Harold Land - West Coast Blues!

“About this new Jazzland recording - This could be billed as one of those ‘East meets West’ affairs, since tenorman Harold Land, trumpeter Joe Gordon and guitarist West Montgomery are all Californians these days, while their brilliant and thoroughly ‘soulful’ rhythm section is East Coast-based. But such an emphasis would be less than fair to the album. For, while so many geographically-mixed ‘meetings’ run into trouble by attempting to mix basically incompatible approaches to jazz, this effort combines six men who decidedly belong with each other musically and celebrates their having a rare opportunity to wail together.

“Harold Land is clearly one of today’s most formidable and fluent tenors. Born in Houston, Texas in December of 1928, but raised in California (San Diego and Los Angeles), he nevertheless developed a notable ‘hard’ sound that led Max Roach and Clifford Brown to add him to their group on first hearing him in ‘54. But he soon gave up the road life to resettle with his family in L.A. There his efforts have tended to be somewhat submerged in the flood of softer sound more generally accepted on the West Coast, as state of affairs that a really cooking LP such as this one might just possibly help to remedy. Land’s equally strong composing talents are also on display here in the surging ‘Terrain’ and ‘Compulsion’, and the richly melodic line entitled ‘Ursula’ that leads off the album. (The title tune is a West Montgomery original; ‘Klactoveedsedstene’ is a hard-charging and rarely performed Charlie Parker number; and finally there is Land’s particularly rich and moody treatment of Billie Holiday’s ‘Don’t Explain’.)

“Montgomery hails from Indianapolis, but has recently relocated to San Francisco. A phenomenal, self-taught guitarist whose incredible solo choruses played in octaves are among the accomplishments that have brought him wild critical acclaim (Ralph Gleason has called him ‘the best thing to happen to the guitar since Charlie Christian!’), he had worked with Land during a most successful stay in San Francisco’s Jazz Workshop late in 1959. Joe Gordon, who combines modern conception with a big tone reminiscent of Roy Eldridge, was born in Boston. He was featured with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band, but also has been a Los Angeles citizen for the past several years, working with Shelly Manne - and jamming with such as Land when he feels a need for hard-blowing freedom.

“The wonderfully well-knit combination of Barry Harris, Louis Hayes (both from Detroit), and Sam Jones (of Florida) should be instantly recognisable as also being Cannonball Adderley’s rhythm section. The presence of that remarkable band out West, for a Jazz Workshop booking, made possible this particular recording mixture, with the hard-driving Western ‘team’ blending with what is certainly one of the finest rhythm units in any part of the country - and with the impeccable Mr. Jones and with the lyrical Mr. Harris also contributing some superb solo efforts.” (Orrin Keepnews. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Harold Land (t-sx), Joe Gordon (tp), Wes Montgomery (gt), Barry Harris (pi), Sam Jones (bs), Louis Hayes (dr)

A1. Ursula

A2. Klactoveedsedstene

A3. Don't Explain

B1. West Coast Blues

B2. Terrain

B3. Compulsion

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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 - Before Dawn

"“In the past few years, a caravan of impressive young jazzmen have departed from Detroit. Most were born there: all received their jazz apprenticeship in the city of giant industry, the dauntless UAW, and a police chief who tried to ban John O’Hara. It is also a city with strong jazz roots, particularly in the modern idiom. This newest generation of jazzmen took it as natural that they grew up in an inner community of sessions, music talk, and the religion that jazz can become. Their older brothers, those that had them, had also experienced the same milieu. Sonny Stitt knows Detroit as do Thad and Elvin Jones and Billy Mitchell and Art Mardigan.

“The younger corps is composed of musicians who skill, individuality and vigor are rather rare - in complete combination - for jazzmen that young. The wider jazz world has come to recognize, respect and enjoy bassists Paul Chambers and Doug Watkins, guitarist Kenny Burrell, pianist Tommy Flanagan, baritone saxist Pepper Adams, pianist-vibist Terry Pollard (who left before most of those in the paragraph), trumpeter Donald Byrd and drummer Louis Hayes.

“Back home, other jazzmen remain. Pianist Barry Harris, for one, who encouraged and influenced a number of his contemporaries; and an older pianist, Willie Anderson whom most of the Detroit jazz musicians feel could have been one of the few titans.

“One of those who has remained, and has been working for over a year at Klein’s on the west side, one of the few jazz rooms in the city, is Yusef Lateef. Born in Tennessee in 1920, Lateef moved to Detroit with his parents, and went to school in that city. While at Miller High, he became involved with the alto saxophone. It was 1937, and he played alto for a year before switching to tenor. By 1946, he was in New York, a member of Lucky Millinder’s band. Lucky Thompson, another Detroiter, had introduced him to Millinder.

“After playing with Hot Lips Page, Roy Eldridge, Ernie Fields and other units, Lateef (then known as Bill Evans) made a cross-country tour with the Dizzy Gillespie band in 1949. (Discographies indicate, for example, that Evans was on the 1949 RCA Victor ‘Swedish Suite’.) In 1950, Yusef returned to Detroit and worked with various groups until he formed his own quintet in 1955.

“Lateef is intrigued by the possibilities of including what he terms an ‘East Indian-African flavor’ in some of his arrangements; and Lateef plays, as well as tenor, the flute, gourd, tambourine, finger cymbals and arghool (oriental flute). Farrow doubles on the rehab, a one-string guitar-like instrument.

“Lateef admires Sonny Stitt for his technical ability; Billie Holiday for her expression of emotion; Dizzy Gillespie for his creativity; and Charlie Parker for all these qualities. Lateef continues to study, and is currently at Wayne State University with Valter Paole, Assistant Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

“Kenny Burrell, to many ears including this one the best of the younger guitarists, describes his former Detroit colleague, Lateef, as having ‘a very full sound. There’s lots of body to it. And his approach is individual. It isn’t a thing you can detect immediately, but I’ve been listening to him a long time. You can only vary so much anyway, but as you get to really hear him, you’ll feel a definite style. His thinking, incidentally, is like that of Coleman Hawkins. There are no wasted notes, and he usually builds into logical climaxes. There’s nothing showy in his work; just sincere playing.’

“I would add that Lateef is clearly conversant with modern tenor theory and practice, he also brings Hawkins and Don Byas to mind in the virile romanticism with which he can play (as on ‘Love is Eternal’). His is a strong, driving tenor in whatever context. All of the compositions here are his, and in some places there is a touch of exoticism as on the introduction to ‘Open Strings’ and the closing of ‘Before Dawn’. The flute on the LP is also played by Lateef. A further note about Lateef is by Paul Chambers who says of his playing that it is is ‘very soulful. It’s modern and yet there’s a lot of oldness in it, seasoning. A lot of roots.’

“Trombonist Curtis Fuller, not yet 25, is now in New York where he has interested Miles Davis and other musician-arbiters. Curtis has, it would appear from his playing here, been considerably influenced by J.J. Johnson. In Detroit, he worked with his own group and also with Lateef. Bassist Ernie Farrow, approaching 30, has played with Terry Gibbs, Stan Getz and Lateef. Pianist Hugh Lawson, in his early 20s, is described by Chambers as ‘full of fire and life’ and Burrell notes that Lawson indicates he has heard Flanagan and Barry Harris, and maybe is a little more funky than they. Louis Hayes is only 20; at the age of 19, he was recommended to Horace Silver by Burrell and Chambers. Louis has been a stirring part of the Silver quintet ever since. He is a crisp, stimulating and certainly swinging young drummer who should become a major figure, poll-winning or not poll-winning, before he’s 30.

“It’s difficult to determine the complex factors that make a city like Detroit produce so valuable a contingent of young players in a few years. A primary reason, however, is probably that advanced by Paul Chambers. ‘There was very much more jamming in Detroit than there is, for example, in New York. We’d jam at houses and at clubs. They were the kind of sessions where a lot could be learned. Everybody was closely knitted together, and actually, in the course of time, almost everybody worked with everybody else around town. Certain groups did stick together, but in many cases you could be a leader one night and a sideman the next.

“Kenny Burrell agrees about the fructifying advantages of the pervasive jam session in Detroit during the years of his growth. ‘The spirit seemed to be there,’ he recalls. ‘And in addition to the playing, there has always been, so far as I can remember, a certain amount of people in Detroit that appreciated and tried to promote jazz. There was never a time when no jazz was being played. There was always something happening to keep a man’s spirit up and to give him a chance.

“The musicians themselves were sometimes focal forces in organizing jazz appreciation and study. Burrell, for example, founded the New Music Society in March, 1954, which lasted for nearly three years. Other musicians and dedicated laymen helped in the organization and administration and there were concerts, workshops and other pragmatic jazz activities.

“For those Detroit musicians who remain at home, it’s probably quite heartening to hear of the impact made in this country and abroad by the voices of their former colleagues. And for those who intend eventually to leave, there is the corollary realization that when they do arrive on the Apple or in Los Angeles or elsewhere, other Detroiters have prepared a welcome for them. In other circles it helps establish instant contact to say you’re from Princeton or Mount Holyoke. In the more open terrain of jazz, it still helps these days to say you know Burrell or Chambers or Byrd, because if you do know them and have played with them, the resultant conclusion is that you’re qualified to join in and are apt to know the changes and not be intimidated by the tempo. Detroit has turned into an exacting school for other besides Walter Reuther and his associates.” (Nat Hentoff. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Yusef Lateef (t-sx/fl), Curtis Fuller (tb), Hugh Lawson (pi), Ernie Farrow (bs), Louis Hayes (dr)

A1. Passion

A2. Love Is Eternal

A3. Pike's Peak

A4. Open Strings

B1. Before Dawn

B2. Twenty-Five Minute Blues

B3. Chang, Chang, Chang

B4. Constellation

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Jackie McLean - A Long Drink of the Blues

“For some reason, it has become traditional to apologise for the release of a blowing session. This is mostly due, I feel, to the growing influence on jazz of critics who judge the music by standards that have nothing whatever to do with it. Jazz has been judged, more and more increasingly, by standards that are most pertinent when the subject under discussion is European classical music, and it is only natural that it does not meet those standards. In the same way, if the great classical saxophonist Marcel Mule were to be judged by standards meant to apply to Jackie McLean, he would not measure up.

“All of which is to say that the little tune of the record, ‘A Long Drink of the Blues’, -is- a blowing date. As such, it is representative of the talents of the six musicians involved, how they felt at the time, and how well they played on the particular afternoon the session was recorded. The interest it holds is determined only by how well those six men play the blues. Curtis Fuller is one of the two or three of the young trombonists who have made any contribution to the instrument. Webster Young seems to have a greater understanding of Miles Davis than those countless young trumpeters who play like Miles simply because it is fashionable. Gil Coggins is a rarely recorded pianist, and this situation is somewhat inexplicable when you consider how much he has contributed to the few dates he has been on. Paul Chambers is, of course, one of the founders and the only remaining member of the great Miles Davis rhythm section. Louis Hayes is the drummer who has added so much to the groups of Horace Silver and Cannonball Adderly. And, in the area of special interest, Jackie McLean, of whom more in a moment, takes his first solo here on that instrument.

“You will also hear, under the guise of ‘A Long Drink of the Blues (take 1)’, something of what went on in the studio that afternoon. Obviously, formal organization of the type preferred by certain critics was not held in a very high esteem. Since Jackie McLean has made a very successful debut in ‘The Connection’, in which he revealed himself as an incisive naturalistic actor, it is with a certain amount of justifiable pride that we present here his first recorded performance in a speaking role.

“The other side of the LP requires, I think, slightly more extended commentary. It consists of three ballads performed by McLean on alto, Mal Waldron, Arthur Phipps and Art Taylor. Much has been made of musical empathy, and deservedly so, but apparently this quality is only considered worthy of discussion when it is possessed by recognized stars. Regardless of whether or not you happen to like their kind of music, it goes without saying that Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond play extraordinarily well together, one serving as perfect contrast for the other. And reams of copy have been written about the musical affinity that exists between Miles Davis and Gil Evans. It is my opinion that this quality, which is certainly to be desired, can be found nowhere more perfectly expressed than in the music of Jackie McLean and Mal Waldron.

“Both of them have a great understanding of dance music. Now I know that term is tossed around by writers when they wish to deprecate something (most often, they speak of a big band jazz date that didn’t quite come off as a good dance record), but the sense of dance is present in the music of some of our most important modern musicians: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins. The three ballads played here are, I think, much more danceable than many records specifically released for that purpose, and it is to the credit of McLean and Waldron that this should be the case.

“But their affinity goes much beyond that. Both men are as deeply committed to jazz as it is possible for musicians to be. As such, they have rejected certain stylistic elements that might have made their music more universally acceptable, but they have remained better jazzmen for it. Both of them, in sound and approach, project what can only be called a feeling of intense loneliness. It is that quality, I think, which is so grippingly attractive to some listeners and frightening to others. They do not play happy music, but certainly they do play an accurate reflection of the world in which they find themselves. In achieving this, they have abandoned some of what the critics are pleased to call ‘technique’, but they are both consummate musicians in that the style they have worked out is perfectly suited to the statement they have to make. This is something else they have in common with the previously mentioned Davis, Rollins and Coltrane (at an early point in his career, Jackie’s solos sounded like transcriptions for alto of Miles Davis trumpet phrases) as well as the musicians who have most directly shaped their styles: in Jackie’s case, that would be Charlie Parker; in Mal’s, without neglecting the influence of Bud Powell, it would be Thelonious Monk.

“Perhaps I have given the mistaken impression that these two men have been completely neglected in their careers. That is definitely not the case. At least part of Jackie’s situation has been a matter of personal difficulty, and for a time he was denied a New York cabaret card. But one does not need a card to perform in a theatre, and so he was able to join the cast of ‘The Connection’. Although the group which played that show was billed as the Freddie Redd Quartet, it was alto and rhythm, and it was Jackie who made the greatest impression, both as soloist and actor. Whatever merits the play itself may have had, it did prove that jazz could be an integral part of a theatrical evening, and, for once, the music used to prove such a point was uncompromising in its honesty. Surprisingly enough - or not, depending on your point of view - the critics (drama critics, this time) went for the jazz as much as for the play, and gave a much more accurate appraisal of both than the majority of jazz writers who commented on it. And one thing that was certainly accomplished was a turning point in Jackie McLean’s career.

“Mal Waldron’s is a different situation. For the last few years before her death, he was Billie Holiday’s accompanist. Although he learned much from that experience for which he is grateful, musically and otherwise, and although Billie always left a set open in the evening for Mal’s trio, the job did mean that he was absent for a while from New York’s battleground of young musicians. He is back now, and playing again, and has even more to contribute than before.

“When the smoke of the jazz battles have cleared away, when flash-in-pans have been forgotten and proper assessments have been made, I think it will be found that Jackie McLean and Mal Waldron have made some of the most valuable and durable music of their time. These three ballads will be an important part of that contribution.” (Joe Golberg. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Jackie McLean (t-sx), Webster Young (tp), Curtis Fuller (tb), Gil Coggins/Mal Waldron (pi), Paul Chambers/Arthur Phipps (bs), Louis Hayes/Art Taylor (dr)

A1. A Long Drink Of The Blues (Take 1)

A2. A Long Drink Of The Blues (Take 2)

B1. Embraceable You

B2. I Cover The Waterfront

B3. These Foolish Things (Remind Me Of You)

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Horace Silver - 6 Pieces of Silver

"The release of this LP by the Horace Silver quintet has more significance than might appear on the surface; for although Horace's career on records in general and on Blue Note in particular has covered a broad area of styles, performances and groups, this is the first time he has ever been able to present, and present with pride, a permanently-formed combo of his own.

"There are many of us who felt that this step was long overdue, not only in terms of his talent, but also on the strength of his personality. His mild manner, pleasant speaking voice and clean living habits seemed to equip Horace for the role of leader, and if the reaction of night club owners in recent months is any yardstick, he didn't start a moment too soon.

"Since this is, then, a milestone in the Silver career, it might be advisable to pause and recapitulate briefly the biographical backgrounds of each member of the quintet as it is heard on these sides, since the writers of liner notes tend too often to take for granted a knowledge of all these facts on the part of the fan.

"The leader was born Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver in 1928 in Norwalk, Conn. After saxophone studies in high school and private piano lessons, he played gigs around Connecticut on both tenor and piano. It was after Stan Getz heard him in Hartford that he was hired to tour with the Getz quartet, staying with the group for a year in 1950-51. Settling in New York City, he worked frequently during the next year with Art Blakey, as well as with combos led by Terry Gibbs, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Bill Harris and others. From then until he formed his own group, he was most frequently a part of the Jazz Messengers.

"Hank Mobley, Horace's tenor man, was born in Eastman, Georgia in 1930, but was raised in New Jersey. After working with rhythm and blues groups until 1950, he jobbed mostly with Max Roach from 1951-53, spent several months with the Gillespie group in '54 and since then has been with Horace, first in the Jazz Messengers and now in the Silver quintet.

"Donald Byrd, Horace's trumpeter on this date, was born in Detroit in 1932, the son of a Methodist minister who was also a musician. He studied at Cass Tech High, Wayne University and Manhattan School of Music. After serving in the Air Force from 1951-53 and then working with local groups, he came to New York and played with George Wallington's group and Blakey's Messenger in 1955.

"Twenty-two-year-old Doug Watkins, also a Cass Tech man from Detroit, was schoolmate of Byrd and of bassist Paul Chmabers, who is his cousin by marriage. Leaving home with James Moody in '53, he settled in New York in August, 1954 and gigged mostly with the men in and around the Messengers.

"Louis Hayes, Horace's talented young drummer, is only 18 years old and is also a Detroiter; he replaced Art Taylor on very short notice in this group, and according to those of us who have heard him at Birdland and on other gigs, he shows signs of becoming a big name before too long.

"With the exception of one standard tune, the music heard on this first session by Horace's new group consisted entirely of Silver originals. 'Cool Eyes' is a swinging opener; notice the interesting use of the double augmented effect at the 23rd bar of the theme. The performances lend an extra sense of construction in that the solos are tied together by eight-bar unison interludes. Mobley, Byrd and Horace have extended solo space and Watkins walks a while. After the closing ensemble, in which the piano plays unison along with the horns, the last phrase is repeated effectively in descending keys.

"'Shirl', named for a young female friend, is a piano solo with rhythm, pensive and delicate, striking a sort of 'Stella by Starlight' mood.

"'Camouflage' has an unusual device in the rhyhthm pauses during the solo, as a result of which it seems to swing as much as anything in the album, yet in a slightly different way. Hank, Horace and Donald are featured in that order.

"'Enchantment' is an exotic theme that demonstrates how much can be extracted from the use of two-part harmony. Notice the use of an unorthodox Latin beat in which the third eighth not is left open; Louis Hayes's use of mallets; Horace's employment of octaves and other devices not typical of him.

"'Señor Blues' is, for this listener at least, the most exciting of the seven performances on these sides. Set in a minor key with the horns voiced, it is in a triple time, which Horace describes as 6/8, though I would be inclined to call it 12/8. The performance is full of tricky rhythmic and counter-rhythmic effects. When piano solo time arrives, the rhythm changes again and of this time signature Horace confesses, 'I don't know what you call that!' (We call it fine and funky.) Both in its solos and in the ensemble approach, this is a striking demonstration of the degree of originality to which the twelve-bar motif can be stretched.

"'Virgo', named for the sign under which Horace was born, is a fast unison theme in which the solos again are spelled by eight-measure interludes. Horace, on his solo here, is a fluent as a pianistic Charlie Parker. Louis Hayes, after trading fours with the horns, has a long solo, and there is a suddent bop-style ending.

"'For Heaven's Sake', a popular song of a few years ago, is given the same brand of treatment as 'Shirl', a piano solo in a pleasantly relaxed ballad mood.

"It need hardly be pointed out in conclusion that this record debut by the new Silver quintet augers a successful future for Horace as a leader. Assuming the main ingredients of success are talent, ambition and luck, it can safely be said that Horace is already two-thirds of the way there." (Leonard Feather. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Horace Silver (pi), Donald Byrd (tp), Hank Mobley (t-sx), Doug Watkins (bs), Louis Hayes (dr)

A1. Cool Eyes

A2. Shirl

A3. Camouflage

A4. Enchantment

B1. Señor Blues

B2. Virgo

B3. For Heaven's Sake

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Frank Morgan & McCoy Tyner - Major Changes

"Those of us who began listening to jazz after 1960 (and we are now a majority) owe our knowledge of the likes of Bix Beiderbecke, Billie Holiday, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, and Clifford Brown to the phonograph and its linear descendants. Even now, for many listeners outside New York City, records, tapes, and compact discs are the only means of keeping up with current developments. Yet since the thrill of jazz is existential as well as aesthetic, we are justifiably suspicious of a medium that deliver the music so long after the fact. Records put us at a physical as well as a temporal distance from a music that was meant to be experienced up close. But who can honestly say that he relishes going to clubs and concerts any more, now that poorly rehearsed pick-up bands are the rules and amplification is in the hands of technicians insensitive to the natural dynamics of acoustic instruments?

"It's unfortunate that few listeners will ever have the opportunity to attend a recording session, for despite the unavoidable breakdowns and false starts that vex even those dates later remembered as having been absolutely carefree, the studio control room might now be the only setting in which it is possible to forget that the music is reaching your ears through microphones. The studio is where musicians play for prosterity, but it can also be where they delight in one another's artistry, without temptation to pander applause.

"At least that's the impression I took away from the final session for Frank Morgan's album with McCoy Tyner's trio, featuring bassist Avery Sharpe and drummer Louis Hayes. (Granted, few sessions are as pure in intention or yield such memorable results.) I arrived at Clinton Studios just in time for the final number. Although the tempo was relatively up, the cadence sanctified, and the beat modified bossa nova (with Hayes deftly imitating hand-drum patterns on his snares), Morgan's melody statement was ballad-like in its rueful elegance and haunted resemblance to 'Here's That Rainy Day'. Following Tyner's leading choruses, Morgan took a solo rife with piercing declamations that ended on notes that sounded like checked sobs - a solo so nakedly personal that I assumed this must be his own composition, although it sounded vaguely familiar. It wasn't until the outro that I realised, with some chagrin, that this was 'Theme from Love Story' a maudlin, turn-that-dial hit for Andy Williams, Henry Mancini, and composer Francis Lai in 1971.

"This performance (like the earlier one on 'Double Image' [Contemporary C-14035], Morgan's album of duets with pianist George Cables) is a remarkable demonstration of the power of ardor to rehabilitate treacle - testimony to an impassioned improviser's ability to change your mind about a song, if only for the duration of one performance. Morgan doesn't share my estimate of 'Theme from Love Story' (which he first heard during a screening of the film at San Quentin in the 1970s) as a lowly vehicle. 'It's a beautiful song,' he says, 'and I always wanted to play it for my [paternal] grandmother, who raised me from the time I was six years old until I was sixteen, when she put me on a train for California to be with my father [guitarist Stanley Morgan, once a member of Harlan Leonard's Rockets, no with the Ink Spots] because she felt I was beginning to need a man's guidance. It's the song I played at her grave during a family reunion in Milwaukee last year.' But Morgan invests as much of himself in 'Emily' and 'How Deep Is the Ocean', the set's other near-ballads, and in Tyner's 'Changes' and 'Frank's Back' two brand-new pieces without possible sentimental attachment. He seems incapable of playing a note he doesn't feel deep in his being.

"Beyond noting that Morgan conveys the urgency of a man making up for lost time, it's unnecessary to bring up the three decades he squandered to heroin - that story has been told and retold in the liner notes to his previous Contemporary releases, articles in 'People', 'Newsweek', and 'The Atlantic'; and on stange in 'Prison-Made Tuxedos', a collaborative effort between Morgan and playwright George W.S. Trow. Morgan is understandably anxious to be perceived as more than a redeemed junkie, and this album should also help in winning him recognition as more than Charlie Parker's ghost. At this point, there is no better saxophonist in the bebop idiom (the proof is on 'All the Things You Are'), but the modes and scales that underpin Tyner's 'Search for Peace' edge Morgan out of his comfort zone, to startling effect. Morgan says her was 'intimidated' to find himself playing with the most influential pianist since Bud Powell, but he certainly doesn't sound intimidated. Confronted with a saxophonist he can't overwhelm for the first time since his Milestone Jazzstars tour with Sonny Rollins, Tyner reaps benefits from this association as well. His solo here, while as tempestuous as always, are admirably lean and pungent, with just a trace of Red Garland.

"'Trane introduced me to McCoy in the 1960s, when he was just a kid,' Morgan remembers, 'and recording with him was the fulfillment of a dream.' Maybe you had to be there, as I was lucky enough to be, to gauge the full impact of Morgan and Tyner's second collaboration (they also played together on a 1985 video), but unless they've joined forces in concert by the time you read this, be grateful that the tapes were rolling the last time they met. Be grateful even if they have. (Francis Davis, January 1988. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Frank Morgan (a-sx), McCoy Tyner (pi), Avery Sharpe (bs), Louis Hayes (dr)

1. Changes

2. How Deep Is The Ocean

3. Emily

4. Search For Peace

5. Frank's Back

6. All The Things You Are

7. Theme From Love Story

8. So What

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