Records are reviewed by Don DeMicheal, Gilbert M. En kine, l

Willie Bobo ·. a musician become a star attraction and · · linking -the exposition ·and second chorus JUICY-Verve 8685: Knock on. !Vood; Matiiig ·remain a creative artist, and variants of (speaking of "freedom" ... ) and on Call· l\le,·.y, Mercy 1 · Mercy; Fel,c,dad; La Det• 1:arga Del Bobo; J111cy; Ain't Too Proud to Beg; this jive question; and partly, it's the ease Moon, the surprise introduction. Music to · IVatcb· Girls By; Dreams; Dis-Advan- ·with which · Garner makes music,· and the · Of the rhythm players not mentioned tages; · Roots; Sbing-a•Ling Baby. · · ·. · · Personnel: Bobo, timbales; unidentified trum• joy he.. takes in. his work-there. just isn't above, Mangual has the greatest empathy pet; . alco and · tencir saxophone; guitar; bass; enough ·Sturm 1111dDra11g to satisfy those. with Garner .. He became· a regular in the ·-drums. who insist that· an artist must suffer to be new Garner quartet organized after this Rating: see below great. . . . • _ session. Hinton solid, as expected, and There is no personnel listed anywhere "is This distorted perspective (which for­ Lovelle a bit .reticent. Tl,J.eguitar has been on the label or liner ·of this record, and I tunately · has not affected Garner's, career dispensed with~ · and ·with · Garner's left guess its not that i~oprtant, considering __one whit) has brought about ari · absurd hand in action, it won't .be missed. The the type of. album it is, except that mu­ . situation: though he has been proving it new group has been received with enthu­ sicians ·.like to· be . given credit for their for more tlian 20 years, one still feels . siasm, . and the .next Garner. album should efforts. It .is esseritially music to dance to compelled to repeat that Garner is one of be ..something to look forward to. But ....:.a Latiri-pop 0 soul-rock-gmb-bag. • the few truly great and original figures to aren't they all? - -Morg enstem · F·or instance; Knock on Wood has a emerge in jazz since the mid-40s; a unique Sidewinder kind of head and a Pe1111y and astonishing · musician · whose work Lane-like passage; Mating. Call. is Latin Cap'n. John Handy ------• brings beautY and happiness to. the world. INTRODUCING CAP 'N JOHN .HANDY­ rock with an alto saxophone solo of no . There.are no fewer than six.Garner·ori- RCA Victor .. LSP-3762: Perdid o; Bo11rbo11Street special distinction; Mercy. is the Cannon~ Strut;. Daby, Won't You Pleau Come. Hom,; . ginals • on this . record, all of them sub­ Anything for You; Good Fe elillg B/11es; Cabaret; ball' (Zawinul) slow-groove. number, mak 0 stantial.._My favorite, as far as interpreta­ Handy's Gulf Coast Boogi e; While W e Danced ing use of a guitar; Felicidad is pretty· and at the /Ilardi Gras; .Pass the Ribs; 011e O'Clork tion is concerned, is the latin-tinged Afini- · Jump; I Laugh ed at Love. • _ · · , relaxed, with a tenor solo· as passable and dad, on which the pianist really gets into Personn el: Doc Cheatham, trump et; Scov1lle Browne clarinet and tenor saxophone; H andy, > unmemorable as the alto on Call; and so something, and the rhythm section achieves. on. ·.• ; · · · · - alto sax~phone; Bennie Morton, trombone; Claude a· floating feeling, not least due to Ryer­ Hopkins, piano; Eddie Gibbs, bass; Gus Johnson, · The tenor man has a longer, more mo- drums, vocal. ' · son's first~class support, and the late George . notonoussolo on.Descarga. If you buy this - . Rating: * * * * Jenkin's excellent· drumming . (these two . New Orleans altoist Handy has. an ap- record for jazz content you will be 'dis­ players are present only on this and the appointed, but if you buy it to, have a proach to jazz that is 180 degrees different · lilting, melodic title track).. . ·.. ·. · party with, you should be satisfied. Bobo from that of the better-known Texas alto .· Of the other Garner pieces, Gaslight is saxophonist Of the same name. Nervous, has. the current beat (or beats) covered. a vintage ballad in the romantic Mis ty 0 extrovert; and direct, Cap'n Handy _has as The title ·. tune' and Shing-a Ling are of - mold, tastefully played-and if you · want· this· direction,· the latter complete with a extrem ely sharp attack, and his playing to hear full-bodied piano-sciund ·. at its recalls the earlier. alto:styles ·of Pete Brown, .dialog between· East and West Harlem; · . fullest; watch for Garner's climax. _ The best jazz feeling occurs in the • Louis Jordan; and, sometimes, Boyce Brown. · Nervous Waltz is a delightful piece, its Having · switched to alto . in 1927..after trumpet~tenor ensembles ori Dreams and melody akin · to· Kick (not the bridge, Roots, both of which could be in the book some 10 · years of , clarinet experience, ·though). Garner's marvelous ability to Handy (as Stanley Dance's notes point out) . of Horace Silver's group. The tenor and · produce a lagging swing (his time, gener- · trumpet interplay on the former is ·engag­ • is said. to have · ii:tfli.ienced·· a number of allyspeakiilg, ' is out of sight) is displayed musicians, Jordan and Earl Bostic among ing;· and - the saxophonist fares . better on . to perfection here, . Pass_ing Through, a : Side two in general. He' has nice solo, . them. He is not as flexible as the younger a catchy up-tempo piece; has some · fine also, on Dis~Advantages, which is some­ saxophonists, .but he • yields nothing to single note passages· and never stops flow­ them in passiori andthe ability to swing. thing you've heard ·_before behind . some ing, while_· the gospel-flavored Like_ It Is · television commercial. Incidentally, Music · On J Laughed at Love, Handy is warm indicates that . Garner could .·really get· and · singing, playing short, abrupt phrases to W titch Girls By .is a catchy tune; •· Ramsey Lewis and his .ilk in bad :trouble. terms of · \Vhat they were trying to that build in tension . On Perdido, his tone . In Garner · has an amazing ability· to re­ do, this is good record. - · ~Gitler is · harsh . and brittle, but attractiv ely so, a . vitalize material that others have wrung matching the agitation of his. lines. Gulf • dry. Who would think that Autumn L eaves · Coast_ Boogie is in medium. jump tempo, ·Erroll·Garncr ·------could still sound fresh? It does und er THAT' S ·MY KICK-MGM E/SE-446,: That's and Handy romps, building a series of riff My Kick; Shadow of Your Smile; Like-lt Is;. Is · Garn~r's -fingers, moving at a brisk, . un­ figures, intens_e and swinging. - •Ain't· Necessarily So; Au tumn Leaves; Blue Moon; sentimental clip, with his . orchestral. con­ l\fore; Gaslight; N ervous Waltz; Passing Th~ough; Good as Handy is, it is his fellows who :_ Afinidad, , _ -_ _·_ . . . - . • . - . ... . ception of the piano to the fore. have earned the album its fourth star. Persorin'cl :' · Garner, piano; Wally Richardson Contempo rary harmonies are •.in evi­ or . Art Ryerson , guitar; Mile -Hinton, bass; ·Jose Veteran Scoville Browne boots. home with Mangual or Johnny Pacheco, bongos; . Herb_ Lav• dence here, . and even more sri mi N eces­ his tenor solo on One O'Clock. His clarinet ·elle or . George Jenkins, . drums. · · · · sarily, perhaps the most brilliant single · work is. first rate> getting a dark, brilliant · · Rating:***** performance in the set. · Th e voicings in sound in the lower register; treating the . Gamer's .. first album·. in many years . the . exposition are marvelous; and ·_the en­ · instrument as if it •wei-e a saxophone. His . · •. without· .·his custom-tailored - rhythm. sec- suing improvisation foll of surprise s, :notes · are squeezed out;, his phrasing is ·... · tion (and with the addition of bongos and The . other standards-Smil e, Mao11, tense in an oddly refreshing way. Perdido guitar} finds him in excellent form, and . More-are more "routine " . Garner, but and· Dali.ced are good examples, but. his top~drawer Garner is as good as they that, too; means -superior music. -Besides; best work is on J Laughed at Love. come.· · whenever you begin to anticipate. Gar­ Doc Cheatham is in good form, playing A · peculiar _snobbishness· ha~ kept a . ner ; he pulls you -µp with -a startling idea. beautiful solos on On e O'Clo ck and Good number of jaz z critics from giving Garner On More, it's a fascinating contrapuntal Feeling Blu es. Trombonist Bennie Morton his due. Partly, it's the old claptrap:. can · break; on Smile, the transitional chords is nothing short of riJ.agnificenUhrou ghout, ...... - ?4 ()\A/t,.I RJ:AT