Duke Pearson

[Justin V]

I really like Sweet Honey Bee. There is not a weak track on the album, and the cast of sidemen is top-notch.

Edited May 23, 2011 by Justin V

[sidewinder]

Very interesting ! Especially to hear that he was thinking of getting Mainstream to record them. A sign of very significant change at Blue Note at the time, I guess. Do I detect also the embryo of Frank Foster's 70s Big band out of this lineup?

[Clunky]

Wahoo or The Phantom. I was hesitant regarding the Mosaic Select , however it significantly exceeds expectations.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

ohhhhhhhhh yea ive seen this before ive seen this before, pearson mentioned talking to bob shad of Mainstreaman about a recording contract and how he wished he had more black people in the band

[sidewinder]

Just been listening to Lee Morgan's 'Standards' album again - that one stands up as a good Duke Pearson session too. Some nice arrangements.

[Shawn]

this is a Duke Pearson leader date in all but name:

5 of the six original songs (Hobo Joe by Joe Henderson), arrangements, piano and liner notes.

So Sweet My Little Girl is one of the most beautiful ballads recorded during this era.

[Daniel A]

I've always loved Duke Pearson's playing and arranging. There's a certain vibe to most of his work which communicates warmth and honesty. There are some nice reflections on Pearson in this (old) thread:

Edit: Almost forgot - my favorite album is 'Sweet Honey Bee'!

Edited May 23, 2011 by Daniel A

[Rooster_Ties]

Hank Mobley's "Slice of the Top" is another 'all arranged by Pearson" outing, and arguably one of Hank's finest dates.

What about Hank's "Third Season"?? - did Pearson arrange that date too?? (I'm 1,000 miles from my CD's, or I'd check myself).

Those are my two favorite Hank dates, in large measure because of the superb arranging - some of the finest in the entire BN catalog.

[Shawn]

Well, Duke was really the "house arranger" during that era, so his stamp is on a large majority of the sessions. This is more obvious on some albums than others.

Lee Morgan's Charisma is another album where Duke isn't listed specifically as arranger, but it couldn't be anyone else doing those charts.

Idle Moments is essentially a Pearson date as well.

[Clunky]

this is a Duke Pearson leader date in all but name:

5 of the six original songs (Hobo Joe by Joe Henderson), arrangements, piano and liner notes.

So Sweet My Little Girl is one of the most beautiful ballads recorded during this era.

very true, I like this one so much I got it on a Music Matters 45rpm set ( only a few BN titles qualify for that upgrade treatment in my house)

[clifford_thornton]

I've always loved Duke Pearson's playing and arranging. There's a certain vibe to most of his work which communicates warmth and honesty.

Edit: Almost forgot - my favorite album is 'Sweet Honey Bee'!

I think that might be my go-to as well, though Angel Eyes is probably the trio LP that I like the best.

[Joe]

If I led a band, we'd definitely have "Rotary" in our book.

[Hardbopjazz]

The Sweet Honey Bee was what first introduced me to Duke Pearson so I will have to go with that album.

[readyrudy30315]

Check out the author!

Thanks for Telling Me about this JSngry Wow Leonard Maltin

Very cool for this to be posted.I kinda remeber reading it many years back.And reading it with uncle Duke.It was right after the time when he returned home(Atlanta) breifly.He has always said that The Big Band was his family.And that those guys could play there butts off.Said that Mickey Roker and Bob Cranshaw could always know what he would do next without having to tell them.Told me once that Pepper Adams was the blackist,white sax palyer he had ever heard.Thats why they call him the knife.Indroducing Duke Pearsons Big Band and Now Hear This in the only two recordings of this great band.Wish that it could have happened with Mainstream!

Up, for the family member.

This was a very nice thing taht you did for our family.Duke Pearson sister,my mother said it was very kind of you.

[Shawn]

I think it's very cool that you're here and sharing your stories with us. Thanks!

[JSngry]

This was a very nice thing taht you did for our family.Duke Pearson sister,my mother said it was very kind of you.

You're more than welcome, and my best to your mom & the rest of the Pearson kin. Glad to have been in the service of a happy show of respect for a truly great & dignified talent whose work always quietly projected great warmth and dignity in every measure.

Just curious - Y'all ever have a Southern-style family reunion in the summer, with custom printed t-shirts and stuff honoring Duke? That would be really cool, right?

[king ubu]

I guess my favorite right now is "Wahoo" - but I've not spent nearly as much time with the later BNs on the Select... and I enjoy "Sweet Honey Bee" and "The Right Touch" a lot, as well! Also got the two trio albums from a board member some months ago (I've known them but never owned them before) and they're very nice, very moody in a good way. The two Atlantics are fine as well!

[readyrudy30315]

This was a very nice thing taht you did for our family.Duke Pearson sister,my mother said it was very kind of you.

You're more than welcome, and my best to your mom & the rest of the Pearson kin. Glad to have been in the service of a happy show of respect for a truly great & dignified talent whose work always quietly projected great warmth and dignity in every measure.

Just curious - Y'all ever have a Southern-style family reunion in the summer, with custom printed t-shirts and stuff honoring Duke? That would be really cool, right?

No we havent had a gathering of all the clan in a while now.But we do get together on unks birthday and christmas.We all gather and play his music.All of his albums,cds and mailny piano.We are all a musical family.And everyone plays a instrument or sing.During those summer events we bbq a lot.Uncle Duke loved to throw a steak on the grill.Love the way you use the word yall.Not all of us southerners dont chew tobaco and hunt coons ! We are just trying to help keep his legacy alive.

[JSngry]

I'm a southerner myself, I understand.

[bertrand]

It is so great to hear of all the efforts you have been making to keep your uncle's legacy alive!

Bertrand.

[.:.impossible]

Hunt coons? I'm a Southerner myself and that's an odd choice of words. Possum maybe.

[Dan Gould]

I'm a southerner myself, I understand.

I've been told that Texans are a whole 'nother animal.

[JSngry]

True, but there's regions/subsets/etc. I'm from North East Texas, about 50 miles from the Louisiana border, with a Mom who grew up mostly in Louisiana. Up until maybe 30-35 years ago, all the major network outles were out of Shreveport, La, not Texas. Same with newspapers. If you wanted to read a "serious" newspaper, you read the Shreveport Times. Couple that with a topography and geology that is far more "southern" than it is" Texan", and you have one cultural subset of Texan - the North-East Texan, who has one foot in the South (hunting/fishing, an insistence on good manners, culinary orientation) the other in the West (gun-love, distrust of all things governmental, fashion sense).

Texas really is a world of its own, just because there's so many worlds of their own inside it...

[Justin V]

I think that it's important to note what an integral role Pearson played on so many classic Donald Byrd albums. His playing, arranging and composing are greatly responsible for making Byrd's albums so consistently enjoyable. I can't help but think that Pearson would have been a hell of an arranger/pianist for Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers given his soulful playing and skill at arranging for small groups.

[Shawn]

I think Pearson was more subtle than what Blakey would have been looking for. Just a hunch.