Customer Reviews

Love Remains

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Bobby Watson came up through Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, where he was music director for several years. After that, he recorded a series of records with the Italian Red label. Though all are worthy of owning, this is the best. The title cut, a slow ballad, is Watson's finest effort on record. Its haunting, plaintive melody is perfectly suited to Watson's breathy delivery; the result is one of the more poignant recordings in the history of jazz. Interestingly, Watson's latest release, Quiet As It's Kept, is a return to the sensibility found on this disc and to the Red label. The band is one of his best with John Hicks on piano, Curtis Lundy on bass, and Victor Lewis on drums. A companion session led by John Hicks called Naima's Love Song featuring the same personnel and put out under the DIW is also very much worth getting.

This disc is unquestionably Bobby Watson's finest, which is all you really need to know. BW's complete mastery of the bop and hard bop idioms is conclusively demonstrated throughout this set; but what is really breathtaking is the passion and soul he puts into every note. The man smokes! And the rhythym section of John Hicks, Curtis Lundy, and Victor Lewis is simply superb. Buy this CD now. I mean right now.

Bobby Watson gets more out of his alto on this one recording than most players manage to squeeze out of a carreer. Every solo is a mini lession in the past, present, and future of improvized music. It smokes. It swings. It makes mounds and mounds of julienne fries. What can I say. Even after obsessive repeated listenings, my Love Remains.

Bobby Watson gets more out of his alto on this one recording than most players manage to squeeze out of a carreer. Every solo is a mini lession in the past, present, and future of improvized music. It smokes. It swings. It makes mounds and mounds of julienne fries. What can I say. Even after obsessive repeated listenings, my Love Remains.

This is one of the stellar jazz treasures. Play the title track some time with the lights low and your loved one in your arms and you'll know he has got it right. This album comes from the soul and is for people who have soul and love music. A must buy if you fit into that category and don't already have it.