Lou Stein - Lou Stein at Large! (1953)

"Poinciana (Song of the Tree)" by Lou Stein Trio

Tonight! America After Dark had a series of house bands as it did hosts. The Lou Stein Trio started with the new late-night experiment, and Lou himself had some past history with Al "Jazzbo" Collins. Before either's tenure with Tonight!, Lou Stein provided the backing jazz for a couple of Collins's bebop fairytales while Collins wrote the liner notes for Lou Stein's debut album Lou Stein at Large! released in 1953 on Brunswick Records.

It's true what the album says: Lou Stein is at large! After bassist Bob Carter gets a couple bars to solo on "You Stepped Out of a Dream," you don't hear much special from him again and never anything but perfunctory percussion (on drums or bongos) from Cliff Leeman. The rest is Lou Stein. Lou's style of jazz is rudimentary. He hugs the original material closely, filling in as much of the time-space as he can with whatever arpeggiations, and doesn't have such an engaging style to make any interpretation a must-listen. So instead, a little structuring and genre fusion build the noteworthy tracks. A close listen reveals a busy left hand that consistently plays something close to a boogie-woogie rhythm while overtop is a melody that can at times bring in adept classical flourishes, extended minor chord progressions, latin touches and cocktail lounge solos. The most interesting songs combine everything together in "sections" divided by time signature changes. But "interesting" doesn't mean much here, Lou Stein is doing something jazzy but doesn't bring these arrangements and touches to a whole. And those are the good tracks ("Poinciana (Song of the Tree)," "Tenderly," "Carioca,") the rest are just—and this seems to be a recent Tour trend—background jazz and so much filler.

Note: This was another album not available online (but for the "Poinciana" single and "Tenderly" B-side.) I bought a used vinyl for this entry, and I hit lucky with a record that was once Jazzbo's own personal copy. It has his unique Jazzbo signature/caricature stamp and is dedicated and signed by Lou Stein himself: "To MY MAN JAZZBO 'THE ABSOLTE [sic]! WHAT CAN I SAY.' Lou Stein (orch)"

Here is the discography surrounding Lou Stein's debut album:

Poinciana (Song of the Tree) (1953 single as the Lou Stein Trio)

Lou Stein at Large!

"Tenderly" by Lou Stein Trio

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