Customer Reviews

Gettin With It

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Another super cool album from Benny Golson. This one is from 1959. The team consists in Benny, Curtis Fuller trombone, Tommy Flanagan piano, Doug Watkins bass, Arthur Taylor drums. These albums from the late fifties are the records that every jazz enthusiast should own. They are so cool it's ridicolous. People unaware about the history of Jazz music generally tend to buy the same old super famous things. Miles' Kind of blue, Trane's A love supreme, Brubeck's Time out, Chet Baker singing stuff, Jarrett's Koln concert. Fews are so committed to search deep inside the history of jazz music to discover something different but of equal importance and quality. This blowing session from Benny and the guys is something that helps to define what Jazz is. A super cool record from the best period in the history of jazz music. Benny and Curtis Fuller form a spectacular front line. They complement each other perfectly. The Flanagan trio comps impeccably. This music is still modern, almost fifty years later. This quintet has the sense of time and the super cool attitude only the greatest combos in Jazz had the privilege to own.

This was the third of three albums Benny Golson made for Prestige in 1959, and it is every bit as good as the first two. The version of APRIL IN PARIS that goes down here is among the prettiest on record. BOB HURD'S BLUES, taken medium-slow and at 12 minutes, gives everyone a chance to stretch out. Golson has a very warm, appealing sound on tenor, an excellent contrast to Curtis Fuller's rather gruff trombone sound. Tommy Flanagan is on piano and to my ears, Mr. Flanagan can do no wrong. A very solid hard bop recording date. Get it!

Benny Golson is one of the most under appreciated tenor players of the 50s and 60s. Blue Note never signed him to a recording contract (though they should have!), but felt him talented enough to arrange Lee Morgan's early albums for the label among other things. Golson's Prestige/New Jazz albums can be counted with the best hard bop of the era, and "Gettin' With It" in particular sounds like a Jazztet album without Art Farmer, but better. By that I mean, the Jazztet tends to write very succinct, lovely nuggets of songs, which is great but sometimes the solos feel a tad constrained. On Golson's solo efforts however, the songs are still well constructed, yet he has room to stretch out. This is most evident on the terrific "Bob Hurd's Blues" which logs in at over 12 minutes. Golson's Jazztet mate Curtis Fuller joins him on this album, along with a rhythm section of Tommy Flanagan, Doug Watkins and Art Taylor -- all in top form. One final note, this CD is an OJC "Limited Edition" but it has been available for years now. Even though these limited editions hang around longer than Blue Note's Connoisseurs, don't mess around with this one's availability -- get with it soon.

Though recorded in 1959, this album still sounds fresh to me. Benny Golson's bop is clean and crisply articulate, and yet it is also relaxed, warm, and full of passion, beauty, and just plain musical fun. Benny never hogs the spotlight but gives each musician in his famous Jazztet ample room for self-expression. Each band mate is a strong and interesting soloist in his own right.

Here the ensemble starts by covering a couple of popular standards ("Baubles, Bangles, and Beads" and "April in Paris") with aplomb and then explores three of Benny's original compositions, concluding with a great 12-minute-long jam on "Bob Hurd's Blues."

The recording quality is very good, and the music is superb. You cannot go wrong with this one.