After reviewing one too many lacklustre Lou Donaldson albums, I realised that it might look like I don't actually like the alto sax great. But in truth I actually do love Lou Donaldson, or at least his fifties and early sixties classics. So here's perhaps my favourite Donaldson (it might change next week)...
After a direct and successful foray into soul-jazz
with ‘Here ‘Tis’, Lou Donaldson took a further step away from hard bop and
upped the funk levels a further notch. And as with that first organ effort,
Donaldson assembled another crack band, again featuring Grant Green on guitar,
with John Patton providing the Hammond this time around (in place of Baby Face
Willette), Ben Dixon on the drumstool and Tommy Turrentine (brother of tenor
sax man Stanley) on trumpet.
The overall feel of the session is one of a relaxed
groove, with the three rhythm men providing a cooking pulse, and despite
hitting some fiery highs, the group always sounds easy and comfortably
laid-back. Green’s solos in particular simply soar, but also do so leaving a
sensation of euphoria and invigoration. Patton and Donaldson for the most part keep
up and match Greens heady solos, while Turrentine unfortunately mostly sounds
awkward and somewhat self-muted, playing behind Donaldson and keeping his lines
short, as if he’s struggling to adapt his trumpet sound from its usual hard bop
to suit the slow soul groove being newly asked of him.
The three standards handled here are done so skilfully
and full of verve, and with Pattons own ‘Funky Mama’ building up a steamy
smouldering mood, while Johnny Acea’s ‘Nice And Greasy’ sounds cheerfully exactly
as the title suggests. It’s Donaldsons own originals though that leave the
overall indelible impression, which themselves aren’t more than just outlines
of blues and souls vamps, riffs and rhythms, but they create the perfect
springboard for all five men to work up something truly hot each time.
And it is exactly that which Lou Donaldson is trying
to achieve with ‘The Natural Soul’; groove - hot and hypnotic groove. Funky
jazz, without being funk, it leaves the listener knowing and feeling more for
the chops of all the players involved, with the longer the pieces being, the
more room each of the leads has to stretch and fully develop their solos.
‘Funky Mama’ and ‘Sow Belly Blues’ may both be close to ten minutes, but
Patton, Green and Donaldson ensure that they pass in no time at all.
A strong jazz album on its own, it can also serve to
double up as a backing to a laid-back smokey party without being cocktail
music. It also builds on the incredible high standard set by Donaldsons first
step into the soul-jazz waters with ‘Here ‘Tis’ and remains one of his very
best efforts, in any genre. For the most ideal crossover between the worlds of
bop and soul, look no further.
*****
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