The Tubby Hayes Quartet - A Little Workout: Live At The Little Theatre

Styles: Saxophone And Flute Jazz

Year: 2018

File: MP3@320K/s

Time: 65:20

Size: 150,8 MB

Art: Front

( 8:30) 1. A Change Of Setting

( 7:59) 2. Seven Steps To Heaven

(11:19) 3. For Members Only

( 5:58) 4. Here's That Rainy Day

(17:06) 5. Dear Johnny B.

(14:26) 6. Walkin'

William Blake wrote that ‘energy is eternal delight’. That thought prefigures the work here: the intensity, the tumbling ideas, the burning passion, the unrelenting drive. The opening of ‘A Change of Setting’ injects the spiralling dynamism that frequently underpins Hayes’ work. At times on ‘For Members Only’ the intensity is almost too much, it veers close to creative ecstasy. It is all part of a profound artistic vision based on intense impassioned energy that somehow is rooted in a technique that is at the complete service of Hayes’ ideas. ‘Here’s That Rainy Day’ is an interlude partially devoted to Mick Pyne. Hayes’ flute playing is almost an afterthought. Ron Mathewson is not favoured by the recording and the sound of Levin’s drums is at times reduced to a clatter. However, the recording as a whole, is more than acceptable and the sound of the tenor is rendered beautifully. I just can’t help wondering what this marvellous quartet would have sounded like with modern recording techniques. Hayes’ ‘Dear Johnny B’ is almost unrestrained. Hayes, at this time, obviously felt the need to cut free but he never loses the theme. Hayes aspired to be free but he was the most grounded of free players and all the more interesting for that. ‘Walkin’’ is the key track of the album. Hayes unfurls fifty choruses as he roars and races through: investigating, selecting, critiquing, assaying, all at turbo speed, music that is unrelenting, not for the faint-hearted. Hayes has been criticised for playing too many notes. If that was all he did, that criticism would be valid. There is more, over and over, Hayes tells an intense, fervent tale.

In the substantial notes, Simon Spillett angrily quotes a critic who wrote a disparaging review of Tubby Hayes claiming that Hayes lacked an artistic vision. Spillett strongly disputes that assessment. His passion for his subject permeates his writing. I always read Spillett’s writing, before listening to the music. He illuminates. As he often does, he puts the music into the historical context, setting the scene and whetting the appetite. Here, accompanying this album, there are 30 pages. Spillett mentions two other albums that were recorded at the same venue ‘Addictive Tendencies’ 4/12/66 and ‘Lament’ 2/4/67 both with Mathewson, Pyne and Levin. Obviously, the venue suited the quartet because the intensity on all three albums is similar. There is no doubt in Spillett’s mind that this album contains remarkable music.

Even now, there is nothing quite like Tubby Hayes in UK jazz: the energy, passion and drive still startles. This is a superlative example of his work from the mid-sixties as he moves forward. At the moment, we are living in an age of restraint in jazz; there are lessons to be learnt from this tumultuous music. Energy is eternal delight. ~ Jack Kenny http://www.jazzviews.net/tubby-hayes-quartet---a-little-workout.html

Personnel: Tubby Hayes(tenor saxophone and flute); Mike Pyne (piano); Ron Mathewson (bass); Tony Levin (drums)

A Little Workout: Live At The

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