Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Roy Haynes: Cymbalism

315

Roy Haynes: Cymbalism

By

View read count
Roy Haynes: Cymbalism
Well into his septuagenarian years, Roy Haynes is still going strong as a leader behind his venerable drum kit. His sticks and brushes have stoked the fires on countless sessions from early work with Lester Young to later stints with likes of Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Only a handful of living drummers can claim such a lengthy resume of prestigious employers. Back when this recently reissued record was waxed, Haynes was in the midst of an artistically fertile contract with the New Jazz label. He was also fortuitously entrenched at the epicenter of modern jazz, and as such could call on the trio of resourceful and forward thinking sidemen who join him for the date.



Thanks to the ubiquitous Rudy Van Gelder the album features beautiful stereo separation of the instruments, with Strozier’s effusive flute banking melodically off the firm rhythmic resolve of his partners on “Modette.” Ridley moves to the fore for the closing bars of the composition, thrumming out a fast encapsulation of the guiding harmonic current before diffusing into silence. Strozier’s salty alto breezes through the changes of the old warhorse “I’m Getting Sentimental…” setting up a series of breaks by Haynes that measure out sizeable strength with sophisticated subtlety. Strozier’s reentry and subsequent string of choruses follows an analogous path of swinging urbanity up to a fluttering end. The brief, but highly grooving “Go N’ Git It!” spotlights Matthews and the pianist pays his debt to the gospel-inflections of one Horace Silver with some funky rolling comping. Strozier shows some soul by sashaying through the theme and into a solo steeped in hot buttered blues. A lengthy medley winds things up, and the seams between the trio of themes are well stitched. Haynes’ crisp press rolls and cymbal accents are the guideposts alongside Ridley’s rock solid harmonic anchors. Strozier serves up some of his most ebullient playing of the session, particularly on the closing snippet of Sonny Rollins’ classic “Oleo.” Even Ridley has plenty of room to move and makes invigorating use of the space with carefully orchestrated plucks. Haynes rep was well cemented at the time of this session and has only grown in the intervening decades, but it’s a privilege to have access to one of his early dates as a leader just the same.



Fantasy on the web: www.fantasyjazz.com



Track Listing

Modette/ I

Personnel

Roy Haynes- drums; Frank Strozier- alto saxophone, flute; Ronnie Matthews- piano; Larry Ridley- bass. Recorded: September 10, 1963.

Album information

Title: Cymbalism | Year Released: 2002 | Record Label: Fantasy Jazz

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.