BLP 4035

Duke Pearson - Tender Feelin's

Released - February 1961

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, December 16, 1959
Duke Pearson, piano; Gene Taylor, bass; Lex Humphries, drums.

tk.10 On Green Dolphin Street
tk.16 When Sunny Gets Blue

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, December 19, 1959
Duke Pearson, piano; Gene Taylor, bass; Lex Humphries, drums.

tk.36 The Golden Striker
tk.38 I Love You
tk.46 I'm A Fool To Want You
tk.47 Bluebird Of Happiness
tk.56 3 A.M.

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Bluebird of Happiness	Sandor Harmati, Edward Heyman, Harry Parr-Davies	19/12/1959
I'm a Fool to Want You	Joel Herron, Frank Sinatra, Jack Wolf	19/12/1959
I Love You	Cole Porter	19/12/1959
When Sunny Gets Blue	Marvin Fisher, Jack Segal	16/12/1959
Side Two
The Golden Striker	John Lewis	19/12/1959
On Green Dolphin Street	Bronislau Kaper, Ned Washington	16/12/1959
3 A.M.	Duke Pearson	19/12/1959

Liner Notes

THE ROAD from obscurity to prominence in jazz has been shortened substantially though the building of a freeway. This route, which enables even the most casual traveler to reach his destination in o fraction of the time it used to take his predecessors, is known as the solo LP. Sidemen who for years would cherish an ambition to become leaders, if only for a few hours in a recording studio, now are granted this wish as soon as they show any substantial evidence of individual talent.

Such was and is the case with Duke Pearson, who was fortunate enough some months ago to attract the attention of Alfred Lion and soon afterward made his first piano trio date on Blue Note LP 4022. Basically Duke was, and remains, a sideman; after working a few dates with Donald Byrd (including one of Donald's own Blue Note LPs, 4026) he was heard by Benny Golson, who soon hired him for the Golson-Art Farmer Jazztet. Fortunately for Duke, while he is working his way around the jazz clubs as a sideman, earning valuable exposure, he is able to build a reputation simultaneously as leader of his own threesome, which on the present sides is heard in its second set of performances.

In the notes for the original Pearson Ira Gitler pointed out that Duke was born Columbus Calvin Pearson in 1932 and nicknamed by on uncle who was a fan of the already famous Ellington band. He also mentioned the interesting and relevant fact that Pearson for several years played a horn of one kind or another — first mellophone and baritone horn, later trumpet, Which he played during his Army service only six or seven years ago.

Pearson's background as a hornblower may have some bearing on his style. It may, in fact, be more than a coincidence that several other modern jazz pianists, notably the former tenor saxophonist Horace Silver, have some horn experience to their credit. I raise this point only because Duke, like many of his contemporaries, has what is fundamentally a single-note style. As for back as 1930 Earl Hines was being referred to by musicians and fans as the trumpet-style pianist; ever since then there has been a marked relationship between the expression of jazz on instruments capable of playing only one note at a time and the styles developed by pianists who use chords sparingly.

Duke is typical of the present-day horn-style pianist. Whether the explanation lies in his experience with brass instruments or simply in the sheer logic of this approach, it seems to me that single-note-line technique is by no means a waste of the keyboard's resources but rather an intelligently spare use of its scope. In his improvisations Duke achieves linear melodic qualities that make the fullest use of his agility; how many notes he plays at a time would seem to be far less important than how much of a mood he can sustain, how much continuity and how much inspiration. In any case, the linear movements of a pianist in Pearson's class achieve many objectives, in terms of intervals and speed, that cannot be reached on a horn and are therefore essentially pianistic; moreover, when he feels that a chordal approach is called for, as in the outlining of the Love You melody on Side 1 here, the use of this style is the more effective for the contrast created.

As in the first album Duke is concerned mainly with the development of original ideas on familiar themes. Every improvising musician in effect is a composer, but Duke usually prefers to take a familiar popular song as a point of departure. Perhaps the first track in this set is the most improbable, since it is hardly an everyday event for a jazz musician to cook up as tasteful a broth as Duke does on the normally uninspiring tune Bluebird of Happiness.

The performance opens with a series of chords against a B Fiat pedal point, from which Duke eases almost imperceptibly into the melody while keeping the pedal-point effects going during the first bars and again in the last eight. Notice how for several measures after he has taken into the ad lib portion he returns to the three notes of the melody corresponding with the word "happiness". The rhythm section that supplied Duke's impeccable support on his previous album is heard again, with Gene Taylor of the Horace Silver Quintet supplying a fine walking chorus While Duke comps, and ex-Gillespie drummer Lex Humphries rounding out the trio firmly and cohesively at this bright tempo.

I'm A Fool to Want You is an attractive minor-key melody for which Frank Sinatra takes one of the writer credits and which has been used occasionally by jazz singers and combos. After an introduction in which Gene Taylor's bowed bass plays an important part, Duke outlines the theme, enriching the chord structure and rephrasing the melody just enough to give it his own personality without destroying any of its inherent qualities.

I Love You, the Cole Porter tune heard increasingly often in jazz circles during the past couple of years, is treated moderato with a Latin beat supplied by Lex Humphries, using the customary reversion to a straight four during the release and a resumption of this regular beat from the second chorus on. Though Duke has spent much time around such pianists as Wynton Kelly and Phineas Newborn, his debt to Bud Powell seems evident especially in the blowing choruses on this track. Duke and Lex trade some ingenious fours in the later passages.

When Sonny Gets Blue is one of those songs that seems to land by accident in the lap of jazz. A simple melody rendered interesting by its harmonic changes, it provides a better than overage vehicle for Duke's melodic style with his gentle stroking of chords and occasional cascades of single notes. Try to imagine how this tune might be played by Horace Silver or Horace Parlan, to name a couple at random, and you will realize what a broad variety of pianistic personalities have lent their imprimatur to the Blue Note label.

The Golden Striker has of Course been closely associated With two other pianists: John Lewis, of the MJQ, who composed it, and Oscar Peterson, whose interpretation would be hard to top. Fortunately Duke doesn't try to emulate either, preferring to strike out for his own vein of gold. The bass notes in the opening passages are discreetly selective, part of a genuine interplay with the piano. Before the long regular cooking-jazz segment begins there are a few spots in which Gene takes over the spotlight. Note the important role played on this track by Duke's agile left hand — comping, moving in parallel lines and providing counterpoint as well as swinging.

On Green Dolphin Street, a moving theme by the motion picture writer Branislaw Kaper, is no stranger to jazz, having earned some prominence through the Ahmad Jamal version. This tune can easily degenerate into a Frankie Carle-Carmen Cavallarc type of waterfall-music, but Duke manages to retain its melodic and harmonic essence (based on descending triads) While adding a firm beat and a distinctly funky quality that ranks high among the "tender feelin's"' expressed throughout these sides.

3 A.M. is a unique track. As Alfred Lion recalls it, "The session was over, and everybody was ready to pack up and the lights in the studio had been turned off. Then Duke started to play the blues, with his hat on, and quickly Gene grabbed his bag and Lex got ready. In the control room we got set, but fast, and this is the result. It sure is a relaxed and soulful piece of music." True; and a very basic blues at that, right through Duke's choruses and the excellent solo by Gene, all the way down to the traditional blue-ninth tremolo at the end.

I believe it must be a happy blend of intuition and good judgment that enables the Blue Note family to take under its wing so many talents just as they are ripe for development. Duke Pearson certainly is one who was ready. The first impression one gets from this LP is that the progress is already under way, for these sides certainly are even better than his debut date on 4022. It will be gratifying to follow Duke's career as he continues to move steadily along the freeway Alfred Lion has helped to build for him.

— LEONARD FEATHER
(Author of The New Encyclopedia of Jazz)

Cover Photo by FRANCIS WOLFF
Cover Design by REID MILES
Recording by RUDY VAN GELDER