Search - Jerry Weldon, Michael Karn :: Head to Head

THESE GUYS CAN REALLY SWING

Tony NYC | Brooklyn, NY USA | 12/18/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These two guys are great. But put them together and they are FANTASTIC. They are to the tenor sax, what Phil and Quill (Phil Wood and Gene Quill) were to the Alto. Their playing is faultless. The group inculdes Jerry Weldon and Michael Karn on Tenor sax, Bruce Barth on piano, the always great Peter Washington on Bass and Billy Drumond on drums. This CD, recorded in Brooklyn in 1998 sounds like the great sounds of the Bop, Be-Bop and Hard Bop eras. One would never know that it was recorded in the late nineties. I'm a lover of the 1950 to 1963 era of Jazz before all the fusion, avante garde and acid jazz that I can't stomach. It very encouraging to know that guys in this day and age are playing the kind of jazz that was popular back in the Golden Age of post Big Band Jazz. I really feel that these two guys are the best living Tenor sax players living today (along with Joel Frahm of course). I hear shades of Jimmy Griffin, the great tone of Charlie Rouse, the influence of Sonny Rollins and Dexter Gordon when I listen to this CD. The whole album is great, but my favorite is their GREAT version of the immortal Charlie Parker tune "Ko-Ko". You will NOT be disappointed if you like jazz from that era done by two of todays great players. A must have. By the way, the recording quality is great as well. None of that "Bass in your Face" mixing that ruins so many great recording nowadays. Kudo's to the recording engineer Max Bolleman. A Desert Island must have."