At long last. The quest for The Quest is finally at an end. I’ve searched for this one for a long time. It’s an extremely hard album to find as a true 1st pressing in top shape, with the Abbey ring on one side and the wide deep grooves. I can’t believe it’s on my shelf now. Got it yesterday and listened to it today. It sounded fantastic. I truly hold it in very high regard. If I had to make a list right now today of my top 5 jazz albums this would be on it, together with Basra, Far Cry etc.
The Quest is a beautiful album with so much soul, superb musicianship and outstanding compositions. Waldron wrote all the tunes which says a lot about his level as a musician. He is one of my favorite piano players, if not THE favorite. He plays with such sparse, dark delicate beauty. He was a unique player with his own voice. Love his choice of notes, always chosen with care. Always very interesting to see where he goes with his ideas. I tend to focus more on the piano when he plays. Not your regular hard bop pianist. The rest of the group is top notch, with the brilliant Dolphy on alto and clarinet, Booker Ervin on tenor, who I really have been growing very fond of through exploring his various releases for Prestige, Ron Carter who plays cello on this which I love, Joe Benjamin on double bass who I actually haven’t heard a lot from previously, and the wonderful Charlie Persip on drums who plays absolutely outstanding throughout. Been diggin’ him since I first heard BLP 1540.
Regarding favorite picks, the beautiful “Warm Canto” is the stand out tune, with it’s mellow, moody and reflective nature. It has to be one of the greatest jazz tunes ever written. I never get tired of it. It always puts me in a mellow state, which is good. Love the propulsive “Status Seeking” as well, full of energy and impressive solos. All the tunes have their very own highly enjoyable quality. It’s a very complete album with plenty there that you want to revisit and explore again. Couldn’t recommend this album more.
Stay tuned for more vintage beauties from the collection. Cheers!