''After the Riot at Newport'' is an album by the Nashville All-Stars, which was recorded live after the cancellation of their appearance at the 1960

Newport Jazz Festival The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hire ...

History

This group of Nashville session players played a mixture of pop and jazz standards. The all-star lineup featured guitar legends

Hank Garland Walter Louis Garland (11 November 1930 – 27 December 2004), professionally Hank Garland, was an American guitarist and songwriter. He started as a country musician, played rock and roll as it became popular in the 1950s, and released a jazz al ...

and

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music s ...

, saxophonist

Boots Randolph Homer Louis "Boots" Randolph III (June 3, 1927 – July 3, 2007) was an American musician best known for his 1963 saxophone hit "Yakety Sax" (which became Benny Hill's signature tune). Randolph was a major part of the "Nashville sound" for most o ...

, African-American pianist/violinist Brenton Banks, pianist

Floyd Cramer Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "half step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signature ...

, bassist

Bob Moore Bob Loyce Moore (November 30, 1932 – September 22, 2021) was an American session musician, orchestra leader, and double bassist who was a member of the Nashville A-Team during the 1950s and 1960s. He performed on over 17,000 documented record ...

, drummer

Buddy Harman Murrey Mizell "Buddy" Harman, Jr. (December 23, 1928 – August 21, 2008) was an American country music session musician. Career Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Harman played drums on over 18,000 sessions for artists such as Elvis Presley, Jerry ...

, and vibes prodigy

Gary Burton Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be he ...

, who was only 17 years old at the time. Even though the players were playing country music day-in and day-out in Nashville sessions, they had a deep love of jazz and played often at the Carousel Club on

Printer's Alley Printer's Alley is a famous alley in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., between Third and Fourth Avenues, running from Union Street to Commerce Street. The portion of the alley between Union and Church Street is the home of a nightclub district ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

. When their much-anticipated festival performance was canceled due to an unruly crowd, the group documented their performance anyway, recording on the back porch of a mansion RCA had rented during the festival (depicted by the drawing on the cover). Two of the songs, "Nashville to Newport" and "Riot-Chous" were composed for the occasion, the latter after the riot on the night prior to recording. Other groups since have taken the name Nashville All-Stars.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

critic Thom Owens called the album "a surprisingly jazzy effort, highllighted by some excellent leads by Atkins, yet it is a bit too down-home for jazzbos, and a bit too polished for country fans. Nevertheless, fans of pure musicianship will find plenty to treasure on the album."

Reissues

* Originally released in 1960 by RCA, it was re-released on CD by

Bear Family Records Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label, that specializes in reissues of archival material, ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks. History The label has been in existence since ...

(BCD 15447) in 1989 with liner notes by Rich Kienzle, based on interviews with Bob Moore and other participants.

Track listing

Side one

# "Relaxin (Jimmy Guinn) – 11:11 # "Nashville to Newport" (

) – 3:18 # " Opus de Funk" (

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sch ...

) – 6:14

Side two

# " S Wonderful" (

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the 2 ...

) – 4:35 # " 'Round Midnight" (

Bernie Hanighen Bernard D. Hanighen (April 27, 1908 in Omaha, Nebraska – October 19, 1976 in New York City, New York) Attended Hackley School (Tarrytown, New York) - Class of 1926, also attended Harvard University - Class of 1930. He was an American songwrit ...

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...

Cootie Williams Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams (July 10, 1911 – September 15, 1985) was an American jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues trumpeter. Biography Born in Mobile, Alabama, Williams began his professional career at the age of 14 with the Yo ...

) – 4:39 # " Frankie and Johnny" (Traditional) – 3:37 # "Riot-Chous" (

) – 8:57

Personnel

– guitar *

– alto and tenor saxophone * Brenton Banks – piano, violin *

– piano *

– vibraphone *

– double bass *

– drums

Production notes

*Produced by

Steve Sholes Stephen Henry Sholes (February 12, 1911 – April 22, 1968) was a prominent American recording executive with RCA Victor. Career Sholes was born in Washington, D.C. and moved with his family to Merchantville, New Jersey, at the age of nin ...

*Mastered by Bob Jones *Reissue producer, photography by

Richard Weize Richard Weize (Born August 4, 1945 in Bad Gandersheim, Germany) is the founder of Bear Family Records label, operator of the Richard Weize Archives, and an author. Weize and his work has been featured in the ''Los Angeles Times'', ''Rolling Stone ...

*Liner notes by George Wein *Reissue Liner notes by Rich Kienzle *Cover art by

Jim Flora James Flora (January 25, 1914 ‒ July 9, 1998), best known for his distinctive and idiosyncratic album cover art for RCA Victor and Columbia Records during the 1940s and 1950s, was also a prolific commercial illustrator from the 1940s to the ...

References

External links

George Wein's original liner notesJim Flora cover art
{{Gary Burton 1960 live albums Albums produced by Steve Sholes Albums recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival Chet Atkins live albums RCA Victor live albums