Roarin' (studio album) by The New Don Rendell Quintet

From OldToad 08/17/2020 01:17

This album was very successful in England, and was an important step in Don Rendell's path to becoming a leading figure in British jazz. It's also famous as the first appearance on record of Graham Bond, playing alto, and he gets plenty of time for both solos and duets with Rendell. Bond was 23 years old at the time, more than 10 years younger than Rendell, and the only guy in the band who still had a day job. His playing was controversial among British jazz-heads, some of whom justifiably felt that he played ideas beyond what his technique was ready for, but he also got some very enthusiastic reviews.

Rendell loved the rapport Bond could create with audiences, and compared him to early Coltrane, saying that neither of them let limitations of technique stifle their ideas. Rendell's playing on tenor is sharper, more articulate, but Bond's is actually very good, and it's an exciting interplay between the two of them. The rhythm section is excellent as well.

When Bond very soon afterwards fell under the influence of Ray Charles and Bobby Bland records, abandoned jazz for blues, and turned to singing at the keyboards at the expense of his focus on the saxophone, Rendell didn't get it. Later, when Alexis Korner had Bond play some sax in his blues band, Cyril Davies didn't get it, and was not happy about it. Bond walked a line between jazz and blues, so people sometimes didn't get it. Jack Bruce had this to say: "Graham was one of the greatest modern alto sax players to emerge in this country."