Yeah, right. A sideman/bass player to be the ROTW? Believe it! Sam Jones is best known, if known at all, for his stint with Cannonball Adderley’s Quintet way back when. He played both bass and cello, and somehow he put out three albums on his own from 1960-62 that are wonders of hard bop heaven. Jones very wisely uses his solo space (lots of time on cello) as part of the rhythm ensemble in order to avoid the self indulgence factor that can easily plague a bass player’s spotlight.
The ’60 session has him with Nat Adderley/ct, Blue Mitchell/tp, Jimmy Heath/ts, Charles Davis/bar, Bobby Timmons/p, Keter Betts/b and Louis Hayes/dr for a smoking session that has “Some Kinda Mean” and “The Old Country” using the front line of horses like the Minnesota Vikings Purple People Eater. They work like a team that just devours anything in front of it! 1961’s recording beefs up the sections with the addition of Melba Liston/tp, Cannonball Adderley/as, Wynton Kelly/p and Les Spann/g with arrangements by Heath and Victor Feldman. Songs like “The Chant” burn with fever, while “Over The Rainbow” glows like ROY G BIV. Ernie Wilkins, of Count Basie fame, arranges the alst session that includes studs like Clark Terry/tp, Snooky Young/tp, Joe Zawinul/p, Ron Carter/b and even a pre-avant garde Pat Patrick/bar-fl for some fascinating sounds on “Down Home” “Unit 7” and “Come Rain Or Come Shine.” Jones shows his chops on “O.P” but most of the time keeps it simple with fascinating interludes. This is a meal that you can sink your teeth into. Did music ever get better than this?
Fresh Sound Records
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