Swinging Easy!
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Album Summary
Swinging Easy! came to life in 1974, dropping on the storied Contemporary Records label — a home that had long been synonymous with the finest in West Coast jazz. Barney Kessel, that masterful Oklahoma-born guitarist whose fingers had graced countless classic sessions from the bebop era forward, stepped into the studio leading a tight small ensemble with the kind of relaxed authority that only comes from decades of living inside the music. The album captured Kessel in a setting that suited him like a well-tailored suit — intimate, swinging, and deeply soulful — weaving through a repertoire that drew from Broadway, bossa nova, and the Great American Songbook with equal parts warmth and technical brilliance. It was a record that felt like a late-night conversation between old friends, rooted in the West Coast jazz tradition that Kessel himself had helped shape.
Reception
- Swinging Easy! was warmly embraced within jazz circles as a confident and musically satisfying entry in Kessel's prolific 1970s catalog.
- Contemporary Records, known for releasing quality straight-ahead jazz throughout the decade, saw the album fit naturally into its lineup of accessible yet substantive recordings.
Significance
- The album stood as a quiet but powerful statement in defense of straight-ahead swinging jazz at a moment when fusion and electric experimentation were pulling the genre in bold new directions — Kessel held the line with grace and conviction.
- Swinging Easy! exemplified the West Coast jazz aesthetic that Kessel had been instrumental in cultivating — cool, lyrical, and impeccably swinging — demonstrating that the small-group format still had plenty of soul left to give in the 1970s.
- The album's selection of material, ranging from the bossa nova elegance of Corcovado to the lush Broadway shimmer of On A Clear Day, You Can See Forever, reflected Kessel's rare gift for finding the jazz truth inside any song he touched.
Tracklist
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A1 On A Clear Day, You Can See Forever —
4:35
-
A2 The Look Of Love —
4:03
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A3 Autumn Leaves —
4:48
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A4 You're The One For Me 89
4:35
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B1 I Will Wait For You —
3:13
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B2 Corcovado (Quiet Nights) —
3:22
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B3 Aquarius 91
4:58
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B4 Watch The Birds Go By —
5:10
Artist Details
Barney Kessel was one of the most gifted jazz guitarists to ever grace this beautiful planet, born in Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1923, and he made his name in the swinging clubs and studios of Los Angeles where his fluid, bop-inflected style put him in the company of legends like Oscar Peterson and Charlie Parker. His work as both a solo artist and an in-demand session guitarist placed him at the heart of West Coast jazz, and his three *Poll Winners* albums with Ray Brown and Shelly Manne in the late 1950s are stone-cold classics that belong in every serious music collection. Kessel's influence stretched far beyond jazz purists — his studio work helped shape the sound of countless recordings across multiple genres, cementing his legacy as one of the true unsung architects of American music.
