Search - Al Cohn, Scott Hamilton, Buddy Tate :: Tour De Force

Ken N. (Kensurfer) from WESTBURY, NY
Reviewed on 8/6/2007...

Masterful swinging horn work

An Appropriately Named Album Since........

Robert J. Ament | Ballwin, MO United States | 07/29/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"it features some of the best tenor saxists around at that time (August 1981) in a live concert in Tokyo, Japan.



The experience of this threesome spanned some of the best of times in jazz from the thirties to the time of this recording. Buddy Tate was the elder statesman of the group (age 68) having taken over Herschel Evans chair in the Count Basie band back in 1939. Al Cohn, age 55, was an excellent tenor who started making his reputation while playing with Woody Herman's Second Herd (1948-1949). This was long before young Scott Hamilton, age 27, was born (1954). It's a credit to Scott's talent at this early age to be trading licks with these two veterans. Of course Scott's albums had already charted on Billboard's top jazz albums four times leaving no doubt as to his credentials.



The program is good solid mainstream material and these guys are clearly on top of their form. It's sometimes difficult to pick out the different solos on the faster pieces but the liner notes provide a great assist. At times, Scott and Buddy sound very similar......but Buddy seems to play with a little more force while Scott appears to me to be more fluid and breathier.........sort of like comparing a Ford and GM automatic transmission (I know that's a strange analogy). You can feel the shift points on the Ford product (Buddy) but the GM is much less noticeable (Scott). Doubtless because at this time one can hear the influence of Ben Webster in Scott's playing. Al Cohn, on the other hand, is more recognizable since although he was comparable to Zoot Sims , with whom he had played many times, his tone seems deeper and darker with maybe a slightly harder edge.



Besides chasing each other in solos in a half dozen of the selections, each of these gentlemen has his own spotlight feature, "Stella By Starlight" (Scott), "Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me" (Al) and "Jumpin At The Woodside" (Buddy).



All of this is very capably supported by guitarist Cal Collins and a rhythm section comosed of Jake Hanna on drums, bassist Bob Maize, and Dave McKenna at the piano.



This should be appealing to anyone who likes great mainstream jazz, followers of these particular musicians, and most especially, fans of truly great tenor sax. A worthy addition to anyone's library!"