Search - Johnny Griffin :: Kerry Dancers

The right drive.

Jazzcat | Genoa, Italy Italy | 06/21/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"No long discussions on this album. Simply phenomenal Jazz from early sixties. Griffin plays magnificiently here, as he always did by the way. This album has nothing sloppy, no weak points, no folkish trash as the title might you think. Simply it is sixties Jazz very well spoken ... it's original in a sense, but very "in the pocket", very straight ahead post bop Jazz, with hard drive, focused and brilliant. Gold from its beginning to its ending. Uaoh!"

"Little Giant's" Got'em Dancin'

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 06/27/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

""The Kerry Dancers," the follow-up to tenor-saxophonist Johnny Griffin's "Change of Pace" LP, finds the "Little Giant" changing his pace once again. These sessions from December 1961 and January 1962, trade in the unique, modern textures he created with french horn player Julius Watkins on "Pace" for an exploration of traditional folk songs and standards with the rhythm trio of Barry Harris, Ron Carter and Ben Riley. The album also contains three originals -- "25 1/2 Daze" and " Ballad for Monsieur" both by Sara Cassey, and "Oh, Now I See" by Griffin. This is an excellent disc overall, but my reason for withholding a fifth star is that although I appreciate Griffin venturing out to explore new territory on albums like "Change of Pace" and "The Kerry Dancers," I believe his earlier post-bop albums like "Johnny Griffin Sextet" (see my review) or "The Congregation," and his collaborations with Blakey and Monk, will always be the highlight of his career. But real fans of the "Little Giant" will want to dance with "Kerry" quickly, since this CD, like most of Griffin's OJC offerings, is a limited edition title."

The gaelic charm of johnny griffin

that opinionated guy | 05/31/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"before you get any funny ideas, you should know in advance that the treatments of irish folks songs only takes up half of this cd's length. that material is pretty fun and charming but it's probably for the best that it ends after 4 songs, because it'd likely get tiresome for a whole cd. the other 4 songs are more straightforward jazz. it's all well performed by a quartet that features the terrific pianist barry harris.



this is certainly worth having if you're a fan of johnny griffin or even if you just like good jazz. johnny griffin is my candidate for "unsung hero" of jazz. a wonderfully inventive and talented saxophonist, there doesn't seem to be much of a johnny griffin cult out there. even a hack like sonny stitt gets more recognition than griff, which seems unfair to me.



by the time griffin recorded this session (1962) he had gone from a combative saxophonist (he was often billed as the world's fastest tenorist) to a more mature and subtle player. if you've ever heard his blue note debut (introducing johnny griffin) you know what i'm talking about. that kind of dizzying overkill is mostly absent here. though griff's dazzling technical ability is still in evidence, he rarely heads into the stratosphere for the sake of it.



if you like traditional jazz with a slight twist, this is a good album for you. but there are better johnny griffin albums worth buying before this. especially recommended would be "battle stations" (an amazing album with lockjaw davis) and the offbeat "change of pace" which features griff with french horn player julius watkins and two basses.

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