Search - Herb Ellis, Ray Brown, Harry "Sweets" Edison :: After You've Gone

What a Great Straightahead Date

Nikica Gilic | Zagreb, Croatia | 01/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Excellent and diverse music ranges from mellow and gentle "Detour Ahead" (a virtuoso Herb Ellis-Ray Brown duet) and "Mood Indigo" (where Harry "Sweets" Edison really shines) to hard-swinging numbers such as a heated jam session "Fatty McSlatty" (written by Brown).

By the way, Edison and Ellis are also contributing authors on this CD.



Very soon after a bit suspicious trendy intro on the ancient initial number "After you've gone", Edison states the melody, with Johnson's tenor in the back and the things really start cooking with Johnson's slightly hard-boppish solo (the drummer slashes them cymbals at few very right spots throughout this number). This is followed by Ellis on guitar, than comes Edison and the album is on its swinging way, with no real detours...



This is a great band, with Edison and Brown being its strongest assets (if you ask my humble opinion); good old "Sweets" really shows how great his stylistic range is - from sweet to very, very hot! But the other musicians are also great; the tenor sax player Plas Johnson is particularly effective in faster tempos, while George Duke on piano is very strong and it's pitty he didn't get more spotlight in this concert...



In the end of the CD (and, presumably, of the concert), there's a swinging version of "The Flinstones" theme; this group allegedelly patented jazz treatment of the tune on an album issued right before this one, so this number is called "Flinstones II"... A guranteed crowd-pleaser, the familiar tune is used well (for instance, Jake Hanna has an intelligent and really hot drum solo), without compromising much of the integritiy achieved on the rest of this live (and really kickin') album.



Will someone please reissue this so that others can buy it as well?"

Highly recommended

Nikica Gilic | Zagreb, Croatia | 04/01/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a big fan of mainstream jazz and, in a collection of considerable size,

this CD is one of the best....

Rhythmically extremely rich (no wonder, when you see who plays guitar and bass + the very talented youngster on piano), this album also gives some really hot horns; Harry Edison is at his glorious best here, Plas Johnson is a very convincing partner on tenor. One of those feel good jazz albums, "After you've gone" is highly recommended in my book."

Live Set From The 1974 concord Jazz Festival.......

Robert J. Ament | Ballwin, MO United States | 11/24/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"....something that would become a regular event for the fledgling (at that time ) label. This is a really great sextet outing where you hear Harry "Sweets" Edison at his best on "Mood Indigo" with some nice supporting work from Plas Johnson, the man forever famous from "The Pink Panther Theme".There are some fine solos from guitarist Herb Ellis and bassist Ray Brown on "Detour Ahead" and the funky "Mitch's Lament"."Home Grown" is another showcase for "Sweets" Edison with some fine piano from Duke Pearson. Duke Pearson also gets a nice solo on "Fatty McSlatty".Plas Johnson is heard from again on "Flintstones II" along with some really nice drum touches from Jake Hanna.All in all, a very nice straight ahead jazz sextet cd, that although out of print, is well worth the money and should be available from one of the "used" dealers."