Search - Curtis Peagler, Modern Jazz Disciples :: Disciples Blues

I'm A Disciple!

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 04/23/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the past couple of years, I have tirelessly thumbed through the bins at dozens of record stores, and stayed up late searching the pages of multiple websites, in order to find and purchase hundreds of remaindered jazz titles from the Fantasy/OJC catalog before they disappear forever. I have bought a few duds along the way for sure, but there have also been some amazing discoveries. I had never heard of Curtis Peagler before stumbling upon this CD here on the pages of Amazon (I never even saw it at the various Newbury Comics stores I visited, though you can currently order it from them via the Marketplace.) Hailing from Cincinnati, Peagler's Modern Jazz Disciples were signed to Prestige's New Jazz division by Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. They cut two sessions for the label, "The Modern Jazz Disciples" recorded on September 8, 1959 and "Right Down Front" from May 24, 1960, both featured here as the two-fer "Disciples Blues." The Disciples are Peagler on alto sax (he plays some tenor on the second album), William "Hicky" Kelly on normaphone (a valve trombone shaped like an alto sax) and euphonium on one track, Billy Brown on piano, Lee Tucker on bass, and Ron McCurdy and Wilbur "Slim" Jackson alternating on drums. The Disciples remind me of "Cannonball" Adderley CDs of the same era, which is saying a lot about the quality of their music. Jazz fans at this current low price, you should become a disciple while you can."