World Saxophone Quartet Rhythm And Blues

With tunes such as "Let's Get It On," "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay," "Try a Little Tenderness" and "Night Train" being included, this CD certainly qualifies as one of the most unusual of all the World Saxophone Quartet recordings. Far from being a sellout to commercialism, this set features the WSQ (altoists Julius Hemphill and Oliver Lake, tenor saxophonist David Murray and baritonist Hamiet Bluiett) meeting the six soul and R&B tunes (which are joined by three complementary originals) head on. The WSQ was always open to playing rhythmically and was not allergic to strong melodies while including solo and group improvisations that were quite advanced. The combination works quite well on this surprising success.

For this 1987 release, the World Saxophone Quartet performs ten group originals: three apiece by tenor saxophonist David Murray and altoist Oliver Lake and two by baritonist Hamiet Bluiett and altoist Julius Hemphill. Celebrating its tenth year as a part-time group at the time, the WSQ was not as radical as ROVA, but their mixture of melodies and abstraction, rhythms and adventure were still quite appealing and filled their own niche. This is an underrated release, recorded between their better-known Plays Duke Ellington and Rhythm and Blues CDs.

Zaki captures the Oliver Lake Trio live at the 1979 Willisau Jazz Festival. Lake was also performing at the festival as a member of the World Saxophone Quartet and was asked to have his trio, which had been performing together for about three years, participate as well. This trio, sans bass, features Michael Gregory Jackson on electric guitar and Pheeroan Aklaff on drums. Throughout the 78 minutes of spontaneous free jazz, many risks are taken, sometimes rewarding, occasionally repetitious. This is especially the case on the nearly 24-minute "Zaki," which loses the thread about halfway through. Lake triples between alto, tenor, and soprano saxophones.

The Hawks/The Bees - The Chronological Hawks/Bees 1953-1954 (2005) {Classics Blues And Rhythm Series 5160}
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© 1953-54, 2005 Classics Records / Classics Blues And Rhythm Series | 5160
Rhythm & Blues / Doo Wop / New Orleans R&B

This wasn't the Canadian band who became the Band; the original members of this Hollygrove-New Orleans gospel quartet called the Hawks – Albert Veal, John Henry Morris, Paul Exhano, and Sam Tophia – began their career by calling themselves the Humming Four and were all part of one of the oldest New Orleans-area groups to form in the post-World War era. They later recorded for Imperial Records' local A&R man Dave Bartholomew, who invited the group to work with some of his R&B groups.

John Coltrane Quartet - Crescent (1964) {Impulse!-Verve Originals 0602517649026 rel 2008}
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© 1964, 2008 Impulse! / Verve / UMG | Verve Originals Series | 0602517649026 | LP AS-66
Jazz / Modal Music / Avant-Garde Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone

John Coltrane's Crescent from the spring of 1964 is an epic album, showing his meditative side that would serve as a perfect prelude to his immortal work A Love Supreme. His finest quartet with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones supports the somewhat softer side of Coltrane, and while not completely in ballad style, the focus and accessible tone of this recording work wonders for anyone willing to sit back and let this music enrich and wash over you. While not quite at the "sheets of sound" unfettered music he would make before his passing in 1967, there are hints of this group stretching out in restrained dynamics, playing as lovely a progressive jazz as heard anywhere in any time period.

John Coltrane - Blue World (2019) {Impulse! ‎B0030157-02 rec 1964}
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© 1964, 2019 Impulse! ‎/ Verve / Universal | B0030157-02
Jazz / Post Bop / Modal Jazz / Tenor Saxophone

A year after the unprecedented release of the John Coltrane Quartet's Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album, fans get another gift from the vault. The backstory (detailed in the booklet) combined with the unique place it claims in his catalog (chronologically and aesthetically), make it a fascinating, historically significant addition to his discography. In 1964, between the recently completed Crescent, and six months before the start of the sessions for A Love Supreme, the John Coltrane Quartet cut the music on Blue World.

"Jon Irabagon releases the latest installment of his I Don't Hear Nothin' but the Blues series, adding rising star Ava Mendoza to his no-frills, brutal ensemble.