Morgenstern, Dan. [Record Review: Kenny Burrell: a Generation Ago

Records are reviewed by Don De Micheal, Gilbert M. Erskine, Ira Giller, Rolph Johnson, Bill Mathieu, Marian McPortland, Dan Morgenstern Don Nelsen, Harvey Pekar, Bob Porter, Bill Quinn, William Russo, Harvey Siders, Carol Sloane, Pete Welding, and Michael Zwerin'. Reviews are signed by the writers. Ratings are: * * * * * excellent, * * * * very good, * * * sood, * * fair, * poor. When two catalog numbers are listed, the first is mono, and the &acond Is stereo.

Kenny Burrell without Christian.) background popping without getting in A GENERATION AGO-Verve V/V6-8656: Woods is particularly good on Butterfly the way . . As l.011g As I !.foe; Poor Butterfly; Stompin' at the Sn~IJ)'l 1 S11rrmd er, Dear; Rose Room; If I and Rose Room, and has a nice duet with Dailey, like !:he horn men, is a youn H114Yo11; A s,,,oo/b. One; Wholly Cats. Burrell on the latter. His solos have man to watch. Right now one can h~ P<.'tsonnel: ·phil Woods , alto sa,.ophone; Mike Mninicri, vi&mhnrp (1mcks 1, 8); Richard beautiful shape and definition, and his »ud Eowell, Roland Hanoa, and some of Wya11ds, piano (1;rnck 8); Bu.rrcl.l, guitar; Ron sound is a gas .. Bill Evans in him. Judging by his playin• Cuccr, bass; Gmdy Tate, drums. Burrell is inspired on Cats, but the mo­ here, however, he's about worked his wa~ Rating:*** mentum of this track is cut off in mid­ through his influences, as can be l1eard 0 This is a pleasant little album, designed stream. He evokes Christian on Rose, but Disju11ctio11and Cabin. His rolling Frei as a tribute to Charlie Christian's work the bossa nova frills on As Long are dom solo is perhaps his most exciting, but with the Benny Goodman Sextet of 1941. somewhat out of place, though it's a it's Bud Powell-exciting. Burrell is a logical choice for such a pleasant performance. The guitarist is All t racks are about equally good, but project, and he is in good company. superbly relaxed throughout, and his taste the best solos are on Disjunction (Davis But the absurd packaging, ludicrous is impeccable. Tate's choppy accenting Higgins and Dailey), Cabiri and Ai; liner notes, poor editing, and skimpy play­ impedes the flow of Savoy. (Owens), Libra (Bartz) and Freedom ing time (31:57; side two is a mere 14:02) Carter contributes hugely. His fat sound ( Owens, Bartz, Dailey). The leader wrote combine to make this a considerably less is perfectly projected, but never overbal­ the originals, the most fetching of which attractive product than it could and should anced, and he swings at any tempo. He is Air, a pretty ballad that almost im­ have been. gets in a few solo licks on Savoy, as does perceptibly doubles its tempo. Why, for instance, was the swinging Tate-and the tune, after 34 years of In all, a nice record to have around. Wholly Cats (one of the best of the many workouts, still sounds fresh and stimulat­ -DeMicheal Goodman Sextet riff originals) edited ing. Thank you, Edgar Sampson ... but down to just 2:25, with a clumsy tape no thanks to Verve. -Morgenstern splice after just one chorus of Wyands' romping piano? Jaki Byard ON THE SPOT !-Prestige 7524: A-Toodle­ And why, for heaven's sake, a cover Gary Bartz Oo, ToodJt-Oo: J l'a/l ;,. lovd Too l!.till/y; showing two dopey-looking kids (male Olet111 Visit; Spanish 7'i,,ge; Ale:w nder' s Rog, UBRA-,-Milesconc 9006: l!mtem B/111s; Dl 1- 1h11,Br11ut ; 011 Tl~e Spol; GBB Pln110 Roll; S~~­ and female) wearing freshman beanies i1mdio,i: Cnbi11 ;,, Iha Sky; Air- amt Fire; Ubra; o,11l Ba/co11y /11m/1; P.C. Bl,us. adorned with period buttons-devoid of Bloo,iu/i,ID; D .. p River · Preedom One Day. Personnel: Jlmruy Owens, t,umpoc, fiuogellio(o; Personnel: Jimmy 6wens, rrump~r. flucget- Byard, alto snxopho ne, pian o: Paul Chambcu or any possible appeal to jazz fans? And why, horn; Bar1.z, alto snxopho .ne; Al D n.iJey, piano; GcOigc Tucke r (crack 4 only) , bass; Dilly 8ig, if you are going in for the extra expense Ricbn.rd Davis, bass; Billy Higgins, d.rums. gins or Alan Dawson (track 4 only), drums. of a double-fold jacket, waste one entire Rating:***½ Rating:*** panel on simply repeating the album title Bartz and Owens are two of the more I wish I could summon up more than and artist credit? promising horn men around New York just moderate enthusiasm for this record­ The art direction, however, is entirely City these days. Both are warm players ing. The roster of musicians is impressive, in keeping with the liner notes, credited to who know how to put together graceful and it includes a number of men whose one Warren Stephens. Mercifully, they and logically constructed solos. Each has playing has given me a great deal of are short-but long enough to include a keen sense of lyrical improvisation and pleasure in the past. But for some reason such prize idiocies as "Christian was the ingests much of his work with it. Still, this set fails to get off the ground. It's first guitarist to play anything but rhythm." there is something as yet undeveloped in just not very exciting music. Really? Ed Lang, Django Reinhardt, Ted­ each-that distinctiveness that makes Art It's hard to say what might be the cause, dy Bunn, Lonnie Johnson, George Van Farmer Art Farmer and Cannonball Ad­ but it ought to be pointed ' out that no <:nie Eps, Dick McDonough, Carl Kress, Allan derley Cannonball Adderley. I purposely here seems very much interested in what.'s Reu~s, 200 blues guitarists et al. please choose Farmer and Adderley, because going down. There's a generally dispirited note .... Owens owes much to the former (and.also air that blows through just about every• The personnel listings fail to account to Thad Jones and Kenny Dorham) and thing on the set-and that includes the for the clearly audible presence of clarinet Bartz almost as much to the latter (the several piano solos, with the sole excep­ j I (Woods?) and vibes in the ensemble on Adderley of the Miles Davis Sextet, when tion of GEB Piano Roll, a tribute to three Cats and the clarinet on As Long As I he was conceptually close to John Col­ deceased friends of Byard's, Georgo I Live. The moody I Surrender, Dear seems trane). But one expects to find that sort Tucker, Eric Dol_plly -aa.d Booker Little, I None of the quartet to start with the last two bars of a Woods of departure point in a young musician. .sides-T oodle-0°; The good ones go on from there, and Olean Visit; 011 the Spot and Seco11d 1 alto solo, retaining only Burrell's choruses. , I They are excellent, but why the surgery? Owens and Bartz are, I think, good ones. Balcony J11mp--offer anything particularl What remains, then, is the truncated Even though their models are showing, memorable. Tbe charts are of tb.e mos1 product of no less than four sessions­ neither Bartz nor Owens is a hack. Their perfunctory sort, and it is scarcely s\lrj playing is fresh within the limitations, and prising that the solos that follow are 0 Love's Labor Lost. It is to Burrell's (and 6 I Woods') credit that these leavings do both obviously are thinking musicians-no the same order. Owens plays cleanly ~o make some sense. cliches, no finger exercises ( or almost competently, but rarely with the iasp•~f It's good to hear pieces like Cats and none). And they play well together; the tion he has demonstrated elst wheJ.<;• Smooth One again, while the great stand­ ensembles are tight and clean. Byard's piano support is often far roO.W ards that make up the balance of the set The rhythm section is top-notch. Davis, interesting than the horn line it is oster; give Burrell and Woods-improvisers to of course, is Davis, and nothing more sibly buttressing, but rarely do the gunr 1:o the manner born-something to sink their need be said. Higgins is sometimes Philly efforts attain to anything beyond chops into. (If I Had You is a ringer; it Joe Jones but mostly Higgins, and he does merest professionalism. was recorded by a later Goodman Sextet an exceptionally good job of keeping the There are several slices

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