Jack McDuff: The Re-Entry

Douglas Payne

Contributor since 1999

Doug has produced CDs for such artists as Peter Thomas, Lalo Schifrin, Ennio Morricone and Cal Tjader.

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Published: August 1, 1997

The Re-Entry , originally recorded and released on Muse Records in 1988, was Brother Jack McDuff's first recording after a four-year absence from the studios. This, the first of the two Muse dates McDuff recorded with producer/tenor man Houston Person, also features Ron Bridgewater on tenor, Cecil Bridgewater on trumpet, John Hart on guitar and Grady Tate on drums.

It's a fairly typical Muse program of blues and ballads with the expectedly clean production perfected by Person and engineer Rudy Van Gelder. Predictably, it's McDuff's blues themes that have the most flavor and excitement: witness "Walking The Dog" and "Cap'n Jack" (as he's chosen to be called recently). The R&B swing of McDuff favorite "Electric Surfboard" has its moments; but it's been heard to better effect before. A cover of Quincy Jones' ultra-poppish "One Hundred Ways" (listed as "One Hundred Years" on the cover) is a throwaway and a fireside reading of David Raskin's "Laura" is a pretty feature for the horn players.

McDuff and company sound good here, but The Re-Entry doesn't get Brother Jack as fired up as he's been known to get elsewhere.

Record Label: 32 Records
Style: Straight-ahead/Mainstream