Customer Reviews

Just Us

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

 

 

I picked this CD up because Haynes and Wyands were the drummer and pianist on two great Oliver Nelson small-group sessions made with Eric Dolphy around this same time, Screamin' the Blues and Straight Ahead. On this trio session, Haynes is definitely the dominant personality, Wyands playing competently in a Red Garland-ish style that never really catches fire, never really establishes its own personality. With Eddie de Haas largely anonymous on bass, the spotlight is thoroughly on Roy and on the somewhat unusual tempos and arrangements he's picked for these tunes (a minor key rethink of the ancient pop song "Sweet and Lovely", an unusual uptempo take on "Speak Low"). While I really like his mallet work on "Con Alma", this really isn't anything that Chico Hamilton didn't do years earlier. That leaves me only to comment on Haynes as a drummer. He has a fabulously light touch, a great rhythmic and dynamic sense, and ear for the sounds he can get from his kit. As everyone who talks about Haynes notes, his playing is "crisp". But Haynes isn't really a melodic drummer in the way Max Roach was, or even the great (if lesser known) Frank Butler. He's still just playing interesting rhythmic patterns rather than really improvising to the tune. Haynes almost entered the jazz drumming pantheon simply by surviving longer than the rest of them, but he remains just outside the top tier of Blakey, Roach, Jo Jones and, yes, Frank Butler. Just Us, alas, is just OK.

While the previous reviewer gives an accurate description, the average rating would mislead one into believing that this is an average OJC potboiler. In fact, this is a terrific piano trio with creative work from Wyands and some of the best Haynes out there.

Roy Haynes, a living legend of jazz, cut this trio album in 1960. It features Haynes at the drums, Richard Wyands on piano, and Eddie De Haas on bass. This is a good record of straight ahead jazz, there are no exceptional moments, but it is never boring or predictable. Wyands and De Haas are workmanlike in their efforts, Haynes drumming and soloing is characteristically powerful and lyrical (for drums). Overall this is simply a record that will appeal to fans of Haynes, or straight ahead jazz.