the group, all consummate in their respective crafts." - George Carroll, ejazznews.com

[liner notes by Eric T. Johnson]

   Herbie Nichols (b. 3 December 1919, New York City, d. 12 April 1963) was a true Jazz original. He failed to gain the wide recognition and prosperity of many of his equally talented contemporaries due to the unusually challenging and probing nature of his music, as well some self-imposed obstacles, such as his reluctance to associate with drug users (he turned down a job with Billie Holiday for that reason). He did work with the likes of Illinois Jacquet, Lucky Thompson, and Arnett Cobb, but made his living mostly by playing in Dixieland bands. He died prematurely of Leukemia at the age of 43. Alfred Lion had the wisdom to record many of Herbie's compositions for Blue Note in 1955 and '56, and thanks to Michael Cuscuna at Mosaic Records, these recordings, including alternate takes and previously unissued originals, were re-released in 1987, and again in a Blue Note box-set in 1997. This recording includes my transcriptions of some of those tunes, as well as some from a 1957 recording on Bethlehem Records.

   Herbie was something of a gentle giant. At 6'4" it certainly wasn't his physical stature that caused him to be largely unnoticed by the listening public. And he did have his admirers. Mingus, for one, encouraged him, and according to Herbie himself was instrumental in getting him his Blue Note contract. Quotes from his friends in the Mosaic Records booklet paint him as kind, sweet, intelligent, diffident, very funny, and very honest. Bassist/cellist Buell Niedlinger, who certainly should have been used as a resource by Mosaic, remembers how a tear would form in Herbie's eye when a bandleader would refuse to play his original music. Nichols, according to Niedlinger, was also homeless for many years. After gigs he'd hang out at people's houses until daylight and then sleep on the subway. It's not an overstatement to say that he led a tragic life. Some may feel it's doing him a disservice by focusing on his hardships, but they were real.

   I first discovered Herbie Nichols in A.B Spellman's book "Four Lives in the Bebop Business," which also includes portraits of Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and Jackie McLean. I was intrigued by the story of this nearly forgotten artist. It wasn't until 7 or 8 years later in the early 90's that I actually heard his Blue Note recordings. My first impression was positive, but I was a bit overwhelmed. Herbie's trio recordings can be difficult to process. His music is structurally challenging in every way. The sectional format is often unusual, including his use of drum intros and outros. His harmonic voicings and progressions are often very ambiguous and foreign to the traditional dominant cadences of Jazz standards (Monk's approach is downright familiar in comparison). His melodies are unique in their placement and intervallic structure.

   And then there is his improvisational approach, which is personal - by no means "bebop" in the Charlie Parker/Bud Powell tradition. What I've realized since then is that Herbie's improvisational concept was pre-bebop in that he saw the "blowing" as a development of the melodic content of the piece - part of the composition, not an opportunity to stretch out and show off his licks. There is no running of the changes. As Duck Baker points out in the liner notes of his brilliant solo guitar recording of Nichols' music, "Spinning Song," Herbie's improvisatory approach leaves many listeners with the false impression that his pieces aren't good vehicles for improvisers. In this recording I hope to show otherwise.

   My cohorts came at this music as neophytes for the most part. I had to prod them into Herbie's world, but after a while they began to like it. Even accomplished Jazzers have to go through growing pains when dealing with Herbie's music, as with Monk's. The respective languages are quite different (anyone who offhandedly refers to Nichols as being "like Monk" just isn't listening), but both styles refuse to let the players fall into traditional patterns. I feel we've succeeded in keeping true to the spirit and intent of Herbie's music, while still doing our thing. I believe Herbie, who stubbornly maintained his artistic individuality, would have wanted that above all. - Eric T. Johnson (Nov. 2002)

"Great CD Eric... Your playing is great and the choice of tunes is to die for
Really great. Thanks again for sharing this."
- Andy Jaffe
Lyell B. Clay Artist-in-Residence in Jazz and Director of Jazz Performance at Williams College