Haynes Mini R50

With his ongoing membership in the Allman Brothers Band, Gov't Mule, Phil Lesh & Friends, and the Dead, guitarist/singer Warren Haynes doesn't really have time for a solo career. He did put out a solo album, Tales of Ordinary Madness, in 1993, but his group gigs provide him plenty of opportunities to write and play, and except for a live EP compilation, Lone, in 2003, he hasn't otherwise bothered to issue solo discs. Yet while performing at the 2003 Bonnaroo Festival, he followed a Saturday night set with the Allman Brothers Band with a Sunday afternoon solo set, accompanying himself on acoustic and electric guitar, and here it is on CD.

These four segments are really one continuous free style improvisation between trumpeter Herb Robertson and drummer Phil Haynes, conveniently divided between pauses for listening purposes. There are extremes in dynamics and tempos, all of which are realistically captured by CIMP's unique engineering technique of recording unadulterated sound…

There's rare and then there are records like this: a limited vinyl release in Japan in 1975 that's never been reissued anywhere else in any format since. Perhaps that's not completely surprising, though: to be frank, it feels like something of a footnote to the career of the illustrious Haynes, which began almost 30 years earlier in the first full blast of be-bop. Here, electric piano and a twanging, slightly-too-high-in-the-mix bass guitar nod towards the fusion that was fashionable at the time: ‘Azteca’ is an up-tempo latin original with blazing hi-hat; while the title track (subtitled ‘Bullfight’) is a slightly corny Iberian-flavoured foxtrot. The two standards hint at Haynes's roots: ‘Tin Tin Deo’ is a leisurely vamp, and ‘Dear Old Stockholm’ is a trio with Nakamura sitting out and Barron switching to acoustic piano. It sounds exactly like what it is: a laid back jam session. And why not?

Most of drummer Roy Haynes' dates as a leader put the focus on a star soloist. For this CD reissue, Haynes is joined by pianist Ronnie Mathews, bassist Larry Ridley, and the great tenor Booker Ervin. Ervin's unique sound, soulful yet very advanced, is well showcased on "Under Paris Skies" and originals by Mathews, Haynes, and Randy Weston ("Sketch of Melba"), along with his own "Scoochie."