Faddis

In the mid-'70s, Oscar Peterson recorded duet albums with veteran trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Clark Terry, and Harry "Sweets" Edison. He paid the young Jon Faddis a huge compliment by also recording a set with him. Faddis, very much under Gillespie's influence but already displaying a wide range, clearly enjoyed the challenge, and on a set of standards and basic material, he often tears into the songs with reckless abandon. The Peterson-Faddis encounter is generally quite exciting and a high point in the early career of Jon Faddis.

Billy Harper & Jon Faddis - Jon & Billy (1974) {Candid–PJL Japan MTCJ-2505 rel 2000}
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© 1974, 2000 Candid / P.J.L. Japan | MTCJ-2505
Jazz / Post Bop / Saxophone / Trumpet

Jon Faddis and Billy Harper made an interesting, if at times mismatched, team on this 1974 date recently reissued by Evidence. Faddis was then laboring to find his own voice on trumpet; his mentor, Dizzy Gillespie, remained both his predominant influence and stylistic guiding light. Harper had won critical attention and praise for his work with Lee Morgan, and his robust tenor sax was well-displayed throughout this date.

Jon Faddis - Into The Faddisphere [1991]
EAC Rip | FLAC, IMG+CUE, LOG | 289 MB | Covers, Booklet | TIFF (LWZ) 300ppi | 12 MB
Jazz | 1991 | Label: EPIC | Catalog Number: EK 45266 | RAR 10% Rec. | RS.com

At the age of 36, after many years in the shadow of his idol Dizzy Gillespie, trumpeter Jon Faddis was consciously going after developing his own voice. His rhythm section, led by pianist Renee Rosnes (who displays a style influenced by McCoy Tyner), is modern and Faddis plays six of his own compositions (in addition to Donald Brown's "The Early Bird" and "Ciribiribin"). But the trumpeter's seeming inability during this era to stay out of his upper register for more than a minute straight is often quite annoying, completely ruining the modal arrangement of "Ciribiribin." The title cut, a showcase for Faddis' high-note heroics, is also difficult to sit through. A disappointing mixed bag.

Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

This CD finds trumpeter Jon Faddis shooting in all directions with uneven but sometimes colorful results. Faddis performs an orchestra piece ("High Fire") that has his high notes contrasting with the five lower brass. He wa-waas behind Vivian Cherry's blues singing on "Reckless Blues," performs a rather silly "Ahbeedunseedja," plays a faceless ballad ("Forevermore"), raps about Dizzy Gillespie on "Rapartee" and then the two muted trumpeters jam on a brief "Cherokee." "Dewey's Dance" is a dull and overlong tribute of sort to Miles Davis, "Squeezin'" is a relaxed original, "March That Thang" sounds like a funky marching band, "Dizzy Atmosphere" is fast but brief bop and "I Surrender All" closes the CD with a gospellish duet also including pianist James Williams.

Charles Mingus - Charles Mingus And Friends In Concert (1972) [2CD] {1996 Columbia Remaster}
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© 1996 Columbia / Legacy | C2K 64975
Jazz / Post-Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz

Most of Charles Mingus's larger-group recordings, particularly in the later part of his career, tended to be unruly and somewhat undisciplined. This two-CD reissue set (which adds five selections to the original two-LP program), which celebrated Mingus's return to jazz after six years of little activity. Such great jazzmen as baritonist Gerry Mulligan, tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons, altoist Lee Konitz, pianist Randy Weston, James Moody (heard on flute) and a variety of Mingus regulars had a chance to play with the great bassist; even fellow bassist Milt Hinton and Bill Cosby (taking a humorous scat vocal) join in.

Hearing tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander is one of the great treats in jazz. There are few artists on stage today who combine chops, imagination and technique with a fluidity of ideas as he does. This imposing improviser is reunited here with pianist David Hazeltine and they're joined by another jazz great, the always daring trumpeter Jon Faddis on a couple of the tracks. Add in the swing engendered by bassist John Webber and drummer Joe Farnsworth and you have a formula for excellence, if ever there was one. Alexander produced the session and there is a strong latin feel throughout thanks to the contributions of vibrant percussionist Alex Diaz spurring the band on with a whole trunk load of Latin percussion instruments. In addition to the Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66 title tune, the set-list features a satisfying mix of originals and covers all given the patented Alexander treatment.

Ray Brown did it again with the fourth installment in his Some of My Best Friends Are… series, spotlighting some of the hottest trumpet players around and producing one of the finest trumpet-fronted small group recordings to come down the jazz pike in a while. Featuring a six-pack of hornmen ranging from octogenarian Clark Terry to youngsters Roy Hargrove and Nicholas Payton, this CD alternately cooks and simmers, with the ballads especially standing out in their spaciousness and beauty.

In Frank’s words, "This is something quite different… I’m not trying to revolutionize the big band, I’m just telling it the way I hear it with thirteen horns and a rhythm section." After leading the Basie band for a decade, in ’95 Foster put down the baton to form his band—the Loud Minority. I jumped at the chance to record their week residency at NY’s Jazz Standard. The band was on a roll, playing high-energy, devil-may-care jazz. The crowd loved their blazing brass, their stomping solos, the powerful baritone vocals, the peerless Foster arrangements. My mikes captured the electric excitement of Jon Faddis’ trumpet solos, Basie-singer Dennis Rowland’s rabble-rousing "Wild Women Don’t Worry", and Sylvia Cuenca’s thunderous drum solo on "Lover".