Search - Dave Bailey :: One Foot in the Gutter

For the Audiophile Collector!

Stephen D. Mackellar | Wisconsin | 05/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"During the fifties and sixties, Jazz labels kept a long-standing tradition of allowing their contracted talents to collaborate in order to form what would now be called 'super groups'. Usually arranged by over-zealous producers rather than the artists themselves, the results were often horrendous and destructive to the compositions they attempted.



This ensemble was hand-picked by Bailey himself. Epic agreed, then worked out the deals. As a result, we're treated to a close-knit group of friends, all of whom knew each other quite well and had worked amongst each other prior to this meeting. And oh!--what a cast! Junior Cook (long-time member of the Horace Silver Quintet), Clark Terry (long-time member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra), Curtis Fuller (Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and some inexplicably lesser-known LPs as leader of his own Quintets/Sextets), Horace Parlan (Charles Mingus' pianist '57-'59, including "Ah Um"), Peck Morrison (played with everyone coming into town as a session man; never left NYC), and Dave Bailey (a pilot in WWII and later an airline pilot, best known for his work with Jerry Mulligan).



Bailey seems to follow a close theoretical parallel to Miles Davis' masterpiece "Kind of Blue", hand-picking the members of this sextet and entering the studio without rehearsal or a pre-determined setlist.



All too often one hears the term "masterpiece" bandied about; "Kind of Blue" fits this easily for the fact that Miles wrote the original pieces immediately prior to the performances. Although the three titles included ("One Foot in the Gutter", "Well, You Needn't", and "Sandu") are indeed masterpieces in their own right, rather, this performance is a masterwork--one borne of musicianship and the charged atmosphere of the moment.



Contrary to the description, this is not a live-from-stage project; a handful of close friends were invited to attend the session inside the recording chamber. Each soloist feeds off of the other musician's applause and that of their friends, a handful of which were in the 'audience' on the recording floor. The result shows insired musicians at the peak of their improvisational abilities, effortlessly phrasing in and around the stated theme.



Not only is the performance a masterwork, the same goes for the recording; I rank it right up at the top along with Bill Evans' "Waltz for Debbie". Staging, depth, and dynamic range is spot-on: Bailey's cymbals shimmer, Terry's Flugelhorn is warm and deep, as is Fuller's trombone, and Cook's tenor has the all the intensity conveying his Bop roots. For the audiophile with exceptional equipment, you'll not be let down, and for the neophyte, an eye-opener to the technical brilliance a handful of early engineers posessed and the so-called 'primitive' equipment they posessed. Try to find the ultra-rare Classic Records heavy vinyl reissue of this one at all costs.



Overall, this one rates six stars of five."