Customer Reviews

Chicago Sound

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In writing first time reviews of OJC discs that are sadly going out-of-print, I was surprised to discover that no one had written about a CD that I've enjoyed for more than 15 years. Wilbur Ware's "The Chicago Sound" is one of my favorite 50s blowing sessions, and the perfect example of why it is so easy to become hooked on collecting jazz. Many newcomers are intimidated by jazz because they don't know what to buy. They know Miles and Coltrane and Mingus and Monk and Sonny, and get a few discs. They might check out some Blue Note titles, but then freeze and don't know what to get next. Let me tell you what I did early on in my collecting. At the suggestion of my professor Ojeda Penn, I started checking out sessions by the sidemen I liked on records by the big shots. One player who impressed me early on was bassist Wilbur Ware -- I just loved his sound, and the way he held everything together on Sonny Rollins' "Night at the Village Vanguard" volumes. So when I saw "The Chicago Sound," Ware's only title as a leader, I thought what the heck, I'll try it, and was I ever glad I did! Not only does this 1957 session seriously smoke, but it introduced me to two more saxophonists I now adore, tenorman Johnny Griffin and altoist John Jenkins. This is the beauty of jazz, it doesn't necessarily matter who's the leader on a record, if talented people are in the band, it'll be great. So don't be scared, enjoy the Chicago sound!

Tracks 9-16 with Griffin and Jenkins were originaly issued on CD on OJC under bassist Wilbur Ware's name. I was disappointed by it as Jenkins tone did not cut through the Riverside sound quality well enough. Tracks 1-8 are a Griffin quartet short track Argo/Cadet session from mid 1950's Chicago.