LP: Blue Note BST 84137 1 Saturday and Sunday (McLean) 2 Saturday and Sunday [alternate] (McLean) 3 Frankenstein (Moncur) 4 Blue Rondo (McLean) 5 Ghost Town (Moncur) Personnel Recording Date & Location Commentary Several of the compositions remind me of Monk's music, particularly "Saturday and Sunday" and "Frankenstein." But there's also a strangely wide-open aspect to this music that's different from Monk's sound. The wide-open feeling is both literal and figurative. The absence of a piano has a huge effect on creating the limitless, airy sound. (I assume that Jackie's decision to play without a piano comes from Ornette's influence.) On a composition like "Ghost Town," you can practically see crumbling buildings, dusty tumble-weeds blowing by. (Or at least that's why I think of.) But that openness is wonderful because Jackie's slashing, magisterial, harshly bluesy tone can fill up all that space, propelled by Tony Williams' careening drums. (No wonder Miles "stole" Tony from this band.) Incidentally, I think that the cover of this album is one of Blue Note's best. It does a perfect job of pictorially representing the music. Of course, Bobby plays magnificently here too. Apparently, when Alfred
Lion first heard this band rehearsing, he'd only heard one song before
proceeding to offer Bobby a contract. Hutcherson ended up staying with
Blue Note longer than any other artist except Horace Silver. |
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