Chad Wackerman

Discography

Colin Bailey started recording in England in 1952. His U.S. recording career started in 1962 with Vince Guaraldi’s Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus. He has since played on approximately one hundred jazz albums, and also did many commercial ones during his L.A. studio period.

Some of the artists Colin has recorded with:

Vince Guaraldi (5), Benny Goodman (2), Joe Pass (14), Frank Sinatra/ Antonio Carlos Jobim, George Shearing, Victor Feldman (6), Jack Jones, Rita Coolidge, Clare Fischer (5), Paul Horn, Dave Mackay, Blossom Dearie, Julie London, Barbara Carroll, Richie Cole, Dick Hindman (2), Jimmy Rowles/ Red Mitchell (3), Ben Webster/ Jimmy Witherspoon, Carole Sloane (2), Stefan Scaggiari (3), Karrin Allyson, Ron Affif (3), Howard Alden, Seven Sensational Saxophones/ Concord-Fujitsu Festival, John Pisano (3), Ken Peplowski/ Howard Alden, Howard Alden/ Frank Vignola/ Jimmy Bruno, Rosemary Clooney, and Frank Potenza on For Joe—a tribute to Joe Pass.

Some of the artists Colin has recorded with:

Vince Guaraldi (5), Benny Goodman (2), Joe Pass (14), Frank Sinatra/ Antonio Carlos Jobim, George Shearing, Victor Feldman (6), Jack Jones, Rita Coolidge, Clare Fischer (5), Paul Horn, Dave Mackay, Blossom Dearie, Julie London, Barbara Carroll, Richie Cole, Dick Hindman (2), Jimmy Rowles/ Red Mitchell (3), Ben Webster/ Jimmy Witherspoon, Carole Sloane (2), Stefan Scaggiari (3), Karrin Allyson, Ron Affif (3), Howard Alden, Seven Sensational Saxophones/ Concord-Fujitsu Festival, John Pisano (3), Ken Peplowski/ Howard Alden, Howard Alden/ Frank Vignola/ Jimmy Bruno, Rosemary Clooney, and Frank Potenza on For Joe—a tribute to Joe Pass.

In 1967, Colin got a call to do a record with Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim (at the recommendation of Joao Gilberto). At the time his regular job was with the George Shearing Quintet, which was playing a two week stint at Shelly’s Manne Hole in Hollywood. The Sinatra / Jobim sessions were going to be on a Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evening. Shearing’s group had the Monday night off so Colin could do that night, but not the Tuesday and Wednesday. Fortunately, they let him do the Monday session and brought in Brazilian drummer Dom Um Romao for the other ones. The reason for mentioning this is that on the first date there was an article written for the L.A. Times about the session, including the personnel. On the second date, a guy did the liner notes which said that Dom Um was the drummer. When Colin says he was on that record, released as Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim, some people say it mentions the other guy’s name on it. The tracks he played on were “Baubles, Bangles, and Beads”, “Change Partners”, “I Concentrate on You”, and “Dindi”. Well, now we have that cleared up!! The arranger on that album was Claus Ogerman, and that whole session was the other biggest thrill in Colin’s life.

There are a couple of other albums that were influential in their particular part of jazz that we would like to say something about.

In 1975, Colin did a record with the uniquely talented jazz singer / composer / pianist Blossom Dearie. The album was titled From the Meticulous to the Sublime and a lot of the songs, which were her compositions, were used by many jazz singers throughout the world in their repertoire. The personnel were Blossom on piano and vocals, John Morell on guitar, Jim Hughart on bass, and Colin on drums.

In 1975-76 (two different sessions) came the Victor Feldman Trio album The Artful Dodger. This was widely acclaimed in it’s genre and contains Colin’s favorite recorded drum solo. It’s on a track named ‘Agitation’. Victor wanted an agitated type drum solo which wasn’t the kind of solo Colin was used to playing so it was a new area for him. It turned out to be good and got lots of kudos from other drummers. A transcription of this solo is included in Colin’s drum book Bass Drum Control. Personnel on the first session were Victor on piano, Monty Budwig on bass, and Colin on drums. On the second session personnel included Victor on piano, Chuck Domanico on bass, Colin on drums, and a guest appearance by Jack Sheldon—who played trumpet and sang on ‘Haunted Ballroom’ (a very hip tune by Victor)!

Other recordings we would like to say something about are Joe Pass albums. Firstly, For Django. This was made in July of 1964, and is the Bible on the subject for young jazz guitarists all over the world to this day. It was the first of many records made by this group. The personnel were Joe Pass and John Pisano on guitar, Jim Hughart on bass (Monty Budwig replaces Jim on bass on Joe Pass & Co. and Nuages), and Colin on drums. Other Joe recordings we would like to acknowledge are some of the last ones we did: My SongJoe Pass & Co.AppassionatoSummer Nights, and Nuages.