Search - Red Rodney :: Quintets

The early career of Red Rodney

Bomojaz | South Central PA, USA | 11/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD collects two sessions Rodney made, one in 1951 for a 10" Prestige album (it also has been reissued on Prestige 24116-CD, PRESTIGE FIRST SESSIONS, VOL. 3) and the other in 1955 in Chicago for Fantasy. Rodney is in his early prime on both dates, before his drug problems ravished his career until his comeback in the early 1970s.



The earlier session has the young Jimmy Ford, the Houston alto sax man, teaming up with Red, and together they produce some excellent music. The highlight is RED WIG, an up-tempo wailer that is built on 8-bar exchanges between Red and Ford. MARK, based on INDIANA, is another up-tempo romp, with both hornmen eating up the changes.



The Fantasy album is truly one of Red's best; with him here are Ira Sullivan (ts and tp) Norman Simmons (p) Victor Sproles (b) and Roy Haynes (d). All of the original compositions, most written by Simmons, are excellent - all out of the bop idiom, but containing very fluid, melodic lines. DIG THIS features Sullivan nicely on tenor and shows off Rodney's bell-like tone well. Just about every tune is taken up-tempo (some way up) - LAURA is the only slow ballad, with Red tightly muted throughout. ON MIKE finds Sullivan on trumpet trading fours with Red, and it's a great battle royale to the finish. HAIL TO DALE, JEFFIE, AND DADDY-O are all excellent tunes; Red sings on the swift moving RHYTHM IN A RIFF (a Billy Eckstein tune), and he does a good job (unlike many jazz horn players who have given their vocal musings a shot). This is a fantastic CD; definitely worth checking out."