Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Don Patterson/Booker Ervin/Houston Person: Just Friends
Don Patterson/Booker Ervin/Houston Person: Just Friends
ByThe players waste no time in demonstrating their omniscience when it comes to the art of grooveology digging into the an extended reading of Gene Ammon’s “Red Top” with athletic ardor. Martino clocks a quick time on his opening solo for “Freddie Tooks, Jr.” and Person follows at an equally brisk clip blowing forcefully against a percolating rhythmic backdrop. The mood is much more languid on the lush reading of “Embraceable You” where Patterson and Person meet in a tranquil repartee that accentuates the tune’s mellow sentiments. Clifford Brown’s composition “Sandu” wraps the session up and gives both Patterson and Person another avenue to profess their hard bop roots.
Ervin is the emphasis on the second session and the opportunity to hear him in a stripped down setting backed by only organ and drums is a rarity that should be relished. Ervin was famous for his ability to balance a soulful, hard-biting tone with a facility for the freer forms of improvisation. On this date he sticks to the mainstream, but serves up some scintillating solos nonetheless. Patterson’s fast break comping and choruses are an ideal compliment and the two men engage in some seriously smoking interplay. James does his best to keep up. The three move through a captivating collection of tunes ranging from the accelerated, finger popping “Sister Ruth” to the relaxed, but persistently grooving “Sentimental Journey.” Taken together both of the sessions gathered on this disc make for an sumptuous helping of soul jazz and shouldn’t be passed up.
CollectiveTrack Listing
Red Top/ Freddie Tooks, Jr./ Last Train From Overbrook/ Embraceable You/ Sandu/ Sister Ruth/ Donald Duck/ Rosetta/ Under the Boardwalk/ Sentimental Journey/ Theme for Dee/ Just Friends.
Recorded: August 25, 1967, NYC and July 10, 1964, Englewood Cliffs, NJ>
Personnel
Don Patterson
organ, Hammond B3Collective Don Patterson- organ; Houston Person- tenor saxophone; Pat Martino- guitar; Billy James- drums; Booker Ervin- tenor saxophone.
Album information
Title: Just Friends | Year Released: 2000 | Record Label: Prestige Records