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Record Review: Earl Hines: Quintessential Recording Session

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Record Review: Earl Hines: Quintessential Recording Session working of Good Golly Miss Molly with Halcy on 101: i\ly Monday Dat e; Ou y· avant garde with the JCOA), and so I Just T oo Soon: Chimtr In Blu tr• rh·""• II/• regret that he has so often proven dull for a soup1;on of Jaillw use Ro ck) , Ra in, which Life: Blutr In Thirds; St owawayf i-.,:r;1o1ft me. Perhaps he lacks the chop s (but I is effective medium-tempo melancholia , Personnel: Hine s. piano. t , ~l doubt it) or the passion. Whate ver, I parts of Ramble (thou gh for my taste it' s Rating: * * * * * · The neatly simultaneou s reis• c of cannot hone stly convince myself why I maybe a minute or so too long) , and lii fabeled 1928 solo piano per forma nce llt ca nnot "get into " his mu sic, and sincerely Back Door, in which Fogerty dem onstrat es release of his 1970 reinve stig<1,ion sfan presume the fault is my own. that he's the only vocali st since Budd y O same materi al offers a uni que rers ~ Otherwi se, the tunes on Spaces are most­ Holly who can get away with singing, on one of the greatest pia nists in ja:cti "Oh , boy" con vincingl y. ly improvi satory sketches or mood pieces The 1928 solos rank with ..ie g · However. It seem s a tim e of sea rching (Gloria's Step by Scott La Faro , R ene's achievements of that rich dec,d~ rea1c1 for many band s, and CCR is looking for 10 Tl,eme by Rene Th oma s, the other s by with the four solo s recorded fo Larry or Julie Coryell ), all especi ally new material and , as their recent pub­ 1 ci'lht later th at year. The eight ru,\ uedui:: graced by the rhythmic constanc y of Cob­ licit y extravaganza demonstrate s, a wider 1 audience, or more critical approval, or were made for the QRS lab el and rec. ham and Vit ous, with the latt er contribut­ only very limited distributi on at first ;:~ ing several lyrical solo and lead moment s. something . Con sequentl y, the newe st album tries to were subsequently reissued on 8 by ~ Unfortunately , the ensembl es generally and on 10" LP by Atlanti c-i n both c be experimental, but isn't . (A wakening is tend toward monot ony as both McLaugh­ wilh better sound qualit y th an the ~: an instrumental featuring mostly organ: lin and Coryell become consistently !icky stone). · (all those bubbly finger runs) and appear lots of distortion and free playing , speeded­ Hines , then not quite 23, w15 the fl up ver sion s of My Countr y 'Tis of Thee. more as if alwllys fee ling ea ch other out i~p ortant pianist to b~eak with the r ~ It's very boring.) It tries for a new sound , rather than ur ging each other forward; but time and Harlem stnde Ira , •tions with Fogerty multi-tracked on saxes and :!, again, the listening involvem ent is sadly establi sh a new langua ge for iazz pialXl organ and guitar, but suc ceeds only in lost trying to grasp the somehow retarded He _based his style ~n the linear pla>~ adding eminently predictable backup sound s or at least sta tic mu sical propulsion. of Jazz horns, due m part k his cart And so I can hear this album and I to recognizab le CCR material. Fogerty's training on trumpet, his youthful admifi. can enjoy the tasty sounds throughout, but ego seems finally to have broken loo se Lion for trumpeter Joe Sm ith , and his ,:, from the group ethos; he's trying so hard dynamic electric mu sic it is not, and once counter, in 1926, and subsequ , '11 playillt more I mu st despair of my inability to con­ to prove something that he appears to experience with Louis A rmstro n~. Fitting. clude preci sely where Larry C oryell hits . have forgotten that the music is where ly, Hugues Panassie labeled it "trumpet. -Bourn e it is. style piano." A s a concom itant, for the first time, However, Hines had alre ady mastel?\1 there isn't one track that makes a new and the earlier styles, and utili zed eiements of joyful noise. Oh, Rain will sell a trillion, them to fashion his new app 1ach. Hit CREEDEN CE CLEARWATER just like their last 79 singles, and most of REVIVAL sparkling technique , ear for unusual bar. the songs are nice. But when one remem­ monies, and uncanny mastery of time, COSMO ' S FACTORY-Fantasy 8402: Rambl e bers Susie Q, I Put A Spell 011 You, Proud Tambl e· Be/ore Y ou Auuse i\le; Travelin ' combined with a rich music al ir1aginati011 Band ; Ooby 'Dooby; Looki11' 0111 i\1y Back D oor; Mary, Bom On The Bayou , Bad Moon and highly developed sense of cont111t Run Thr ough The Ju11gle; Up Around The Rising, Lodi, Fortunate Son, Don't Look Bmd; My Bab)' Left M t; Who 'll St op The Rain ; and drama made his imp act on the instro• I Htard II Thr ough The Grapevine ; Long As I Now, among others, Pendulum is pretty ment's future role in jazz dec isi· , Can Set Th t Light. pale . Forty-two years later, these revolution­ Personnel: John Fogerty . lead guitar, lead vo• Some good times. After a first sect ion in ca ts; Tom Fogerty , rhythm guitar; Stu Cook, ary solos still sound fre sh and , ital, and eleClric bass; Doug Clifford, drums. a very dull straight four, Pagan opens up are often startling in their rh ytlimic fret• Rating: * * * * rhythmically and Fogerty begin s to cut dom and sudden flights of fancy. How PENDULUM-Fantasy 8410: Pagan Baby; Sail­ loose on guitar. Mo1•e is the best tune on they must have struck the tradit.on-bound or's lAmtnt: Cha111e/eo11; Havt Y ou E,,.,,r Seen the album , employing varying tempos and 1 Tht Rain; Hideaway ; Born T o Mo ve; Hey T o• ears of his contemporaries is t :fficult t~ nighli ll 's Just A Th ought ; M olina; Rude Fogerty's only interest ing organ work­ ima gine! Au·a1u11i11g #2. which, howe ver , is heavily indebted to Personnel: Same as above , except John Fogerty Perh aps the mo st beautiful of the pieces also plays organ, piano and saxophones . early -middle Ray Charles . (You want to (all Hines ori ginals, some of thr m based Racing: *** really hear cliches? Dig on his rock 'n' roll on standard patterns) is Blues 111 Third!, Cosmds Factory sounds just like the tenor garbage on Molina, another Litt le with its lovely melody and rcux ed, re· previou s four CCR albums. It's terrifi c : its Richard spinoff-roughly Tutti Frutti at a flecti ve mood. Monday Dale, a perform· rewards are the sati sfactions of returning slower tempo.) The second best cut is an ce charged with vitalit y, and Pantht1 to a meaningful and worthwhile ritual Thought, a minor melody that manage s to Rag, an near surrealisti c rom~ through amid the empty ritual s other bands re­ be both pretty and vaguely troubling (same Tiger Rag procedures, are also standoull. create out of desperation or fisca l am­ effect as Lodi, though the song s are dis­ and none of the other six is far behind-­ bition. similar). As for Rain, seems like another the high level of inspiration is , ustaincd Some returns to earlier form: Ramble group did a very analogous tune a while th roughout. and Grapevine are long cuts with plenty back. I think it was called Who'll Stop Reinv estigating these youth ful acbie\C· guitar space, like Susie Q. The latter is The Rain. ments 42 years later, Hines bring to thclll 1 out of sight - soul cum misterioso. Fo­ Well , talent wilJ out , as a rule . Unle ss a lifetime of musical experi ence and 11 gerty' s vocal hits the falsetto phra ses right ego gets in the way. Ask Big Broth er, or pair of hands even nimbler at 64 than Ele ctric Flag , or McC artney. One hopes 23. Though he consistently has s1 rounded on, every time. His second guitar sp ot be­ nd; gins with some incredibly beaut iful warp ­ Fo gert y wo n't finally deserve inclu sion in him self at e ver y opportunity with ba ing, and climaxe s with a relentless, sym­ the long list suggested by the name s above. big and small , with vocali sts. and with !b( metrical chord series that keep screaming - Heineman trappings of showman ship so dea. to h~ to be broken off into single -line runs. No Hin es is and was at his great est when 0 1 way. Fogerty keeps sticking them damn works with just a piano and bis ~ understated chords to you till you'd like EARL HINES boundles s imagination. , to bust. Thus we must be grateful to Mart~ A MONDAY DATE : 1928-Mil estone MLP McPart land , who produced the date, , \ That's the really fine thin g about CCR' s 2012: A Monday Date; Chicago High Life; St ou•­ first five sessions , incid e ntally. You can away; Chimes In Bluts ; Dtar Old Southl and; comin g up with thi s brilliant ile a ;;: run through the jungle as mu ch as you Motherless Child; Panther Rag; Just T oo Soon; realizing it.
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