Lou Donaldson - Sophisticated Lou
Released - March 1973
Recording and Session Information
A&R Studios, NYC, December 8, 1972
overdubbed at A&R Studios, NYC, December 18, 1972
Lou Donaldson, alto sax; Eugene Bianco, harp; Joe Venuto, vibes; Derek Smith, piano, electric piano; Jay Berliner, guitar, 12-string guitar; Richard Davis, bass; Grady Tate, drums; Omar Clay, percussion; + overdubs: Joe Farrell, Paul Winter, flute, alto flute; Harry Lookofsky, Aaron Rosand, Irving Spice, violin; Seymour Berman, Harry Zaratzian, viola; Seymour Barab, cello; Wade Marcus, arranger.
11399 (tk.7) Time After Time
11392 (tk.8) You've Changed
11394 (tk.6) What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life
11397 (tk.5) Autumn In New York
A&R Studios, NYC, December 11, 1972
overdubbed at A&R Studios, NYC, December 18, 1972
Ron Carter, bass; replaces Davis.
11393 (tk.4) Stella By Starlight
11396 (tk.14) You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
11398 (tk.2) Blues Walk
11395 (tk.2) The Long Goodbye
Track Listing
| Side One | ||
| Title | Author | Recording Date |
| You've Changed | Carey-Fischer | December 8 1972 |
| Stella By Starlight | Young-Washington | December 11 1972 |
| What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life | Legrand-Bergman | December 8 1972 |
| The Long Goodbye | Williams-Mercer | December 11 1972 |
| Side Two | ||
| You Are The Sunshine Of My Life | S. Wonder | December 11 1972 |
| Autumn in New York | Vernon Duke | December 8 1972 |
| Blues Walk | Lou Donaldson | December 11 1972 |
| Time After Time | Styne-Cahn | December 8 1972 |
Liner Notes
My musical memory of Lou Donaldson goes back to a record he appeared on with the Art Blakey Quintet which also featured Horace Silver, Curly Russell, and the legendary Clifford Brown; some very fast company, to say the least.
But I was impressed!
Especially by the way he darted in and out of the beautfiul bop lines of Wee-Dot; the loving, warm, and affirmative style with which he swung on If I Had You; and I filed his name away for future references.
The next time I ran across the name, Lou Donaldson, it appeared on an album called BLUES WALK, (the title tune of which also appears on this album), on which Lou does a fantastic number on The Masquerade Is Over!
Hey!
By that time I was hooked: new Lou Donaldson albums kept on coming, and I kept on buying them: SWING AND SOUL, WAILING WITH LOU, GRAVEY TRAIN, HERE 'TIS, THE NATURAL SOUL, GOOD GRACIOUS, and of course ALLIGATOR BOOGALOO and MR. SHING-A-LING, and...
Which is my way of saying that deep into Lou Donaldson's music as I was in no way prepared for the beautiful hurting the music in this album put on me, ugh! Good God! SOPHISTICATED LOU places into our ears an altoist who is firm, mature, controlled, and yet, all so pure, lyrical and free; an electrified Lou in a romantic notion, getting down with the lovers, and with strings, no less!
Of the seven tunes on this album not one is a loser; which is rare enough in these, the most plastic of times. And though familiar to us all, in LOU's hand they take on an added dimension, a new magic.
This is especially true of Sunshine of My Life, You've Changed, and Time after Time.
And Blues Walk, I was happy to discover, still retains the good taste of his original version; but with an added dash of hot sauce!
What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life, and The Long Goodbye make you wanna take your lady's hand, feast on her smile, and rap to her eye to eye.
And I thought that Charlie Parker had taken Autumn in New York, and Stella by Starlight about as far as they could go, but I was wrong, 'cause Lou takes them both somewhere else, and back!
In fact, there is something classic about this album: in the sense that Charlie Parker with Strings, Clifford Brown with Strings, Cannonball with Strings, and Coltrane Plays for Lovers, and Ballards are classics.
But then, it's not about labels any more; just about good music — which is what this album is all about.
Prepare yourself for a very beautiful hurting!
—Charlie L. Russell
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