Was Rudy Van Gelder really the "fifth Beatle" of jazz?
Matthew Watters | Vietnam | 01/29/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This CD combines two quartet sessions recorded a month apart by tenor saxophonist Benny Golson with two different but top-drawer rhythm sections. The first, with the stellar Wynton Kelly trio in support, disappoints expectations a bit, a rather cool, distant, almost clinical-sounding session recorded at the Nola Penthouse Studios. Then, a month later, with the less-famous but no less outstanding support of Tommy Flanagan (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Art Taylor (drums), Golson turns out a masterpiece, the overlooked album "Free." Golson's tone is as smooth as brandy, luxuriating in the lower registers, and the material is just a kick. The album begins with the cha-cha of "Sock Cha," which shifts back-and-forth between an irresistible Latin groove and straight jazz time, and a fantastic rendering of Noel Coward's "Mad About the Boy", which strikes just the right note of sentimental but humourous suavity. The rest of the album is only a tick behind these two tunes. Art Taylor, who, as a Prestige Records regular, was all over just about every other album in the 1950s, turns in perhaps his greatest performance here. Ron Carter really wakes him up, drives him to pick up from the lazy, hazy groove he typically prefers. But what really seems to make this session so much better than the first one is the sound and the studio ambiance of the Van Gelder Studios. With two such similar records recorded just a month apart, Rudy seems to have added the magic ingredient."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1