Originally posted by BLUESNIK'S REVOX
View Post
I have a book of transcriptions of "Hard Bop" piano which which includes some of these composers and it does have a mixture of strong compositions and some throw-away blues too but I would edge on the side of of arguing that a lot of these composers were actually constantly refining a tradition. Hank Mobley wrote some snappy themes but was also capable of being quite lazy in borrowing other themes on albums like "Roll call." One of the best writers is this idiom was Sonny Clark, a composer who I have always felt sounded like a rather sly version of Horace Silver and might be pretty simple, but they are hugely effective. I see Clark as Hard Bop's answer to Josef Hadyn in that there is always something about both his piano playing and composition which is extremely modest and all the better for that. Another album I have been playing lately is the exceptional Freddie Redd album "Shades of Redd." I would make a bold statement for this album that it is one of the crowning glories of Hard Bop, even though it has to a two-sax front line. "The thespian" and "Shadows" are exceptional compositions in my opinion and I think the album as a whole is immensely satisfying as a whole. It is also quite interesting insofar that it eschews totally any idea of being "progressive" and simply reinforces much of what had been produced in this idiom in the previous five years. For my money it is an album that really deserves to be listened to in more detail. It is very similar to Tina Brook's album "True Blue" which has the same kind of "conservative" approach and a ceding of the role of soloing to writing - "True Blue" is one of the most through-composed Blue Note album.
With regard to composers from the 50s and 60's, the one name that I am repeatedly finding myself returning to is Kenny Dorham. I feel that he was not only one of the most important and original trumpeters of the 50s and 60s but his writing was massively impressive, even on early albums like "Afro-Cuban" which are very much rooted in their time. The albums he made with Joe Henderson remain amongst the best Blue Note put out and they all benefit from the writing of both co-leaders. For me, they represent a point beyond which Hard Bop had been transcended albeit a precedence has previously been set by "Whistle stop" which was effectively the point at which Hard bop started ti be passed on to Post-bop. Not only has this record some exceptional playing by the leader and also Hank Mobley's best work in the studio, I think that it really demonstrates what a great composer Dorham was. I think he is a major jazz composer and not just a jazz soloist who could write. I had ordered a book of his compositions from America last week because I am fascinated by his writing. I do not feel that forgettable is the right way to describe his work which I feel we be best described as under-appreciated.
I think there is some element in Bluesnik's comments as there were a great number of players in that generation who lazily churned out contrafacts or blues. Another player I have been listening to last week has been Gene Ammons, a swing-bop era tenor player who has gone completely under the radar yet I feel was always compromised by using a make do and mend approach to material when in the studio. All too often he just plays a blues or uses familiar changes. For me, he was a great soloist but his reputation has been diminished by the poor quality material with which he worked. He was not unique in this respect but I feel that whilst many of the compositions in the 1950s and 60s were often modest or lacked the scope of composers like George Russell, etc, when you judge many of them within the parameters of the oeuvre in which they chose to work, they were often very successful with what they achieved. In the case of Kenny Dorham, I just feel that he was an exceptional talent.
Comment