Search - Roy Eldridge :: Nifty Cat

A last hurrah

jive rhapsodist | NYC, NY United States | 01/02/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"One wants to love this CD. Roy, in the studio again, with a group of his peers. And they're all playing. BUT... It ain't all perfect. I'd give this 3 1/2 stars if I could. Intonation on the heads is really substandard. The rhythm section could have dispensed with the Businessman's Bounce and really laid it down. I don't think it's the ideal rhythm section, in any case. Budd Johnson is wonderful. A timeless,probing, open-minded musician who never quite got his due, because he never found his 100% original voice. He's the only one who plays as though he's aware that Coltrane exists. Listen to that Soprano Sax on Cotton! Roy plays well. He sounds a little tired at spots, but he still has his thing. I love that growl in his sound! His singing on Wineola is not his most loveable.Nat Pierce is the obvious, and safe choice. He plays anodyne - ly, neither hurting nor helping. He does his bargain-price Basie thing. Benny Morton plays as though his life depended on it. Always on the second rank, behind Dicky Wells and Vic Dickenson, he really rises to the occasion here. Tommy Bryant does what he's being paid to do. He seems a bit underrecorded. Oliver Jackson is really strange here. Sometimes he plays a joyless two-beat, as though no-one reminded him that he wasn't at Jimmy Ryan's.But occasionally he tries to interact with the soloist a la Big Sid. Morton seems to bring out the best in him. For lovers of the musicians of this generation, this CD is a must. But it coulda been better!"