Grant Green - Two For One (1961)
It’s worth noting that the sides Green and Clark recorded in 1961-62—Nigeria, Gooden’s Corner and Oleo, or compiled on The Complete Quartets w/Sonny Clark—were never released while either of them was alive.
Grant Green - Nancy (With the Laughing Face) (1962)
If I post nothing but Grant Green/Sonny Clark quartet cuts for the next few weeks, don’t hold it against me.
This particular cut went unreleased until this double disc collection came out in the late 90s. It is a testament to the short-lived yet enduring brilliance of their guitar/piano synergy. As always, Art Blakey—alongside bassist Sam Jones—underpins the proceedings with his infectious swinging energy.
Art Blakey as an enthusiastic side-man:
Grant Green - It Ain’t Necessarily So (1962) from Nigeria
Personnel: Grant Green (g); Sonny Clark (p); Sam Jones (b); Art Blakey (d)
This one goes down in the pantheon of all-time great performances. Turn it up.
Thanks Bent.
(Source: bainer)
Jackie McLean - Two For One (1962)
Happy late birthday wishes to the legendary Jackie McLean.
This particular session sadly sat on the shelves for 17 years before it was finally issued in Japan in 1979. The presence of my favorite groove merchant, Sonny Clark, in his penultimate appearance for Blue Note before his death—along with label stalwarts Butch Warren and Art Taylor—ensure that the proceedings swing hard, and their bluesy legerdemain is everywhere in evidence. Jackie tackles this particularly complicated composition with his signature relish. He is one of a handful of musicians that you can positively identify in just a note or two.
On an unrelated design note, the difference between the 1979 Japanese Blue Note sleeve art below and the incongruous 1984 American vintage above is, shall we say, stark.
Luckily, the music shines either way.
Curtis Fuller - Da Baby (1958)
It flies under the radar, but this recording is well worth a listen for some signature swing-times. The two trombones toot well together with the rollicking rhythm section led by the myth, the legend, the brilliant Sonny Clark.
There is no groundbreaking modal post-bop here, just a straight-ahead, hip-shaking swing-a-long.
Jackie McLean - The Three Minors (1962)
From the Jazz Shelf:
The earlier session is straightforward and high quality all the way. McLean’s solos infuse bop stylings with lessons he’d learned on the other side of the fence. “The Three Minors” is a typical modal Jackie tune, stated by alto then trumpet, with a Latin bridge, and the solos travel the modes four bars at a time.
This is a blistering set featuring McLean and Dorham’s frontline fireworks over essential rhythms care of Sonny Clark, Butch Warren and Billy Higgins. This set also exists as the second half of Blue Note’s Connoisseur Series edition of McLean’s Vertigo.
Sonny Clark - Can’t We Be Friends (1958)
These Sonny Clark standards are impossible to forget. The more I listen the better they sound. His sense of swing is so easy and feathery and elegant, and yet so thoroughly visceral and deep that it hits you where it counts.
| — | Curtis Fuller talking about his friend, Sonny Clark, from Sam Stephenson’s Tin House Magazine article on Clark |
Dexter Gordon and Sonny Clark during the recording of Gordon’s A Swingin’ Affair session, Englewood Cliffs NJ, August 29 1962 (photo by Francis Wolff)
Dexter Gordon - Don’t Explain (1962)
From the Jazz Shelf:
Then comes “Don’t Explain”, a rich performance of emotional intensity. Call it romance or beauty or whatever, all I know is that a ballad played as elegantly and reflectively as this can be a transcendent thing.
I don’t know why, after owning Go! for years, it took me so long to find out that A Swingin’ Affair is from the same stock, and as far as I’m concerned now, it reaches the same level of effortless wonder.
Sonny Clark, Butch Warren, and Billy Higgins comprised a formidable rhythm section in the early 60s (see Clark’s Leapin’ and Lopin’ and Jackie McLean’s A Fickle Sonance for further evidence) before Clark’s premature demise, and on the aforementioned Gordon records of 1962, their synergy reaches a euphonic apex.
Outside of Mobleytown, you won’t find a more gorgeous balladeer than Gordon.
