Search - The Red Holloway, Clark Terry Sextet :: Locksmith Blues

Excellent Red Holloway/Clark Terry Collaboration.......

Robert J. Ament | Ballwin, MO United States | 05/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"on a straight ahead sextet offering comprised of six jazz standards and three Holloway originals.



The reason for this review was a previous one I had written of "Some Cats Know" by Jeanie Bryson on which I had praised Red's playing. This led me to dig out two other cds under his name that I had; this one and "Red Holloway and Company" which was a quartet offering.



Red has always been known as an excellent R&B player but the man also plays some fine jazz sax......an excellent alto as well as his tenor. Clark Terry, St.Louis jazz icon, also plays some extremely fine trumpet/flugelhorn, both muted and open, on this set.



Both musicians seem to enjoy the interaction throughout and my personal favorites are "Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe" which is a relaxed showcase feature for Red, "Come Sunday", which likewise, is almost a signature for Clark since he has performed it so often over the years. "Hitting The Road Again" is a catchy medium tempo blues which also has a great but short bass solo by Rufus Reid. The title tune features some humorous vocals by both Red and Clark plus some exceptional guitar work by Phil Upchurch. "'Round Midnight" is taken at a usual sedate pace with Clark's solo which contrasts nicely with the double time alto solo by Red. Clark's muted and open solos nicely complement Red's excellent alto work on "I Got It Bad....." which , indeed, evokes memories of the great Johnny Hodges.



This is an excellent straight ahead jazz sextet displaying the talents of two master horn men with an equally great supporting rhythm section in a very enjoyable program......one that would be welcome in any jazz library."