Customer Reviews

It Might As Well Be Spring (Rudy Van Gelder Edition)

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This is a great album. Ike Quebec is way too underated. He provided a sound that is both rough and sweet, the best of Ben Webster and Lester Young and yet there is a unique sound of his own,a yawp that had the emotion of Coltrane but could bend back into the lyric.There was a hint in this music of styles yet to come. His choice of material here is as always impeccable. There is so little of Ike that I beg for an RVG edition of Blue & Sentimental and Soul Samba.

None of Ike Quebec's 1961-62 Blue Note albums should be missed, and this lush offering - second of the five - is a fine case in point. The venerable tenor saxophonist blows half a dozen moody and memorable statements on IT MIGHT AS WELL BE SPRING, two of them his own compositions, with consistently fine help from Freddie Roach on mile-wide organ, Milt Hinton on bass and Al Harewood at the drum kit. Ike's patented slow and smooth ambience is well in evidence, and it's a joy to hear it created in such sympathetic company.

While the merely curious might prefer to start an exploration of Ike Quebec with BLUE and SENTIMENTAL and/or BOSSA NOVA SOUL SAMBA, anyone who's fallen under the spell of those albums is most heartily advised to seek out this and his other sessions of the era as well. First rate!

Ike Quebec is one of the most underrated saxophonists I think in the history of jazz. His life was cut way too short. There's no telling what he could have done, but at least we have some very memorable recordings of Quebec, which includes this 1961 recording cut for Blue Note Records.

"It Might As Well Be Spring" capture Quebec in fine form with Freddie Roach on organ, Milt Hinton on bass, and Al Harewood on drums. For those of you who don't like organ, especially in jazz music, should give this recording a spin, because what we have here is unobtrusive and lyrical, which is not like jazz organ. It's a healthy alternative to the style of organists like Jimmy Smith and Larry Young. Roach's approach was more subtle and it somehow makes this recording just sound right.

This is a group that plays with a low burning fire under them and after awhile you'll start to smell what's really cooking: this beautifully played music. Highly recommended.