© -Steven Cerra , copyright protected; all rights reserved.
“There’s still nothing to
beat the special thrill you get when you hear somebody who is absolutely new to
you, of whom you have never heard before and who just simply knocks you out.
This shock of recognition is
one of the greatest kicks in jazz. Just as those rare moments when everything
goes right, the whole thing falls into place and everybody is together, is what
keeps the musicians going through the bad times, so the now and then discovery
of a beautiful, exciting new voice in jazz is what keeps the listener plowing
through all those LPs.
When I first played this LP,
I recognized no one on it. After I looked at the personnel, I knew I had heard
some of the men before and heard of some of the others. But what shattered me,
racked me up and made me play it over and over was the work of a man I had
never heard of, of whose existence I hadn't dreamt but whose music hit me with
exceptional force.
His name is Frank Strozier
and he plays the alto saxophone. Predictions are chance-y things at best, but
I'll chance one right here. We've all been waiting for something past Bird to
happen to the alto. Ornette Coleman is taking it in one direction and it is
welcome news. Frank Strozier, it seems to me, is taking it in a parallel
direction bowing, not to Bird directly, but to John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins
and possibly to Ornette, as well. He rips into his solos with the agonized wail
that Coltrane has made a specialty of; he packs each long line, breath-taking
in its searing irregularity, with high-voltage emotion. To come through on
record as he does, he must be something else in person. Hearing him, as I did,
for the first time in the context of this LP, was an exciting and thrilling
experience. I am sure we will all be hearing a lot more from this Memphis-born
youngster.”
- Ralph J. Gleason, Jazz author/critic
VeeJay Records was
founded in Gary ,
Indiana
The company’s Jazz
recordings were a small portion of its releases as it was primarily a rock ‘n
roll label.
Gratefully,
however, and as you will no doubt observe from the cover art in the video
tribute, it provided a number of then fledgling Jazz artists an opportunity to
display their talent to a broader audience through its LP’s.
Not surprisingly,
given the fact that Gary is 26 miles SE of Chicago, many of VeeJay’s Jazz
recordings favored musicians who were or had been primarily based in The Windy
City such as pianist Eddie Higgins, tenor saxophonist Eddie Harris and the MJT
+3, although it also featured early albums by trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor
saxophonist Wayne Shorter and pianist Wynton Kelly.
Chicagoans,
bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Walter Perkins, dubbed themselves the Modern
Jazz Two [“MJT”] and the “3” is made up of Willie Thomas on trumpet, also of
Chicago, and Harold Mabern on piano and Frank Strozier on alto saxophone, both
born and bred in Memphis, TN.
The tune on the
audio track is Ray Bryant’s Sleepy
which is based on an AABA structure but the “B” bridge or release is 12-bars
while each of the “A’s” is 8-bars.
The tempo is
doubled during the second 6-bars of the bridge and played with a triplet
feeling in 6/8 time.
Walter Perkins
announces the exit from the bridge with a thunderous backbeat that he plays
simultaneously with the left hand on the snare drum, the right hand on the
floor tom tom and the right foot using the bass drum beater ball.
Does anyone play
Jazz at this tempo anymore?
