Word: saxes
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Dapper and erect at 58, Hawkins dominates the bandstand. Body swaying slightly, he shuts his eyes as he uncoils his long, looping solos with their artfully building figurations, their insistently driving rhythms, their soaring air of abandon. In such numbers as Groovin' or Moonglow, Hawkins' sax capers in a loose-jointed way that mirrors the musician's pleasure; in Think Deep, say, or When Day Is Done, the style remains as virile as ever, but the tone becomes even warmer and more open-throated-mellow in a manner that Saxophone Inventor Adolphe Sax (1814-94) would never...
...none of these numbers, however successful, is particularly meteorological; the only two songs on this record to do so are a "Bulldog Twist" (real warm), and a ditty called "Blue Day" (real cool) by His Sax-Blowing Majesty King Bhumibol, the monarch of Thailand...
...almost good. Like many recent hits, the words are simple. The chorus consists of a series of "Da da da da da da" etc., sung energetically and quite convincingly. The verses, made up solely of assorted names, are less exciting, but the whole effect is favorable. "Shades" Felson's sax is properly guttural, and is reminiscent of a quacking duck. Delightful...
...argument: Is it possible to "compose" jazz and keep it fresh? The answer here is yes. Composer-Saxophonist Phil Woods, building in lines both propulsive and direct, has fashioned a five-part work that is always coherent and brimful of relaxed charm. High points are Woods's own sax solos-lean and subtly responsive to the humors of music and musician...
...Spot Cafe, where this recording was made, apparently attracts some of the most indefatigable gabblers on the club circuit, but what cuts across the vocal static is well worth listening to, especially Billy Strayhorn's Star Crossed Lovers (the only tune not by Weston), a plaintive exercise for sax and piano...