Newly discovered Fats Navarro recordings with Bird & Hawk
Dan Miller | Brooklyn, NY USA | 03/31/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Fats Navarro's recorded output is quite small, when compared to the discographies of his contemporaries Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Kenny Dorham. His first small group session with Kenny Clarke was on September 5, 1946 and his last with Charlie Parker (a phenomenal live recording from Birdland with Bud Powell and Art Blakey) was in May 1950. He died on July 7, 1950 due to complications from tuberculosis. Fats recorded less than 150 solos during this 5 year span, so any additions to his discography are a true treasure. His tone was fat and rich and his technique was blistering. Navarro's stylistic approach was closer to saxophonist Charlie Parker than to his idol Dizzy Gillespie.The last year and a half of Fats Navarro's life were sparsely documented. 1949 began with Fats recording with the Metronome All-Stars for RCA on January 3rd. Fats was featured in an interesting brief exchange with Dizzy and Miles. On January 18th, Fats returned to the studio with Tadd Dameron (2 tunes) for Capitol. There was an 8 month gap until the Bud Powell/Sonny Rollins date on August 8th (Blue Note) and the Don Lanphere date on September 20th (Prestige). During this period, Navarro joined Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic. The tour ran from February 11th-March 30th featuring Hawk and Ella Fitzgerald. This is followed by a 9 month gap, which is capped by the May 1950 recordings with Parker at Birdland. This JATP concert from New York City's Carnegie Hall was recorded on February 11, 1949. Navarro is featured with Parker, Sonny Criss, Flip Phillips, Tommy Turk, Hank Jones, Ray Brown and Shelly Manne on Leap Here (Perdido), Indiana and Lover Come Back to Me. The JATP jam session format allows the soloists to play at length (differing from the constraints of the conventional 3 minute 78 rpm record), with the 3 tunes lasting almost 39 minutes. The last 4 tunes find Navarro in a quintet with Coleman Hawkins (they had recorded together twice before in December 1946 & December 1947). Fats and Hawk tackle Rifftide (Lady Be Good), Sophisticated Lady (Hawk ballad), The Things We Did Last Summer (Fats Ballad) and Stuffy (D flat rhythm changes). Fats is in peak condition and his ballad feature is tremendous. Other than Infatuation, from the Don Lanphere session, this is really the only example of Navarro's ballad playing--beautiful. The sound quality is excellent on this recording (nearly identical to the Verve JATP recordings). Bird, Hawk, Hank Jones and Sonny Criss are all in top form and Ray Brown and Shelly Manne are swinging like crazy. But for me, the performance of Fats Navarro makes this a must have. It seems almost impossible that Navarro would be dead a mere 18 months after this recording."
Track Listings (8) - Disc #1