Joe Farrell Quartet

“Joe Farrell was not what you might call an ‘inspired’ artist, but he made up in technique and proficiency what he lacked in subtlety. After playing on some 200 albums as an accomplished sideman on all sorts of reed instruments, he got his first major break when he was signed to the CTI label in 1970. He immediately proceeded to cut his first album, aptly titled ‘The Joe Farrell Quartet’, recorded in July of that year, with Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette and John McLaughlin - a lineup that significantly contributed to the interest created by the album.

“In life, Joe was pretty much like his music - down to earth, direct, jovial, somewhat on the heavy side, but simple and affecting. He loved life, and enjoyed what he did to the hilt.

“He was born in December, 1937, in Chicago Heights, Illinois, of Italian parents, and manifested musical inclinations at an early age. By his 11th birthday, he had made up his mind to be a musician, and from that moment on, he set out avidly to play everywhere there was music to be played - at home, with his family; in high school, where he got his first introduction to jazz; and in amateur clubs which were flourishing at the time in and around Chicago. If there was any way in, Joe found it, playing an increasingly wider array of instruments. ‘I just played because I liked to play,’ he later recounted. ‘I practiced hard, but that was easy for me because I had an affinity for music.’

“While in college, Joe, then 19, got his first professional job with a name band - Ralph Marterie’s. For three months, he experienced working with seasoned musicians, and came out of it more convinced than ever to make music his business.

“After graduating, in 1959, Joe embarked on what he himself called ‘a wild summer’. He and a friend, Ira Sullivan, spent their time jamming like maniacs, sometimes spending as much as a whole day and a whole night jumping from club to club, without a break. At the end of the summer, after having literally surveyed the whole club scene in Chicago, Joe decided to go to New York, ‘to see what was happening’.

“As a matter of fact a lot was happening, and with characteristic drive and determination, Joe immediately looked for places where he could jam, the idea being that the sooner his name got around, the faster he would get a steady gig. A recommendation to audition for Maynard Ferguson landed him his first paying job. Within three months of his official debut with the band, he said, ‘I was playing one of the places I had always dreamed about, Birdland…’

“In the ensuing years, Joe’s career went through the usual ‘paying dues’ process, while he tried unsuccessfully to form his own group. The list of players he performed with during these formative years is indicative of the caliber of people he was getting involved with - Tito Rodrigues, Ron Carter, Hank Jones, Kenny Dorham, Paul Chambers, Wynton Kelly, and Thad Jones and Mel Lewis who band he joined in 1965, while keeping another job in the band of the Playboy Club, of course.

“This flurry of activity eventually paid off in the late 1960s, and Joe became a member of the legendary Elvin Jones trio. His tenure with Jones lasted until 1969, and gave him a lot of visibility in musical circles. ‘Farrell amazes with his highly vocalized yet essentially -musical- concept’, a ‘Down Beat’ reviewer wrote of a performance in London, England. ‘One of the troubles of the modern way of playing is the lack of musicality it allows, but Farrell has no problems either in the direction of musicianship or power…’

“True to form, while with Jones, he still managed to play with other bands and to keep a very active schedule of recording sessions with other leaders. It was during one such session that producer Creed Taylor spotted the young saxophone player, and finally signed him to CTI as a solo artist. As a leader, Farrell recorded six albums for the label, and one with Benson as co-leader. Each album was marked by a natural progression from fusion to funk to avant-garde, with a great deal of intensity to punctuate each instant.

“‘Jazz means burning,’ Farrell once said. ‘It’s got to be cooking, I don’t want to do background music, music that suggests something else to me. Jazz is the purest form of music because it comes from within. It’s not my impression of the world… It’s not political. It’s music for music’s sake.’

“After leaving CTI, Joe recorded for other labels, including Warner Bros. Records, and moved to the West Coast where he continued to work as hard as ever.

“He died of leukemia this past summer…” (Didier C. Deutsch, December 1986. From the liner notes to the 1987 CD reissue.)

Performers: Joe Farrell (s/t-sx/fl/ob), John McLaughlin (gt), Chick Corea (pi), Jack DeJohnette (dr)

A1. Follow Your Heart

A2. Collage For Polly

A3. Circle In The Square

B1. Molten Glass

B2. Alter Ego

B3. Song Of The Wind

B4. Motion

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Joe Farrell - Outback

“‘Outback’ is the second and finest of Joe Farrell's dates for Creed Taylor's CTI label. Recorded in a quartet setting in 1970, with Elvin Jones, Chick Corea, and Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira, Farrell pushes the envelope not only of his own previous jazz conceptualism, but CTI’s envelope, as well. Outback is not a commercially oriented funk or fusion date, but an adventurous, spacy, tightrope-walking exercise between open-ended composition and improvisation. That said, there is plenty of soul in the playing. Four compositions, all arranged by Farrell, make up the album. The mysterious title track by John Scott opens the set. Staged in a series of minor-key signatures, Farrell primarily uses winds - flutes and piccolos - to weave a spellbinding series of ascending melodies over the extended, contrasting chord voicings by Corea. Jones skitters on his cymbals while playing the snare and tom-toms far more softly than his signature style usually attests. Airto rubs and shimmers on hand drums, going through the beat, climbing on top of it, and playing accents in tandem with Farrell in the solo sections. ‘Sound Down’ is a bit more uptempo and features Farrell playing wonderfully on the soprano. Buster Williams lays down a short staccato bassline that keeps Jones’ bass drum pumping. As Farrell moves from theme/variation/melody to improvisation, he brings in Corea, who vamps off the melody before offering a series of ostinati responses. Corea’s ‘Bleeding Orchid’ is a ballad played with augmented modes and continually shifting intervals, mapped beautifully by Williams’ adherence to the changes, with a series of contrasting pizzicato fills. Farrell’s trills and arpeggiatic exercises combine both jazz classicism and Middle Eastern folk music. On Farrell’s ‘November 68th’, he invokes John Coltrane's version of ‘My Favorite Things’ as he digs deep into the tenor’s middle register for a song-like voicing, played with a gorgeously bluesy sophistication. The other players rally around him and push his sonic flight to near manic intensity. ‘Outback’ is a stunner, as inspired as anything - and perhaps more so - that Farrell ever recorded.” (Review by Thom Jurek for AllMusic. See here.)

Performers: Joe Farrell (t/s-sx/fl/a-fl/pl), Chick Corea (e-pi), Buster Williams (bs), Elvin Jones (dr), Airto Moreira (pc)

A1. November 68th

A2. Bleeding Orchid

B1. Sound Down

B2. Outback

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Joe Farrell - Moon Germs

“Recorded in 1972 and released in 1973 with Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke, and Jack DeJohnette, Joe Farrell’s ‘Moon Germs’ was a foray into the electric side of jazz. On the opener, ‘Great George’, Farrell leads off with the hint of a melody before careening into legato streams of thought along striated intervallic paths. DeJohnette is like a machine gun, quadruple-timing the band as Clarke moves against the grain in a series of fours and eights, and Hancock’s attempts to keep the entire thing anchored are almost for naught. On the title track there is more of a funk backdrop, but the complex, angular runs and insane harmonic reaches Farrell attempts on his soprano, crack, falter, and ultimately turn into something else; the sheer busy-ness of the track is dazzling. ‘Bass Folk Song’ by Clarke, is the only thing on the record that actively engages melody rather than harmonic structures. Farrell uses his flute and Hancock strides into the same kind of territory he explored with Miles Davis, chopping up chordal phrases into single lines and feeding them wholesale to the running pair of frontmen - in this case Clarke and Farrell. DeJohnette uses a Latin backdrop to hang his drumming on and pursues a circular, hypnotic groove on the cymbals and toms. It’s a gorgeous piece of music and utilizes an aspect of space within the melodic frame that the rest of these firebrand tunes do not. This is sci-fi Farrell at his creative best.”  (Review by Thom Jurek for AllMusic. See here.)

Performers: Joe Farrell (s-sx/fl), Herbie Hancock (pi), Stanley Clarke (bs), Jack DeJohnette (dr)

A1. Great Gorge

A2. Moon Germs

B1. Time's Lie

B2. Bass Folk Song

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Johnny Griffin - Live in Tokyo

“There are certain players who, from the very first note of a solo, charge the air with an infectious, crackling energy that is one of the most satisfying experiences in music. Sidney Bechet was one of them, and so - in quite another vein - was Coleman Hawkins. A powerful contemporary illustration of that kind of force is Johnny Griffin. As Brian Case and Stan Britt put it in their ‘Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz’ (Harmony): ‘His solos are a string of great breaks, cliff-hanging climaxes and startling tonal devices, all held together by his colossal drive.’

“For this writer, Johnny Griffin became a formidable present on the scene in the 1950s - through a series of steaming Blue Note albums, and as one member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers who could be just as overwhelming as the volcanic leader. Then there was a Griffin stretch - and he was stretched - with Thelonious Monk, followed by a musically rambunctious period of touring with Eddie ‘Lockjaw’ Davis. It was amply clear by then that Johnny Griffin was going to be one of those long-distance swingers - an improviser who would be holding and riveting audiences for a long time to come, no matter what new styles or turns jazz took.

“The problem for us turn out to be, however, that this mighty shouter chose to do that swinging outside the States. Starting in 1962, Griffin became an expatriate, working in France with the Kenny Clarke-Francy Bolland big band and moving all over Europe as a free-lancer. In the 1970s Griffin moved his base to Holland, where he even acquired his own farm. The traveling and recording continued, and the albums that were released in the States demonstrated two things: 1) Griffin had kept on growing as a player in terms of conception and time-flexibility, while losing none of the sweeping ardor that had characterized his work at the start; and 2) he had been underestimated during his years here. That is, although Griffin was appreciated for his fire back then, it took his long years away for many of us to recognize how consistently and deeply satisfying a player he is.

“There is a lot more to ‘The Little Giant’, as he came to be known, than the first Roman-candle-like impact he always makes. There is substance, a lot of substance, to those long, spiraling solos. And there is a great deal of musical integrity. Now that we have more than two decades of Griffin on records to assess, it is unmistakably evident that he has created - and continues to create - one of the most durably fulfilling bodies of work in the canon of jazz tenor saxophone.

“At last, in September, 1978, Johnny Griffin came home to remind us natives of how much we had lost when he decided to change continents. Starting at the Monterey Jazz Festival and then moving around the country - at other festivals and at clubs - ‘The Little Giant’ was sure to create a greatly broadened audience for his music and a corollary appetite for his recordings.

“Inner City has already released one hotly distinctive Johnny Griffin set, ‘Blue for Harvey’ (IC 2004), a session recorded in Copenhagen. ‘Down Beat’ gave it five stars, noting that ‘with his big sound, flawless technique and perfect sense of swing, Griffin’s energetic ebullience evokes sheer joy.’

“Now, in your hands, is a two-volume celebration of ‘The Little Giant’s’ prowess - a recording of an April 23, 1976 concert in Tokyo with pianist Horace Parlan, bassist Mads Vinding and drummer Art Taylor.

“First of all there is - throughout these persistently compelling performances - Griffin’s total command of the horn. All registers, from the deep bottom to way on high. Part of that command is the clarity of articulation. There is no fuzziness. Griffin’s attack is clean, clear and unfailingly coherent. He doesn’t blur or coast; and indeed, one of the marvels of his work is that as hard and fast as he drives, his ideas do not flag. He think as swiftly as he swings.

“Furthermore, in the midst of his leaping maturity, Griffin plays with more sensitivity to dynamics than in the past. And with more overall care for nuances - as in his long, unaccompanied passage in ‘All the Things You Are’.

“Another element in Griffin’s work is his depth of emotion - soul, as they used to say. There are players who finger fast and furiously but their emotive content is about an inch thick. Griffin is always ‘saying something’, always telling a story. And the tales, moreover, are not safely predictable. These are true improvisations, and in them, ‘The Little Giant’ continually takes risks. Like Roy Eldridge, whatever fitting idea hits him in mid-flight, he’ll try to incorporate in the narrative, however far-flung the chances he has to take.

“There is also, of course, Johnny Griffin’s pulse. He is one of those players who work, in any context, is the very definition of swinging. But the bigness of his spirit - as shown in his ideas and his tone - leads to a largeness and depth of swinging that is one of the delights of jazz. Add to that a remarkable resiliency of time-sense, and you get instant wonders of the way he plays with the beat in his exchanges with Art Tayor.

“With regard to ballads - as in Griffin’s own graceful, hauntingly affecting ‘When We Were One’ - it is there that ‘Little Giant’s’ essential romanticism becomes clear. He has become a most thoughtful, lyrical and tender spinner of ballad lines; but then, being protean of skills, Griffin roars into the sizzling ‘Wee’. Set at a ferocious tempo, it results in one of the more incandescent performances in recent recorded jazz history.

“One of the reasons Griffin can so hold, and even shake, an audience is the way he -builds- throughout his solos. It is this quality of cohesiveness, fired by ceaseless intensity, that leads the listener through climax after climax. And part of experiencing each climax is the anticipation of the next one. It’s like a kinetic mystery drama, and the way it works is shown with particular vividness in ‘The Man I Love’. But on this track too, there are, as I’ve noted, interludes in which the contours of Griffin’s space change. Long, unaccompanied flights during which the intensity takes on softer colors and cadences. And that shift in mood is also part of the building, part of the constantly unexpected, that accounts for Griffin being able to sustain interest over such long performances as are in this set.

“Yet another dimension of ‘The Little Giant’s’ sensibility is his own ‘Soft & Furry’ - with its wary, cat-like beginning and its ruminative probings of the intriguing, slightly mysterious theme. And once again, Griffin’s solo work has an immediacy, a freshness, that is a fusion of highly personal ideas, sound, and a time that breathes along with each change (harmonic as well as melodic).

“It should also be noted that ‘The Little Giant’, strong and expressively wide-ranging as he is, benefits from superior support in this concert. Horace Parlan, an expatriate since 1973, made a durable mark before he left through his work with Charles Mingus, the Johnny Griffin-Lockjaw Davis hurricane, and Roland Kirk. An acutely attentive accompanist, he is also an incisive soloist and on ballads, a romantic one. Mads Vinding (who is on Griffin’s ‘Blues for Harvey’ album on Inner City) is a bassist with depth. Depth of sound and time. And clarity, as in his arrestingly, serenely structured solo in ‘Soft & Furry’.

“The most valuable sideman here is Art Taylor. Yet another expatriate, and the recent author of unprecedentedly candid interviews with jazz musicians, Taylor for a long time was one of the busiest record session drummers in New York. And during much of that time, I reviews most of the current jazz recordings for ‘Down Beat’. At night, in that period, I also covered the clubs, and Taylor was nearly always working in one of them. Despite all that constant exposure to Art Taylor, I was never less than fascinated by his work, ensemble and solo. He is not only an extraordinarily supple technician, possessed of flawless time, but he also plays with a snap, crispness, wit and just plain excitement that continue to make him one of the front-ranking, world-class jazzmen.

“In fact, those qualities also identify Johnny Griffin, and the two - along with Parlan and Vinding - have created an album that will retain its zest as long as you do yours.” (Nat Hentoff. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Johnny Griffin (t-sx), Horace Parlan (pi), Mads Vinding (bs), Art Taylor (dr)

A. All The Things You Are

B1. When We Were One

B2. Wee

C. The Man I Love

D. Soft And Furry

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Chick Corea - Is

“Starlight asked Non-Being ‘Master, are you? Or are you not?’

“Since he received no answer whatever, Starlight set himself to watch for Non-Being would put in an appearance.

“He kept his gaze fixed on the deep Void, hoping to catch a glimpse of Non-Being.

“All day long he looked, and he saw nothing. He listened, but heard nothing. He reached out to grasp, and grasped nothing.

“The Starlight exclaimed at last. ‘This is IT!’

“‘This is the furthest yet! Who can reach it? I can comprehend the absence of Being. But who can comprehend the absence of Nothing? If now, on top of all this, Non-Being IS, 

“Who can comprehend it?” (From the liner notes.)

Performers: Chick Corea (pi/e-pi), Woody Shaw (tp), Bennie Maupin (t-sx), Hubert Laws (fl/pl), Dave Holland (bs), Jack DeJohnette/Horace Arnold (dr)

A. Is

B1. Jamala

B2. This

B3. It

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Lee Konitz - Satori

“There is nothing mysterious about Lee Konit’s ability to work endlessly new inventions to the standards at the heart of his repertoire. Konitz listens to the ideas of musicians who surround him; and he thinks, drawing fresh ideas of his own to the surface rather than merely rehashing familiar clichés. This approach has served him well for a half-century, and created a typically lucid recital on this 1974 session, the last of four important albums he cut for Milestone. The presence of bassist Dave Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette, formerly the rhythm section of Konitz’s old friend Miles Davis, and the equally iconoclastic French pianist Martial Solal, make Satori a unique title in the saxophonists extensive discography, with the two-keyboard title track (with producer Dick Katz sitting in on electric piano) giving us Konitz’s personal take on a common Seventies practice.” (From the liner notes to the 1997 CD reissue.)

Performer: Lee Konitz (a-sx), Martial Solal (pi/e-pi), Dick Katz (e-pi), Dave Holland (bs), Jack DeJohnette (dr)

A1. Just Friends

A2. On Green Dolphin Street
A3. Satori

B1. Sometime Ago

B2. What's New

B3. Hymn

B4. Free Blues

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Miles Davis - Live-Evil

“‘Live-Evil’ is one of Miles Davis’ most confusing and illuminating documents. As a double album, it features very different settings of his band - and indeed two very different bands. The double-LP CD package is an amalgam of a December 19, 1970, gig at the Cellar Door, which featured a band comprised of Miles, bassist Michael Henderson, drummer Jack DeJohnette, guitarist John McLaughlin, saxophonist Gary Bartz, Keith Jarrett on organ, and percussionist Airto. These tunes show a septet that grooved hard and fast, touching on the great funkiness that would come on later. But they are also misleading in that McLaughlin only joined the band for this night of a four-night stand; he wasn't really a member of the band at this time. Therefore, as fine and deeply lyrically grooved-out as these tracks are, they feel just a bit stiff - check any edition of this band without him and hear the difference. The other band on these discs was recorded in Columbia’s Studio B and subbed Ron Carter or Dave Holland on bass, added Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock on electric pianos, dropped the guitar on ‘Selim’ and ‘Nem Um Talvez’, and subbed Steve Grossman over Gary Bartz while adding Hermeto Pascoal on percussion and drums in one place (‘Selim’). In fact, these sessions were recorded earlier than the live dates, the previous June in fact, when the three-keyboard band was beginning to fall apart. Why the discs were not issued separately or as a live disc and a studio disc has more to do with Miles’ mind than anything else. As for the performances, the live material is wonderfully immediate and fiery: ‘Sivad’, ‘Funky Tonk’, and ‘What I Say’ all scream with enthusiasm, even if they are a tad unsure of how to accommodate McLaughlin. Of the studio tracks, only ‘Little Red Church’ comes up to that level of excitement, but the other tracks, particularly ‘Gemini/Double Image’, have a winding, whirring kind of dynamic to them that seems to turn them back in on themselves, as if the band was really pushing in a free direction that Miles was trying to rein in. It’s an awesome record, but it’s because of its flaws rather than in spite of them. This is the sound of transition and complexity, and somehow it still grooves wonderfully.”  (Review by Thom Jurek for AllMusic. See here.)

Performers: Miles Davis (e-tp), Steve Grossman (s-sx), Gary Bartz (s-sx/fl), John McLaughlin (gt), Khalil Balakrishna (e-sitar), Herbie Hancock/Chick Corea/Joe Zawinul (e-pi), Keith Jarrett (e-pi/og), Dave Holland (e-bs), Michael Henderson (e-bs), Jack DeJohnette/Billy Cobham (dr), Airto Moreira (pc), Hermeto Pascoal (dr/whistling/vo/e-pi)

A1. Sivad

A2. Little Church

A3. Medley: Gemini/Double Image

B1. What I Say

B2. Nem Um Talvez

C1. Selim

C2. Funky Tonk

D. Inamorata And Narration

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Joe Henderson - Black Is the Color

“The original idea for this album was to approach it entirely from the standpoint of having -no- pre-conceived ideas (i.e. melodies, themes, bar lines, etc.) for the musicians to relate to.

“However, after listening to a tape copy of one segment of the original session, I became aware of further possibilities. Making full use of 16-track tape, we could add to and improve upon what had already been recorded by multiple overdubbing of new parts, by myself and others, that would become permanent additions to the track. So I proceeded, after the fact (hence its title ‘Foregone Conclusion’), to create a continuous pattern that would effectively support what had already been laid down.

“As for the other numbers here, with the exception of ‘Vis-a-Vis’ (which somehow manager not to defect from the original non-framework idea), the same concept was used extensively throughout.” (Joe Henderson. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Joe Henderson (t-sx/fl/a-fl/pc), George Wadenius (gt), George Cables (e-pi/pi), Dave Holland (bs), Ron Carter (e-bs), Jack DeJohnette (dr/e-pi)

A1. Terra Firma

A2. Vis-A-Vis

B1. Foregone Conclusion

B2. Black Is The Color (Of My True Love's Mind)

B3. Current Events

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Kenny Wheeler - Around 6

“Kenny Wheeler's third ECM album as a leader is most notable for teaming his trumpet with the innovative tenor and soprano of Evan Parker, a brilliant British avant-garde player who is often overlooked in the U.S. With fine playing from trombonist Eje Thelin, vibraphonist Tom Van Der Geld, bassist J.F. Jenny-Clark and drummer Edward Vesala, the sextet performs six Wheeler originals that combine together advanced swinging with fairly free explorations. Stimulating music.” (Review by Scott Yanow for AllMusic. See here.)

Performers: Kenny Wheeler (tp/fl-h), Eje Thelin (tb), Evan Parker (s/t-sx), Tom van der Geld (vibraharp), Jean-François Jenny-Clark (bs), Edward Vesala (dr)

A1. Mai We Go Round

A2. Solo One

A3. May Ride

B1. Follow Down

B2. Riverrun

B3. Lost Woltz

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Johnny Griffin - Lady Heavy Bottom's Waltz

“They called him the ‘Little Giant’ long ago in Chicago - they still call him so. In order to understand why ‘little’ you have to see him - it’s enough to hear him to understand why ‘Giant’. But just to listen to him means missing out on so much. ‘I just look at Johnny and feel the power of positive swinging’, the ‘producer’ says.

“Like most small people (let’s not exaggerate the ‘small’ - he’s not exactly a dwarf) Johnny appears to have been blessed with an extra portion of energy. He’s always on the move, it must be torture for him to keep still for five minutes. (A dentist, I imagine, would only be able to treat him by giving him a full narcotic.) When he talks he emphasises his words with quick and expansive gestures which reminds one of the lightning reflexes of Muhammad Ali. And he enjoys talking a lot.

“Maybe it’s this excess of energy which prevents him from taking things too seriously. John Arnold III Griffin, had he not have become a great musician, could easily have succeeded as a clown. He always finds a reason to laugh and to make others laugh.

“He once told a reporter who asked what all reporters sooner or later ask - the question about future plans - that he was going to give a concert with Ben Webster. He followed this up by whispering secretly, ‘We are appearing as father and son!’

“One day in the studio he received his part for a new title to be recorded. He took it in both hands, looked at it for a few minutes over the top of his glasses, screwed up his face and said, ‘Man, I can’t play this, it’s impossible!’ He turned the music upside down and added, ‘It doesn’t any easier this way round’. And he laughed. But then he sat down, ran through the part a couple of times as rehearsal and proceeded to play perfectly the extremely difficult and complicated Boland composition.

“For he does take one thing seriously - his music. The British music critic Valerie Wilmer called Johnny Griffin ‘the aggressive virtuoso’. Griffin played the tenor saxophone aggressively at the time when the expression ‘intensity’ had not been occupied by Free Jazz: hard tone, exciting phrasing locked together with absorbing rhythms.

“Concerning the ‘virtuoso’ - Johnny Griffin is a bit tired of being termed - like trigger happy cowboy - the ‘quickest’. ‘They always talk about my being quick but what is ‘quick’? It’s just my way of expressing myself, that’s all. To be quite honest, the reason for my playing like I do is because I’m so nervous. I just have to take my horn in my hand and it starts to vibrate. I don’t play in order to prove anything, I just play because I enjoy it.’

“Johnny Griffin says that he has become quieter since he has been living in Paris for the past five years. But a European? ‘Oh no, I’m still genuine Chicago.’ (Manfred Miller, tr. John Legg. From the liner notes to the 1970 Young Blood reissue.)

Performers: Johnny Griffin (t-sx), Benny Bailey (tp/fl-h), Åke Persson (tb), Sahib Shihab (br-sx), Jimmy Woode (bs), Kenny Clarke (dr)

A1. Foot Patting

A2. Please Send Me Someone To Love

A3. The Turk's Bolereo

A4. Deep Eight

B1. A Handfull Of Soul

B2. The JAMF's Are Coming

B3. Lady Heavy Bottom's Waltz

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Johnny Griffin - A Blowing Session

“In the liner notes for his first Blue Note album (BLP 1533), Johnny Griffin was quoted as saying that he preferred to ‘make it at home’ (home being Chicago). Since the time of that LP’s release, Johnny has changed his mind at the urging of Art Blakey, and, with his presence in the drummer’s Messengers, he has swelled the group to sextet size.

“When the augmented Messengers came to New York, it so happened that several other of the top small groups were also in town, either playing or laying off. Most of the musicians in these combos are friendly with each other and enjoy playing together. When someone like Johnny Griffin comes to town and causes much comment, the others are quite anxious to blow with him. What you hear here is exactly that… a blowing session among the various leading lights of some of the East’s important jazz organizations.

“At the center of the session is the tenor sax triumvirate of Griffin, John Coltrane and Hank Mobley.

“Mobley is the former Messenger star who is now doing his shining with the Horace Silver quintet while Coltrane is the young man who rose to prominence in 1956 with the now disbanded Miles Davis quintet.

“The three have similar backgrounds in many ways. All of them have paid their dues in rhythm and blues bands. They also played with orchestras, Griffin with Lionel Hampton and Coltrane with Dizzy Gillespie. Trane also played with a Gillespie combo as did Mobley. Hank was with Max Roach before that and Griffin spent two fruitful weeks with Thelonious Monk in Chicago.

“Despite the fact that they grew up musically in the same environment and have been influence, in general, by some of the same musicians, the three tenors have very different conceptions, however forceful they may all be.

“Griffin is more extrovert in a raucous manner and his rapid fire delivery stamps him as one of ‘the fastest guns alive’. Mobley has a big, round-edged sound and an even, logical conception. Coltrane is the most unconventional of the three with his vocal tone and very personal idea patterns.

“To add some brass bit to the session comes Lee Morgan, the extremely youthful trumpeter from the Dizzy Gillespie band. Lee is a newcomer, but through his Blue Note records (BLP 1538, 1540, 1541, 1557) and solo appearances in the Gillespie organization he has already carved out a reputation for himself. He comes from the tough, brilliant side of the modern trumpet tree out of Gillespie, Navarro and Clifford Brown.

“Another member of the Gillespie organization who lends his ample talent in both solo and ensemble is pianist Wynton Kelly. Wynton, who has been with the Art Farmer-Gigi Gryce group and accompanist to Dinah Washington, is another of the many modern musicians who made their solo debuts on Blue Note. Here he offers several sparkling solos in the Bud Powell idiom and blends perfectly into the rhythm section sparked by Messenger chieftain Art Blakey and former Miles Davis bassist Paul Chambers.

“Two originals and two standards comprise the raw material for the blowing. As in any session, the standards are those which are familiar to all and facilitate improvisation. The originals are by Griffin.

“Johnny opens a breakneck tempo version of Jerome Kern’s ‘The Way You Look Tonight’ with a chorus of melody before going into three febrile improvisatory cantos. Lee has two swift, brassy one before Hank takes over for one quick chorus. Coltrane comes sailing in for two before Griffin and Art Blakey enter into a heated exchange that highlights each one’s virtuosity. Johnny then carries the theme out with the rhythm section coming to the top for the bridge.

“Coltrane has the first solo on ‘Ball Bearing’ and makes the most of the intriguing harmonic pattern. Morgan follows in a wonderful groove as the rhythm section lays down a straight and wide carpet to walk on. Griffin then has two choruses that will awaken your senses and Mobley continues the excellent mood. All the tenormen are in fine form on this one. Kelly, who has the next solo spot, is no less effective. After a short bit by Blakey, the last part of the theme is restated.

“Another Jerome Kern evergreen, ‘All the Things You Are’, opens side two. Griffin carries the melody chorus again in a medium up setting. He then has three choruses of improvisation, reaching a peak in number three. Coltrane follows with his singular interpretation and Morgan’s trumpet sings a couple before Mobley states his case clearly and emotionally. Kelly’s chorus is a joy both rhythmically and melodically. Chambers than has his first solo of the session before Griffin and Blakey have a brief word or two and Johnny takes it out.

“‘Smoke Stack’, a blue, has an introduction by Kelly followed by its simple line and an immediate catapult into action by Griffin who is both fast and funky. Morgan, cooking hotly, is next followed by eight choruses of Mobley and seven of Coltrane. Kelly has four before four by Chambers. Griffin and Blakey then converse tersely and the theme is riffed to completion.” (Ira Gitler. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Johnny Griffin (t-sx), Lee Morgan (tp), Hank Mobley/John Coltrane (t-sx), Wynton Kelly (pi), Paul Chambers (bs), Art Blakey (dr)

A1. The Way You Look Tonight

A2. Ball Bearing

B1. All The Things You Are

B2. Smoke Stack

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Frank Morgan - You Must Believe in Spring

“A ‘92 release by marvelous alto saxophonist Frank Morgan, whose life story and triumph over heroin addiction and imprisonment was one of the ‘80s’ great success tales. Morgan’s biting, yet sensitive and rich alto has rightly been traced to Charlie Parker, but Morgan long ago rid his style of any imitative excesses. He was excellently supported on this program of duets by an amazing lineup of rotating pianists: Kenny Barron, Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, Roland Hanna, and Hank Jones.” (Review by Ron Wynn for AllMusic. See here.)

Performers: Frank Morgan (a-sx), Kenny Barron/Tommy Flanagan/Barry Harris/Roland Hanna/Hank Jones (pi)

1. Kenny Barron - But Beautiful

2. Frank Morgan & Kenny Barron - You've Changed

3. Tommy Flanagan - With Malice Towards None

4. Frank Morgan & Tommy Flanagan - Something Borrowed, Something Blue

5. Barry Harris - I Should Care

6. Frank Morgan & Barry Harris - Embraceable You

7. Frank Morgan & Barry Harris - While The Gettin's Good Blues

8. Roland Hanna - My Heart Stood Still

9. Frank Morgan & Roland Hanna - Enigma

10. Hank Jones - I Cover The Waterfront

11. Frank Morgan & Hank Jones - You Must Believe In Spring

12. Frank Morgan & Hank Jones - Come Sunday

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Dino Valente

Much of what has been written of this album is quick to slate Valente’s voice and style of production (particularly the reverb) on this album, as well as to interpose bland comparisons with his peers without taking the material on its own merits. There is a free-wheeling, honest quality here and several songs that hold one’s interest with the quality of their instrumental and vocal parts as well as with the neurotic, tender expressiveness of the lyrics. While it lacks the completeness and finesse of a complete, commercially viable album there is much to appreciate here for the unpretentious listener who is not the kind of oversaturated, jaded obsessive of 1960s music who typically reviews this sort of material. Among the fascinating songs here 'Something New' and 'Me and My Uncle' are standouts.

A1. Time

A2. Something New

A3. My Friend

A4. Listen To Me

A5. Me And My Uncle

B1. Tomorrow

B2. Children Of The Sun

B3. New Wind Blowing

B4. Everything Is Gonna Be Ok

B5. Test

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Jackie McLean - Let Freedom Ring

“There are many reasons for which I chose to write the notes for this album. I want to give my personal opinion on the new concept in jazz today. I would also like to give a rundown on the material used, as well as the personnel.

“When Monk, Bird, Diz and Max made their appearance on the jazz scene, a new concept was born. The first steps towards freedom in improvisation were taken. The New Breed on the jazz scene are searching for new ways of expressing themselves. Many have cast aside the old and much overused chord progressions; they are searching for new foundations composition-wise. We find scales and modes more outstanding in solos. The extended form (first introduced to me by Charlie Mingus) is but another way of composing and blowing.

“When a musician reaches a certain point, he is no longer satisfied with merely copying someone else. He begins to look for his own way of expression. For example, I have always felt that Charlie Parker used a crossbreed of Don Byas, Lester Young and Buster Smith as a basis for a style that later became his own, a very original style. Some of my early influences were Lester Young, Dexter Gordon, Bud Powell, Monk and, of course, Bird. Later Sonny Rollins, Andy Kirk Jr. and Miles helped form my concept.

“I feel that emotion has taken an important step in expression on the horn. Emotion has always been present, but today it has a new importance. Towards the end of Lady Day’s career, her voice was just a shadow of what it had been, yet she still put a song over; her singing voice was gone, leaving emotion her only tool of expression.

“Getting away from the conventional and much overused chord changes was my personal dilemma. Until recently this was the reason why many things I composed in 1955 left me helpless when it came to a basis for improvisation, for example, ‘Quadrangle’ and ‘A Fickle Sonance’. Both of these tunes were just recently recorded. I used ‘I Got Rhythm’ for the solo section in ‘Quadrangle’. These changes do not fit the personality of the tune at all. Today when I play ‘Quadrangle’, I used sections of scales and modes. I try to write each thing with its own personality. I choose the outstanding notes of the composition and build a scale or a motif to fit the feeling of the tune. Today I am going through a big change composition-wise and in improvising. Ornette Coleman has made me stop and think. He has stood up under much criticism, yet he never gives up his cause, freedom of expression. The search is on.

“I hold up a deep respect for two great trumpet players, Kenny Dorham and Miles Davis. Ironically, their jazz histories are very similar; yet they have two completely different ways of expression. They worked in the same big bands in the ‘40s (Billy Eckstine and Dizzy Gillespie). Miles worked with Charlie Parker during some of Bird’s most exciting years. When Miles left, Kenny took his place next to the master. Today we find Kenny and Miles still advancing the cause. Their approach is different but their destination is the same.

“I received my first saxophone on my fifteenth birthday, a gift from my Mom. Two years later I met Bud Powell. It was Bud who gave me what musical heart and pride I possess. Through Bud I met Miles and Kenny. In my early years I wanted to sound just like Bird. He was a master saxophonist and a great man.

“Miles gave me my first professional break. I was nineteen when I entered the House of Davis. I listen closely to Dave. He always chooses just the right notes in a change. Miles can play three notes and say as much as someone playing thirty. Sonny Rollins was with the band; so between the two, my concept broadened. My sound began to change. At this point I joined Mingus. Charlie would always say, ‘Jackie, you have your own sound. Now why don’t you look for your own ideas.’ Today I can appreciate this bit of priceless advice. I began to form my own way of expression with Mingus.

“When I left ‘The Ming’, I joined the master swinger, Art Blakey. I spent two and a half years with the Messengers, happy years. Art also preached originality to me.

“I am proud to say that my musical schooling has been at the universities of Bud Powell, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Art Blakey and, of course, Bird. Many of my early days in jazz were spent at Monk’s house. Monk has been a dear friend of mine for many years.

“Jazz is going through a big change, and the listener or fan, or what have you, should listen with an open mind. They should use a mental telescope to bring into view the explorers how have taken one step beyond, explorers such as Monk, Coltrane, Mingus, Cecil Taylor, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Ornette and, of course, Duke Ellington. I don’t have enough space to name them all.

“Klook, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Roy Haynes, Philly Joe, Elvin Jones and Arthur Taylor. These are the percussionists who have made a lyrical instrument of the drum.

“The musicians I chose for this date are: Billy Higgins on drums; Billy, who is from Los Angeles, came to New York with Ornette Coleman. I sure dig the groove Billy gets. Herbie Lewis, on bass, was born in Pasadena, California on February 17, 1941. Herbie, who is self-taught, came to New York with Les McCann and is currently working with the Jazztet. He can sure swing. On piano is Walter Davis from New Jersey. Walter has played with Max Roach’s and Dizzy’s bands, to name a few. Everybody knows ‘Humphrey’.

“The material on this date is mostly original. ‘Melody for Melonae’ is dedicated to my little girl, six years of age. It has three different mood, first the melody, then it moves a bright B-flat minor mode as a basis for solos. Each solo ends with a ballad section. ‘I’ll Keep Loving You’, composed by Bud Powell, is a beautiful ballad that reveals the depth of Bud’s emotions. ‘René’ is a blues written for my son who is studying the alto. I try to get away from the usual 12 bar blues figure. In other words, I take the roundabout way only to end up with the blues in B-flat. Finally, ‘Omega’ which means the end. I wrote this for my mother. Her name happens to be Alpha Omega McLean. The tune is in two sections. The outside is built on an F-sharp major mode and is free of tempo, to a degree. The second section swings along with a happy feeling.

“I want to thank Walter Davis, Billy Higgins and Herbie Lewis for their support. I give them ‘A’ for effort and ‘A’ for performance. The new breed has inspired me all over again. The search is on. Let freedom ring.” (Jackie McLean. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Jackie McLean (a-sx), Walter Davis Jr. (pi), Herbie Lewis (bs), Billy Higgins (dr)

A1. Melody For Monae

A2. I'll Keep Loving You

B1. Rene

B2. Omega

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Jaki Byard - There'll Be Some Changes Made

“Originally issued on vinyl LP as ‘There'll Be Some Changes Made’, for the CD they altered its name to ‘Empirical’, switched to a new cover photo of Byard, and excessively edited Doug Ramsey’s excellent liner notes. Muse evidently took the original title too seriously. 

“Jaki Byard was an underappreciated artist throughout most of his career and he especially excelled as a solo pianist on dates such as this 1972 session for Muse. ‘There'll Be Some Changes Made’ finds the pianist in a playful mood, showing off his stride piano chops. ‘Lonely Town’, a piece written by Leonard Bernstein for Broadway, is hardly a typical jazz vehicle, but Byard makes it work, incorporating some particularly moody chords to good effect. The pianist's arrangement of ‘Besame Mucho’ is hardly a bland ballad. Following a dramatic introduction, he tackles it at a brisk tempo with a catchy vamp underneath. Among the several originals written by Byard on this CD, the somewhat exotic yet rollicking ‘Spanish Tinge No. 3’ and the easygoing ‘Tribute to Jimmy Slide’ are particularly memorable.” (Review of the 1990 CD reissue by Ken Dryden for AllMusic. See here.)

Performer: Jaki Byard (pi)

A1. There'll Be Some Changes Made

A2. Lonely Town

A3. Blues Au Gratin

A4. Excerpts From Songs Of Proverb/Toni

A5. Besame Mucho

B1. Spanish Tinge #3

B2. Journey/Night Of Departure

B3. Some Other Spring/Every Year

B4. To Bob Vatel Of Paris/Blues For Jennie

B5. Tribute To Jimmy Slide

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Sam Rivers - Colours

“There is a fascinating little museum in the section of Manhattan known as Soho - the Museum of Holography. Don’t ask me how it works, but what this museum exhibits is realistic three-dimensional images and artworks that seemingly just float on thin air. Just like those cheap old science fiction movies - you see something sitting there as large as life, yet when you try to grab it, all you come up with is nothing. And to make matters worse, for somebody like me who is still amazed that a wireless radio can actually make music, the images can -move-. They tell me that holography is a thing that will be quite common in the future - you might telephone your Aunt Martha and end up with a full-sized, life-like Aunt Martha sitting in your living room.

“Now you might think I’m setting you up for one of those liner-note writer’s analogies - holography is modern and fresh, as is Sam Rivers: holography is based on simple and traditional methods, as is the music of Sam Rivers; holography is mind-boggling, as is Sam Rivers. Well, you’re right, in a way, but what brings to mind that Soho museum in conjunction with Samuel Carthorne Rivers is much more obvious: you can enter that museum, lay down your money, and leave with your very own holograph of Sam Rivers working out on the soprano saxophone. You have a choice of sizes and prices (I, cheapskate that I am, bought a teeny-weeny one), but there it is - a Sam Rivers holograph for your very own.

“Okay, what’s the point? The point is: if there’s something that is advancing art, that is new and unique, it shouldn’t be surprising to find Sam Rivers somehow involved in it.

“There is no end to the facets that make up Sam Rivers and this recording of his Wind of Manhattan ensemble adds yet another new dimension to his recorded œuvres: an entire herd of smoking reeds and woodwinds.

“About the music contained herein, Sam Rivers says, ‘When I had my studio (Studio Rivbea), one of the reasons I had it was because I had all this music and I needed a place to rehearse it and perform it. I had most of this music then, and a lot of musicians played it. I’d say I wrote most of this - about 1973, or veven earlier. And some of the members of the World Saxophone Quartet - Hamiet Bluiett and Julius Hemphill - were part of the group that played that music then. I want people to know that this music has been around for some time and no one’s heard it for lack of record exposure.

“I tell Sam that the music here reminds me, at times, of a pipe organ or calliope. He says, ‘I noticed that. The closeness of the sounds of the instruments does make it sound like that. I was surprised at some of the things that happened on it - it wasn’t altogether experimental, but there were some things that I didn’t think would work when I wrote them, because of my knowledge, earlier in my career, of so-called traditional harmonies. But then I did them anyway, and they really work. A lot of the things that I was always taught weren’t correct for arranging - like the clusters with the same timbre instrument - were not supposed to happen at all. But they do, they sound very good. And there are times when these things sound like trumpets and trombones. All these things surprised me.’

“I ask Sam why there isn’t any soloing on the album, and he explains, ‘These are all very long pieces with the improvising. I wanted to get the music in rather than the improvising and that’s why I took that out. I knew that each composition would fit on an album itself. It didn’t matter to me because I know that I’ve got too much music to get it all recorded, so I can afford to be extravagant. And I did have some good soloists. I know they’re going to be quite perturbed that I took out all the solos.’

“What we are left with is high-caloric music with Sam Rivers’ typical intensity and brilliance. There are rave-ups of counterpoint; joyous, sassy honking and testifying; and bright bouquets of lushness. When you hear writing of this calibre for a reed section, only one name comes to mind and Sam Rivers acknowledges, ‘Duke Ellington is my role model.’ It is clear to see.

“About the specific music on the album, Sam Rivers only wants to point out that ‘Colours’ is a completely written piece - 136 dense bars and every one of them is notated. I’ll also add that ‘Lilacs’ is part of a 24 song suite, ‘The Flower Suite’.

“‘I consider myself to be a pretty rounded musician in all styles,’ says Sam Rivers. ‘Just not ‘free’, which is what I’m -known- for. That’s pretty much the latest part of my thing. There’s no such thing as having music without chords or harmony. Even though you say you’re playing ‘free’, if you put that stuff down, you can put the chords right with it, whether the player knows he’s doing it or not. That’s the point.’

“The point here is that Winds of Manhattan adds another dimension to an immensely talented, determinedly individualistic musician. Sam Rivers is a force in contemporary music. There ain’t no moss on Sam Rivers. And, for yet another dimension, set up your Sam Rivers holograph before you put this album on.

“The future, here we come!!” (Lee Jeske. From the liner notes.)

A1. Lilacs

A2. Colours

A3. Spiral

B1. Matrix

B2. Revival

B3. Blossoms

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Dave Holland - Prism

“Bassist Dave Holland has been at the forefront of experimental, forward-thinking jazz ever since his formative years playing in Miles Davis’ fusion ensemble. His 2013 album, ‘Prism’, finds Holland returning to his crossover funk roots with an able-bodied quartet. Featured here are former Tonight Show guitarist Kevin Eubanks, pianist/Rhodes keyboardist Craig Taborn, and drummer Eric Harland. All of these musicians have reputations for playing adventurous, genre-bending styles of jazz, making them perfectly suited for the project at hand. Holland’s fourth outing on his own Dare2 Records, ‘Prism’ follows his 2008 sextet date ‘Pass It On’, his 2010 octet album ‘Pathways’, and his 2010 flamenco-inspired ‘Hands’. All of those records were equally engaging and progressive in their own ways, but none showcased Holland's interest in the angular, knotty funk and fusion he explores here. Tracks like the expansive ‘The Watcher’ and the roiling ‘Spirals’ feature explosive, frenetic soloing from the band as well as moments of layered group interplay. Elsewhere, cuts like ‘The Empty Chair’ and ‘Evolution’ explore a more minimalist, modal sense of atmosphere that allow for extended and far-reaching improvisational moments. For fans of Davis’ ‘Bitches Brew’ period, during which Holland was a member of the band, there is plenty of expansive, abstract soloing, Rhodes keyboard squelch, and fuzz-laden guitar. We also get several introspective songs on ‘Prism’, with the poignant, midtempo Eubanks feature ‘The Color of Iris’, and the gorgeous Harland-penned ‘Breathe’. Of course, Holland's bass is the grounding force for the ensemble, and thankfully, he gets plenty of room to stretch out from beginning to end.” (Review by Matt Collar for AllMusic. See here.)

Performers: Dave Holland (bs), Kevin Eubanks (gt), Craig Taborn (e-pi), Eric Harland (dr)

1. The Watcher

2. The Empty Chair

3. Spirals

4. Choir

5. The Color Of Iris

6. A New Day

7. The True Meaning Of Determination

8. Evolution

9. Breathe

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Miles Davis - Dig

“These are some of the first ‘long playing’ recordings made possible by the advent of the LP. Recorded on October 5, 1951, this entire session has been remastered by top engineer Rudy van Gelder. (The two remaining selections from this date, ‘Conception’ and ‘My Old Flame’ are included in ‘Conception’, PRLP 7013.)

“Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins form one of the most empathetic and powerfully moving duos in jazz. Although they had recorded together before (‘Morpheus’, ‘Down’, ‘Whispering’, ‘Blue Room’) this was their first chance to ‘stretch out’ together on records.

“These recordings have much warmth. The emotions jut out of all the solos. On ‘Paper Moon’ and ‘Bluin’ this is especially true, but it is evidence on the upper tempos too. ‘Dig’ is fluid. The chord changes lend themselves to the long melodic lines that the soloists employ. There is also a continuity of feeling from one soloist to another which points up the aforementioned empathy.

“The group is made a sextet by altoman Jackie McLean on all numbers but ‘Paper Moon’. Jackie, in his teens when these recordings were made, was then a discipline of Charlie Parker. The Bird influence is still with him but the light of it is partly directed through the prism of Sonny Rollins.

“Incidentally, Bird was present for part of this record sort of visiting his children: Miles, who gained his greatest experience and had his largest pleasures playing with him; Jackie, the young disciple; and Sonny, the reed voice who has become the foremost standard bearer and advancer of the Parker tradition.

“The swinging rhythm here features the explosive drive of Art Blakey, the subtle power of Tommy Potter and the sensitive accompaniment and solos of the unduly underrated Walter Bishop.” (Ira Gitler. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Miles Davis (tp), Jackie McLean (a-sx), Sonny Rollins (t-sx), Walter Bishop Jr. (pi), Tommy Potter: (bs), Art Blakey (dr)

A1. Dig

A2. It's Only A Paper Moon

A3. Denial

B1. Bluing

B2. Out Of The Blue

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Louis Hayes

“When a jazz group is really good, i.e. it has jelled together so that its average level of performance is high enough to mark it from the ordinary and its best level is pure excitement of a high order, every man in it is capable of standing alone and no one man carries the whole burden.

“Thus ‘Every tub on its own bottom’ as the old timers were fond of saying.

“Unaware of this, one might think that Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley would be the indispensable element in his group and with his sound absent it would not stand on its own. However, here another Law of Improvisational Music comes into effect. Change any one man and you change the group sound.

“This album is a neat illustration of both of these premises. It is the Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley group with Julian absent and it has had a shift in personnel: Yusef Lateef is the saxophonist instead of Julian. The result is an interesting listening experience. The swing and the drive, as well as the cooking feeling of soul, is retained, and yet there is a different flavor to that which is cooked, thanks to the presence of another (and different) personality whose basic recipes are the same but who adds his own touches to them for an end product with different flavor.

“This album, however, is really Lou Hayes’ album; his first as a group leader and it illustrates a very fundamental premise of his musicianship. There’s been a theory long prevalent in jazz circles that drummers make poor group leaders because once on their own with no check rein, they are unable to resist the temptation to dominate. Apparently most of them cannot prevent the drums from running away with it. Yet these same men, placed in a position where someone else has the authority and the responsibility of controlling them, are superb and imaginative musicians.

“Louis Hayes, 21 year old Detroit musician, is an exception to this rule. On his first date as a leader he is, just as he always has been with the groups in which he has worked, the drummer first. An imaginative musician with intelligently constructed solos and with sensitive awareness of what the other musicians are doing at all times, but the drummer for the band above all.

“This didn’t really surprise me, when I first heard the test of this LP. Some months back, I did an interview with Philly Joe Jones, who is really the modern drummer with the most potential influence of any. One of the very few young drummers that Joe would talk about was Louis Hayes. When I asked him to name young drummers who impressed him he named two of his own students and Louis Hayes.

“Although it is quite true, as Philly Joe says, that drums can be played with a snare drum and a cymbal, the modern drummers today, when they are functioning correctly, have added new dimensions to drumming. The maintenance of a steady, pulsating, swinging beat with a deep groove no matter what the timbre of the piece of equipment being played at any instant, the usage of the sounds of the snare, rims, tom-toms and a variety of cymbal tones to pucntuate, reinforce and emphasize what the soloist is doing, is one of the marks of modern drumming. Quick relating to the pitch, the rhythm and the shape of the solo in order to anticipate, set-off, inspire and to contrast with it is another. Governing the cross rhythms and counter rhythms and in turn setting them, like an engineer at a master control panel, is still another. These things take gifts first, gifts and instinct. But for the real growth, the real flowering, they take musical thinking. Louis Hayes has all of these and will one day be among the very top leaders on drums. He’s pushing that level right now.

“On this album he has the assistance of Sam Jones (bass), Barry Harris (piano), Yusef Lateef (sax) and Nat Adderley (cornet). They are sympathetic to his feeling for music, meld together into a single organism when playing with a high degree of flexibility. Lateef contributed ‘Hazing’ while Nat Adderley penned ‘Sassy Ann’; Barry Harris wrote ‘I Need You’ and ‘Backyard’. Julian Adderley contributed ‘Rip De Boom’ and Sammy Red Kyner wrote ‘Teef’.” (Ralph J. Gleason. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Louis Hayes (dr), Nat Adderley (cn), Yusef Lateef (t-sx), Barry Harris (pi), Sam Jones (bs)

A1. Hazing

A2. Rip De Boom

A3. Teef

B1. I Need You

B2. Back Yard

B3. Sassy Ann

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Yusef Lateef - Eastern Sounds

“It will soon be axiomatic, if it is not already, that there is a close relationship between American and Near Eastern improvisation music. For the past two or three years of his professional life, John Coltrane has devoted much of his time and energy to dramatizing that relationship. Although there had been attempts at the same thing before Coltrane - Yusef Lateef’s being one of them - it takes someone of Coltrane’s name and stature to awaken listeners to what their ears alone might have told them.

“And then, of course, this is a Moodsville album. To those accustomed to verbal rather than musical distinctions, the presence of Lateef on the Moodsville label will immediately signify that Lateef has pulled in, has become more easily palatable. And, to support this contention, there are two selections from Hollywood motion picture scores.

“Not at all - at least, not at all to this listener, who is at the very least as subjective as the next, if not more so. From the aural evidence of this album, I would suspect that Yusef Lateef has come to the core of what interests him in Eastern music, and is now presenting it in its simplest, most unadorned form. Such a presentation is often the mark of someone who finally knows what he is doing; I suspect that is the case here.

“At the time of this recording, Lateef was a member of a working unit called the Yusef Lateef-Barry Harris Quartet. That was about six months prior to the writing of these notes, but the vicissitudes of jazz are such that since then, Lateef has played with Charles Mingus and Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley. As these notes are written, Lateef is in Flint, Michigan with Adderley, and our brief telephone conversation underscored only a few of the points that this record is capable of making.

“If Lateef remains with Adderley, his music may reach a wider audience than it has previously, for Adderley is one of the most publicly fashionable of musicians, and there are undoubtedly many people who will hear Yusef only because he is a part of that unit. On the other hand, he is playing most of the several instruments at his command in that group, and may make his own impact upon it, if only through sound alone.

“But that has nothing to do with this record, which was made at a particular time under a particular set of circumstances, and is perfectly capable of standing by itself. The subsequent peregrinations of Lateef are only of interest here because the recording indicates that all information about him will soon be of interest.

“The idea of the album, as he tells it, was to have an Oriental feel. Thus, one find the two themes from motion pictures. They are both love themes; one from ‘Spartacus’, the other from ‘The Robe’. It should come as no surprise to anyone by now that the top Hollywood composers who receive such assignments as these are able to reproduce the aura of music from the time and place called for; that is why they are hired. What -is- surprising, though, is that Lateef has the skill and naïveté to take such work at its face value and imbue it with an honest intent and feeling which might very well have never been present in the original. Particularly interesting in this respect is the ‘Spartacus’ music, a lovely melody with harmonic implications that make it, in the hands of these four musicians, one of the most memorable pieces of a memorable set.

“Of the nine pieces presented here, there is only one which will be familiar to the average listener. That, of course, is ‘Don’t Blame Me’. It deserves special comment because it is the most basic performance on the album: basic because it is a standard, basic because Lateef plays tenor saxophone on it - the reed instrument from which jazz reedmen start, and to which they return again, no matter what their intermittent flirtations with flutes, oboes, etc. might be. To revert to subjective emotionalism, it is obvious from the first phrase that this is a jazz performance: the melody is going to be re-created by a musician who is using it only as a basis for mood and harmony. As happens in the best of such performances - and such a performance has to be spontaneous; perhaps Lateef could not reproduce it again if he wanted to - it makes something new and superior out of the original that will never be duplicated. The piano solo here is especially interesting. Barry Harris, when he first came to New York from Detroit (the same route traveled by Lateef), made his reputation as one of the best of the players in the idiom of Bud Powell. But it is not Powell we hear in this solo; it is a solo that could have been played by a more obviously romantic Thelonious Monk. Thus, we get not only a greater insight into Harris’s origins, but we all learn a little more about the origins of Powell himself. Obviously, Monk is a more basic musician than Powell, and the solo (which is the best of Harris I have ever heard) teaches a valuable lesson in the importance of such basics.

“The first of Lateef’s compositions on the record has its own lesson to teach about basics and the opportunity that exists to create within a strict discipline. ‘The Plum Bloss’, as its title hints, is written for and played upon a Chinese globular flute. The instrument, which is twelve hundred years old and made of clay, was found by Lateef in New York’s Chinatown after he had become interested enough to look for one after reading about it in a book on Chinese music. The instrument is, in Lateef’s words, ‘about the size and shape of a grapefruit, with a hole on top and five holes scattered promiscuously on the surface.’ The instrument has only a five-note range, and has a sound similar to that obtained by blowing into a pop bottle. Not only the tune, but Lateef’s solo, are within the limitations of that five-note range, a condition you will probably not notice until you have thoroughly enjoyed the track.

“‘Blues for the Orient’, also by Lateef, alternates straight 4/4 choruses with those in more Oriental rhythm. Although many unusual instruments have recently been introduced into jazz, this is the first successful oboe blues I have ever heard, and it has the added advantage of an unusually attractive line which could be picked up with profit by many musicians who are concerned with this line of development. It is, for this listener, the most attractive track on the set.

“‘Chinq Miau’ (aka ‘Ching Miau’) get its title from the name of a scale in Chinese music. Since Chinq is close to both the French and Spanish words for five, one wonders if the 5/4 time signature did not also play a part in the titling.

“‘Snafu’ is a hard-tenor excursion in the general manner of Rollins and Coltrane. It is the most visceral track on the set, and shows a side of the Lateef nature much more often revealed in person than on this LP.

“‘Purple Flower’ is a gentle ballad (an Oriental version of ‘Passion Flower’?) that shows the ballad artistry of Lateef within the framework of an original piece.

“The final track, ‘The Three Faces of Balal’, was written for a friend of Yusef’s who is the father of twin girls. The twins, and Balal’s wife, are the three faces. On this piece and ‘The Plum Blossom’, bassist Ernie Farrow abandons his usual instrument for the Indian rabat.

“Lateef announces himself pleased with the album; when we spoke, he was happy and slightly surprised that I liked it as much as I did. Such surprise is natural in men who finally do what they really want; Lateef will surprise the jazz public in this set; it would be nice if they surprised him with acceptance.” (Joe Goldberg. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Yusef Lateef (t-sx/fl/oboe/xun), Barry Harris (pi), Ernie Farrow (bs/rabat), Lex Humphries (dr)

A1. The Plum Blossom

A2. Blues For The Orient

A3. Chinq Miau

A4. Don't Blame Me

B1. Love Theme From 'Spartacus'

B2. Snafu

B3. Purple Flower

B4. Love Theme From 'The Robe'

B5. The Three Faces Of Balal

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