Jenkins, Jordan, and Timmons

[mikeweil]

I keep asking myself whether I had this on vinyl and skipped it ..... I guess it was one of those albums I passed on for checking out later whenever I came across it, mainly because I suspected it to be one of those blowing dates. But now that I read it is not, it moves up on the buying list.

Considering the short playing time it would have been an ideal candidate for one of those twofer CDs.

Edited May 18, 2007 by mikeweil

[michel1969]

Larry,

Would you define what you mean by "shaggy".

Prestige dates of that era often tended to sound like rather off-the-cuff, let's roll the tape and see what we get affairs, compared to Blue Note dates of the same era on which similar musicians were playing the same style of music. Alfred Lion opted for pre-session rehearsal and preparation, and Bob Weinstock typically did not. This album almost has a Blue Note feel to it. Far more typical of Prestige's "shagginess" would be, say, the Jenkins-Jackie McLean "Alto Madness," also from 1957, which has some fine moments on it but hardly seems to have been produced at all -- given the minimal writing and the blow-till-you-drop length of the title track, with its seemingly endless series of exchanges between the two altoists, intense though those exchanges are at times. Again, I have the feeling that Clifford Jordan was the de facto producer on "Jenkins, Jordan, and Timmons."

I fully agree regarding shaggy sessisons. . One of the best example is "A long drink of the blues" by Jackie McLean. Obviously the drink was long.

[BruceH]

Larry,

Would you define what you mean by "shaggy".

Prestige dates of that era often tended to sound like rather off-the-cuff, let's roll the tape and see what we get affairs, compared to Blue Note dates of the same era on which similar musicians were playing the same style of music. Alfred Lion opted for pre-session rehearsal and preparation, and Bob Weinstock typically did not. This album almost has a Blue Note feel to it. Far more typical of Prestige's "shagginess" would be, say, the Jenkins-Jackie McLean "Alto Madness," also from 1957, which has some fine moments on it but hardly seems to have been produced at all -- given the minimal writing and the blow-till-you-drop length of the title track, with its seemingly endless series of exchanges between the two altoists, intense though those exchanges are at times. Again, I have the feeling that Clifford Jordan was the de facto producer on "Jenkins, Jordan, and Timmons."

Yes, I remember being quite surprised at how little I liked Alto Madness.

[Kalo]

Larry,

Would you define what you mean by "shaggy".

Prestige dates of that era often tended to sound like rather off-the-cuff, let's roll the tape and see what we get affairs, compared to Blue Note dates of the same era on which similar musicians were playing the same style of music. Alfred Lion opted for pre-session rehearsal and preparation, and Bob Weinstock typically did not. This album almost has a Blue Note feel to it. Far more typical of Prestige's "shagginess" would be, say, the Jenkins-Jackie McLean "Alto Madness," also from 1957, which has some fine moments on it but hardly seems to have been produced at all -- given the minimal writing and the blow-till-you-drop length of the title track, with its seemingly endless series of exchanges between the two altoists, intense though those exchanges are at times. Again, I have the feeling that Clifford Jordan was the de facto producer on "Jenkins, Jordan, and Timmons."

Yes, I remember being quite surprised at how little I liked Alto Madness.

I always thought of you as more of a "Tenor Madness" kind of guy.

[BruceH]

Larry,

Would you define what you mean by "shaggy".

Prestige dates of that era often tended to sound like rather off-the-cuff, let's roll the tape and see what we get affairs, compared to Blue Note dates of the same era on which similar musicians were playing the same style of music. Alfred Lion opted for pre-session rehearsal and preparation, and Bob Weinstock typically did not. This album almost has a Blue Note feel to it. Far more typical of Prestige's "shagginess" would be, say, the Jenkins-Jackie McLean "Alto Madness," also from 1957, which has some fine moments on it but hardly seems to have been produced at all -- given the minimal writing and the blow-till-you-drop length of the title track, with its seemingly endless series of exchanges between the two altoists, intense though those exchanges are at times. Again, I have the feeling that Clifford Jordan was the de facto producer on "Jenkins, Jordan, and Timmons."

Yes, I remember being quite surprised at how little I liked Alto Madness.

I always thought of you as more of a "Tenor Madness" kind of guy.

It is a better album, to be sure. But I'm more of a Mad Magazine/Harvey Kurtzman kind of guy.

[relyles]

I picked this one up recently based on the recommendation of this thread. I listened to it quite a bit in the past week and have been enjoying it very much. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Tom 1960]

I recently got ahold of this recording and agreed it's a real good one. I'm glad to see many people here share the love.

[Brad]

I got this date years ago when I was deep in my Jazz Messengers habit and was trying to listen to anything and everything with Bobby Timmons. Agree with all the comments about the date. Great session.

One thing I always liked was the cover: green letters on a yellow background. However, after reading some of the comments about Prestige's practices, you have to wonder if they just dashed it off. Recently listened to A Long Tall Drink of the Blues and it does have a haphazard quality but that argument at the beginning of the session gives it a distinctive mark.

[bertrand]

I believe you can still get it from Daedalus.

Bertrand.

[Peter Friedman]

I too have had this one since the LP era. It is funny to me that with all the earlier talk about the so-called "shaggy" sessions on Prestige,

many many years later I very much enjoy all of those Prestige ( often unorganized?) dates. In fact I like some of them more now than

when I first heard them a number of decades ago.

[Free For All]

Great cover too.