Performers: Johnny Griffin (t-sx), Kenny Drew (pi), Wilbur Ware (bs), Philly Joe Jones (dr)
A1. Where's Your Overcoat, Boy?
A2. Hot Sausage
A3. Sunny Monday
B1. Cherokee
B2. Teri's Tune
B3. Little John
With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King. Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. (Psalm 98:6-7, KJV)
Thursday 4 February 2021
Johnny Griffin - Way Out
Z-Ro - Crack
So it’s disconcerting that 'Crack', roughly his tenth proper album (depending on how you’re counting certain side projects and undergrounds), opens with a blissful, almost childlike melody. Ro playfully outlines his concept – his music is a drug (this is a factual statement, not a metaphor, as any Ro junkie can verify) and he’s set to deliver 14 new songs to overdose on. The first of which, believe it or not, is a full-fledged ballad. If 'Baby Girl' is to be believed the once hardened Z-Ro has finally found love. 'No longer do I have to search / she’s a dime but she’s down to earth / it’s understood to me she gotta be my baby girl' You’d almost mistake it for sarcasm, if he didn’t seem so damn earnest.
Fortunately (for the listener, not so much for Z-Ro – keep your head up, buddy) this is a curveball, a brief moment of misplaced happiness. Almost immediately after declaring his undying loyalty to this nameless lady friend he’s back on the loner tip, finding solstice only in dead presidents. He intimates: 'My grandmother told me the pillow don’t love you back / but God never took one of my ribs and made me a woman, I’ma concentrate on my stacks.' Or, more to the point, 'bitch you ain’t gotta call my phone.' But Crack isn’t just about drama. Z-Ro's also a spitter in the purest sense, the midpoint between 2Pac's raw emotion and Bone's singsong technicality. The screwed '25 Lighters' finds him freestyling for a good nine minutes straight just because he can.
The production, split between Ro himself and underground H-Town stalwarts like Cory Mo and Mr. Lee is appropriately morose. Post-Screw, the above ground Houston sound has mostly turned larger then life, more showboating car show buzz than promethazine burn out. In Z-Ro's hands it’s just mournful (and, in some ways, much closer to DJ Screw's original vision). Consider Biggie's once grandiose boasts of 'large estates with larger steaks'. Now slowed to a crawling hook on 'Made' they evoke a suffocating emptiness. Z-Ro sees straight through the vapidity of bottle popping models and a prime cut fillet. Self made millionaire or not, he’s still alone." (Review by Andrew Nosnitsky for HipHopDX. See here.)
1. Crack (Intro)
2. Baby Girl
3. Here We Go
4. Call My Phone
5. If That's How You Feel
6. Lonely
7. Made
8. The Mo City Don
9. Top Notch
10. Rollin
11. Tired
12. You
13. Eyes On Paper
14. 25 Lighter
15. Paid My Dues
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis & Johnny Griffin - Battle Stations
"It's a good jazz sound, and it rarely sounded better than in the hands and lungs of the two tenor stars who teamed up a couple of years ago and worked hard and well to keep the group alive. Unfortunately, they were forced to go their separate ways in early 1963, due to the economic vagaries of the tight jazz scene. Thus, there is a kind of nostalgia attached to listening to this album, as well as satisfaction in knowing that the group was captured on wax once more before disbanding.
"Lockjaw Davis (b. 1921) was the senior partner in this swinging enterprise. His very individual and distinctive style, rooted in the approach of the Hawkins-Webster school but with a strong bop flavor, blends well with that of Johnny Griffin (born 1928). Both men are what is sometimes called 'hard' players - meaning that they favor a big, strong sound and employ forceful rhythms and expressionistic coloration. There are differences (Johnny tends to play more notes than Lock and employs a smoother tone) but the similarities often outweigh them, and there are times, as when the boys trade 'eights' or 'fours', when it can become quite a game to sort them out. Most importantly, though, Lock and Griff always seem to turn each other on - a fact that is apparent in the music but also supplied special kicks when seeing the group in person.
"A characteristic of the Lockjaw-Griffin partnership was the consistent presence of strong, swinging rhythm sections. The gentlemen on deck here are in that tradition. Others who passed through the ranks included pianists Junior Mance, Horace Parlan and Lloyd Mayers; bassists Gene Ramey and Larry Ridley; and drummer Clifford Jarvis. This album offers a pleasant opportunity to hear Norman Simmons, a very gifted pianist, arranger and accompanyist (he wrote for Griffin's short-lived 'Big Soul Band' and worked with Dinah Washington and Carmen McRae). He is extensively featured here. Bassist Vic Sproles is a solid swinger, and Ben Riley, the group's original drummer, is well-attuned to its needs.
"This is straightforward, free-wheeling, no-nonsense jazz. It will make you tap your foot and shake your head, and at time the shouting and hollering will make you laugh out loud. In a day when preciousness and self-conscious striving for novelty burdens much of modern jazz, it's good to hear this kind of music. It's a kind of jazz that, hopefully, will always be with us. Lock and Griff are back on their own now, but it is certain that both of them have come away from their time of togetherness with a little something of each other that will always stay with them.
"'What's Happening' is an uptempo blowing line, a kind of warmup exercise. The head, played in unison, is brief and things soon settle down to extended blowing. The solo order, as it is throughout, puts Lock on deck first, followed by Simmons and then Griff. There are nice eights and fours at the end.
"'Abundance' used to be announced by the partners as 'A Bun Dance', and it works both ways. It's a soul-type tune with effective use of stop time and real linear interplay between the two horns in the ensemble. Simmons has a particularly good solo spot.
"'If I Had You', the only standard in this set, is taken at a relaxed medium tempo. Lock kicks off with a well-built solo excursion, growing from a restrained opening to some real shouting. Griff gets right up there with him. After Griff's solo, Davis returns with the channel, and then there is a nice conversation on the last eight.
"'63rd Street Theme' is a Latin-flavored minor blues, brought on by a piano-and-rhythm intro. Griffin's solo is one of his best of the set, and the entire performance has unity and form.
"'Pull My Coat' starts with a walking bass intro. The unison theme statement features tasty piano fills. Both tenors dig in on this one, with plenty of 'rapprochement'.
"'Hey Jim!' has a light, springy beat that sets the horns well. It is reminiscent of the kind of line featured by Ammons and Stitt, and there is a happy passage just prior to Lock's solo where the two tenors really boots each other. Griffin's solo has some of those staggering fast runs which have become a trademark of 'the little giant'.
"Take this album home and pull back the rug and shake your buns, or get out some cold beer and settle down to listen. Whatever your pleasure, it will be increased considerably in the company of Lockjaw, Griffin & Co. and their happy, swinging jazz." (Dan Morgenstern, August 1963. From the liner notes.)
Performers: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (t-sx), Johnny Griffin (t-sx), Norman Simmons (pi), Victor Sproles (bs), Ben Riley (dr)
A1. What's Happening
A2. Abundance
A3. If I Had You
B1. 63rd Street Theme
B2. Pull My Coat
B3. Hey Jim!
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis & Johnny Griffin - Griff & Lock
"Exactly when the first tenor "battle" took place is a fact we have been unable to pin down. Tenor saxophone was not used too much until the mid-1930s, so it is unlikely to have started before then. There was a rivalry between Lester Young and Herschel Evans in Count Basie's band but their solos were usually widely separated by the arrangements. The beginning may have been in Lionel Hampton's band with Arnette Cobb and Illinois Jacquet at the Harlem Square in Houston during the late '30s, or on 52nd Street in 1941 when Coleman Hawkins' small band also featured another tenor player of note, Don Byas.
"At any rate, a tradition had begun to evolve, Jacquet and Dexter Gordon were brought together on a number called 'Pork Chops' with Hampton in the early '40s. Then, in the mid-'40s, Gordon and Gene Ammons continued the tradition with 'Blowin' the Blues Away' in the Billy Eckstine orchestra. A few years later, Dexter teamed with Wardell Gray for 'The Chase' and other tenor-tandem numbers in a small group context of sessions and on record. In 1950, at New York's Orchid Room (the old Onyx), Grey and Sonny Stitt blew against each other. The next step was taken by Ammons, who teamed with Stitt on a permanent basis for club and concert engagements as well as recordings from 1950 to 1952.
"Since then there have been many tenor pairs on record dates, but the first to appear regularly in clubs after the break-up of Ammons & Stitt was the Al Cohn-Zoot Sims team. Then, in May 1960, came a vital new addition to the two-tenor combo ranks - Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis and Johnny Griffin. 'Griff & Lock' are stylistically closer to Stitt and Ammons than to Sims and Cohn, but they share one important characteristic with the latter pair. While Gene and Sonny were dedicated to a heated (even though not vicious) saxophone swordplay, Eddie and Johnny are always enhancing each other. In a 'Down Beat' interview (June 22, 1961), 'Lock' explained the group's intent to Pete Welding. 'It's not really a battle at all. What we are doing is presenting, side by side, two different style of playing tenor - a contrast, not a contest.'
"Although both Davis and Griffin are rough and ready, extrovert players, there is a definite contrast. This helps sustain interest in the solo portions. The well-balanced ensembles show that there is enough similarity of basic approach in their respective style to weld them into a cohesive unit.
"Both men have served in big bands (Griffin with Hampton; Davis, most importantly with Basie) and in small groups (each has led his own combo as well as working as a sideman). 'Lock' has one of the most personal, immediately recognizable styles in jazz. In many ways it is unorthodox; intriguingly freakish. On ballads, his Ben Webster influence is evident but it isn't often that he is heard at ballad tempo in this group. (The first chorus of 'Good Bait' is the only instance here). Davis explained in 'Down Beat': 'We very rarely play slower ballads. It's not that we have anything against them, it's just that they don't seem to fit into our approach... The patrons don't really want us to slow down.'
"Griffin, who takes the second tenor solo on all six selections here, is still 'the fastest gun alive' but is a calmer player than his pre-Thelonious Monk days. This is not to say that he has lost any of his tremendous drive, but he is more in control of his own powers than before. Occasionally, Johnny gets that hollow Dexter Gordon sound in the upper register and sometimes he reminds me of Gene Ammons, but like Davis he is essentially an individualist who multi-toned style is unmistakable.
"The individual and combined powers of the two tenor 'terribles' (used in the most positive jazz sense of the word) is a constant good groove. Junior Mance, his authentically funky piano and his strongly rhythmic cohorts, Larry Gales and Ben Riley, help to make this album a delight from start to finish. Perhaps the most important factor in the success of this set is the excellent choice of tunes. The six selections here inspire the players to do their best. The only standard is 'I'll Remember April' and that one has a way of refurbishing itself through the years which does not let its interest for player or listener diminish. The other are each, in their own way, special. Guts and beauty in combination are to be found in James Moody's 'Last Train from Overbrook', 'Hey Lock!' is a David original with its own bridge separating body and soul. Bob Gonzales' 'Midnight at Minton's' is a minor-key swinger. 'Second Balcony Jump' was written by Jerry Valentine for the Earl Hines band of the 1940s and later reworked for Billy Eckstine. Griff and Lock introduce it with a bit of 'The Theme' before leaping over the balcony rolling. Tadd Dameron's 'Good Bait' (written in collaboration with Count Basie) is also from the '40s and was first recorded by a Dizzy Gillespie quintet. Davis brings out its stately minuet-like qualities for a chorus and then Griffin joins in to help him swing it.
"If you have either of the group's other albums, ('Tough Tenors' and 'Lookin' at Monk') you know what to expect in terms of spirited performances. This one is every bit as good and what is more important, accomplishes it with a quality and feeling all its own." (Ira Gitler. From the liner notes.)
Performers: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (t-sx), Johnny Griffin (t-sx), Junior Mance (pi), Larry Gales (bs), Ben Riley (dr)
A1. Last Train From Overbrook
A2. Hey, Lock!
A3. Midnight At Minton's
B1. Second Balcony Jump
B2. I'll Remember April
B3. Good Bait
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis & Johnny Griffin - Blues Up & Down
"Several cities in the United States lay claim to having originated the saying, 'If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes.' A similar saying could apply directly to jazz: 'If you don't like the music, wait a few years.' But with a slightly different meaning, jazz has more to do with fashion than with the weather and, like some ladies' dresses and some mens' suits, you can keep a certain style tucked away in the coset for a few years, haul it out, dust it off, and await the delighted remarks.
"Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis should know everything there is to know about fashion. He has been both -In- and -Out-, and a group he had at one times deserves a fair share of the credit for stimulating the current popularity of tenor-and-organ combos. Since all these things have happened to him, and since in all the years he has been playing he has never basically altered his style in an effort to -make- them happen, he tends to view the history of jazz as cyclical. And since his own career proves his point admirable, it is difficult to argue.
"This present quintet, which Jaws shares with Johnny Griffin, came about for several reasons. One of them is Davis' love for his instrument. He has always been fascinated with the possibilities of the tenor saxophone, and it is obvious to a man of Davis' turn of mind that if one tenor player can explore so much, then two tenor players... So the group was formed, having as its precedent such former combinations as Hawkins-Byas, Gordon-Gray and Ammons-Stitt. It was so successful that the Ammons-Stitt partnership decided to re-form, and the style of tenor playing represented here has now been so highly publicized that anyone who hasn't been called 'boss tenor' at least once since the start of 1961 had better look for another line of work.
"One of the interesting things about this group is that tow such different men play so well together. Johnny Griffin is a happy, open guy and most people who know him are united in a sort of unofficial fan club who main activity consists in telling Johnny Griffin stories. Eddie Davis is a shrewd and mordant observer of almost anything you care to name, something of a homemade philosopher who will draw upon a vast range of interests, with vocabulary to match, to tell you the reason behind the reason for just about anything that happens to engage his fancy at the moment.
"The original union was, at least in part, a matter of necessity. Late in the Spring of 1960, at about the same time that Davis' tenor-organ combo broke up, Griffin was travelling around the country as a single, at the mercy of whatever rhythm section the local club happened to have in stock. Davis had had the idea for a two-tenor group for some time and approached Griffin on the matter. They played together, they liked what they heard and they've been in business ever since.
"The expression 'tenor battle', often used to describe a team such as this, is actually somewhat misleading. If two men stand up ever night and really try to cut one another (as happened in the almost legendary situations which are the origins of this unit), there will, sooner or later, be a winner. After that, the interest of the players is bound to lag, and it won't take audiences too much time after that to lose interest themselves. But what these two men do is work -with- rather than -against- each other, and the fact that they insure themselves a longer tenure together is only one of the benefits thus attained by all.
"Now we come to the question, who is playing what? A graph of solos could be constructed which would make this liner look like something found on the blackboards of the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. If you just remember that Davis got his best experience with Basie, and Griffin with Blakey and Monk, you should have enough of a clue. Those credits also make the two tenormen something of a capsule history of the last twenty years. But it is safe to say that there is no educational intent involved in this record. Anyone who has ever seen the Davis-Griffin group in person will know that their main interest is the conveyance of emotion, and that emotion is generally pure excitement. If you watch the audience at one of the clubs they play, you'll see no hands on chins, heads nodding solemnly, or stationary feet. Davis and Griffin set out to break up the audience, and they almost never seem to fail.
"Even if you happen to be unfamiliar with the group, it should be no great surprise to learn that one of its main topics of conversation is the blues. Basie and Monk, after all, stand for the blues. (And for swing). So this album, deliberately designed to spotlight this favorite topic, is entirely made up of various treatments of the blues. The first one, Johnny Griffin's 'Camp Meeting', has, as its title suggests, a compelling gospel feel. The title track, 'Blues Up and Down', is a collaboration by Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, and thus stands as a nod in the direction of an illustrious tenor-team predecessor. There are two other 'outside' tunes on the set: 'Oh Gee' is a catchy swinger by trombonist Matthew Gee; while Richard Carpenter's rather widely recorded 'Walkin'' helped set the direction for a new trend in jazz when Miles Davis originally played it. Of the remaining three blues, one each is by Davis and Griffin - both written some years ago and now revived for two-tenor use - and the final number is a recent collaboration between the co-leaders.
"Bassist Larry Gales and drummer Ben Riley were part of the rhythm section on the quintet's three previous Jazzland albums. Pianist Lloyd Mayers was the replacement called in when Junior Mance departed to form his own trio; his basic, direct blues piano is a fine accompaniment to the lead horns.
"The basic problem of a quintet such as this is the incipient - or, at least, potential - monotony contained in its central idea. But so far, Griffin and Davis have managed to avoid that pitfall. It's a hard job they have set for themselves, with the burden of freshness and variety set squarely on them every time they play. They have recourse to nothing but their own inventiveness, but that has shown no signs of diminishing. It remains as when Gene Lees first heard them and wrote in 'Down Beat': 'This group certainly doesn't point 'the' direction in jazz. It is just five men swinging up a storm, and jazz is fortunate that such men exist to feed it.'" (Joe Goldberg. From the liner notes.)
Performers: Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis (t-sx), Johnny Griffin (t-sx), Lloyd Mayers (pi), Larry Gales (bs), Ben Riley (dr)
A1. Camp Meeting
A2. Blues Up And Down
A3. Nice And Easy
B1. Oh, Gee
B2. Walkin'
B3. Leapin' On Lenox
B4. Layin' On Mellow
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)