Customer Reviews

Do the Boomerang: The Music of Junior Walker

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Clarinetist and saxophonist Don Byron's eccentricity is well known in the jazz community as he has recorded tributes to musicians of different genres like klezmer artist Mickey Katz and jazz legends Lester Young and Duke Ellington. Add to that list R&B saxophonist Junior Walker, who was active in the Motown scene in the 1960's and 70's. On this album, Byron appropriately concentrates on tenor saxophone and is joined by David Gilmore on guitar, George Colligan on organ, Brad Jones on bass, Rodney Holmes on drums, Curtis Fowlkes trombone and Dean Bowman and Chris Thomas King on vocals. The music on this CD recalls the glory days of rhythm and blues, keeping the songs short and solos to the point. The band works well as a team, with solos being spread generously amongst group members.

"Mark Anthony Speaks" has some great soul-jazz guitar from Gilmore and greasy Jimmy Smith style organ, and the uproarious "Shotgun" has some bootin' tenor saxophone and very cool funky vocals, as does "Pucker Up, Buttercup" which covers the poppy end of the Walker spectrum with swirling organ and swinging vocals. "There It Is" is a little out of place, being a James Brown cover, Brown and Walker were both pillars of soul music, but their approaches were quite different. While the focus is primarily on uptempo numbers, "What Does It Take" does slow things a little bit to a slow simmering pace, and "Satan's Blues" is a slow, grinding number that gets down and dirty. While I'd really like to hear more original music from Byron and fewer tributes, there's no denying that this disc is a lot of fun and fans of soul-jazz and old-school R&B should enjoy it. The cover art is really cool too, I wish this was available on vinyl...

Great pick, Don!

During the 60's, the legendary Jr. Walker and his All Stars band was the undisputed King of dance parties, singer sax player band leader showman song writer hit-maker live performer. His signature whinnying sax intros mellowed as he segued into the 70's writing instrumental classics. The man packed a whole lot of punch into a short life.

'Do The Boomerang' is a well-blended concert of totally danceable smooth jazz with a sultry edge that showcases the music Jr. Walker [as Autry DeWalt Jr.] wrote and made famous. Don Byron's playing and improvisations on tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet are consistently terrific. Jazz vocalists Dean Bowman and Chris Thomas King take over and take off with Jr. Walker's vocals, leaving Don free to take off instrumentally and paint his own pictures where Jr. Walker never trod. Likewise for the guitar and trombone members of the band. Hints of rock organ and tambourine keep those great dance beats authentic thruout. The the crew and production are A-OK. Check out the clips!

this recording is just what it is: the music of junior walker. by don byron on tenor sax on all tracks except when he plays clarinet and bass clarinet on two other tracks. lots of organ and guitar and heavy bass and drums summon from the past funky rhythm and blues, not quite as drenched in funk as the old school originals, but not bad for a visitor. yes, you can dance to these tunes, and there are vocals.

as for jazz? i was thinking of ornette coleman and his origins of funky soul music before he went jazz and jazz classical.

I love Don Byron's creativity and love his fearlessness when choosing music and bands but this album just won't get played by me. The reason why I don't like it is that it it so unlike Don Byron that it bores me lol. I want creative interpretations and to be wowed by some twist here or there when I listed to Don Byron and I don't get that *at all* on this album.

This album is "in the pocket" and it seems to be recorded from the perspective of, "Let's see how close we can sound to a band in the 1970's who is recording an album of covers of a soul band in the 50's." Forget that - I'm not interested in that lol. If you want to cover these great songs, I want to hear it but I *don't* want to hear the exact same arrangements that I can hear in any R&B bar on a Tuesday night jam session :(

Overall, this album is predictable and, if you like soul/blues, you are better off buying an album by someone who does that stuff for a living. Don does a good job playing it but why listen to him when you could just go straight to the source? What's the one thing I don't want from a Don Byron album? Rote sticking to the form and predictability. What do you get on this album? Predictability and rote stick-to-the-1-IV-V.

I really like Don Byron and I really like Junior Walker, but for entirely different reasons, and having Byron play Walker is a plan that couldn't work. Byron is a clean, intellectual player, and most of his recordings take advantage of that, giving him spare, clean settings. But Junior Walker is pure gutbucket party, and any tribute to him requires a player with that same kind of head-thrown-back wailing abandon. Frankly, I don't see the point in anyone covering Walker's songs--no one could ever surpass that feeling, and very few could come close to duplicating it. But Don Byron is on the other end of the scale and less successful than most would be. The problem is compounded by a recording style that clamps down the sound and buries the drums and bass in the mix, with a snare sound that more like cardboard box than rifle shot. Rodney Holmes is a fine drummer, but, like Byron he just doesn't have that supercharged abandon that's needed for these songs. David Gilmore is the one bright spot on the CD, as he has been on so many recordings. He plays with exactly the kind of bluesy guts that this music needs, and his funk is truly funky. I don't know why he isn't much better known than he is. He can play anything, and he always gives it everything he's got.

He's certainly assembled a very fine band.That's for sure.
Another thing that's obvious is that this album is much of a stylistic departure from the usual...interesting sophisticated thaught provoking albums, this listener has come to "expect" from don byron. I think HE could have done something more interesting with the material.This however is not my main thing about this CD...
His clarinet playing is great .His Tenor sax playing is..."OK". Maybe it is the music that doesn't quite live up my street,...but then again,David Gilmore's guitar is "Just Right" and does that what I miss in byrons sax playing Gilmore sounds a lot more authoritative on his instrument than byron does on his -to my ears anyways- (the same goes for george colligan on organ-check out the recordings he did with gary thomas,brad jones on bass and rodney holes on drums).
On the whole a good album though it is just Don Byron whom I had hoped a little more of.
I am hoping to hear more Saxophone playing from him (the little bits from Bug Music and Ivey Divey is the only other Sax playing I have heard from him and Ivey Divey has left a similar impression on me in terms of saxophone playing as the Boomerang has...so far) to gain a more informed oppinion than that displayed in this review.

Yeah,I'm a sucker for Don Byron-and Junior Walker.I grew up in Detroit with Junior Walker and the Motown sound-and I've been a fan of Byron's ever since I first heard him play clarinet with the Klezmer Conservatory Orchestra.This just isn't as good as....seeing him do it live at the 2007 Detroit Jazz Festival;here's hoping he comes back in '08 for a little Junior Walker or Mickey Katz or Bug Music or jazz .By the way,in 2007,he saved 'Shotgun' for a killer encore.(my fingers aren't working-I meant to give it a 4 plus)

As something of a Junior Walker fan and connoisseur I was interested in how a a great Jazz man like Don Byron would interpret some of Junior's work. The Soul Session tracks and Cleo's Mood do lend themselves to a Jazz interpretation and he does make the most of it, particularly Cleo's Mood, Mark Anthony Speaks and Satan's Blues. Warm renditions and funky improvisations by all of the band.
Perhaps what is lacking though is the raw, spiky even crude production values of the originals that made them stand out against the 'usual' gloss of most of Motown's output of the time. The non Junior track 'There it is' (James Brown) also stands out and it's probably the nearest the band gets to a raw funky sound.
Nevertheless, it is enjoyable, and as a fan I am just pleased that some overdue recognition is made to a much underrated musician who's influence is always readily acknowledged by many sax players and few else.

I am speechless!. The special sound of Autry DeWalt, better known as Jr. Walker is butchered by Don Byron...Stick to Avant Garde, my friend, and don't sully the memory of a soul giant