Philly Joe Jones: Drum Songs

Did Philly Joe Jones do anything after leaving the first great Miles Davis Quintet? Jones left shortly before Davis recorded Kind of Blue in 1959. He went on to appear as a sideman on hundreds of recordings many now considered classics. It is a bit disingenuous to suggest that Jones had his high water mark with Miles Davis and never approached that mark again. Jones’s recordings as a leader are few in comparison, but are uniformly fine and worth of a listen. Drum Songs is a newly released twofer that reunites all of the music recorded on October 10-12, 1978 and subsequently released on Advance! (Galaxy 5122) and Drum Songs (Galaxy 5153). Herein is a solid Hard Bop session that features Blue Mitchell in one of his last recordings with Cedar Walton, Harold Land, and Slide Hampton. Jones’s picks for the repertoire are predictable: a dizzy Gillespie piece ("Two Bass Hit"), a Tadd Dameron piece ("Our Delight"), several originals ("Trailways" and "Drum Song"). All of the music is performed well and all is very accessible. Drum songs is ultimately significant for providing all of the output for this recording session late in the drummer’s life, demonstrating that he still had much to say.