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Beatstreet
Jackie McLean: Demon’s Dance
Blue Note/Virgin Records; Rs. 295 (CD)
This album, recorded in 1967, offers jazz buffs a welcome opportunity to renew their acquaintance with Jackie McLean (1932-2006), whose life and work I profiled when he died, and whose ‘Capuchin Swing’ I reviewed a few years ago in these
columns. A great alto saxophonist who managed to emulate Charlie Parker but still sound different, he was one of the leading lights of hard bop, to which genre ‘Demon’s Dance’ belongs.
McLean leads a quintet here with Woody Shaw on trumpet, Lamont Johnson on piano, Scott Holt on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums. Shaw, with a warm sound like McLean’s, was, like him, recognised as a virtuoso and DeJohnette at 22 was already known as a rising star.
On most of the tracks, McLean and Shaw generally follow a pattern of leading the ensemble on the theme, after which McLean, Shaw, Johnson, and sometimes Holt and DeJohnette improvise solos.
On the slow “Toyland”, however, Shaw plays almost no part, with McLean and Johnson starring.
The opening and title track, fast-paced like most others, has a variation, with the McLean-Shaw duo taking turns with Johnson and Holt to articulate the theme before solo improvisations by all four. McLean and Shaw especially dazzle on their solos, which are also full of feeling, and Shaw rips off an occasional flurry of very fast notes. This one and “Message from Trane” at the end, also fast-paced and with a drum solo, are the pick of a consistently top-drawer album.
Horace Silver Trio
Blue Note/Virgin Records; Rs. 295 (CD)
Horace Silver (born 1928) is one of the great pianist-composers of jazz. This album, which puts together two short LPs, one recorded over two sessions in 1952 and the other from a single sitting in 1953, represents what was perhaps his debut as a lea
der and also showcases his talent as a composer on nine of the 16 tracks.
On all but two of the tracks Silver is joined by Art Blakey, slightly his senior and already very famous, on drums, while a different bassist on each of the three sessions makes up the trio.
The remaining two tracks, both composed by Blakey, are percussion specials, Blakey performing alone on one, “Nothing but the Soul”, and with Sabu Martinez on congas (Martinez also contributing a brief vocal at the beginning and the end) on the other, “Message from Kenya”.
Except for an odd solo and one exchange with Blakey, the bassists are content to play the role of accompanists.
Blakey, on the other hand, is quite prominent even in a supporting role, and brief solo flurries from him highlight his ability to produce complex rhythms and vary the timbre of the elements of his drum kit.
Silver’s flair for variations on the themes of well-known jazz and pop hits comes through very well. He sparkles on his solo improvisations, crafting them with verve.
Blakey has free rein on his two compositions, which he exploits to the hilt. Martinez and he have a steady call-and-response going on “Message from Kenya”.
Of the 14 tracks on which Silver performs, “Safari”, “Ecaroh” (“Horace” spelt backwards), and “Opus de Funk” (presaging the “funky” style of jazz which Silver pioneered) are outstanding. On these and the other tracks he proves equal to the challenge of being practically the only soloist in the trio.
JAZZEBEL
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