I just voted on the Downbeat Critics Poll, and listed Fresh Sound Records as my Label Of The Year. Why, do you ask? Just look at these three latest reissues they’ve bestowed on us. If you’re a fan of the tenor sax, this is up there with God bringing manna and quails to the Hebrews in the Sinai desert!
If there’s anyone with a more gorgeous tone than Stan Getz, would you please let me know? If today’s artists sounded even 33 1/3 as much as he did, I’d be content. What we’ve got here is an extremely rare pair of concerts from November of 1961 in NYC, when Getz had just returned from his 2 year European exile. He’s with an incredible team of Steve Kuhn/p, Jimmy Garrison/b (fresh from Coltrane?!?) and Roy Haynes/dr and they are full of vim on an hour long set. Getz sounds like he’s got something to prove on fiery, frenetic and frantic takes of “Airgin” and “Woody’n You.” A pair of ballads like “Autumn Leaves” and “Yesterday’s Gardenias” show the lighter side. The ONLY caveat on this essential disc is that the recording on the first four songs are a bit rough on the lower end (bass and bass drum) making the sound quality a bit of a test at times. For Getz freaks, it’s a bridge worth crossing.
Tenor sax players come and go, but no one, and I mean NO ONE, has ever played it better than Coleman Hawkins. Sure, there are different styles and sounds, but there’s an authority in Bean’s playing that flows out of his horn, and no one else has that sovereign and magisterial control of technique and sound. In 1962, he put out four, count ‘em four albums with the trio of Tommy Flanagan/p, Major Holley/b and Eddie Locke/dr. One was on Impulse! and the other three were from a Moodsville series. All of are incredible quality and taste. Hawk effervescently growls on “Go Li’l Liza” and purrs like a contented kitten on “Don’t Love Me.” What a tone! A ton of show tunes are featured here, and Flanagan even gets a couple chances in the trio format, where he sounds as lyrical as you’d ever want. These guys comport together like the Show Time Lakers on material like “Get Out Of Town” and “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” as Hawkins takes a tune and brings it to a whole new plateau of beauty. A hint of heaven while still stuck on earth.
Sal Nistico’s career was never truly appreciated, unless you were a fan of Woody Herman’s Herd. He had a big beefy sound that also mixed in the lyricism of Lester Young. This 2 cd set has his absolutely best small group sessions, mostly leaning towards classic bebop. The 1962-63 quintets feature the bopping ivories of Barry Harris throughout, and with Nat Adderley/ct, Sal Amico/tp, Bob Cranshaw-Sam Jones/b and Vinnie Ruggiero-Walter Perkins/d delivering bona fide bop on “Seconds, Anyone?” and a hep little “Au Privave” as well as an impressive “Cheryl.” The ringer of the collection is a 1963 session with Terry Gibbs/vibes, and a rhythm team of Nat Pierce/B3, Turk Van Lake/g, Charlie Andrus/b and Jake Hanna/dr that sound like they just left the Count Basie orchestra. These guys make a go of bebopping the blues and “Rhythm” changes like they invented the idea, with Gibbs hitting the malletts like he was John Henry working on the Trans-Continental Railroad. The relentless and supercharged energy provide by these superchargd gents on cooking tunes like “Big Lips” will get under your skin and never get out. Nistico blows like he’s got 50 birthday candles in front of him on “Bathtub Eyes,” and the sparks fly throughout this hotter than white session! WHEW