Search - Art Taylor :: A.T.'s Delight

Why oh why is this CD so EXPENSIVE?! It's 40 min.

douglasnegley | Pittsburgh, Pa. United States | 08/30/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is A.T.'s second (and last, I think) date as a leader, but the lineup is all-star and Stanley Turrentine is all over it, as is Dave Burns on trumpet, who I had forgotten about. The recording is clean, but a little underrecorded volume-wise. No matter. Wynton is...well, Wynton - clean, precise and swinging as always. I'd like to hear Chambers a little better, but due to the obscurity of this recording, don't count on a remastering. The whole groove is totally different than the previous Taylor date ("Taylor's Tenors - 1958) It is now 1960, and the sidemen dictate a different type of recording, and that's cool. "Syeeda's Song Flute" is the opener, and the tone is set. "Epistophy" is a slow grooving blues shuffle with Valdez providing a conga countergroove. You can almost hear a "Kind of Blue" coolness running through this one. "Move" does just that, with Valdez, Taylor, and Burns burning it up. Honestly, Burns really reminds me of Diz here, especially with Valdez pushing the beat. Turrentine is brilliant - Creed Taylor had yet to get a hold of him and change his playing toward more funk. He shines althroughout. "Cookoo and Fungi" give Taylor and Valdez the chance to stretch out some rhytymic dynamics, and the results are close to pure African. All in all, someone would be wise to remaster both Taylor dates and reissue them at a reasonable price in a 2 CD set. And for the record - the name of this CD is "A.T.'s Delight"."

A.T's Delight

Chris Covais | 11/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was surprised to see this cd in a used record shop this weekend. This album is a classic, and I would assume most jazz afficionados would call this album an important part of Blue Note's library. However, this album is at the same time, obscure. It hasn't been done by Rudy Van Gelder, and I'm imagining the copy I picked up from the used record shop is very old, and that I wouldn't find it at a place like Tower, Borders, etc..



Art Taylor is a great drummer. He was one of the drummers to come out of the Philly Joe Jones style of drumming, and was sometimes accused of copying Jones's style. Wherever he was getting his ideas from, he could play them well.



Art Talor did not lead many sessions, but was a sideman on countless numbers of Prestige recordings in the 50's. This album opens up with, probaly my favorite song, and most definately, my favorite Trane original. Art was on the original recording of Giant Steps on which this tune appeared a couple months before the release of this album. Syeeda's Song Flute is fabulous. Art and the guys take this tune up tempo, a little different than this tune is usually taken, but they do it well.



The next track, is a great Monk original. Epistrophy is one of his classics. This song recieves special treatment here, with Potato Valdez on conga.



Denzel Best's Move is the third track. Art sets the mood with cross stick patterns, then Dave Burns plays the melody, before Stanely Turrentine, Wynton Kelly, and Paul Chambers come in to finish it out.



A couple Kenny Dorham originals are left on the album. I'm glad I picked this recording up. It is a great addition to my Blue Note collection."