Review: Lou Donaldson - Pretty Things

‘Pretty Things’ is unquestionanly one of Lou Donaldson’s worst efforts, and it certainly reaches the lowest point of his two decade career with Blue Note. Less a terrible recording, and more just flat, an organ takes up most of the space over a range of material that is mostly lacklustre completely unmemorable; the only worthy points really being the jams and solos that Donaldson and underrated trumpet-man supreme Blue Mitchell only very occasionally contribute.

Oddly, Donaldson’s distinct alto tone is traded in on some pieces for some tryouts on the baritone sax, which while he plays just fine, lacks any personality or voom. There are small good sections here, but they are few and far between, and there’s certainly nothing here that hasn’t been done better elsewhere by Donaldson, before or after. Decidedly inessential and justly very hard to track down, ‘Pretty Things’ is simply best wiped from Donaldson’s generally otherwise strong discography.

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