|
This is music that speaks to both head and heart. All of the tunes are great and the arrangements make these definitive versions of the these tunes. This is one of the most tuneful and hard swinging jazz albums in the tradition and has a polish to it that puts it up there with the best of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. For beginning drummers, it's a more accessible path to workable solos than starting out with Elvin Jones or Tony Williams but no less deep in its own away. "Parisian Thoroughfare" is a Bud Powell standard and that points toward more Parker influenced bebop like his Dial sessions or Complete Bud Powell on Blue Note. "Blues Walk" is just fun and points toward some of the big band or swing era stuff where folks just blow. Clifford Brown's solos are standard listening for anyone who wants to understand trumpet but his tone is warm, homey and inviting if you want to just let this marinate in the background instead of trying to hear every note that runs by. He's very tasteful in his accompaniment with dynamics and his solos make a lot of logical sense and have lots of space.
"Joyspring" is a favorite. Duke Ellington's Newport '56 is a great album if you want to hear another famous blues solo.There's other great stuff here as well and it's nice to have the ballad bass feature of "These Foolish Things" added on.It's tragic that Brownie's life was cut short but this and the rest of the music by this quintet is a testimony to a spiritual joy that can accompany disciplined mastery of jazz. This album is really at the center of the jazz tradition and is a great choice for someone interested in exploring what sounds they dig. Harold Land complements him well with an airier tone and they interact well on the classic trading figures on the burning "Blues Walk."As a drummer, I'm partial to Max Roach and along with the album "Drums Unlimited", which features some of his solo pieces like "The Drum Also Waltzes", this is one of the best ways to hear what Max is up to in conventional group. If you like chord changes like this tune or "Daahoud", consider it an encouragement to go deeper into jazz harmonically and head towards the Wayne Shorter arranged stuff like Speak No Evil and the deeper Blue Note sound.
Few songs are abrupt, overly challenging bop. Excellent selection of songs that are good for almost any occasion. A collaboration among two of the giants of jazz. Most a more smoothly pleasing.
If you ever want to know where Freddie Hubbard and Lee Morgan got their inspiration, then look no further than this album. I'm not going to talk to much about this album other than, if you're a jazz fan, then you need this album. That's all I've got to say about this album.Highly recommended for the jazz fan.
The best of the best is on this cd. A true classis in this genre of jazz.Listen and see how it is supposed to be done.
IF YOU ARE A DRUMMER, THIS CD REVEALS THE EARLY MASTERY OF THE DRUMKIT BY MAX ROACH. THE SOLOS ARE INVENTIVE AN MELODIC, NO SOUNDS OF FALLING DOWN THE STAIRS HERE AT ALL.
|
