Saturday 28th Jan 2023, 6:00 PM – Jazz Carousel. A series about “forgotten” or unknown saxophonists. Lucky Thompson found plenty of appreciation and work in Paris! That was different in America. Clifford Jordan recorded Spellbound in 1960, (“… an excellent straight-ahead outing.) according to critic Scott Yanow. And with Willie Smith we go back in time, towards Swing.
Lucky Thompson
Tenor Thompson (photo) works with Count Basie, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, among others. His impressive solo in Walkin’, on Davis’ LP of the same name in 1954, attracts a lot of attention. (This medium tempo blues would keep Davis’s repertoire for years, albeit at an increasingly rapid pace.) Thompson’s unadulterated critique of the music industry—”parasites,” “vultures”—earned him a bad name in the business, and therefore less and less. work. In 1956 he crosses over to Paris, where his name is already known among critics and collectors. In three years he made a large number of recordings, later released in a 4-CD box under the name Lucky Thompson – Complete Parisian Small Group Sessions 1956-1959. A treasure box! Fellow players come from the top segment of French jazz, including pianist Martial Solal and bassist Pierre Michelot. And sometimes compatriot Kenny Clarke is on the drums.
Clifford Jordan
Jordan made his recording debut in 1957 as the leader of Blue Note – an almost boiling tenor jam with John Gilmore entitled Blowing in from Chicago. Spellbound follows three years later, produced for Riverside by Cannonball Adderley. In a quartet line-up with pianist Cedar Walton, we hear Jordan in the well-known Charlie Parker composition Au Privave. Everyone goes wild here in this uptempo blues with a high swing factor. Cedar Walton is also the pianist on the LP Bearcat, recorded in 1961. We hear Jordan’s solid sound in two of his own compositions. It is annoying that record company Jazzland apparently did not think it necessary to have the piano tuned. During Walton’s solo you are, as it were, waiting for that one, badly out of tune tone. If it concerns a live recording in a smoky club, then something like this is part of it. But in a professional studio…
Willie Smith
Smith is often credited as one of the three leading alto saxophonists – alongside Johnny Hodges and Benny Carter – in the pre-Charlie Parker period. He led the reed section in Jimmy Lunceford’s orchestra, and later worked in the orchestras of Harry James, Duke Ellington and Billy May. He also had his own groups. Smith was distinguished by his widely acclaimed tone. You can fully enjoy it in no fewer than four pieces.
Click here for the Guide.
Jazz Carrousel – Bert Broere
