The Al Grey ~ Jimmy Forrest Quintet - Live At Rick's (1978) [vinyl]

The short-lived Al Grey-Jimmy Forrest quintet was formed when the pair left Count Basie's Orchestra in 1977 and ended upon Forrest's death in 1980.

Extract from the liner notes by Jerry Valburn, 1979:
It began with a telephone call. The soft spoken voice on the other end said, 'This is Al Grey. Jimmy Forrest and I would like to put out a record on your Aviva label." ... With the major companies concentrating on the disco and rock scene, recording activity with jazz musicians is completely overlooked and neglected. The result is for the small companies to fill this void and this in turn helps these musicians. … Needless to say, I was overwhelmed and honored that both Grey and Forrest would consider releasing their high quality and exciting blend of music on Aviva and I told Al this.
The quartet (with Shirley Scott on piano and Bobby Durham on drums) came into Hopper's in New York in May. Al came out to my studio along with Bobby Durham and brought some unmixed tapes of the group that had been made on location a few months earlier. As could be expected, these were excellent and exciting performance of the quartet. My only misgiving was one of a personal preference. It has always been my feeling that Shirley Scott, one of the most gifted women talents in jazz, has never been featured enough (on records) on the piano. Most recordings find her playing organ, and at the piano she has no peers. Over lunch, that day, I learned that the group would be going into Rick's on the Lake in Chicago for a two week engagement. Shirley Scott would be playing piano during that stand. We made a decision to record, and Al Grey decided to add the veteran bassist, John Duke for the engagement. My close friend, John Gill, is an outstanding recording engineer and audio expert. We asked John to handle the actual recording (John is one of the most talented sound engineers on the scene today, and he had done many pickups at Rick's and was thoroughly familiar with the acoustics of the room). John went in to record during the second week of their engagement (second week in July 1978) and some of the best captured performances of that week are combined on this album.

01 - In A Mellotone
02 - The Jumpin' Blues
03 - Summertime
04 - C.B. And Me
05 - Truly Wonderful
06 - I Can't Get Started
07 - Salty Papa

Al Grey (trombone) Jimmy Forrest (tenor sax) Shirley Scott (piano) John Duke (bass) Bobby Durham (drums)
"Rick's", Chicago, IL, July 19-21, 1978
(Aviva 6002)