Search - Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Johnny Griffin :: Battle Stations

I'm Wearing Out the CD

J. G. Gollin | Holmdel, NJ United States | 08/22/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this CD a 2 or 3 months ago and am wearing it out playing so often in the car.If you like burnin; straight ahead jazz featuring 2 tenor players - each one with one foot in swing/blues and the other foot in bebop, you've got to buy this CD.Griffin got a bit overshadowed by John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins in the late 50's/early sixties but was almost as important musically. He was terrific at playing at double-time.Jaws had this strange way of playing "off the melody" so that everything sounded "flat" but still in key. I'm not a musician and will probably butcher the nomenclature, but it was as though he was playing on top of inversions of the chord progressions rather than the belly of the chord itself (kind of "inside out"). Let's put it this way: When you hear Jaws playing, you know it's Lockjaw, because no other tenor in a half-century has sounded that way.The tunes are great. The rhythm sections are smokin'. Add this one to your collection. And be prepared to wear out the CD."