When it's Haynes it roars!
Erik Werkman | Utrecht, Netherlands | 11/23/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is an excellent album (better than the one carrying the title of this review) by one of the great drummers of all time, who has played with all the greats and who is still very active on the jazz scene today. His style is immediately recognizable and is characterized probably best in words by the title "Snap Crackle", one of the cuts on his classic album "Out In The Afternoon", recorded some 32 years (!) earlier than this record, which dates from 1994. His fellow players on this album are: Donald Harrison - alto sax, Pat Metheny - guitars, David Kikoski - piano, Christian McBride - bass. As you never know what kind of results are produced by a non-regularly-working band, in this case they are very fine. Pat Metheny is superbly focused and delivers three and a half of his tunes to the recording: the uptempo tunes "John McKee" and "James" as well as the gorgeous ballad "If I Could" (under Pat's own name recorded as "Farmer's Trust") and a shared credit with Ornette Coleman for "Trigonometry". Donald Harrison, whose playing I normally don't like very much, is great on alto sax and his tune "Good For The Soul" is just what it promises to be. The other four compositions are very well-chosen indeed: Chick Corea's "Like This" sets the record off with a good start, Charlie Haden's "Blues M45" shows Roy's talents to the full, giving it his particular timing, and Monk's "Trinkle Twinkle" shows you that there is probably not a more adapt drummer for Monk's quirky twists than Roy. All in all, it is a wonderfully paced set, with enough adventure in their playing to make it worth repeated listenings. Add to that the great recording quality, making it sound natural and big at the same time, and you won't be surprised that I highly recommend this. If you look for more Roy Haynes, I would recommend amongst his many recordings: his own "Out Of The Afternoon" and "Trio with Danilo Perez and John Patitucci", Oliver Nelson's "The Blues And The Abstract Truth", Gary Burton's "Like Minds", Kenny Barron's "Wanton Spirit", Monk's "Misterioso" and his recordings with Sarah Vaughan."
Track Listings (8) - Disc #1