Hush! Duke Pearson Quintet
Stuart Jefferson | San Diego,Ca | 10/31/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Approximately 78 minutes. Good spacious clean sound. Recorded in 1962-63 this could sit alongside Pearson's Blue Note recordings without problem. Besides Pearson,the great Johnny Coles plays trumpet(hear his work on Blue Note and on his album as leader "The Warm Sound")which gives this album a real boost. The rest of the group consists of Donald Byrd also on trumpet,Bob Cranshaw on bass,and Walter Perkins on drums. The bonus tracks have,besides Pearson and Coles,Leo Wright on alto sax,Joe Henderson on tenor sax,with the above rhythm section. The tracks are composed by Pearson,Donald Byrd and include several standards by others.
One of the stand-out tracks is "Angel Eyes",which is a trio recording and has great feeling-to bad it's so short! As is usual there are up-tempo numbers("Hush!","Smoothie") intermixed with ballads("Friday's Child","Angel Eyes")which keep the album from bogging down in repetition. It's nice to have the complete session here with the alternates,plus two bonus tracks from 1963. Be aware that "Friday's Child" can be found on Coles' album "The Warm Sound". The two bonus tracks,"Little Johnny C" and "Jano",can also be found on Coles Blue Note album,"Little Johnny C". The first,"Little Johnny C",is taken at a brisk pace with some nice blowing from Henderson. Of course Coles plays in his own stylish fashion,sounding much like the rest of his Blue Note album. The final track is a good group effort with Wright playing alto sax.
All in all,this album should be more well-known,for anyone who likes sixties small group jazz will enjoy this. The booklet is informative,giving an overview of Pearson's work,which helps the listener to enjoy this little gem even more."
