Just when you think you’ve heard every jazz singer around, Fresh Sound Records pulls out another obscurity, releases some amazing material and makes you pull your hair out and exclaim “Why have I never known of this cat before?” This time around, the artist is Frank Minion, born in 1929 and supposedly still around somewhere. He released a handful of amazing recordings and then dropped out of the scene. The liner notes give some history, but someone needs to scratch and dig for the whole story.
Anyway, to show you the kind of moxie this guy had, back in 1959 when Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue was fresh off the press, Minion goes out and hires Davis’ rhythm team from that very session (Bill Evans/p, Paul Chambers/b and Jimmy Cobb/dr) and THEN does a multi-voiced “Flamenco Sketches” that is all out haunting, a harrowing “’Round Midnight” and a “So What” that is so cool that it smokes!
That’s not all! A 1958 session with Kenny Burrell/g, Jimmy Jones/p, Ed Thigpen/dr and Joe Benjamin/b results in a bopping “Doodlin’”, a slick “Lady Bird” and totally hep’ I”ve Done My Share” while her modernizes “A Night In Tunisia” with a fresh coat of paint, and bops till he drops on “Take The ‘A’ Train.” A session with Tommy Flanagan/p and Mingus alumnus Danny Richmond on drums has him in a clever and poetic “Autobiography of a Musician” that includes a bohemian “Bongo Blues” and a gospel’d “Knowbody Knows.” The last session has him doing some calypso tunes a la Slim Gallard on a fun “Watermelon” and “Who Stole The Mambo?”. This guy had something to say, and at least now we’ve heard it. WHOA!