Blues ette
| Blues ette | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Curtis Fuller's studio album | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Savoy | |||
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Format (s) |
LP, CD |
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Title (number) |
6/8 |
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running time |
36:45 (LP) / 47:51 (CD) |
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| occupation | ||||
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Studio (s) |
Hook Sack , New Jersey |
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Blues-ette is a jazz album by Curtis Fuller , recorded by Rudy Van Gelder on May 21, 1959 and released on Savoy Records .
The album
With the blues ette album in May 1959, the most productive phase of the trombonist Curtis Fuller began as the leader of his own ensemble, which was to become a kind of forerunner of the Benny Golson / Art Farmer jazz group. The following album, The Curtis Fuller Jazztet with Benny Golson, was also the namesake for the band of Art Farmer, Benny Golson, Fuller and the young McCoy Tyner , which was formed in late 1959. Even if the LP Blues-ette was published nominally under Fuller's name, the tenor saxophonist Benny Golson probably had the greatest influence on its production; he also contributed two compositions, Minor Vamp and Five Spot After Dark , the first track on the album. This "opens with a cool feeling", wrote the critic Mike Holmes, Fuller and Golson play the subject in such a controlled manner in unison that it seems difficult to tell the instruments apart. The unison play is accompanied by a pulsating bass and drums until Fuller kicks in with his solo, in his typical fluid style of playing, according to the All Music Guide . Golson joins in with a powerful solo; then pianist Tommy Flanagan with his restrained playing style. At the end, Fuller and Golson play single notes, spread over the two stereo channels, to return to their final unison theme.
In the following piece, the swing classic Undecided , the wind section plays in unison after a brief introduction to the rhythm section; Flanagan has a solo, as does bassist Jimmy Garrison . Then Fuller plays a longer improvisation; Golson joins this with a powerful solo reminiscent of Coleman Hawkins , which ends with a short Gershwin theme and returns to playing in unison with Fuller. The title track, Fuller's Blues-ette , is funky; this time Fuller plays the trombone with the plunger , accompanied only by bassist Garrison. Golson in his frenetic game reminds us of Charlie Parker , Flanagan and Garrison, however, remain in a controlled and controlled style of play. Garrison then has a solo, accompanied only by drummer Al Harewood . Golson's Minor Vamp is classic hard bop; Golson has the first solo; Fuller literally slides into the scene. The relatively unknown title Love Your Spell Is Everywhere brings the wind section again in unison playing, from which Golson breaks out with his full, powerful tenor saxophone; Fuller then comes in with his more controlled, soft game. Flanagan and Garrison each play a solo before the winds finish the piece. Fuller's composition Twelve-Inch is dominated by Golson's tenor, which starts after the introductory soulful bass chords.
The album is already recorded in stereo .
Rating of the album
The critic Scott Yanow called the album "a jewel of hard bop " in the All Music Guide and mentions the great reputation that Blues-ette found in Japan; this led to a new edition as Blues-ette, Part II in 1993. Richard Cook and Brian Morton gave the album the second highest rating in the second edition of the Penguin Guide to Jazz ; they consider - like Brian Priestley in The Rough Guide Jazz - Blues-ette for Fuller's best album in the 1950s under their own name. In 1993 the new release received the highest rating, five stars, in Down Beat as a “powerful quintet recording”.
Editor's note
Album cover Blues-ette
External web links to copyrighted content.
The reissue of the album in 2003 contains two bonus tracks, Blues-ette (alternate take 3) and Five Spot After Dark (alternate take 2). They appeared as part of the album Blues-ette Part II in Japan. During this session, all the players from the Savoy session were there, except for bassist Jimmy Garrison, who was replaced by Ray Drummond .
The titles
Blues-ette (Savoy ST 13006 / SV 0127/78805)
- "Five Spot After Dark" (Golson) 5:18
- "Undecided" ( Charles Shavers / Sid Robin) 7:09
- "Blues-ette" (Fuller) 5:31
- "Minor Vamp" (Golson) 5:12
- "Love Your Spell Is Everywhere" (E. Goulding / E. Janis) 7:07
- "Twelve-Inch" (Fuller) 6:28
- "Blues-ette" 5:36 (alternate take 3)
- "Five Spot After Dark" 5:20 (alternate take 2)
literature
- Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz. 1800 bands and artists from the beginning until today. 2nd, expanded and updated edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2004, ISBN 3-476-01892-X .
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP and Cassette . 2nd Edition. Penguin, London 1994, ISBN 0-14-017949-6 .
- H. Alan Stein : Original Liner Notes 1959
Web links
Notes and individual references
- ↑ Curtis Fuller recorded four albums for Savoy in quick succession : Blues-ette in May , then The Curtis Fuller Jazztet with Benny Golson in August, Imagination in December 1959, Images of Curtis Fuller in June 1960.
- ↑ Album portrait at epinions.com ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The information about the titles comes from Mike Holmes.
- ↑ Mike Holmes mistakenly speaks of Charles Shaver .
