Time: 37:38
Size: 86.2 MB
Styles: Bop, Trumpet jazz
Year: 1959/2006
Art: Front
[6:49] 1. Lover Come Back To Me
[5:01] 2. When Your Love Has Gone
[6:51] 3. Sudwest Funk
[7:06] 4. Paul's Pal
[6:34] 5. Off To The Races
[5:16] 6. Down Tempo
Alto Saxophone – Jackie McLean; Baritone Saxophone – Pepper Adams; Bass – Sam Jones; Drums – Art Taylor; Piano – Wynton Kelly; Trumpet – Donald Byrd. Recorded December 21, 1958.
From the crackling opening notes of "Lover Come Back to Me," it's clear that Off to the Races is one of Donald Byrd's most invigorating sessions of the late '50s. Working with a stellar supporting band -- Jackie McLean (alto sax), Wynton Kelly (piano), Pepper Adams (bari sax), Sam Jones (bass), Art Taylor (drums) -- Byrd turns in one of his strongest recordings of the era. Throughout the album, Byrd switches between hard bop, ballads, laid-back blues, and soul-jazz. Two of the numbers are standards, one is a cover, and three are Byrd originals, but what matters is the playing. Over the course of the album, Byrd proves he has matured greatly as a soloist, capable of sweet, melodic solos on the slower numbers and blistering runs of notes on the faster songs. McLean is just as vigorous and lyrical, contributing some fine moments to the record, as do Adams and Kelly. There's nothing surprising about Off to the Races; it's simply a set of well-performed, enjoyable hard bop, but sometimes that's enough. ~Stephen Thomas Erelewine
From the crackling opening notes of "Lover Come Back to Me," it's clear that Off to the Races is one of Donald Byrd's most invigorating sessions of the late '50s. Working with a stellar supporting band -- Jackie McLean (alto sax), Wynton Kelly (piano), Pepper Adams (bari sax), Sam Jones (bass), Art Taylor (drums) -- Byrd turns in one of his strongest recordings of the era. Throughout the album, Byrd switches between hard bop, ballads, laid-back blues, and soul-jazz. Two of the numbers are standards, one is a cover, and three are Byrd originals, but what matters is the playing. Over the course of the album, Byrd proves he has matured greatly as a soloist, capable of sweet, melodic solos on the slower numbers and blistering runs of notes on the faster songs. McLean is just as vigorous and lyrical, contributing some fine moments to the record, as do Adams and Kelly. There's nothing surprising about Off to the Races; it's simply a set of well-performed, enjoyable hard bop, but sometimes that's enough. ~Stephen Thomas Erelewine
Off To The Races
Thx! Always nice to get back to the basics of bop! Cheers Daniel, from Spain...
ReplyDeleteHi Mat! Thanks for this DB. Very good, just one thing this is the album BYRD IN HAND !!! Could you rectify & propose Off to the Races? All my best wishes for Christmas to all of you, Roger.
ReplyDeletehey Roger, thx for the comment. i checked with several sites (allmusic, wikipedia, allthatjazz, etc) and all of them show that 'byrd in hand' is a different album from 'off to the races'. when you can, please inform us of a site that says these 2 albums are one and the same.
ReplyDeleteCher Mat - you're right. I'm an idiot ! The reason : I had Byrd in Hand in a list ready to burn and I confused it with Off to the Races while clicking thru the list. Xmas always gets me down. Roger.
ReplyDelete