Wednesday, January 29, 2020
This Week In Jazz: Jordan Plays Leadbelly
This record was nowhere on my radar until yesterday when the Light In The Attic label shared an Instagram post about an upcoming reissue. I was intrigued enough to delve deeper and by the end of the first listen, I had preordered this baby.
Clifford Jordan is an adventurous player, steeped in the blues, but still able to hard blow with the best of them. On this 1965 session, he tackles many familiar melodies, managing to stay true to Leadbelly's material while still swinging, bopping and honking with enough gall to keep the jazz purists happy. Quite frankly, "These Are My Roots" knocked my socks off.
Jordan is accompanied by Richard Davis on bass, Tootie Heath on drums, Cedar Walton on piano, Julian Priester on trombone, Roy Burrowes on trumpet, Chuck Wayne on banjo and on two vocal tracks, the hauntingly beautiful voice of Sandra Douglass, one of those tunes, "Take This Hammer" is featured here along with "Goodnight Irene" and "Black Betty."
I hope you dig this even half as much as I do. I will never get over just how much great music has come before us with so much of it yet to be discovered.
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7 comments:
This went over well.
LOL, Sal. I like both tunes, especially the Take This Hammer. Fantastic vocals and a great swing to the tune.
It's weird, but I prefer listening to jazz performed live over listening to recordings. Makes no sense, because it's the same music. (I'm talking about the same exact performance, note for note - - not just because in a live setting there would be more improvisation). Somehow I see myself enjoying something like this a lot more standing in the Jazz Tent at JF or sitting at a table at a small club than I do sitting in my living room or listening on my PC (which is what I just did). And I would love to hear that singer in an intimate live setting, those vocals are mesmerizing.
It's not necessarily like that for other types of music, but it's that way for me with jazz. Anyway, thanks for the share today.
I always get Clifford Jordan mixed up with Clifford Brown referenced in "I Remember Clifford." different instruments. Loved hearing earlier Richard Davis. I think I didn't know about him until he played on Janis Ian's comeback (the first one) albums.
If this didn't click, maybe others had the same reaction I had: didn't like "Goodnight Irene" at all and nearly gave up there. Glad I tried the other two though. Much more enjoyable to my ears.
Funny Ken D, I led with "Irene" because it was my fave on the record. It's, at least to my ears, the one track that perfectly matches Guthrie's melody with an almost Ornette vibe. Go figure.
I never realized Black Betty wasn't a Ram Jam original until this very day. The things we learn...
And I liked the version of Goodnight Iren.
Very cool! Great to be hear each instrument in the mix. Usually not immediately drawn to the bass and drum in a song or album but on these songs that's where I was drawn.
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