Johnny Griffin & Eddie Lockjaw Davis

When Johnny Griffin and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis entered a New York studio with producer Orrin Keepnews on May 3, 1962, they did some things that were unusual for the two-tenor team. They played mostly ballads, they didn't engage in any tenor battles and - most surprising of all - they didn't perform together on any of the tunes. Griffin was featured on four songs, Davis on another four. The same rhythm section - Horace Parlan, bassist Buddy Catlett and drummer Art Taylor - was always present, but Parlan played piano on the songs featuring Griffin and celeste on the songs featuring Davis. For whatever reason, the performances remained in the can for 42 years; they weren't even mastered until 1966, and they finally saw the light of day when Fantasy released Pisces in 2004…

Avid Jazz continues with its Four Classic Album series with a re-mastered 2CD release from Johnny Griffin & Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel details. “Tough Tenors”; “Lookin’ At Monk”; “Blues Up And Down” and “Griff & Lock”.
Two tough tenors, indeed! These two titans of the tenor sax both had wildly prolific careers but somehow found the time to come together as a hard blowing unit from 1960-1962. Discovering they had compatible styles on their chosen tenors the pair decided to form their famous quintet where you will hear, rather than perhaps the expected cutting sessions, their styles perfectly complimenting each other…

Johnny Griffin & Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis - Ow! Live At The Penthouse (2019) {Reel To Real RTR-CD-003 rec 1962}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44.1kHz - Official Digital Download -> 345 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 143 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1962, 2019 Reel To Real Recordings | RTR-CD-003
Jazz / Bebop / Hard Bop / Saxophone

This album documents a summit meeting of tenor-saxophone titans. For two weeks in 1962 (in early March and then again in early June), Johnny Griffin and Eddie ''Lockjaw'' Davis commanded the stage at Seattle's Penthouse club, jointly leading a quintet that also featured pianist Horace Parlan, bassist Buddy Catlett and drummer Art Taylor. The hour's worth of tracks (along with a few slightly annoying intros, outros, and brief riffs) are absolutely fierce, except when they're tender and soulful.

Johnny Griffin and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis locked horns and raised a little hell during this exciting blowing session that took place at the Café Montmartre in Copenhagen on July 10, 1984. They were aided and abetted by pianist Harry Pickens, bassist Curtis Lundy, and drummer Kenny Washington - the same rhythm section that had performed with Griff at the Berlin Friedrichstadtpalast nearly a month earlier. The original "Tough Tenors" formula dates back to the early '60s when Griff and Jaws collaborated on a series of definitive, mainstream two-tenor albums. This live reunion date is a marvel of spontaneous combustion; the horns cavort and jostle, barking and purling with joyous abandon.

When Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin joined forces and formed a two-tenor front line, bop enthusiasts could safely assume that the sparks were going to fly. Davis and Griffin, after all, were one of hard bop's exciting tenor teams – their saxophone battles were as legendary as the encounters of Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray, or Phil Woods and Gene Quill (who, unlike the other teams mentioned here, were a two-alto pair). Battle Stations, like other Davis/Griffin encounters, points to the fact that the two tenormen never had a problem finding common ground.

Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Johnny Griffin - Tough Tenors (1970) {MPS Records 821 293-2 rel 1988}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 238 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 95 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 10 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1970, 1988 MPS Records | 821 293-2
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Bop / Saxophone

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin met in a series of "Tough Tenors" small-group record dates in the early '60s, Davis' hard-blowing style blending perfectly with the lighter but no less intense sound of Griffin. This reunion came about not long after Davis guested in the Kenny Clarke & Francy Boland Big Band (in which Griffin was a regular), prompting a small-group record date with the big band's rhythm section (Boland, Clarke, and bassist Jimmy Woode). There is no less fire in this reunion, and Boland's arrangements bring out the best in both tenor saxophonists.