Thursday, June 3, 2021

George Coleman Quintet - The George Coleman Quintet in Baltimore

Styles: Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2020
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:54
Size: 107,8 MB
Art: Front

(11:49) 1. Afternoon in Paris
(10:26) 2. Sandu
( 5:13) 3. I Got Rhythm
( 9:55) 4. Body & Soul
( 9:29) 5. Joy Spring

Recorded live at Baltimore’s Famous Ballroom in May of 1971, this set captures the redoubtable tenor man with a well-oiled ensemble trumpeter Danny Moore, pianist Albert Dailey, bassist Larry Ridley, and drummer Harold White playing with such unerring synchronicity that a listener might be excused for assuming that most of the arrangements had been laid out beforehand. Not so, according to Coleman’s testimonial in the liner notes: “[W]e didn’t do much written stuff … it was going to sound like an arrangement, which it was, but it wasn’t written … we just went in and played.”

Coleman and Moore set the tone from the start with their intro to John Lewis’ “Afternoon in Paris,” interweaving in dual improvisation before melding into a unison statement of the theme, which then segues into Coleman’s solo: bright with good humor, dancing gaily through the tune’s harmonic architecture, probing with quick-minded precision yet never sounding academic or dry. Moore expands on the freewheeling mood, interspersing a few smears to add a tinge of hipster irony. Dailey then invokes a more pastoral feel before breaking into a jubilantly swinging main passage, as Ridley and White lay down a tight rhythmic framework.

The ensemble brings similar freshness to such standards as Clifford Brown’s “Joy Spring” (featuring a duo workout between Coleman and White) and “Sandu” (on which Moore, rather than attempt to emulate Brown’s technical legerdemain, structures his solo in a circular fashion, returning to a stated theme and exploring fresh harmonic implications with each iteration). Especially notable is “I Got Rhythm,” reimagined as a high-octane, boppified workout. Coleman plunges through the changes with daunting dexterity, nodding only obliquely to the original theme; Dailey leaps into the fun, skittering with joyful abandon; and White contributes a wide-spectrum solo, as melodic as it is percussive. Overall, it’s the set’s most jaw-dropping technical display yet, as throughout, relaxed, unforced, and devoid of pretension or self-indulgence.~ By David Whiteis https://jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/the-george-coleman-quintet-in-baltimore-reel-to-real/

Featuring: GEORGE COLEMAN tenor saxophone, DANNY MOORE trumpet, ALBERT DAILEY piano, LARRY RIDLEY bass, HAROLD WHITE drums

The George Coleman Quintet in Baltimore

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