This is one of the real gems of the later Blue Note catalogue. The lineup is unreal, with Hill on the piano, Kenny Dorham on the trumpet, Eric Dolphy on the alto sax, bass clarinet and flute, Joe Henderson on the tenor sax, Richard Davis on the double bass and Tony Williams on the drums. I mean, that’s jazz royalty right there.
The album contains some progressive stuff that keeps you alert and interested all the way through. It’s avant-garde mixed with post bop to my ears. For me, very accessible though. Tony Williams is fantastic as always and pushes the music forward with superb control, finesse and energy. I never get tired of his inventive approach. Richard Davis keeps up with him and delivers some memorable double bass candy. The rest of the group plays on a very high plane as well, with Hill’s progressive and imaginative playing, Dolphy’s mastery of all the instruments he plays and the way he makes jazz so very interesting, Henderson’s beautiful but edgy tenor playing and full, rich sound, and then Dorham, who I think really holds his own in this kind of setting, despite maybe not being the most celebrated post bop/avant-garde player.
This is a wonderful and very interesting album which you should check out if you enjoy a bit more explorative jazz than hard bop for example, to mix it up a bit. And this is not free jazz, it’s controlled, but searching and full of imagination.
Some questions: Any thoughts on this album? The lineup on this, like I mentioned, is quite unreal. Do you have a favorite small group lineup from the 50’s-60’s..? Mine is probably, at this moment anyway, the cats who played together at the Five Spot with Dolphy, Booker Little, Mal Waldron, Richard Davis and Ed Blackwell. That, or the classic Coltrane quartet. Or maybe the Bill Evans trio with La Faro and Motian. You see.. it’s very, very difficult to choose. Maybe you can choose your top three?
I’m on a little pause when it comes to buying new records. I need to save up some vacation money first, and actually enjoy all the albums I have, with quite a few newcomers in the collection I haven’t listened to a lot.
Like I’ve mentioned, I’m on Instagram now (@fwrarejazzvinylcollector), where I at the moment post albums that I’ve already posted here through the years. So for new albums this is the place to look. I always post the latests albums here first.
Stay tuned for more vintage vinyl treasures coming up… cheers!