Michael Weiss Posted March 16, 2014 Report Posted March 16, 2014 talkin' 'bout respect, Poppa Lou doesn't have too much of that to give away to all the junkies he had to play with and all the junkies whose playing he didn't and doesn't get ... Poppa can be a major nuisance and it really spoils the fun for me more often than not ... but yeah, decent player that rarely excites me but as has been stated above, he led many a great band a few of his rekkids are pretty darn good (the samich one with Baby Face, "Lush Life" too, the sputnik one ... and yeah, just about ever organ disc - at least from the Blue Note years - gets an occasional spin here as well), but gee, he does seem bitter and clueless when he talks music ... Panken: Did you get to know Coltrane?Donaldson: Yeah, I knew him. Coltrane’s from North Carolina.Panken: I was going to ask you about that. Monk as well had roots in North Carolina.Donaldson: Yes, Monk’s from Wilson, North Carolina. I knew Coltrane real well. He was a hard-working guy. But most of his stuff was drug-related.Panken: What do you mean?Donaldson: He’d get high, go in a room and play eight hours, you know, without coming out. Drugs. They don’t tell people that when they’re talking about him. [...]Donaldson: Yeah, I know Lee Konitz. Lee Konitz is a sax-o-phon-ist. I wouldn’t call him exactly a great jazz player, but he’s a good saxophone player. Him and Paul Desmond, too. They sound like they’re playing clarinets. They don’t even have the sound.Panken: So for you, it’s very important to have...Donaldson: I mean, a SOUND. A bluesy sound. They don’t have it. They can’t play the blues, unfortunately. They play what they’re playing. But the blues, a different thing. And if you can’t play blues, you can’t play jazz, period. Now, if you can play it and don’t play it, you’re still not playing jazz—period. I listen to all the stuff Coltrane’s playing. No blues. http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/documents/oral_histories/Donaldson_Lou_Interview_Transcription.pdf (I've not yet tried to read through it all) This is a great interview. A real history lesson. Quote
danasgoodstuff Posted March 16, 2014 Report Posted March 16, 2014 (edited) I'm very much a fan of Lush Life, which came out in 1966 or 1967. "Lush Life" the song does not appear, but the album features a lot of ballad standards. It's a 9-piece band that sounds very lush. I think it's about as good as this kind of thing gets. I'm surprised that Donaldson didn't do a couple of more projects like this one. recorded then (just before Alligator Boogaloo) but didn't get released til much later (198?). Which reminds me of one thing I really like about Lou, although not a jazz thing particularly, he seems to really dig tunes as tunes, not just as jamming vehicles. Along with his insistance that blues is central to jazz, he's also on record as not particularly digging 'modes' and modes based jazz ed. Not gospel in either case, but a good indication of where he's coming from. And there's still unissued stuff from the BN years! I'm good with Lou thru the Egregious Muhammad years, not so much after that. Edited March 16, 2014 by danasgoodstuff Quote
RiRiIII Posted March 16, 2014 Report Posted March 16, 2014 I'm very much a fan of Lush Life, which came out in 1966 or 1967. "Lush Life" the song does not appear, but the album features a lot of ballad standards. It's a 9-piece band that sounds very lush. I think it's about as good as this kind of thing gets. I'm surprised that Donaldson didn't do a couple of more projects like this one. I second this. Lush Life is an exceptional recording. Quote
johnblitweiler Posted March 17, 2014 Report Posted March 17, 2014 Gene Ammons made a recording of "Exactly Like You" that was popular around the early 1960s or late '50s. In the 1970s Blue Note issued a Lou Donaldson LP in which L.D. phrased the theme just like Jug - very distinctive. The trick was, Lou had recorded that one before Ammons had recorded his version. Other pieces now and then, "Blues Walk" for ex., suggest a real felllow feeling between the two. That lovely Lou Donaldson version of "Sweet Slumber": Who does he sound like? It certainly reminds me of the alto player in the Joe Liggins 1940s band. I've never heard "Sweet Slumber", but Little Willie Jackson was Joe Liggins' alto man. Thanks, Paul. And was Jackson's brother the tenor player for Liggins? I don't have the albums any more, so may be wrong about about L.D. sounding like Jackson. But Jackson had a singing sound. The Lush Life CD may be a reissue of an LP that originally was titled Sweet Slumber. Quote
paul secor Posted March 17, 2014 Report Posted March 17, 2014 Gene Ammons made a recording of "Exactly Like You" that was popular around the early 1960s or late '50s. In the 1970s Blue Note issued a Lou Donaldson LP in which L.D. phrased the theme just like Jug - very distinctive. The trick was, Lou had recorded that one before Ammons had recorded his version. Other pieces now and then, "Blues Walk" for ex., suggest a real felllow feeling between the two. That lovely Lou Donaldson version of "Sweet Slumber": Who does he sound like? It certainly reminds me of the alto player in the Joe Liggins 1940s band. I've never heard "Sweet Slumber", but Little Willie Jackson was Joe Liggins' alto man. Thanks, Paul. And was Jackson's brother the tenor player for Liggins? I don't have the albums any more, so may be wrong about about L.D. sounding like Jackson. But Jackson had a singing sound. The Lush Life CD may be a reissue of an LP that originally was titled Sweet Slumber. John, from all I could find - two sources - one on the web and one in a set of liner notes - Joe Liggins' original tenor sax man - James Jackson, Jr. - shared the same last name but evidently wasn't related to Little Willie Jackson. Quote
danasgoodstuff Posted March 19, 2014 Report Posted March 19, 2014 I'm very much a fan of Lush Life, which came out in 1966 or 1967. "Lush Life" the song does not appear, but the album features a lot of ballad standards. It's a 9-piece band that sounds very lush. I think it's about as good as this kind of thing gets. I'm surprised that Donaldson didn't do a couple of more projects like this one. I second this. Lush Life is an exceptional recording. Lush Life/Sweet Slumber is indeed sweet, but so are all the midsized bands arranged by Duke Pearson for BN. Quote
Michael Weiss Posted March 20, 2014 Report Posted March 20, 2014 See the Al Harewood thread for a great pic of Lou, Horace Parlan and Al Harewood ca. 1960-61. Quote
Justin V Posted March 21, 2014 Report Posted March 21, 2014 I've seen Lou twice, most recently last year (I posted about the concert here). I only have a few of his albums (but I'm open to buying more), and he is always worth seeing live. I bought Sunny Side Up a few months ago and have been playing it frequently. It has Lou partnered in the front line with Bill Hardman and the rhythm section of Horace Parlan, Laymon Jackson/Sam Jones and Al Harewood. Whoever put that session together understood who'd be a compatible band. It's amazing to hear early stuff like the session he did with Clifford Brown from Clifford Brown Memorial Album and to know that he is still out there doing his thing. Quote
Gheorghe Posted March 21, 2014 Report Posted March 21, 2014 Great review, Justin V, just read it and about the same time I also saw LD live. About his playing mostly the same stuff on all gigs, I wouldn´t blame him for that. He´s 87, 88 years old. Much younger musicians did it the same way: Mingus "Fables of Faubus, Sue´s Changes" almost on all concerts I saw, Dizzy with "Night In Tunisia, Con Alma , Manteca etc.", Miles Davis during the 80´s each set starting with "You are under Arrest" and then "New Blues", and "Human Nature",, and they were about 55, 60 years old...... Quote
CJ Shearn Posted March 21, 2014 Report Posted March 21, 2014 Lou is so great on the Blakey's, the Jimmy Smith stuff, the things with Lonnie, "Lou Takes Off", "Here Tis". Quote
Justin V Posted March 21, 2014 Report Posted March 21, 2014 Great review, Justin V, just read it and about the same time I also saw LD live. About his playing mostly the same stuff on all gigs, I wouldn´t blame him for that. He´s 87, 88 years old. Much younger musicians did it the same way: Mingus "Fables of Faubus, Sue´s Changes" almost on all concerts I saw, Dizzy with "Night In Tunisia, Con Alma , Manteca etc.", Miles Davis during the 80´s each set starting with "You are under Arrest" and then "New Blues", and "Human Nature",, and they were about 55, 60 years old...... I didn't intend it as a criticism, so I hope that it didn't come off that way. It's true that many of the elder statesmen play many of the same tunes from set to set, and I don't think that anyone sees Lou Donaldson expecting to hear all-new material. After all, Lou himself said, "We don't play progressive music. We play old music with soul." There's something right in the world when you can still go out and hear a master like Lou Donaldson playing 'Gravy Train', 'Blues Walk' and 'Wig Blues' (which I find myself singing at random times). It's a shame that a label like HighNote or Jazz Legacy Productions hasn't recorded Lou's working band, which deserves to be documented. Quote
Chuck Nessa Posted March 21, 2014 Report Posted March 21, 2014 Courtesy of Jimmy Wormworth: Many thanks for this piece of history. Quote
Gheorghe Posted March 24, 2014 Report Posted March 24, 2014 I also thought that Lou´s working band would have deserved to be recorded, especially "live"...... Quote
paul secor Posted March 24, 2014 Report Posted March 24, 2014 Lou recorded so prolifically in earlier years (and reissues have been readily available) that there may not be much of a market for a new recording. Quote
Dan Gould Posted March 24, 2014 Report Posted March 24, 2014 Well on the other hand while he continues to work a lot, he can't get everywhere and not everyone has access to Dime or trader networks to avail themselves of the many recordings that are out there. If I didn't have so many recordings of LD playing the same songs in the same order with the same patter in between, I'd line up to buy a Highnote issue of one of his NY engagements. Heck I'd buy it anyway just to say "thanks" ... Quote
bluesoul Posted November 1, 2015 Report Posted November 1, 2015 Happy 89th birthday to Mr. Donaldson. Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted November 1, 2015 Report Posted November 1, 2015 Goodness YES!!!! Happy Birthday, to Sweet Poppa Lou. MG Quote
Justin V Posted November 1, 2015 Report Posted November 1, 2015 Happy 89th Birthday, Mr. Donaldson! Quote
fasstrack Posted November 2, 2015 Report Posted November 2, 2015 One of Papa Lou's most revealing statements in an interview: He wouldn't play Monk because he 'couldn't sell it'. Still, happy 89th to a veteran and curmudgeon. Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted November 3, 2015 Report Posted November 3, 2015 It surely isn't curmudgeonly to say that he won't play Monk 'cos he can't sell it. They're ALL in business to sell music for money. MG Quote
fasstrack Posted November 3, 2015 Report Posted November 3, 2015 20 minutes ago, The Magnificent Goldberg said: It surely isn't curmudgeonly to say that he won't play Monk 'cos he can't sell it. They're ALL in business to sell music for money. MG True dat. Quote
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