Search - Buddy Defranco :: Blues Bag

De Franco krushes "Kush".

John T. Swan | 09/03/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

""gimme break" as a japanese friend of mine always says, why isn't this CD highly touted? De Franco's "Blues Bag" is worth the price of admission alone.This album is sold separately starting at about $60.00. You also get the Louis Hayes Quintet with a "youngish" Yuseef Lateef on tenor only. GREAT! The renditon of "Kush" by De Franco and Blakey is beyond description. Do yourself a favor.

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Exquisite

Jazzcat | Genoa, Italy Italy | 04/26/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This very beautiful Vee Jay cd, packs together two albums from different leaders. The first album is "Blues Bag" by Buddy DeFranco, one of the musicians I admire the most. The second album is by the Cannonball Adderley quintet, without Julian, with Jusef Lateef in his place on tenor. It is absolutly something a Jazz lover should own in my opinion. Buddy DeFranco is an underrated musician in my opinion, even if he is considered the greatest clarinet ever. He is more than this, he's a phenomenal musician. In Blues BAg he played ONLY the bass clarinet with fantastic taste. Blues Bag has been recorded in 1964 with a truly a "modern" line up, with Lee Morgan and Freddie Hill at the trumpet (!!!), Victor Feldman at the piano (!!!), Victor Sproles bass, Art Blakey at the drums (!!!), Curtis Fuller trombone (!!!), an all star team! The program is made by blues tunes or blues related ones (Kush and the splendid Rain Dance by Feldman's pen). I think the tunes are wonderful, probably only Kush by Gillespie (in my opinion) is just too much stretched but, just my taste. The other guy who reviewed the album before me found it fantastic, so, it's always a matter of taste. The other album is by Louis Hayes (recorded in 1960) with all his mates which played in the Cannonball Adderley quintet at the time, with the fantastic rhythmn team Hayes/Jones and one of the most boppish piano player around, Barry Harris. With Lateef the combo sounds different of course, but the results are splendid. The style is the same, the hard bop music Cannonball was very well known for. In the end an audiophile consideration. DeFranco album is not very well recorded, ... it is a little dark sounding and overall I'm not very happy with it. Hayes album, even if recorded 4 years before Blues Bag is a lot better. In the end a very beautiful cd, I HIGHLY suggest."