Customer Reviews

Blues Up & Down

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My late father had a great jazz collection, the quality of which was lost on me until I my music explorations in college gave me some perspective. This CD includes all the cuts that introduced me to hard bop as demonstrated by Johnny Griffin and Eddie Lockjaw Davis. "Hey Lock!" jumps with a swing that you only read about. "Last train to overbrook" is a rousing retelling of the James Moody piece that has more zest than Lock's solo statement and is guaranteed to make fans howl and newcomers instant fans of these unbelievable dueling tenors.

These two masters of the tenor nearly always sound good, and perhaps never better alone than they do together. The secret of their comraderie is respect and professionalism, dualing not to cut the other down, but to aspire to a higher summer. And Griff and Lock do aspire. This album is studio work, and perhaps for that a touch less hot than At Minton's, but this album(actually a collection of two different dates)has plenty of heat. They start with a composition by Griff, Camp Meeting, which will have you bopping. The horns are charging, growling, wailing, and singing too (this is no honk fest or Pharoah Sanders blow harder than the next guy routine)--this is the steeped in the blues of Harlem, the same Harlem of Monk, who made Griff his tenor after Trane left.AND Monk begged Keepness to recruit Griff for the label before Blue Note got him. Since he didn't get along with Gelder (I'm taking Griff's side no matter what) he ended up at Prestige, and Monk got stuck with Charlie Rouse. Lockjaw made his name with Cootie Williams and then Basie before making his Cookin albums, which are good, but as I said, pale beside his work with Griffin. These men brought it out of each other--and what I love in addition to their sound is their play. If you can hear a smile through a saxophone, if you can here a laugh through a sax, you're going to hear it from these guys. Now, not all their albums together are great. This one is great. The Tenor Scene is great. And the other album from that glorious night at Minton's, Live at Minton's is Great. Now let me be straight and tell you what is not their best, and I advise listening to these only if you become a Griff-Lock Head like me. Tough Tenor Favorites--no so good. Just missing the sophisticated inter play of the above albums. Why? I don't know, but their missing Junior Mance at the keys, he is the funky Chicago piano man that grooves, grooves, and like a similar artist, Bobby Timmons, never really got his name out there as a leader. The last you should stay away from is the Monk covers album. What happened? You listen to Misterio, Griff is wiping the floor with Monk (with Monk's genial consent of course--I mean, he negotiates Monk, and Monkians will know what I mean. So why does this cover album suck? Perhaps Griff and Lock thought they could do this without Monk's careful time, and the charging just rush through without nuance. And these guys had nuance to spare. Just not that day. Maybe they wanted to make something out of Monk compositions they didn't lend themselves for.
As much as I hate to put down an album, I remember, "Heh! The Stones did Her Majesties Satanic Services. Miles Davis did Around the Corner. Barry Gibb sang with Barbra Streisand. Even the best have bad days.
And when I say best, I mean better than Stitt and Ammons with their cliche runs, laborious burners, Sonny's gimmicky varitone horn, and greasy organ from bores like McDuff and even worse Patterson. Those are terribly dated. You wonder if Bird could have heard Stitt meets Brother Jack, would Sonny Criss have been the man with the keys. Peace.