Search - Teddy Edwards :: Sings & Plays Nothin But the Truth

Well, Here's "The Truth"

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 04/11/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Nobody was happier than me when I stumbled upon Teddy Edwards' Teddy's Ready on the webpages of Amazon nearly a decade ago (see my review). A tenor saxophonist with a unique West Coast bebop voice, I proceeded to pick up "Sunset Eyes" and his collaboration with Howard McGhee, "Together Again," but left it at that for years. Last summer, when I realized Teddy's five other Original Jazz Classics CDs were being deleted, I knew I had to take another chance on the saxman. I had reservations about how Edwards would handle the new territory jazz had charted since the early 60s, as this session hails from December 1966, but to tell you "The Truth," he does just fine. "Nothin' But..." is nothing but great soul jazz, with a solid band of Walter Davis on piano, Phil Orlando on guitar, Paul Chambers on bass, Billy Higgins on drums, and the magnificent Montego Joe on congas and bongos. The six songs are divided equally between Edwards originals and standards, and the sound is terrific, another gem from the RVG studios. Get "Nothin' But" this disc before it disappears, and that's "The Truth!""