On October 19, 1959, Teo Macero, Columbia’s staff producer and the man behind Charles Mingus’s first Columbia album, Mingus Ah Um, walked into Columbia’s New York studio as a player instead. He took the tenor chair in a septet with trumpeter Nick Travis, vibraphonist Teddy Charles, pianist Dave McKenna, guitarist Jimmy Raney, bassist Addison Farmer and drummer Ed Shaughnessy. They cut “Guys and Dolls,” “If I Were a Bell” and “The Oldest Established,” the first of three sessions (the others followed on October 27 and November 4, with Bob Brookmeyer, Phil Woods and Zoot Sims). Macero conceived the project and arranged several of the tracks; Charles arranged others. Columbia issued it in 1960 as Swinging Guys and Dolls, credited to the Manhattan Jazz All-Stars, a name that conveniently left the producer’s own off the cover. He later called it a record he was particularly proud of.
Teo Macero at the first Miles Davis Conference, Washington University in St. Louis, May 11, 1996. Photo: Catherine Rankovic, CC BY-SA 2.0; taken thirty-seven years after the session.
Sources: Jazz Discography Project — The Manhattan Jazz All-Stars: sessions of October 19, October 27 and November 4, 1959 (Columbia CL 1426) , Fresh Sound Records — Swinging ‘Guys & Dolls’: Macero’s arrangements and tenor on the October 19 session , Jazz.com — Remembering Teo Macero (1925-2008): produced and played on a jazz Guys and Dolls, of which he was particularly proud , Wikipedia — Teo Macero: Columbia staff producer from 1957; produced Mingus Ah Um (1959)
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