Album Reviews

There’s nothing groundbreaking on this 1960 Parlan-lead session, but that’s okay. The lure here isn’t the musical construction, since it covers familiar grooves and doesn’t move jazz forward. In fact, you’ll hear familiar gestures, some gleaned from Miles’ modal Kind of Blue issued a few years earlier, others from common blues.

The tunes, beginning with pianist Parlan’s “Wadin’” will also ring familiar. The gospel inflected “Wadin’” sounds like Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If it Ain’t Got That Swing”). “Up In Cynthia’s Room,” another Parlan composition, has an archetypal “Blue Note” swing that in retrospect hints at famed Basie arranger Neal Hefti’s later “Odd Couple” theme.

None of the other compositions particularly stand out either, though they all dig deep, pleasing, toe-tapping grooves. The allure, instead, is Parlan’s compacted, crisp, energetic playing, the tight, nimble George Tucker (bass), Al Harewood (drums) rhythm section and especially the Turrentine brothers, Stanley and Tommy, on tenor sax and trumpet. These two snake and swing their way through the melodic thickets with a mellow swagger and cool bravado that’s endlessly pleasing

If your first jazz record was 1963’s Herbie Mann Live at the Village Gate, the opening bass line of Tommy Turrentine’s “Rastus” will give you a start. It set’s the same groove as Ben Tucker’s “Comin’ Home Baby” that opens the Mann set.

The other lure here, of course, is the superb packaging and sound presented on this Music Matter release, thanks to Kevin Gray and Steve Hoffman’s 45rpm Acoustic mastering, the ever improving quality of RTI’s pressing and the gatefold jacket featuring luxuriously reproduced Francis Wolff black and white shots taken during these sessions.

Check out the air, grit and subtle reverb around Stanley Turrentine’s sax on the smoky “Oh So Blue.” While Rudy Van Gelder’s piano sound was never exemplary back in those days, he managed here to avoid the boxy, overmodulated mess that afflicted some of his other recordings of the period, which is a good thing since the session leader was on keyboards!

I have never heard an original of this, but based on the comparisons I’ve made between some “deep groove” originals I do have, and some Music Matters test pressings, I am confident that this reissues beats the original and by a considerable margin, especially dynamically—if you don’t mind getting up to swap sides and discs.

While there is some controversy surround MM's choice to reissue these in "stereo" (the monos are more coveted by Blue Note collectors who think they represent the "purest" presentation), forensic evidence (tape box notes) indicates that these were recorded in stereo, with the much coveted mono versions being simply "fold-downs" from the stereo tapes. Meaning, if you want the mono, all you have to do is hit the "mono" button (if you have one). Skeptics say that electrically summing the output of a stereo cartridge is not the same as having a mono cut played back by a mono cartridge, but considering that those who want the stereo can't derive it in any way from a mono cut, this seems like a reasonable compromise, especially considering that mono records aren't well received in the audiofool community for reasons that escape me.

That said, the "stereo" you will hear here, is not really stereo, but a fairly isolated spread, with the sax and trumpet on opposite channels, the bass and drums similarly isolated and the piano located midway between the two. Rudy dials in sufficient reverb to congeal the picture effectively, creating a more than pleasing, spacious presentation.

Right now, 2008, is the second golden age of vinyl. These limited edition reissues, already showing signs of selling out as they hit the market, will surely be coveted by future analog fans, so consider them investments in your current pleasure and future economic well-being!