Pete Jolly ‎- Seasons (1970/2007)

This LP, hailed at the time of release and promptly forgotten, is Pete Jolly's masterpiece, a wonderfully emotional electronic tour de force. With the exception of one cut, it was completely improvised in a single four-hour session in the studio by Jolly and a superb, versatile rhythm section: drummer Paul Humphrey, guitarist John Pisano, and the ever-present Chuck Berghofer on bass (with Milt Holland and Emil Richards contributing as well). Jolly plays not only acoustic piano, but Wurlitzer electronic piano, accordion, musette, Sano Vox and the Hammond B-3. Minimal overdubbing was done later. "Seasons" unleashes Jolly's imagination, and he creates a marvelous tapestry of sound that both moves the listener and swings spontaneously. Beautifully produced by Herb Alpert -- who brought him to A&M -- the record is structured as a continuous suite -- with only the side break on the LP interrupting the flow -- and it comes to an exciting, carefully graded climax on "The Indian's Summer," with Jolly pounding the grand piano and a sudden burst of big band fireworks courtesy of Bill Holman. It doesn't end there however, as the closing cut, a near nostalgic weeper cum slippery little funk number called "Pete's Jolly" attests, sending it out on a fingerpopping note. There is arch humor in tracks like the scurrying "Bees" and the sauntering "Plummer Park" (which has been sampled plentifully by the hip-hop generation and contains the tight popping jazz funk that defined the CTI label, as does the last tune on the LP side, "Springs"), the vivid tone painting in "Rainbows" and "Sand Storm," and the aching beauty in "Autumn Festival." Roger Nichols' wistful "Seasons" and the sole standard on the album, "Younger Than Springtime," fit seamlessly into the fabric of Jolly's improvisations, and he uses "Springtime" as a recurring motif. Nothing from his earlier recordings could prepare the listener for this record, and he did nothing comparable until his death in 2004.