BLP 1566

Lou Donaldson - Swing And Soul

Released - October 1957

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, NJ, June 9, 1957
Lou Donaldson, alto sax; Herman Foster, piano; Peck Morrison, bass; Dave Bailey, drums; Ray Barretto, congas.

tk.1 Herman's Mambo
tk.4 Peck Time
tk.6 There Will Never Be Another You (mono take)
tk.8 Groove Junction
tk.10 Dorothy
tk.11 Grits And Gravy
tk.12 I Won't Cry Anymore

Session Photos

Photos: Francis Wolff

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Dorothy	Rudy Nichols	09/06/1957
I Won't Cry Any More	Al Frisch, Fritz Wise	09/06/1957
Herman's Mambo	Herman Foster	09/06/1957
Peck Time	Lou Donaldson	09/06/1957
Side Two
There Will Never Be Another You	Mack Gordon, Harry Warren	09/06/1957
Groove Junction	Lou Donaldson	09/06/1957
Grits and Gravy	Lou Donaldson	09/06/1957

Credits

Cover Photo:	FRANCIS WOLFF
Cover Design:	DAVID LUNN
Engineer:	RUDY VAN GELDER
Producer:	ALFRED LION
Liner Notes:	IRA GITLER

Liner Notes

IN EARLY August, on returning home from vacation, I received a pleasant surprise when I found package from Blue Note awaiting me. It was a test pressing of a new recording by Lou Donaldson and inside the record envelope was a typewritten sheet with the personnel, the titles and a special message from Alfred Lion which was underlined and read, "The best Lou Donaldson I ever recorded..."

Since I know Al Lion to be an astute and unbiased judge of music even When it is on his own label I took these words at face value while I kept in mind all the other fine records Lou made for Blue Note.

When I spoke to Lou he echoed the thought that he had made many records for Blue Note which he liked. Although he wouldn't say that these were the best, he did make the point that he was trying to do something a little different in this set.

"There are several different ways to play the alto saxophone, like Charlie Parker or Johnny Hodges for instance." Lou said.

Lou, of course, is known for his exciting work in the Parker idiom and as someone who plays himself all the time, he is within the same style in this recording. He has however, concentrated on different aspects of his horn here as regards timbre and control and while it is not Johnny Hodges (and never meant to be), it is a different and more complete Lou Donaldson, polished but not to point where you can't see inside anymore. It is a perfection of a sort which might make a lesser jazzman a slick one if he were to approach a parallel on his instrument.

If you heard Wailing With Lou, BLP 1545, Lou's last Blue Note album (and it was a gasser), you will remember that some of the same musicians who appeared with him there are also present here.

Herman Foster, who made his recording debut in Wailing With Lou, is a pianist who has been blind since birth. The way Herman tells it, "I became interested in the piano during grammar school. A girl taught me a hymn and I went on from there."

His varied style of alternate single line and chords is an effective one and the organ effects he evokes while stroking the block chords are especially ingratiating.

Another returnee is "Peck" Morrison, the bassist who has worked recent in-person jobs with Lou too. "Peck" is a strong rhythmic support and his simple but powerful solos on the two blues numbers are what jazz is about.

A drummer who fits admirably with "Peck" is Dave Bailey, the regular drummer with Gerry Mulligan since 1955. From August to December of that year, "Peck" was with Gerry too and so this is a reunion for them.

For more rhythmic content, Lou added the conga of Ray Barretto, a drummer who has played with all the name Latin bands in New York but who prefers play with a jazz group when he gets the chance. Heard on all numbers but Grits and Gravy, Ray gets right in the feeling of the group and in his solo spots shows a definite feeling for jazz phrasing.

Dorothy, the opening selection, is a composition by Rudy Nichols, a drummer who has been heard with Charlie Mingus and Teddy Charles. Lou delivers the melody with a tender clarity and solos with a combination of facility and warmth before returning to the theme.

A ballad from around 1940, I Won't Cry Anymore, is treated to a tempo change and benefits from solos by Herman Foster and Lou. By the very drive he adds to the rhythm section, Roy Barretto shows he knows how to use the conga drum in a jazz context.

Ray plays a more conventional role on Herman's Mambo written by Herman Foster. After a rhythmic opening, the attractive theme is introduced. Then the time is doubled for Lou's swiftly darting solo and doesn't resume its original pace until the end of Herman's say.

Peck Time is a blues original by Lou based on a phrase from Swinging On A Star that he has been known to quote often. The rhythm section supplies a wonderful bottom during Lou's solo wherein he goes strolling as Herman lays out. Herman's solo follows, a happy amalgam of his two approaches; Peck has two walking choruses and the two drummers exchange "fours" With Lou.

When There Will Never Be Another You was written, it was conceived as a ballad, but jazzmen, except for Lester Young on one of the first jazz recordings of the tune, have raised its tempo to medium and up. Here Lou delivers a soulful ballad rendition aided by Foster's delicate strength at the piano.

The theme of Groove Junction, a swinging Donaldson opus, sends Herman Foster off winging in a solidly grooving medium tempo solo. Lou's two choruses are done in the strolling manner and Herman returns to back him in the third. Before the final theme, Ray and Dave converse in their different drum dialects.

Grits And Gravy is the closer. It's a funky, down home blues with a mood setting introduction by Peck leading into solos by Lou and Herman that continue and deepen the general atmosphere. Then Lou returns for a summing up that is as blue as the blue on a Blue Note label.

Perhaps you have some other special favorites and won't agree with Al Lion's opinion that these are the best things Lou Donaldson has ever done for Blue Note. If you are singling out individual performances I might agree with you but on the basis of an entire session, I am in concurrence with Alfred. Lou has reached a new level of performance; it's a high one.

—IRA GITLER

Cover Design by DAVID LUNN
Photo by FRANCIS WOLFF
Recording by RUDY VAN GELDER