I’ve gravitated heavily towards post bop in the last couple of years and I’ve been discovering a lot of superb albums and quite a few new artists as well. Sam Rivers I hadn’t listened to at all before, until I discovered the album on display earlier this year and fell in love with it. It’s jazz right up my alley. I love this stuff. It’s post bop, stretching the scope of your regular hard bop a bit, but I feel it’s still rooted in bop. Not flying too far away from that. It has quickly become one of my favorite Blue Notes, yet another superb title in the 4100 series. Loving the cover art as well, quite different.
Sam Rivers is a wonderful tenor player with a powerful tone, and he plays with such an inventive approach. It’s always very fulfilling when you find a new cat playing so great, that you haven’t heard before, and you are just at the very beginning of discovering his/her catalogue.
The other musicians are for me some of the best of the best; Jaki Byard on piano, Ron Carter on double bass and the great Tony Williams on drums, who I hold in very high regard. As a drummer myself I always listen intently to the drums in jazz, and Tony Williams is always so brilliant. His touch on the drums and cymbals is magic, especially the ride cymbal, and I always marvel at his overall approach to playing the drums. He’s probably in my top 3 list of favorite drummers of all time.
This is Sam Rivers debut as a leader and it’s the only album by him I’ve explored thoroughly. I’ll dive deeper into his catalogue, which will be interesting. Maybe his other stuff is a bit more free? I love his style on this LP though. For me it’s perfect, and the tunes are so enjoyable. Like I said, my kind of jazz.
Some questions: Maybe you guys have some tips on some other great Sam Rivers albums? If you’ve heard “Fuchsia Swing Song”, please, share your thoughts on it.
I hope you guys are having a wonderful summer and that you are enjoying your collections. At the moment I’m in Mexico, soaking up some much needed sun. Stay tuned for more vintage original 1st pressings from the collection coming up. Cheers!