Paul Gonsalves and His All Stars (Riviera XCED 521 149 - also pressed by RCA London with the same catalogue number, but under Riviera's parent company, Barclay).
A1 - I Cover The Waterfront (Green, Heyman) 5:05
A2 - St Louis Blues (WC Handy) 5:50
A3 - Alerado (Will Bill Davis, dedicated to Alexandre Rado) 3:25
A4 - Moon Love (Mack David, Mack Davis, Andre Kostelanetz) 4:50
B1 - Midnight Strole (Anderson) 7:30
B2 - Blues for Marilee (Turney) 2:40
B3 - Sugar Loaf (Anderson) 3:00
B4 - Walkin' (Carpenter) 7:05
Paul Gonsalves, tenor sax
"Cat" Anderson, trumpet
Norris Turney, flute, alto sax
Will Bill Davis (as "Prince Woodyard"), organ
Joe Benjamin, bass
Art Taylor, drums.
Recorded Studio Hoche, Paris, 6 July 1970.
This one is not often seen. Never on CD, and only once on vinyl (Paris and London, 40 years ago).
I doubt anyone would claim this is Paul Gonsalves' - or Cat Anderson's - best work technically speaking. It is from 1970, late in their respective careers, when the years and lifestyles had taken a toll. Apart from the yearning romanticism (with a few outbreaks) of "Waterfront" - Gonsalves' signature tune in his later years - this is not really the place for the smoothness of a Stan Getz, or a Ben Webster in more pacified mood.
However, the playing is adventurous and risk-taking, beyond what you might have expected. I have always liked WIlliam Alonzo Anderson's playing ... not necessarily first and foremost as a high-note specialist atop a famous orchestra at full blast.
And I have always liked Paul Gonsalves too. Again, not necessarily for a particular Newport marathon.
Responding to Gonsalves' lithe sound and impassioned input is a common reaction, it seems, so I hope this upload is popular.
As Humphrey Lyttleton once memorably put it (hardly as a criticism), "by this time Gonsalves' style was like a man sliding around on several banana skins". He certainly slithers, slides, breathes, flutters and is extravagantly expressive on this date - however inconsistent the attack may be in places, and even if he sits out two tracks and only joins the out chorus on another. He seems to get slightly bored playing close to the melody on "Moon Love" after a while, but his two salutes to France are witty and more pertinent on this Paris date than most saxophone quotes!
Alexandre Rado's sleeve note makes most of the unexpected "modernism" on this date, in particular on "Walkin'" (which like "Waterfront", reprises a track from Gonsalves great session "Getting Together!" of a decade before). Justifiably enough. Norris Turney's enterprising "lateral" solo is indeed reminiscent of Eric Dolphy (perhaps surprising from an Ellingtonian) - in fact, it was this reference that first put me on to Dolphy.
But you could go further: the playing of all three horns throughout the date (even on superficially unpromising bossa nova and samba-ish rhythms) is fresh and inspiring, even if there may be some uneven playing, and brittleness in places. Cat Anderson is by no means just an epigone of Louis on "St Louis Blues", there are more daring elements even in that old warhorse (he reserves a more traditional approach, with Bubber-like muting for his original jaunty blues "Midnight Strole").
I have to admit that I have worked on the transfer. Not only that my LP had a lot of crackle, clicks and one big crack across it, but also insofar as I felt the recording was poorly balanced. In particular, the trumpeter was completely swamped by Will Bill Davis' organ on WC Handy's famous standard. If you like swamping by organs, please feel free to ramp up the right channel there. In other places too, left and right channels were poorly balanced (leading to a clash rather than a complement of instruments). My apologies, I did this for musical reasons.
PS: I am not sure the plain text files download from the zip, for reasons I am unclear about. But it doesn't matter - just C and P the above, it's essentially the same!
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