More Pleasure Than Pain: J.R. Montrose and Tommy Flanagan

This post’s origins began with the great Catalan pianist Tete Montoliu’s solo version of Theme for Ernie, the hauntingly beautiful elegy for alto saxophonist Ernie henry, who died too young of the heroin plague in 1957. I was impress enough the composition  to do a bit of research, which turned up a lot of information on the composer, Fred Lacey, and other obscure figures, courtesy of bassist-writer Steve Wallace. As is my wont, I started listening to other versions, including that of John Coltrane, which made it a jazz standard. I then tried a duo version by J.R. Montrose (tenor and soprano) and Tommy Flanagan (pno). It totally bowled me over and sent me off to locate a copy of this 1981 recording on Reservoir Records.

A Little Pleasure (derived from one of the two Montrose compositions on the album) is a really remarkable recording. According to the liner notes, Flanagan and Montrose were friends who had worked together a number of times over the years. From my limited listening, I had thought of Montrose as a hard-charging hard bop player but this recording, mostly consisting of ballads and medium-tempo tunes, shows extraordinary sensitivity and deep emotion, beautifully complemented by Tommy Flanagan’s equally elegant and thoughtful approach (I still vividly remember a great night of Flanagan’ music in the mid-70s at DC’s Harold’s Rogue and Jar).

Whether drawing on the Great American Songbook (Never let Me Go, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square), the Modern Jazz Songbook (Con Alma, Central Park West, Twelve Tone Tune), or Montrose originals (Pain and Suffering…and a Little Pleasure, Vinnie’s Pad) these two masters produced a fine set, worthy of much ore notoriety than it apparently received over the years.

Here are Theme for Ernie and A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.