.------. . • M E k" I Giller Ralph Johnson, Bill Mathieu, Marian McPartland, Dan Morgenstern, 11 1 Records are reviewed by Don De Micheal, G• beQrt . • r~ .~tra Russo 'Harvey Siders, Carol Sloane, Pele Welding, and Michael Zwerin. Don Nelsen, Harvey Pekar, Bab Porter, 811 1 umn, 1 1am , • Reviews are signed by the writers. • Ratings are: .* * * * exce II en t, * * * * very good ' * * * sood, d *I * fair, * poor. When* two catalog numbers are listed, the first is mono, and the secon s stereo. crop that seem to have special appeal. for World, Care and his feature, while Gou. Sonny Criss salves is superb on Friends and in fine UP, UP AND AWAY-Prestige 7530: ,UP,, jazz musicians, are given elegant and swing­ Up and Awa1; Willow Weep for Me; This ts ing treatment. Walton's solo on the former form on Dream, Lose, and his feature­ for Bfnny; Sunny; Scrapple from the Apple; will pin your ears back if you're listening. an old favorite of his. The opening and Paris Blues. Personnel: Criss, alto saxophone; Cedar Wal­ (The piano needed tuning, though.) And closing cadenzas on Friends are something ton, piano; Tai Farlow, guitar; Bob Cranshaw, to hear. bass; Lenny McBrowne, drums. Paris is not the Ellington tune, but a down home, juicy slow blues with Sonny and Tal Hanna's bridge on Together is the only Rating: * * * * * non-tenor solo spot. The pianist comps Criss' third and best album for- Prestige in a preaching mood. flawlessly, Barksdale (an underrated, tough would be something else even without Tai Roses to Cranshaw and McBrowne, old pro) plays perfect fills, and Tucker Farlow, but the great guitarist's presence solid keepers of the time and taste. Could and Tate, a seasoned team, do just what on record for the first time in more than a it be that swinging is here to stay? As yet, they should. decade does add special interest. there's no substitute-and not for honest Though he isn't featured on every track, music-making, either. -Morgenstern Nothing here will startle the restless his solos on Willow, Benny, Blues, and seekers for new thrills or shocks, but especially Apple show that he has lost there's some mighty pleasant listening for nothing in the intervening years, and per­ Lockjaw Davis-Paul Gonsalves - a relaxed mood. -Morgenstern haps even gained. His playing is as unique, LOVE CALLS-RCA Victor LSP-3882: Love Is Here to Stay; When Sunny Gets Blue; If I fresh, and startling as ever; his agility as Ruled the World; Time After Time; Just Friends; Don't Blame Me; I Should Care; The Man with Teddy Edwards ------the Horn; We'll Be Together Again; Weaver of IT'S ALL RIGHT !-Prestige 7522: It's All Dreams; If I Should Lose You. Right; Going Home; Afraid of Love; Whee/in' Personnel: Davis, Gonsalves, tenor saxophones; and Dealin'; Mamacita Lisa; Back Alley Blues; Roland Hanna, piano; Everett Barksdale, guitar; The Cellar Dweller; Moving In. Ben Tucker, bass; Grady Tate, drums. Personnel : Jimmy Owens, trumpet, fluegelhorn; Garnett Brown, trombone; Edwards, tenor saxo­ Rating:***½ phone; Cedar Walton, piano; Ben Tucker, bass; Two warm tenors, 11 warm ballads, a Lenny McBrowne, drums. gently firm rhythm section-these ingredi­ Rating:**** ents add up to a warm, pleasing, definitely Edwards put a lot of good work into romantic album. this session. All but one of the tunes Lesser and less virile players might have (Mamacita is by Freddie Hill) and all the turned this kind of program into mush, arrangements are his, and he takes the but Davis and Gonsalves are balladeers in lion's share of the solo work. the great jazz tradition-which means sen­ The session . was perfectly cast, and it timent, yes; sentimentality, no. adds up to a generous helping of well­ c Stylistically, the two men are closely crafted, well-played contemporary jazz e related (both were strongly touched by without convenient labels. I'm not clair­ ~ Ben Webster, and only seven months sep- voyant, but I wouldn't be a bit surprised ~ arate their birthdates), but this makes their if an album such as this will make more ~ meeting (the first on record) the more in­ meaningful listening 10 or 20 years from m teresting, proving as it does that an authen- now than the bulk of currently fashionable astonishing. Welcome back to a great tic style is like a living language-it allows experiments in "widening the boundaries artist; let's hope more will be heard soon. for an endless variety of personalized ex- of music," or whatever. But this is Criss' record, and he takes pression within a shared framework of This music is straight ahead but not charge with the authority that is the mark meaning. cut and dried. It makes no bones about of a real player. He is a sound-man, with Both men have rich, full sounds, but wanting to swing, and it does. Everybody a tone of the sort one rarely hears these one needs no scorecard to tell them apart. on the date can play, and all came to play. days, except from the old masters. It sings The sound of each is like a signature, and Nothing needs to be explained; the music with a golden voice. so are their inflections and turns of phrase speaks for itself. Criss plays like he means it. His con- -so close and yet so different. Each has Edwards plays very well throughou~, ception is crystal clear, and he doesn't his own story, yet they converse; they hear but must have been conscious of how his hesitate. He likes melodies, and he states each other. If you've got something to say, charts were being interpreted and of his them with conviction. On Willow, a tune you don't have to look for freakish ways general leader's duties, and has been more he is fond of, he puts his personal stamp to get it across. relaxed in other contexts. When he does on familiar territory. Passionate may be a Nor do you need a lot of space, and let loose (Moving; Wheelin') he flows, and shopworn term, but none fits his playing even the shorter tracks (six are Jess than he is never at a loss for ideas. Love show­ here better. three minutes) have a message. But the cases his warm ballad playing, and on The masterpiece in this collection, how- best performances are those that leave a Back Alley, he goes down home for some ever, is Scrapple. The rhythm· section lays bit more room to stretch: Friends and good old blues. His writing is functional down a swinging carpet, giving a sure Man, which the tenors share, and the two and always to the point. footing to the soloists even at this highly individual features, Blame (Gonsalves) Owens shines. He is in top form, and caloric speed, and Criss steps out in style. and Together (Davis). comes up with some of his best work 0_n The notes from his horn cascade like a Davis is the gruffer, more direct of the record. His beautiful fluegelhorn sound ~s waterfall, but there's beauty with the two horns, using slurs and emphatic pro­ well displayed on Mamacifa, as is. his speed. Farlow and Walton keep up the jection of sound to underscore his state­ melodic sensibility. (Some recent re:'1e:Vs pace. ments. Gonsalves is silkier, more oblique, have tagged him with a Miles Davis _in­ Benny is an attractive Horace Tapscott more often surprising. Both know how to fluence, but what I hear, aside from Jim­ original, giving Criss a chance to show he renew a familiar theme by means of my Owen~ is Clifford Brown.) can be modal a la mode. Up, Up and nuance, not distortion. On trumpet, he is crisp and bold . on Sunny, two good tunes from the current Jaws is at his best, I think, on Love, Moving, the album's high point-a nice, 26 0 DOWN BEAT