1. A Foggy Day
2. Here 'Tis
3. Cool Blues
4. Watusi Jump
5. Walk Wid Me
Lou Donaldson - Alto sax
Grant Green - Guitar
Baby Face Willette - Organ
Dave Bailey - Drums
Lou Donaldson is sometimes
dismissed as a mere imitator of Charlie Parker,
but this 1961 session shows that, although
he was definitely influenced by Parker, he
developed his own individual approach. You
might say that, whereas someone like Cannonball
Adderley was a groovy descendant of Charlie
Parker, Lou Donaldson was almost the smooth
follower of Parker - and that is not to lessen
Donaldson's achievements. Lou himself is quoted
on the sleeve as saying that he wanted this
session to exemplify "funky" and "soul" jazz,
adding that he likes to keep his style simple.
So there are few Parkerish flurries of notes
but plenty of straightforward playing with
an emphasis on the blues.
In fact four of the five
tracks are blues tunes: three originals by
Lou as well as Charlie Parker's Cool Blues.
The only non-blues is A Foggy Day,
and even this is given a bluesy atmosphere.
Just sample the easygoing title-track, where
all four musicians sound comfortable with
the laid-back groove. The blues feeling is
clearly to be heard in the Hammond organ of
Baby Face Willette and the guitar of Grant
Green. For some while this was thought to
be Grant Green's debut recording, although
an earlier disc was discovered in 2001: Grant
Green's own First Session. Grant's
crystal-clear solos add much to the album,
as do those by Lou Donaldson - stripping down
the style to achieve the maximum effect.
There are only two flaws
to this CD. One is that organist Baby Face
Willette gets out of synch with Lou's solo
in Cool Blues. The other is the album's
short playing-time: around 39 minutes, which
is not particularly generous, even for an
album that only costs between six and seven
pounds.
Tony Augarde
CD Reviews
Blue
Note 5 14371 2
