Out Of The Blue (studio album) by Sonny Red

From Fischman 05/10/2020 01:41

Largely unheralded altoist Sonny Red brings us a couple very fine hard bop sessions from 1959 and 1960 here. The first session has Sam Jones on bass and Roy Brooks on drums while the second has Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Wynton Kelly sits at the piano throughout. The original LP only had two cuts from the second session, but the CD reissue adds another five, balancing out the running time of each session.

Sonny Red is clearly remembered as a second tier altoist, if he's even remembered at all, but for this Blue Note release, he's got a first tier performance, both himself and his ensemble. He starts out lively on the opening "Bluesville" and then gets intensely expressive on the following ballad, "Stay As Sweet As You Are." Red has a smooth and graceful elegance in his phrasing that makes every song on the album a pleasure to listen to, and "Alone Too Long" stands out as another highlight in this regard. I'm starting to feel like a broken record (no pun intended) saying this, but as good as Red's performance is here, the album is greatly elevated by Kelly's performance. Is there any album he ever sided on that he didn't make better? The man was brilliant.