Just when you start getting used to the jazz that’s being played these days, you get something like this vintage live recording from Uptown Records, and you’re reminded that most of today’s music is terrible.
Recorded from the a 1966 gig Crystal Ballroom in swinging Baltimore, this album has a set from a collection of jazz artists that were at the time considered respectable journeymen but today come across as prophets of old.
Blue Mitchell was one of the sweeter of the hard bop trumpeters. Gentler than Hubbard and softer than Morgan, he had a lovely lyricism that was still able to sizzle when called upon. He had a number of hot solo albums and was in Horace Silver’s quintet during it’s peak. Sonny Red was a Parker-inspired alto saxist that had some impressive work as a sideman, but drifted into obscurity. Here, the two lead an impressive and strong team of John Hicks/p, Gene Taylor/b and Joe Chambers/dr through a finger snapping and varied set.
Mitchell is silky on ”If I Should Lose You” as he mixes lyicism with Gillespie-inspired solos, and Hicks’ solo is a thrill ride. The team stretches out here and also on the modal read of “All Members” as the two horns bend and stretch like an Abba Zabba. A Latin version of “Rhythm” makes “Fungi Mama” a sizzling bopper, and the team sounds like it’s in a vintage Blue Note Jazz Messenger mode on the hard driving shuffling “Blue Spring Variation” that grooves like a locomotive.
Sonny Red gets the spotlight on a swooning read of “I Can’t Get Started” and Mitchell is as fluffy as a French pastry during “A Portrait of Jenny.” Neither of these artists were major trailblazers; they were men of their time, and what this album reveals is that a “regular” gig from 1966 has gobs more to offer than a “special” concert today.
Uptown Records