Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Lou Donaldson: Good Gracious!

454

Lou Donaldson: Good Gracious!

By

View read count
Lou Donaldson: Good Gracious!


The organ combo has a distinct sound, one like no other. Lou Donaldson discovered Grant Green and Big John Patton, recommended them to Blue Note (in effect, initiating their recording careers), and produced some mighty fine recordings in their company. Both Donaldson and guitarist Green have listed Charlie Parker as a prime influence, and it is immediately apparent in the up-tempo blues-based tunes.

Patton's foot pedals substitute, naturally, for the bass, and drummer Ben Dixon supplies an adequate beat through all six tracks. The session combines Donaldson's brand of bop with blues, balladry, and gospel. The title track is a fast blues with call & response, emotion-building repetition, and exciting solo work from saxophone, organ, and guitar. "Bad John" and Don Redman's "Cherry," are up-tempo blues-based affairs with heightened emotional appeal as well; Donaldson quotes "Frankie And Johnny" during his solo outing in "Bad John."

A gospel tune in 3/4 time, "The Holy Ghost" combines the organ, with its powerful church-like full harmony, and Donaldson's soothing, lyrical hymn-like melody to create a serene yet spicy stroll. Sustained organ chords and Dixon's brushes support the leader's sensitive ballad delivery on "Don't Worry `Bout Me." Donaldson wrote the bossa "Caracas" before the bossa nova craze. His dry tone, the repetitious drum rhythm, and the floating melody create a sound quite apart from the fire of the saxophonist's jump blues numbers. The three solo voices of saxophone, organ and guitar combine to offer a variety of gospel, ballad, bossa nova, and trademark blues. Recommended.

Personnel

Lou Donaldson
saxophone

Album information

Title: Good Gracious! | Year Released: 1997 | Record Label: Blue Note Records

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

Today Yesterday
Anton Mikhailov
Waking Dream
Randy Napoleon
Hold On
Mark Winkler
The Hat with the Grin and the Chuckle
Ben Thomas Tango Project

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.