Archive for the ‘Reggie Workman’ Category
Ernie Watts: The Long Road Home (1996 – JVC XRCD)
Grammy winning saxophonist Ernie Watts re-releases his third and final audiophile XRCD (extended resolution) via his own Flying Dolphin Records. “The Long Road Home reflects my voyage back to the music that inspires me,” says Watts. “When doubt and darkness engulf us, the memory of our essence begins to call and we begin our journey back home.” Recorded in New York, Watts surrounds himself with superb players; Kenny Barron (piano), Mark Whitfield (guitar) and Reggie Workman (upright bass). Carmen Lundy lends evocative vocals on two tracks. Recorded without drums, the sessions have a mellow, bluesy feel. The disc contains the Charles Mingus classics âGoodbye Pork Pie Hatâ and âNostalgia In Times Square,â along with “Willow Weep For Me” and “Lover Man” Watts’ originals “River of Light” and the title track further define his respect for the jazz idiom. His composition âBirdâs Ideaâ pays tribute to the great Charlie Parker.
Ernie Watts started his musical journey at age 13 when he first picked up a saxophone. He won a scholarship to the Wilmington Music School in Delaware, where he studied classical music and started to learn jazz by ear, often falling asleep at night listening to a stack of Coltrane records. Although he would enroll briefly at West Chester University in music education, he soon won a Downbeat Scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, renowned for jazz.
With 18 solo recordings to his credit and two Grammy Awards, he has established himself as one of the most prolific saxophone players on the music scene.
http://www.tradebit.com
1. Lover Man
8. Willow Weep for Me
09. Moonlight and Shadows
Ernie Watts (Ten Sax)
Kenny Barron (Piano)
Reggie Workman (Bass)
Mark Whitfield (Guitar) – 1,2,5,7
Carmen Lundy (Vocals) – 2,8
Release Date: Mar 13, 2007 – Label: JVC XRCD
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Freddie Hubbard: Here To Stay (Blue Note – 1962)
This album has certainly had a sad history. It was left in the Blue note vaults for fourteen years. Then it was reissued in a double-vinyl set with Hub Cap, a coupling that doesn’t reveal either session in the best light.Then a decade later, it finally was released as a single album. And that brings us to the present version, on which occasion the devout Bob Blumenthal seems to say in his liner notes (well, he hedges around the fact) that this is just fine, but he’d might rather listen to other Hubbard Blue Notes. That leaves the impression that perhaps Blue Note was right for keeping this in the vaults for so long.
Here’s an attempt to redeem “Here to Stay,” perhaps one of Hubbard’s finest ever, and surely misunderstood as well as undervalued. The case for this album’s value can be built simply. Forget the original track sequence. Begin with Hubbard’s cover of “Body and Soul,” a completely remarkable ballad performance marked for the maturity of the individual interpretation the young trumpeter (who was 24 years old in 1962) brings. Hubbard is thinking hard—harder than most trumpeters double his age have thought—about the lyrics, holding a lot of passion in reserve while maintaining a determined, probing tone. I think only the classic Coleman Hawkins’ original recording outclasses Hubbard’s reading.
While Hubbard recorded with drummer Philly Joe Jones on a number of sessions, I think their chemistry was never as intensely pitched as on this session, particularly on the opening “Philly Mignon,” written by Hubbard for the fiery drummer. This is one of Philly Joe Jones’ supreme moments in the studio, and this CD deserves top-drawer billing for that alone. If you listened to “Body and Soul” first, then skip to “Philly Mignon,” where you’ll drop the cliche of the young Hubbard as all brassy confidence with brio to the brim, and instead hear a mature musical intelligence at work that is as questioning and questing, as conflicted as Lee Morgan’s.Another indication of Hubbard’s well-seasoned taste on this session is revealed in using two of Cal Massey’s most memorable compositions, “Father and Son” and “Assunta.” Listen to the solos by Hubbard and Shorter on “Assunta” and ask yourself if they haven’t slipped to a new phase of their growth, apart from Blakey’s band at this juncture, that’s more darkly introspective.
Norman Weinstein (All About Jazz)
1. Philly Mignon
2. Father and Song
3. Body And Soul
4. Nostrans And Fulton
5. Full Moon And Empty Arms
6. Assunta
Personnel:
Freddie Hubbard (trumpet)
Wayne Shorter (tenor sax)
Cedar Walton (piano)
Reggie Workman (bass)
Philly Joe Jones (drums)
Blue Note Records 1962 – Original Release Date: September 12, 2006
Across Rhythm 