Word: sax
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...BLAKEY WITH THE ORIGINAL JAZZ MESSENGERS (Jazz Odyssey). Drummer Blakey was the spark that lit up several small groups in the '50s. Here, reissued, is a particularly successful set, with one of the finest Blakey combos-Horace Silver on piano, Hank Mobley on tenor sax, Donald Byrd on trumpet and Doug Watkins on bass. They play hard-bop tunes (two of which are by now familiar Silver compositions), while Blakey drives them on with a flavoring of calypso or a tight break to emphasize the beat. On InfraRae and Hank's Symphony, his throbbing rolls and cymbal cadences...
...Beach, Calif., the Crusaders have plenty to say in this album and plenty of "chops" (technique) to say it with. Their musical message lies in today's mainstream -a blend of hard-rock rhythms, funky chords and uptempo bustling. Wayne Henderson is on trombone, Wilton Felder on tenor sax; the rhythm section includes Joe Sample's piano. They punch out Ooga-Boo-Ga-Loo, move briskly on the winning Native Dancer and the fleeting Impressions. Their Eleanor Rigby is unusually muscular but, oddly enough, moves along with grace...
ELVIN JONES, PUTT'N' IT TOGETHER (Blue Note). Drummer Jones, who played with the late John Cohrarie, became famous for his fiery musical duels with the master. With Jimmy Garrison on bass and Joe Farrell splitting three ways on tenor, soprano sax and flute, Jones here uses his flashy technique to inspire, shape and embroider a harmonically free, three-way dialogue. Reza and Jay-Ree brim with bright looping arches of sound reminiscent of Ornette Coleman. Soloing on Kei-Ko's Birthday March, Elvin gets under way with a humorous drum-corps pattern that soon turns into...
...definite views of modern jazz piano. His music is filled with gently dissonant surgings, expressive rippling lines that are as romantic as they are atonal, and intuitive, crosshatched rhythms that emerge and then break off. Helping him project this engaging moodiness are John Gilmore's thin-edged tenor sax, Bobby Hutcherson's delicate vibes, the attentive probings of Bassist Richard Davis and the irregular cymbals of Drummer Joe Chambers. The group's finest moments come in The Groits, which, despite its ugly name, consists of lovely integrated weavings of Hill's almost Monkish chords, Hutcherson...
...Arranger Pearson, whose previous records featured smaller groups, has gathered 15 solid players in order to amplify his musical ideas. Straight Up and Down is a tidy blend of high-flying exuberance and smooth delivery (note the trumpet's sassy quote of Sweet Georgia Brown and the baritone sax's sly paraphrase of Once I Had a Secret Love). While Mississippi Dip is a blues to be taken lithely, A Taste of Honey switches tempos faster than the foot can follow, building to heated ensemble crescendos behind Frank Foster's tenor and Jerry Dodgion's flute...