TUBBY HAYES-THE LITTLE GIANT
Stuart Jefferson | San Diego,Ca | 11/18/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Four discs-75,77,68,76 minutes each approximately. Digitally remastered-the sound is clean but lacks a bit of spacial qualities found in more modern recordings. These are the early recordings of one of Britain's finest tenor sax players,and it is a cornerstone of British jazz.
Hayes started off playing in small orchestras and went on to play in smaller groups until his early death. He was also an arranger of note,and put those skills to use throughout his short career. This set begins in the mid-fifties with Hayes playing in several larger orchestras,and even then his prowess on the tenor sax was out in front as a featured soloist. These tracks are straight ahead,hard tunes with little let up. These tracks represent hard-swinging big band music at it's finest.
The second disc begins with Hayes playing in an octet and then moves to a quartet/quintet setting. Besides Hayes,the other player/players get some time up front in order to set up Hayes for yet another swinging,flowing solo. These tracks really show what an ensemble player Hayes was-after soloing he would let the other players solo,and if need be,support them unobtrusively. Being personally partial to small group jazz,I thought the tracks with larger ensembles,where Hayes might get lost,would be of lesser interest. This is certainly not the case. The excitement factor is present all through these tracks,no matter what size group. When a ballad comes up Hayes sounds a bit like Ben Webster in tone. His "breathy" notes and the spaces between the notes really show his skills to the maximum. His playing on the faster tracks could be any one of a number of well-known sax players-but Hayes manages to forge his own sound.
Disc three is made up mostly of live tracks with a big band. The sound is not as good as the studio tracks,with just a bit of compression with a slightly distant sound. This disc also contains several previously unreleased tracks that are very good,swinging jazz. There is an announcer's voice introducing the numbers which brings a bit of atmosphere to the recordings,done for the BBC. Next up are several tracks recorded at The Royal Festival Hall in 1956. These tracks have better sound than the previous sides,but are still a bit flat. The last three tracks are Hayes again in a quintet setting.
The last disc brings the listener up through 1956 with Hayes in quintet,sextet,and ninetet settings,,and,finally,big band sides. The vast majority of tracks on this disc run fairly long(6-14 minutes or so) and some are again,recorded live,this time at The Flamingo with Ronnie Scott on tenor sax,with guest Hayes also on tenor sax. The last few sides are big band jazz,and the length of these tracks give the band a chance to stretch out and really swing,or give a ballad a chance to breathe. The players on most of these tracks will be unknown to most Americans,with the exception of Victor Feldman,Dizzy Reece,Ronnie Scott,and maybe one or two others. Suffice to say that the musicians who make up the various groups were all good players on their chosen instrument.
The booklet enclosed is very informative-giving an overview of Hayes and the era that this wonderful music was recorded. Pick this up if big band jazz is your thing. These sets are not in print for too long-which is a shame. Music of this caliber should be heard by many more people than it seems to reach."
Track Listings (24) - Disc #1