Music: Jazz Records

A Study in Frustration: The Fletcher Henderson Story (Columbia. 4 LPs). The man who anticipated Goodman, Basie and Ellington by building the granddaddy of the great swing bands, in a sampling of the incendiary brews he poured from the bandstand for 15 wonderful years (1923-38). Composer Henderson (whose “frustration” was that his greatest success came as an arranger with Goodman rather than as a leader) collected the most extraordinarily gifted group of sidemen in jazz history, and most of them are on triumphant display—Trumpeters Louis Armstrong and Roy Eldridge, Saxmen Coleman Hawkins and Benny Carter, Trombonists J. C. Higginbotham and Dicky Wells. Among the treasures: Wang Wang Blues, Christopher Columbus, Henderson’s own exuberant Can You Take It?

Percy Humphrey’s Crescent City Joy Makers (Riverside). Happy frenzies by a pickup New Orleans “joy maker band” that sounds superbly at home in such traditional numbers as Over in Gloryland and All the Gals Like the Way I Ride. Fine solo work by Trumpeter Humphrey and by Albert Burbank, a veteran Creole musician who uncoils his tart clarinet in nights of eloquent enthusiasm.

Aretha Franklin (Ray Bryant Trio; Columbia). A first album by a new young (18) singer who came out of a Detroit gospel church with a voice of impressive size and some annoying mannerisms—aching swoops and ecstatic quavers. Included are All Night Long, Maybe I’m a Fool, Who Needs You? rendered in moods that vary from torchy to tempestuous.

Rights of Swing (Candid). More fuel for a familiar argument: Is it possible to “compose” jazz and keep it fresh? The answer here is yes. Composer-Saxophonist Phil Woods, building in lines both propulsive and direct, has fashioned a five-part work that is always coherent and brimful of relaxed charm. High points are Woods’s own sax solos—lean and subtly responsive to the humors of music and musician.

Dual Piano Jazz (Dave McKenna, Hal Overton; Bethlehem). An inspired teaming of two pianists who organize their twining duets with admirable clarity and liquid ease. Monk’s Mood and Ruby, My Dear—both by Thelonious—are worth the price of the album.

Ida Cox: Blues for Rampart Street (Coleman Hawkins Quintet; Riverside). The storied 1920s blues singer was around 70 when she came out of retirement to record this album last spring—and her dragging tempo and uncertainty of pitch give her away. But her voice—more nasal and corrugated than ever—is still an impressive instrument in Fogyism and Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues, as Ida sells her message with a conviction that singers a third her age cannot muster.

Goin’ Up (Freddie Hubbard & Quintet; Blue Note). One of the most promising young (23) trumpeters attacks some showpieces—The Changing Scene, Blues for Brenda—in tones that can sigh contentment or choke with joy. A fine antidote to the sentimentally depressed rituals of the Miles Davis school.

Ezz-thetics (George Russell Sextet; Riverside). Exercises in introspection by six men whose style is occasionally so cool it congeals. In warmer moods, the soloists—particularly Don Ellis on a hoarsely tender trumpet—are first-rate, and the songs, with their lopsided choruses and barely articulated melodies, have their own tantalizing outer-worldly charm. Included: Russell’s own Ezz-thetic and Lydiot, Thelonious Monk’s ‘Round Midnight.