Customer Reviews

Dear John C

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

 

 

This album is a classic of mid-1960's jazz. Mariano, one of the great invisible talents of the era, plays at the top of his form, Hank Jones and Roland Hanna do priceless work on the piano, and the Richard Davis/Jones rhythm section keeps it loose and flowing throughout. "Everything Happens to Me" is a heartbreaking ballad, but every song is a near-perfect achievement. It's astonishing to me that this CD has gone out of print. I would rate it alongside Shorter's "Speak No Evil," Coltrane's "Live at Birdland," Andrew Hill's "Point of Departure," and so on--one of the ten or twenty masterpieces of a golden age in jazz.

Dating from Feb.1965,this is a quartet featuring Charlie Mariano on alto sax.,Richard Davis on bass,Roland Hanna on piano on tracks 1-3,Hank Jones playing piano on tracks 7-10,with Elvin Jones as leader on drums.Tracks include Dear John C,Ballade,Love Bird,Everything Happens To Me,Smoke Rings,This Love of Mine,Anthropology,Feeling Good,Fantazm and That Five Four Bag,the last track being in addition to the vynil version.Mariano plays beautifully,likewise both pianists,Richard Davis is superb and very well recorded with Elvin playing with great taste and taking some nice solos.I,ve had this set on vynil for around 40 years and was fortunate to get a used CD in as new condition via Amazon.

You'll enjoy "Dear John C" as long as your not expecting another classic Coltrane Quartet-esque effort. The closest this CD comes to matching 'Trane is on the title track, which unfortunately steals most of its licks from "Impressions." Actually this album's strong point is its ballads (although they're not as good as 'Trane's "Ballads"), with "Ballade," "Smoke Ring" and "Feelin Good" the best. Another disappointment is that the potentially explosive rhythm combination of Richard Davis and Elvin basically keeps it on simmer for this recording. On one track, "This Love of Mine," Davis streches out and Jones cranks up the poly-rhythms, but otherwise they really keep it under control, playing more to match the bop styles of Mariano, Hanna, and brother Hank. In all, there's nothing terrible on "Dear John C.", but there's nothing to write home about either.