A Taste of the Classic Jack McDuff Quartet

A Taste of the Classic Jack McDuff Quartet

Though he does not have the notoriety of Jimmy Smith in the pantheon of jazz organists, Brother Jack McDuff (1926-2001), as he was known throughout most of his career, is one of the undisputed giants of the Hammond B-3 organ in jazz. Originally a bassist before switching to piano and finally the organ, McDuff is one of the great stylists and bandleaders of soul jazz. McDuff recorded and released over 30 records in the 1960s alone, primarily on Prestige Records, but he also had releases on Atlantic, Cadet and Blue Note and continued gigging and recording right up until his passing eighteen years ago this week on January 23, 2001.

Bands employing the organ trio/quartet format consisting of organ-guitar-drums with added horns, usually tenor sax, were ubiquitous on the urban club circuit in African American neighborhoods from the mid-50s through the early 70s. The organist would cover the bass line with a combination of foot pedals and left hand and McDuff was an incomparable groover when he would “bring the hot sauce” as he instructs the band to do on a 1963 live recording from Newark, New Jersey’s legendary Front Room. Sets consisted of a heavy dose of blues, some standards, a few latin grooves, pop and soul hits as well as bossa novas. In the process, these bands helped develop the African American boogaloo, with its unmistakable combination of jazz, blues, soul and latin grooves.

The all-important guitar chair in McDuff's groups was occupied at different times in the 60s by many of the greats, some better known than others. Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Eddie Diehl, Pat Martino, Melvin Sparks, Jerry Byrd, Phil Upchurch and, of course, a then unknown young man from Pittsburgh named George Benson (b. 1943) all gigged and recorded with McDuff during the decade. Benson got his start in McDuff’s group in late 1963 and was with the band until early 1966 when his own career began to take off and he signed with Columbia Records.

The Classic Quartet

McDuff’s classic quartet came together in late 1963 and lasted a little over two years through the beginning of 1966. The drummer was the phenomenal, under-appreciated groover Joe Dukes (b. 1937). Dukes’ power, soul, swing and taste would likely have garnered more attention had he not been recorded almost exclusively within the usually neglected organ genre. On tenor sax, he had Red Holloway (1927-2012), a veteran of the same Chicago scene where McDuff got his start, and who was one of the great blues stylists on the tenor sax but also had the chops and ideas to be a great bebopper. His imagination, drive and soul all shine on other material as well. Holloway kept fast company in Chicago, working and playing with a who’s who of Windy City legends, including saxophonist Sonny Stitt, as well as appearing on many blues and r&b recordings. George Benson was on guitar and this was the beginning of a long and illustrious career. One story goes that Benson could play the blues and little else but was a very fast learner. His extraordinary talent is already evident even in the earliest recordings with the group, elevating the level of the group from the very beginning. McDuff himself, beyond being a remarkable player, developed his composing and arranging skills during this era, writing arrangements, themes and segue ways that give the small combo the flavor of a big band at times, using all the colors of the organ, complex unison themes, shifting grooves and tempos. The synergy, virtuosity and soul of this group are undeniable, hence my own labeling of them as classic.

The band’s recorded output is spread out unevenly amongst almost a dozen records on Prestige, with some tracks sharing space on LPs with others from other sessions and not being released until several years after the band was no more. The same is true of the CD reissues of the material and there is no complete recordings collection of this band.

What we have here is taken from a number of LPs from the Prestige era and all recorded between late 1963 and late 1965, though they were released at different times: Hot Barbeque, Live!, Silk and Soul, I Got A Woman, and Steppin’ Out. Our first track is the title track to the 1965 recording Hot Barbeque and is a jocular boogaloo that highlights the leader’s approach and vernacular—an encyclopedia of funky soul jazz organ playing distilled into a short two chorus solo that gives way to Holloway at his funky, gutbucket best. “Scufflin’” from Silk and Soul starts to show Benson coming into his own as a soloist, his facile fluidity weaving long lines smoothly throughout the whole range of the instrument. “Hippy Dip” brings us back to Hot Barbeque and features the intricate unison lines, shifting grooves and a laid back confidence while navigating through some decidedly non-blues changes. “Twelve Inches Wide,” recorded in 1965, but not released until 1969, is a tour de force showing the band at the top of their game, launching into a relentless double-time swing that turns the intensity all the way up taking a breath only when returning to the opening theme as a segueway between solos. The virtuosity of each member of the group is undeniable here. The next two tracks come from the same live session recorded at Newark’s Front Room in late 1963. Composed by tenor saxophonist Harold Vick, who was in McDuff’s band before Holloway joined, “Our Miss Brooks” was an oft-recorded mid-tempo blues in the early and mid 60s, with versions by Grant Green (Reaching Out,1961), a studio version with Vick in McDuff’s group (Crash!, 1963), a studio version by Vick on his Blue Note release as a leader (Steppin’ Out, also 1963) and on organist Lonnie Smith’s debut (Finger Lickin’ Good, 1967). The story goes that it is dedicated to one Ellen Brooks who was at one time married to organist John Patton and later to Vick, though the truth to this story is yet to be verified. It was included on a compilation of sessions released in 1969 as the studio version had been recorded just before, so it did not make it onto the Live! LP. McDuff’s own blues “A Real Good’un” (not included here) which he did both in the studio and live follows a similar template. This rendition features an exceptional opening solo from Benson—an early example of the fleet, flowing, soulful ideas that would define his playing through the 60s and establish him as one of the premier guitarists of the era. Both Holloway and McDuff dig deep, displaying a profound feeling for the blues that exudes pure authenticity. The last track included here is also from the Live! session and is the band’s arrangement of “Undecided,” originally recorded by Ella Fitzgerald with the Chick Webb Orchestra in 1939. McDuff takes the basic arrangement and ramps up the tempo with the group, once more showing its considerable virtuosity and tight ensemble playing. 

The classic McDuff quartet is another example of the amazing wealth of musical talent that blossomed in African American communities throughout the 20^th Century and exemplify a jazz full of soul and without pretense, but still wanting show how much game they had. Did they ever.

jg

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A Taste of the Classic Jack McDuff Quartet

Jack McDuff- organ
Red Holloway- tenor sax
George Benson- guitar
Joe Dukes- drums

All tracks composed by Jack McDuff unless otherwise noted.

Studio tracks recorded in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1964-65.
Live tracks recorded live at the Front Room, Newark, New Jersey, fall 1963.
All tracks originally released on Prestige Records and written by Jack McDuff unless otherwise noted.

1) Hot Barbeque

2) Scufflin’

3) Hippy Dip

4) Twelve Inches Wide

5) Our Miss Brooks (Harold Vick)

6) Undecided (Shavers-Robin)

Herbie Mann- Windows Opened (1968)

Few jazz birds flew higher or further than Herbie Mann did in the 1960s, releasing over 30 albums in the decade alone and, apparently to the chagrin of some jazz cognoscenti, having great commercial success in doing so. While Mann is not a revered figure in the jazz history books, his contributions to jazz and its opening up to different sounds originating from around the world and American rock, pop and R & B, as well as other innovations, cannot be undervalued.

From 1959 through the early 70s Mann’s vast discography puts him in perhaps the widest array of contexts of any artist including, but of course not limited to: Afro-Cuban jazz, African influenced jazz, Bossa Nova (of which he was one of the first Americans to release records in the genre), soul jazz, 60s New York-style Latin, Third Stream, pop, Middle Eastern, rock, and even variants on modal jazz.

Because of his commercial success, Mann was one of the important band and recording session leaders of the 1960s. The talent that passed through his groups in studio or live reads like a virtual who’s who of top tier 60s jazz, latin and bossa nova musicians, with many of these sidemen going on to successful careers as leaders in their own right. Among these are vibists Roy Ayers and Dave Pike, guitarists Baden Powell, Larry Coryell, Attila Zoller and Sonny Sharrock, saxophonist Steve Marcus, bassists Earl May, Ben Tucker, Ahmed Abdul Malik and Miroslav Vituous, pianists Sergio Mendes, Chick Corea, Charlie Palmieri and Don Friedman, percussionists Willie Bobo, Johnny Pacheco and Ray Barretto, drummer Dom Um Romão, Bruno Carr and many, many, many others. Mann is of course also known for having employed Duane Allman in 1971 for some of the legendary guitarist’s last recordings, including an unreleased and now lost session titled Herbie Mann 71 which also includes Sharrock.

Mann also used his position to help his band members further their careers by making recordings either for Atlantic or the Atlantic off-shoot labels with which Mann was closely associated as a producer, Vortex and Embryo, between 1968 and 1970. These include records by Ayers (Stoned Soul Picnic), Corea (Tones for Joan’s Bones), Pike (Doors of Perception), Marcus (Tomorrow Never Knows, Count’s Rock Band, and The Lord’s Prayer), Zoller (Gypsy Cry), Sharrock (Black Woman), and Vitous (Infinite Search, later remixed and re-titled Mountain in the Clouds). Mann himself recorded several records for Embryo, including the brilliantly atmospheric Stone Flute (1970), the funky Memphis Two-Step and the hit Push Push, both from 1971. Vibist Roy Ayers had already established a reputation as a top tier jazzman in his native Los Angeles before his long association with Mann in the late 60s and early 70s. He would, of course, go on to become one of the top selling jazz artists of the 70s with his fusion of funky soul styles and jazz. Perhaps what stands out among some of the other names is their association with avant-garde palettes of jazz in the case of Friedman, Zoller and Sharrock.

Sharrock, who revolutionized jazz guitar playing in his mode of emulating the wailing, crying, screaming sounds of the New Things saxophonists of the 60s, seems like a particularly odd fit for the band. Live recordings from Japanese television and the studio dates show Sharrock to be a supportive and sensitive accompanist for more standard, inside material as well and his association with Mann lasted six years, culminating on record with the fiery solo on “Memphis Underground” from the 1973 live date Hold On, I’m Comin’. Mann also produced Sharrock’s Black Woman in 1969. As RealGoneMusic’s 2016 issue of Herbie Mann Live At The Whisky: The Unreleased Masters shows, Mann gave Sharrock and his vocalist wife Linda room to shine in a live context as well.

This brings us to our record at hand, 1968’s Windows Opened. It has never been properly reissued in the U.S. It was recorded at two sessions at Atlantic’s studios in New York on February 8 and April 2 of that year with sessions produced by ubiquitious Atlantic staff producers Joel Dorn and Arif Mardin. Unlike other studio records from the era by other jazz artists, this record actually features Mann’s working band of Ayers, Sharrock, Vitous and Carr. The record is representative of Mann’s open ears and wide range of tastes at the time, that also bring the considerable virtues of his sidemen to the fore. The instrumentation of vibes, guitar, bass and drums backing him was one that he’d employed on and off since Right Now! in 1963. This quartet of Ayers, Sharrock, Vitous and Carr would record two rare EPs in Japan in 1970, ostensibly under Ayers’ leadership, titled All Blues and Comin’ Home Baby which were both comprised entirely of tunes that had been recorded by Mann and were part of the live set at the time. We shall revisit these in a later post.

Windows Opened is also notable for Atlantic house artist Stanislaw Zagorski’s unique pop art/collage cover. Zagorski’s graphic language was a key component of Atlantic’s look in the mid to late 1960s. The back cover, along with some illustrations in Zagorski’s inimitable style, includes a number of poetic excerpts including an apt epigraph for the music and the musicians who made it, a translation of Turkish poet Orhan Veli Kanik that reads:

“The window—that’s the best of all:

At least you can watch the birds fly

Instead of staring at four walls.”

The five quintet tracks on the record put the band’s tremendous talent on full display. The powerhouse rhythm section of Vitous and Carr alternatively drives the band to its limits, creates deep pockets of groove, changes directions on a whim and responds both to each other and the soloists with sensitivity and aplomb. It is unfortunate that these two musicians did not record more in contexts like this as they have a unique, (and again) powerful presence that challenges and raises the musicianship of the soloists while flying high themselves. The Czech born bassist, then only 21 years of age, is particularly virtuosic in his dialogues with both Carr and the soloists. Carr is one of jazz’s great underrecognized talents on the drums, on par or beyond other more recognized figures, combining the power and drive of Art Blakey with the perceptive responsiveness and touch on the cymbals of Billy Higgins, but still being very much his own man. Ayers’ success in the 70s as a crossover artist has somewhat obscured his credentials as a phenomenal straight ahead soloist, fusing a superlative facility on the instrument with a wide imagination. He shares the spotlight equally with Mann, intertwining collective improvisational lines with Mann on the loping, rocking “There Is A Mountain,” creating spacey back drops as an accompanist, and contributing aggressive, soulful soloing throughout. He also contributes the only original band composition for the album, the remarkable title track. Sharrock takes only two solos on the record, displaying an uncharacteristic restraint (for his reputation) and sense of space on the band’s take of Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” and perhaps his best solo on record on “Windows Opened” with its frenetic flights, drones and eventual soft landing. Sharrock’s comping has an ear for the needs of the group and its material from sparse, open voicings, to modal comping in fourths to full on rocking strumming to gentle and sympathetic backing. Lastly, we have the contributions of the leader himself, whose signature sound and personal approach to the diverse gamut of material rises to the occasion, floating and dancing confidently, while also extracting the beauty of the melody on the one non-quintet track, the more produced take on the oft-recorded Jimmy Webb song “By The Time I Get To Phoenix.” Mann’s surety, poise and coolness permeate his playing from beginning to end, certainly knowing he was leading a top shelf group of young talent.

From the loping drive of their version of Donovan’s “There Is A Mountain,”  the space and beauty of Tim Hardin’s “If I Were A Carpenter” and the aforementioned “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” the elasticity and momentum of Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints,” the funky soul jazz groove of Charles Tolliver’s “Paper Man,” and the forceful modal push of the title track, Windows Opened offers a glimpse into the varied, polychromatic hues of the state of jazz in 1968—executed by a unique, unlikely and supremely talented unit of musicians.

jg
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Recorded February 8 and April 2, 1968

Personnel:

Herbie Mann- flute

Roy Ayers- vibes

Sonny Sharrock- guitar

Miroslav Vitous- bass

Bruno Carr- drums

Side One

1. There Is A Mountain (Donovan Leitch) 6:08

2. If I Were A Carpenter (Tim Hardin) 5:41

3. Paper Man (Charles Tolliver) 6:47

Side Two

4. Footprints (Wayne Shorter) 8:27

5. By The Time I Get To Phoenix (Jim Webb) 2:22

6. Windows Opened (Roy Ayers) 7:30

Produced by Joel Dorn and Arif Mardin

Atlantic SD 1507