Customer Reviews

Jug and Dodo

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

 

 

If you like relaxed melodic jazz that sounds effortless, has great solos and swings like the clappers, this is for you.

Scott Yanow called Dodo Marmarosa "one of the finest pianists of the bop era," a bold claim given the paucity of evidence to support it. Marmarosa didn't have much of a career and recorded almost nothing, which is a shame because he had plenty of technique and, even better, loads of charisma. But he left behind one glorious record, "Jug and Dodo,"a 1962 session that includes a number of tracks with tenor great Gene Ammons.

The trio tracks are marvelous, showing Marmarosa to be musically inventive, swinging and not a cliche-ridden bopper. Ammons was a respectful partner on the tracks on which they collaborate- in other words, he shared the mike rather than dominated it - and that's part of what makes this disc such satisfying listening. Marmarosa is not just an accompanist; he has a lot to say here and it's even more interesting than Ammons.

This set has been in my collection since it was issued as a double LP and I've never grown tired of it. In fact, contrary to my typical disdain for alternate takes, I love the alternates of "Yardbird Suite" and "Falling in Love with Love" included here.

Five stars.

This, to me, is a rather strange pairing - and it shows in the material. Ammons ("Jug")seems to have no fire on this. Given, most of the stuff he is playing are soul/blues ("Georgia On My Mind" - the first 'listening sample', mislabled as is the CD song list) and ballads. The reason I give this 3 Stars is because of the brilliance of Gene "Dodo" Marmarosa. About one-third of this CD is his trio without Ammons, and it is far and away the best material on the CD. Check out 'listening sample #5' below - it is Marmarosa's trio doing "The Song Is You". This will give you a small taste of the rest of his stuff on the CD - two takes, totally different ideas, of "Yardbird Suite", and a beautiful rendition of Ray Noble's "The Very Thought Of You". Marmarosa's stuff is 5-Star, but there is not enough of it, and it is paired badly with the rest of the CD. What a shame. Marmarosa's career sort of mirrored this kind of luck. Man, what could have been...