Johnny Griffin & Eddie Lockjaw Davis

Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis & Johnny Griffin - The Tenor Scene (1961) {Prestige OJCCD-940-2 rel 1997}
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© 1961, 1997 Prestige Records / Fantasy | OJCCD-940-2
Jazz / Hard Bop / Soul Jazz / Saxophone

Formerly knows as The Breakfast Show, the music on this CD reissue was one of four albums cut by the Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis-Johnny Griffin quintet during a single evening. With swinging support provided by pianist Junior Mance, bassist Larry Gales and drummer Ben Riley, the two combative but complementary tenors stretch out on lengthy versions of Lockjaw's "Light and Lovely," "Straight No Chaser" and "I'll Remember April," plus more concise renditions of "Woody'n You" and Davis' "Bingo Domingo." The straight-ahead music contains plenty of sparks; this was a classic group.

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.

Placed at New York City's Seventh Avenue South, the Village Vanguard is one of the truly legendary venues in jazz, a name that ranks along the fabled Birdland, Lighthouse, Bohemia, Basin Street, Blackhawk, and Blue Note of yesterday and today. Since the Vanguard first opened its doors in 1935, the list of jazz greats who have appeared on its stage at one time or another reads like a who's who in the field: John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Gerry Mulligan, Charles Mingus, Bill Evans, Stan Getz…

Johnny Griffin was born in Chicago April 24, 1928. He played clarinet and alto saxophone but changed to tenor when he got his first professional job with Lionel Hampton when he was 17 years old. He later played with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and replaced John Coltrane in 1958 in Thelonious Monk's Quartet. From 1960 - 1962 he co-lead the famous and much recorded "Tough Tenors" quintet with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. In 1963 he moved to Europe where he has been living ever since. He is now living in France - south of Paris.