Customer Reviews

Blues for Dracula

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

 

 

Philly Joe was notorious as the pied piper of junk. He was also some kinda character, as Miles states in his autobiography -- "Philly woulda been president or the head of some corporation, had he not been born black." His irrepressible side shines on the title cut, as he riffs on his good buddy Lenny Bruce's "Dracula" schtick. Dig the subtext, as both knew all too well what the "children of the night" invariably were up to. Even though "Dracula" is more or less a gag tune, the pulsating blues underneath hints at the swinging energy to come. This is what hard bop was all about -- and the blowing on the whole album is comparable to most Blakey bands. The underrated Nat Adderly's burnished tone is the perfect foil for Johnny Griffin's cascades of notes, and Tommy Flanagan, as usual, has taste and swings. Though Philly's solo efforts are uneven, the planet's must've been aligned the day they laid this down. I only give it four stars, because I wish there was MORE MUSIC from this session.

This date,which has a groovy cover and as easy as anyone can predict,beautiful music..Has a lenghty intro on bela lugosi's dracula speech,which is pretty funky and funny,but the music is not something you can laugh about,pretty straight head hard-bop/post-bop!,Jhonny Griffin provides great composition and masterfull playings,as well as Nat Alderlley not letting us down!,Tommy Flanagan walks the fine line between Hardbop and Bebop,while The man of the match Philly Joe Jones makes the drum talk wonders.

philly joe was a hard hitting drummer and this album such as show case demonstrates it had a great line up and lets not the forget the incomprable and often discounted well rounded bass player jimmy garrison who should have been given the same accolades as other bass players such as carter,brown and chambers

First, you gotta get past the hurdle of the lurid and ridiculous cover art. To some, this may be the idea of a classic album cover, but I think it just makes the album look like a gimmickly Halloween purchase. It scared me off buying this record for years. Then, you've gotta sit through the interminable first two-and-a-half minutes of the album, Philly Joe's imitation of Bela Lugosi. It's deadeningly unfunny and more like a drunk party stunt than something you'd put on an album. (Well, OK, "bite her on her ukelele" is *kinda* funny.) But, scale these twin walls, and you'll find you've entered upon one of the great hard bop albums, with the emphasis on hard. Philly Joe, at his worst, can sound more like a guy rhythmically crashing into the furniture than a great drummer (see, for instance, his work on Clark Terry's Serenade to a Bus Seat), but at his best -- which is far more often -- he is explosive and really sets the heart to racing. (See, for instance, the seminal Sonny Rollins album Newk's Time, or most of Philly Joe's work with the Miles Davis Quintet.) Perhaps representatively, there's a bit of the former Philly Joe on this album and a whole lot of the latter. For the most part, he's in great, rollicking and driving form. And what a band he's assembled. Johnny Griffin turns in another of his typically incendiary performances on tenor, while Nat Adderley really surprises on the cornet. Like his brother Cannonball, Nat tends to rise to the level of the company he's keeping, and Nat's company here drives him to one of his most ferocious appearances on record. He's playing fast and he's really reaching for and generally hitting those high notes. I was very impressed. Closing out the front line is Sun Ra trombonist Julian Priester, who is delightfully quirky and unpredictable and even arrhythmical in his throaty and almost avant-garde turn on this album. At the piano is the always impeccable Tommy Flanagan, who swings like Wynton Kelly here, while soon-to-be-Coltrane-bassist Jimmy Garrison fills in the bottom end with heft and style. This is a fantastic band, in the manner of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, but looser and wilder, and it's a shame they were only assembled for this one-off. And despite the loosey-goosey feel of some of this music, there's also some expertly programmed jazz here, particularly on the stunning "Fiesta", the funny instruments-tuning-up opening of "Tune UP", and the Dizzy Gillespie tune "Ow!", with nice ensembles on the latter tune and the solo spotlight being rotated around throughout each of these lengthy workouts in unpredictable and delightful ways. Everyone gets their turn and they don't waste it. If I could only edit out that awful opening vampire monologue and flesh out the skimpy and half-baked "Trick Street", Blues for Dracula would be a five-star outing.