Album Reviews

Lou Donaldson playfully skids into a few bars of David Rose’s “Holiday For Strings” mid-solo during a cover of the Kelmar/Ruby standard “Three Little Words,” indulging himself in a bit of shtick popular back when jazz could be lighthearted, studious and physical. Sonny Rollins was and is a deft practitioner of the off-handed musical quote as are and were many of the other jazz greats of a bygone era. It’s rarely done today. Jazz is more serious and cerebral, unless it gets goofy as the drummer Matt Wilson sometimes can get.

Donaldson must have had “Holiday For Strings” on his mind because he quotes it again during “Just Friends,” and for a few seconds he indulges himself in a really off-kilter, mule-riding bar or two of “On the Trail.” I’m surprised he didn’t play “Call For Philip Morris” (some readers will be too young to get that but some will).

There is nothing profound to be drawn from this pleasant set of mostly covers, just the pure pleasure of listening to a veteran bop alto soloist backed by a well-oiled trio put the gas to the floor and pound out the goods. Gene Harris plays the piano like an animal in “Three Little Words,” attacking and pounding the keys with an intensity that’s more associated with rock keyboards than jazz today.

I saw Jason Moran on piano the other week, as part of the Charles Lloyd Quartet and while Moran did staccato one-finger variations all over the keyboard on some tunes, his physical intensity seemed contained and inner-directed compared to Harris’s ferocity.

Donaldson keys off of Charlie Parker’s jumpy energy adding warmth and richness to produce a sound that can be cutting one minute and cottony the next. A session like this one succeeds or fails as an “audiophile reissue” on the basis of how much joy and challenge can be generated among the players during the recording, and of course how effectively Rudy Van Gelder has managed to capture the sound on the particular day.

This day (or days) Rudy was in fine form, particularly in how he managed to capture wide dynamic range and pleasing harmonic colors from Harris’s piano and a big, transparent, wet picture of Donaldson’s horn. The pleasures are both musical and visceral. Outstanding gatefold packing, including stunning session photos from Lion. A highest recommendation.