Al Foster: Live At Smoke
Nate Chinen’s informative sleeve note claims that the late Al Foster was born in 1943 but The New Grove Dictionary Of Jazz and the Leonard Feather/Ira Gitler Biographical Encyclopedia Of Jazz both go for 1944. Starting on drums at the age of 10, Foster was hugely impressed by Max Roach’s performance on a 1955 recording of Cherokee with Clifford Brown. Along with Art Taylor, Roach became his primary influence. His first studio recording was on Blue Mitchell’s 1964 The Thing To Do album and over the years he has kept company with many of the giants of jazz, including Illinois Jacquet, Lou Donaldson, Kai Winding, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Dave Liebman, Jackie McLean and Freddie Hubbard. Davis, in his autobiography, says “[Al] knocked me out because he had such a groove and he would just lay it right in there.” In a New York Times obituary, Rollins had this to say: “Al had a lot of what it took to really swing a band.” Both of these qualities, whether on sticks or brushes, are well in evidence here.
With his powerful, vibrato-free Sonny Rollins approach, Chris Potter takes Amsterdam Blues, E.S.P., Pent-Up House and especially John Coltrane’s Satellite by storm. The sleeve reveals that the latter is “an application of the Giant Steps cycle of descending major thirds to the form of How High The Moon.” (The modulations in the bridge of another standard – Have You Met Miss Jones? – influenced Coltrane when he created Giant Steps.)
Potter reveals a lyrical, more introspective side to his musicality on Old Folks and Everything Happens To Me. They climax with extended unaccompanied codas both rich in invention. A transcription of either would be a very worthwhile exercise for any saxophone student.
Discography
CD1: Amsterdam Blues; Unrequited; E.S.P; Old Folks; Pent-Up House (48.67) – CD2: Simone’s Dance; Everything Happens To Me; Satellite; Malida (44.47)
Chris Potter (ts, ss); Brad Mehldau (p); Joe Martin (b); Foster (d). Smoke Jazz Club NYC, 18 & 19 January 2025.
Smoke Sessions Records SSR-2506
Kai Winding: Duo “Bones”
Reissues by trombone maestro Kai Winding don’t come along every day so this CD is definitely one to savour. Born in Aarhus, Denmark Winding quickly established a stellar reputation as one of the principal soloists in the Stan Kenton orchestra during the mid-40s. The leader later said “Kai changed the whole conception of the band and my whole way of thinking.” He then teamed up with J.J. Johnson to form a popular quintet from 1954 to 1956. During the 60s he worked with his own sextet and in the early 70s he joined Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt and Thelonious Monk on a Giants Of Jazz tour before semi-retiring in Spain.
His co-leader on this 1979 date is Dino Piana, who was a member of the RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana) orchestra. Piana played a valve trombone and also worked with Chet Baker and Charles Mingus. Although some trumpeters have doubled on the valved instrument, very few musicians have specialised on it: a partial list would include Brad Gowans, Juan Tizol, John Sanders, Rob McConnell, Bob Enevoldsen, Bob Brookmeyer and Marshall Brown. Holding his own with Winding in a stimulating recreation of the celebrated Jay and Kai group, Piana can clearly be included in that celebrated roster.
The title track, which is built around a repeated pedal note, is an exciting tour-de-force based on the perennial I’ve Got Rhythm. It is notable for the chorus of unaccompanied contrapuntal interplay by the horns, leading to some inventive solo exchanges. Stop Following Me is a call and response routine with Winding and Piana at their extrovert best. Kai is elegantly lyrical on a relaxed Get Out Of Town, which he has all to himself. Hats off to the swinging rhythm section, led by Enrico Pieranunzi, who has worked with Sal Nistico, Ronnie Cuber, Lee Konitz and Phil Woods.
Discography
Duo “Bones”; Get Out Of Town: Lady H; Kai And Dino; On Green Dolphin Street; Stop Following Me; This Is All I Ask; Soul Dance (38.06)
Winding (tb); Dino Piana (vtb); Enrico Pieranunzi (p); Giovanni Tommaso (b); Tullio De Piscopo (d). Rome, 17 & 18 November 1979.
Red Records RR123143-2
Miles Davis: The Musings Of Miles
As Ian Carr points out in his definitive Miles Davis biography, the trumpeter’s career was really “in the doldrums” in the early 50s. Despite his successful early collaboration with Charlie Parker and his own innovative late 40s nonet recordings, finding regular work with his own group was proving to be difficult. Along with his friend Philly Joe Jones he was reduced to appearing in various small towns with local musicians and around 1953 he dropped out of the jazz scene temporarily due to personal problems. He celebrated his return in 1954 with his seminal Walkin’ release which included J.J. Johnson and Lucky Thompson. His seven choruses on the album title track represented his longest solo on record at the time. He followed this up two months later with a Sonny Rollins date where he debuted his harmon mute sound on Oleo. Going forward, the harmon became his signature sound on ballads.
The 1955 Musings Of Miles was his first 12” LP and it included Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones, who were to become founder members of his new quintet four months later along with John Coltrane and Paul Chambers. This was the trail-blazing small group that became one of the finest of the era. The album includes two Davis originals: I Didn’t is a themeless romp based on Thelonious Monk’s Well, You Needn’t while Green Haze he had recorded the year before with Horace Silver. Haze is a slow blues introduced by two choruses of Red Garland’s funky locked-hands piano stylings. Apart from Night In Tunisia – which works really well at Miles’ slightly slower tempo – the repertoire consists of songbook staples that were to become a feature of his group during the 50s. Jazz Wax has added two 1952 titles with the obscure pianist Gil Coggins. He disappeared from the scene around 1957 only to reappear in 1990 on his own album titled Gil’s Mood.
Discography
Will You Still Be Mine?; I See Your Face Before Me; I Didn’t; How Deep Is The Ocean?; A Gal In Callico; A Night In Tunisia; Green Haze; Yesterdays (44.35)
Collective personnel: Miles Davis (t); Red Garland, Gil Coggins (p); Oscar Pettiford (b); Philly Joe Jones, Kenny Clarke (d). New York and New Jersey, 1952-1955.
Jazz Wax Records JWR 4643
