Blow the Blues

Clayton/Tate | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 20, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ojc
• ASIN: B000000Z17
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,453 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Rompin' at Red Bank

2. Blue Creek

3. A Swinging Doll

4. Dallas Delight

5. Don't Mind If I Do

6. Blue Breeze

7. Blue Ebony

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Knock-out quintet swing from the finest of the Basie Band!, November 14, 2009

By 

Wayne Dawson (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Blow the Blues (Audio CD)

Let's cut to the chase, this is an absolute triumph proving yet again that swings the thing and music ain't much without it!

Buck Clayton blazes forth like a man inspired on this recording from 1961 when both Buck and Buddy were in their late forties. Freshly back from Shanghai, Buck stopped in at Kansas City just in time to link up with the Basie band on it's way to New York where they opened at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem in 1937. This was the famous line up with Herschel Evans and Lester Young whose tenor sax duels set a precedent that became standard practice in jazz through the following decades. With Evans's early death (before he reached thirty in 1939) his chair was taken over by Buddy Tate, who kept Herschel's spirit alive within his own style. Buddy was part of a loose nuclei of musicians who played with Basie back in Kansas in 1934 but the unknown Count was unable to keep the band together through work, so he must have been an obvious choice to take over from Evans. Tate is a brilliant all rounder; multi-instrumentalist of tenor sax, clarinet and flute (and on a magisterial recording with Abdullah Ibrahim in 1977, he provides a beautiful baritone finish to one of his tenor solos); I saw him in concert during the early 1980's where he played all three with the verve of a young man and the grace of an elder statesman. For this date, he blows clarinet on Blue Creek and the healing is just fine, otherwise it's swinging boss tenor all the way.

Something else I find endlessly interesting and which isn't discussed all that much, is the make of tenor sax these legendary performers played on. Buddy uses a classic Conn 10m `lady face' fitted with a Berg Larson mouth piece which is a very flexible and expressive combination. With such an expressive player on the end of it, the amount of nuance and tonal shading is astonishing; forceful, hard edged and declarative one moment, soft and tender the next. Couple that with Buck's dazzling flair, gravel growls and muted talking cup work and it soon becomes evident that these two swing merchants have travelled the same musical road. With the empathy of Siamese twins, they know how to play off each other, back each other up and provide seamless melodic soloing.

The other point to be made about the music represented on this fine Van Gelder recording is that it defies the modern over simplistic designation of jazz into two geographic camps; east coast or west coast. Buck and Buddy hold their allegiance to neither. In fact, this style of music faces more towards the mid-west with Kansas City as its point of reference; which means less cool and bop, more blues and swing. Not surprisingly, Buck penned a great little number called `Dallas Delight'.

One last thing, Gene Ramey on bass and Gus Johnson on drums both played in the Basie band also. Gus Johnson, as the liner notes mention, took over from Jo Jones in 1948 and provides plenty of crackle. Sir Charles Thompson on piano spent much of his career with Illinois (that's Jacquet!), another mid west swinger! My advice is you pick this one up before you can't. It'll keep your mind young long after the body gives out.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blow the Blues? More Like Swing the Blues!, March 14, 2001

By 

Joseph Motika (Paterson, New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blow the Blues (Audio CD)

The sound of Count Basie's orchestra was one that influenced a new direction in swing music. The driving pulse of his rhythm section and the emotion of the soloists characterized this new direction. On BUCK AND BUDDY BLOW THE BLUES one can hear what has happened to the sound of the Count Basie Orchestra as the players matured into their own musicians. All of the players on this record, except for the pianist for obvious reasons, played with Count Basie during their careers. The influence of playing with Basie can be heard in the ferocity of the swing, though at the same time one can hear the amount of relaxation with which each musician plays now that they have come into their own. Overall, this album shows Buddy Tate and Buck Clayton in a fresh light, a light that has become their own through age and experience.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reminiscin' on Buck and the All-star Jams.., September 4, 2003

By 

"douglasnegley" (Pittsburgh, Pa. United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blow the Blues (Audio CD)

This is a well recorded, swinging session from 1961. I have not seen too many Clayton All-Star Jams reissued, so this is as close as it may get. Buddy Tate, in the first track, "Rompin' At Red Bank" 'tips his hat' to Lester by playing the signature riff from "Afternoon of a Basie-ite". Barring any other reissues of Buck's legendary (and prolific) All-Star recordings - one in particular, with Ruby Braff, and even Jimmy Rushing is stunning for its feel and flawless master recording (on Columbia LP) would really be nice to see, but this one serves well. Sir Charles Thompson, Gene Ramey, and Gus Johnson definately "Blow The Blues".