Roy Haynes, Hip Ensemble (WeWantSounds WWSLP100)
This month’s arrivals on my doorstep included two drum-led releases. Previously issued on Mainstream (MDCD715), Roy Haynes’ Hip Ensemble is a direct and straightforward piece of modern 70s funk-tinged hard bop. The strong front line, of tenorist and flautist George Adams and trumpeter Marvin Peterson, is keen on carving things up and throwing them into the mix: exploratory to some degree, within the confines of jazz-funk. It’s pushed forcibly, often relentlessly, by Haynes, who, as leader, makes his presence felt and is far from reluctant in taking a solo. Carl Schroeder’s electric piano occasionally reminds us how muddied and unsatisfactory the instrument could sound in that period. Fortunately Adams, Peterson and Haynes make up for this, although some may find it rather dated at times.
Stanley Cowell’s Equipoise starts things encouragingly and there’s the unusual inclusion of Lift Ev’ry Voice And Sing, by writer, activist and leader of the NAACP, James Weldon Johnson, music by his younger brother John, which became known as the Black National Anthem. Its brief glimpse follows on from You Name It, linked by a frenetic Haynes solo. An extra track, not on the Mainstream issue, is Roy’s Tune, highly percussive and with deep baritone riffs presumably from Adams. If funk is your predilection, this is for you. Adherents of the style have for some time held it in esteem.
Ari Hoenig, Tea For Three (Fresh Sound New Talent FSNT 691)
Roy Haynes, who would have been 100 last month, died 12 November 2024, the day before the birthday of Philadelphian Ari Hoenig. It seems odd that this relative youngster is part of Fresh Sound’s New Talent as he’s been prolific since his early 20s – he’s now half way to Haynes’ age – recording for a number of labels in the States. It’s a good reflection on Fresh Sounds producer Jordi Pujol though, showing it’s not just the retrospective classics and previously overlooked that he takes an interest in and promotes.
Oddly enough, both drummers share a link with Shirley Scott. Hoenig played in her group at an early stage of his career; Haynes recorded on her Prestige album, Workin’ (1961). But in contrast to the consistently assertive Hip Ensemble, Hoenig runs a more contrasting course – a garden of repose, after negotiating a busy freeway. There are sections where the trio stretches out, but it’s a good balance of changing time signatures and textures, fast and expressive then controlled and relaxed.
The occasional standard is thrown in and Hoenig’s composition Alone has all the hallmarks of a potential standard itself. Theo’s Groove is aggressively chordal and percussively dynamic, before it changes down a gear into a wonderfully soulful central passage. When Haynes recorded with Scott they did Nat Adderley’s Work Song. Here it appears again, but this time the melody is played by Hoenig’s tuned drums.
The Prestige Jazz Quartet / Teo With The Prestige Jazz Quartet (Fresh Sound Records FSRCD 1081)
Two from Fresh Sounds’ Presenting…Rare and Obscure Jazz Albums series, both recorded in 1957 and featuring the quartet of vibist Teddy Charles, pianist Mal Waldron, bassist Addison Farmer and drummer Jerry Segal. The music is based around the progressive and inventive developments and composition of the time, much in the vein of Charles Mingus’s earlier work. Vibist Charles contributes Three Parts Jazz, a triptych suite, whilst Waldron’s compositions show his distinctive style of repetitive notes, changing slightly to alter the feeling, often unnervingly so – percussive yet retaining swing and rhythm. Of particular interest is Dear Elaine and their interpretation (and Waldron’s take) of Monk’s Friday The Thirteenth. Charles’s sound resembles his echoing sonority on Nature Boy on the Mingus/Miles Davis 1954 session that many will be familiar with.
The quartet is joined on Teo by Teo Macero, who, like Charles, Waldron and Segal, had been associated with Mingus’s Jazz Composers’ Workshop. It’s been said that Macero’s playing was limited although his concern was with nuance and pure sound, but here he has an attractive tone, much in the style of Lester Young (but without the deceptively lazy, behind the beat approach) and Warne Marsh. It’s heard especially on Just Spring. At times he reminds me of the way the European players of the time, like Bobby Jaspar, assimilated Young’s sound and at other times of the Tristano school approach to improvisation and delivery.
Highly enjoyable, and at times spellbinding.
Jim Hart Cloudmakers Trio: A Drop Of Hope In The Ocean Of Uncertainty (Whirlwind Recordings WR4828)
Separated by a gap of nearly 70 years is this album, featuring another vibraphonist, Jim Hart, with an assertive pianist. Leo Genovese. Similarly, the arrangements and compositions are inventive and challenging, many not confined to a single, uniform style. Hart has less emphasis on sustained resonance than Teddy Charles, whose ringing tones are significantly different.
There’s plenty for the listener to draw on, from the freer forms of Faithfully and An Ocean Of Drops to the easy swing of New Beginnings, to the more straightforward and heartfelt Dearly Departed, referring to the late Wayne Shorter, a track which sees Hart at his most Hutchersonesque. A blues groove is laid down on Voodoo Grave, whilst Where There’s A Will has Hart’s ethereal mist drifting up and away, the others adding to the floating aura with elements of electronica, only secured by the pragmatism of the Dave Smith’s drums giving stability and earthly assurance.
Genovese shares the main solos with Hart, and Faithfully and Before And After are trio tracks; Michael Janisch’s bass has a big, robust sound, especially when on acoustic upright; Dave Smith often chattering busily over his solid beat.
I felt the album aptly named, as much of it seems uncertain, needing greater clarity of intent and direction, but as the title also states, there’s a drop of hope – maybe a few more listens would convince me more. Paradoxically, although perhaps intentionally, the final track, New Beginnings, is more compelling.
