Search - Jimmy Woods :: Conflict

"Conflict" Resolved!

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 08/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've been focusing on classical so much lately that I wasn't even aware this CD was out until last week. Needless to say I picked up a copy as soon as I saw it. (I'm surprised my cassette copy of the original LP lasted this long.) Jimmy Woods' "Conflict" is one of the best, yet most neglected, jazz albums of the early 1960s. But it's easy to see why he isn't on many people's radar screens, because like a UFO sighting, Woods was only visible for a couple of blips and then seemingly vanished from the jazz scene. His first album as a leader, "Awakening," Joe Gordon's "Lookin' Good" (see my reviews of both), and "Conflict" basically comprise his discography. But don't think he was an inferior player because of his small output -- you don't get a lineup of Carmell Jones, Harold Land, Andrew Hill, George Tucker and Elvin Jones on your album if you're a minor leaguer. Yes, those are the big guns that play on these March 25 & 26, 1963 sessions. In many ways, Woods reminds me of Tina Brooks, although he plays alto and not tenor sax. All of his records feature an impressive cast of characters, incredible songwriting, and knockout solos that leave you scratching your head as to why they didn't become famous. It's a shame both men weren't able to make viable careers in a business they were born for. Hopefully, this CD reissue will allow more jazz fans to discover Jimmy Woods, but do it quickly because this title is a limited edition."

A tasty hard bop truffle worth snuffling out

Bert vanC Bailey | Ottawa, Canada | 12/07/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"'Conflict,' by the `Jimmy Woods Sextet, featuring Elvin Jones,' is an obscure but outstanding session that harks back to March '63, near the end of the post-bop period - the last golden era for jazz.



The leader was unknown to me, although he keeps solid company: along with Coltrane's featured drummer there's Andrew Hill, Harold Land, Carmell Jones and George Tucker. Land got his big break with Clifford Brown and Max Roach, and gained some fame as a west-coast tenor player who led sessions now re-issued as CDs. Carmell Jones, who was often championed by Land, is a trumpeter with great technique seasoned with sharp dissonance and plenty of soul. He moved to Europe in 1965 and had some success joining traveling gigs, including with Oliver Nelson, although on record Jones probably peaked with Horace Silver, Land - and here. A 3-CD set on Mosaic of his 1961-to-'63 work may yet correct his never-quite-made-it status.



Woods' own liner notes remark on the choice of Elvin as drummer: he'd been on Woods' mind while composing. He also refers to Andrew Hill as "new" and speaks of great promise, yet he gets little prominence here. Only some soloing hints at the discordance and thick harmonies to come: in 'Pazmuerte' and 'Look to Your Heart,' for instance, Hill's brief turns reward pricking up one's ears. So if you get this (as I did) for an early taste of Hill's idiom, or even for signs of his studies under Paul Hindemith, you may dig deep but find only roots.



Still, there's heaps of consolation in this recording: as a group they swing hard and the brasses strike out with fiery solos. Woods shines brightly both as the composer of all the disc's numbers and as a gutsy altoist. His playing and leadership are as convincing in the hard-hitting songs, which are in the majority, as in the smoother numbers - such as the dreamy 'Look to Your Heart,' one of the high points of this session. Woods heads a reduced piano-bass-and-brushes combo on this, and while he indulges his delight in bravura soloing through the middle, it's an atmospheric tune that vaguely suggests a wistful Steve Lacy number.



On the memorable 'Aim,' Carmell Jones does plenty of the heavy lifting, and with compelling results. His trumpet is a strong match for Woods' alto sax: equally brash and loose, both stay apace of Elvin and stand up to his turbulence. On a few numbers, such as 'Pazmuerte,' their joyful noise seems to channel Art Blakey's Messengers in energy, more than in that group's famed raucousness. Considering Blakey's legacy, this is no liability: any group reaching for high-grade small-combo extroversion better have its own sound - and this Sextet most certainly has.



Three bonus tracks make this a 56-minute release: very decent for the post-LP era. Woods is radiant in the alternate title song, 'though not as inspired as on the master. On the alternate to 'Aim,' Elvin nearly swamps the sound-stage; still, as with the bonus 'Look to Your Heart,' these alternates are well worth including.



The Sextet is prone to a certain seat-of-their-pants roughness: while tempos never become muddled, they sometimes vary and bend just short of lost control. Still, aren't such devil-may-care liberties precisely hard bop's very gut and sinew?



As for this group's obscurity, the liner notes reveal various inner tensions: Woods mentions his ambivalence about playing, and confesses that after 'Awakening!,' his first album as leader, he really wasn't sure "...whether I could communicate my feelings." This second album's title is meant to express feeling torn between his love of music and parental pressures - but then he adds, rather enigmatically, that a college course in sociopathic behavior "...clarified many of my thoughts on this subject." Whatever all this adds up to, his inner strife is our musical loss.



The sound on this outing is clear, ample stereo, earning this recording a made-in-heaven five/five points. The only letdown here is the lack of other releases: the Woods Sextet produced only this single session -- which is recommended without reservation to those who hanker for tasty hard bop truffles."