Booker Little and Friend

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Booker Little and Friend
Booker Little's studio album

Publication
(s)

1961

Label (s) Bethlehem Records / Affinity Records

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

jazz

Title (number)

7th

running time

41:49

occupation

production

Teddy Charles

Studio (s)

New York City

chronology
Out Front
(1961) 		Booker Little and Friend -

Booker Little and Friend is a jazz album by Booker Little . It was probably recorded in New York City in August or September 1961 and released on Bethlehem Records . The album was later released under the title Victory and Sorrow or Lookin 'Ahead . It contains the last recordings of the hard bop trumpeter and composer who died of uremia on October 5, 1961 at the age of only 23 .

The album

Shortly before, Booker Little had been the only trumpeter in John Coltrane's Africa / Brass session in June and had appeared with Eric Dolphy in New York's Five Spot in July . Dolphy was also a member of Booker Little's Band, with whom he had recorded an album in the spring of 1961 in a sextet line-up for the Candid label ( Out Front ). With the same line-up with three winds plus rhythm section, Teddy Charles produced Little's Session for the small record label Bethlehem Records ; instead of Dolphy the tenor saxophonist George Coleman was invited, who, like Little, came from Memphis (Tennessee) and had worked at the same time as the trumpeter in Max Roach's band ; Pete LaRoca played for Roach . Reggie Workman was a regular bass player in the Coltrane band at the time; the California-born pianist Don Friedman was relatively unknown in the New York jazz scene at the time; Trombonist Julian Priester was a member of the Max Roach Band at the time.

Similar to the participating musicians, Booker Little's six original compositions on this album are closely linked to his own work with Max Roach, wrote Brian Priestley in the liner notes in 1989. Priestley names the Roach band of 1958 with Booker Little and George Coleman ( Deeds, Not Words ) the first post-bop band to have three horns in their frontline , three years before Art Blakey adopted this concept for his Jazz Messengers . This Roach band was the first formation to use “triadic harmonies in their group style, but not in the traditional style and with a written counterpoint of two or even three lines. The idea came from Roach, but Booker Little developed it for his Candid album ( Out Front ) and especially for his Bethlehem album. ”The first of the three original compositions based on this method by Booke Little, who was heavily influenced by Mingus and Ellington was influenced, was called "Victory and Sorrow" and had a complex 45-bar structure of the choruses; Brian Priestley described them in terms of the formal structure as "A (5 + 3 + 8), B (8 + 5)" and a repetition of "A". “Calling Softly” is a little composition in the waltz rhythm he prefers ; in “Booker's Blues” the bar sequences change in a way that was unusual at the time, says Priestley. Booker Little is the sole wind player in the ballad "If I Should Lose You"; Coleman and priest are sitting here. The album closes with the impressive ballad “Matilde”.

Editorial notes

The album, which was sold out early, was later re-released under the title of the first track, Victory and Sorrow in 1984 on the Affinity label. In 1989 the album was released by Affinity in CD form under the title Lookin 'Ahead , coupled with recordings by Booker Little with saxophonist Frank Strozier on February 2, 1961, which initially appeared on the VeeJay label under Strozier's name ( The Fantastic Frank Strozier ) were.

The re-release in V2 2007 contains two additional alternate takes of the title "Looking Ahead".

Later research revealed that the title "Looking Ahead" was wrong; the piece is actually called "Molotone Music".

Rating of the album

Brian Priestley quotes drummer John Stevens , who once wrote that Booker Little should be counted as one of the great improvisation musicians and as an instrumentalist and all-round musician for important ones just on the basis of what he has left behind in the short time of his work Innovations.

Scott Yanow , who gave the album's reissue (2007) 4½ stars in the All Music Guide , noted that Little's last recordings before his untimely death show the trumpeter at the peak of his form; Despite the excellent playing of Julian Priester and George Coleman as well as the rhythm section, Booker Little is the main soloist in a harmoniously demanding hard bop session; a highlight is also Little's interpretation of the “If I Should Lose You” standard.

In his review of the album, Jim Santella emphasizes the great influence of Clifford Brown, who also died prematurely, on Little's playing; this can be recognized by his warm tone. Little's classical training is evident in his clear, natural trumpet tone and the sudden thematic changes in his compositions and arouses associations with the work of Charles Mingus.

The titles

  • Booker Little Sextet - Booker Little & Friend (Bethlehem BCP 6061)
  1. Victory and Sorrow (Little) 5:56
  2. Forward Flight (Little) 6:18
  3. Looking Ahead (Little) 7:25
  4. If I Should Lose You ( Leo Robin / Ralph Rainger ) 5:11
  5. Calling Softly (Little) 5:39
  6. Booker's Blues (Little) 5:16
  7. Matilde (Little) 5:55

literature

Web links

Notes and individual references

  1. ↑ It is speculated in jazz literature that the irritating album title with regard to the singular "Friend" may be a misprint on the part of Bethlehem Records ; possibly the intended singular alludes to its best friend, the trumpet .
  2. ↑ This was recommended by Roach to Sonny Rollins ; In return, Roach recommended the young trumpeter Booker Little ; see. Priestley liner notes .
  3. ↑ Quoted from Priestley.
  4. ↑ But they were mistakenly referred to as alternate takes by "Matilde"; see. on this Jim Santella's remarks.
  5. ↑ discography