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About Lou Donaldson
Instrument: Saxophone
Related Articles | Concerts | Albums | Photos | Similar ToSoul Survivor: Lou Donaldson Keeps the Bop Flame Alive
by C. Andrew Hovan
This article was first published at All About Jazz on November 2001. Now in his 75th year, Lou Donaldson counts among the few remaining jazz luminaries of the bebop era still active on the international scene. When I recently sat down to talk with him by phone from his home in Florida, Donaldson had just returned from tours in England, Italy and Greece. The ebullient alto man was then set to fly to New York the following Monday ...
read moreLou Donaldson: Say It Loud
by C. Andrew Hovan
It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time when the sound of jazz could be heard lingering in the smoky corners of neighborhood bars in every major city from New York to Los Angeles. These ghetto hangouts were on what was often called the 'chitlin' circuit,' a network of predominantly black operated venues that presented organ combos as the norm. Be it at The Smiling Dog Saloon in Cleveland or The Front Room in Newark, jazz and more ...
read moreLou Donaldson: Alligator Bogaloo
by Joseph Vella
Who doesn't love the playing of Lou Donaldson? This late-'60s gem is one of those recordings where everything hits right. It is not only brilliant (and wonderfully dated) but it's also the type of record even your non-jazz friends can snap and tap to. The combo of hard bop and soul jazz is infectious. Right from the opening title track, Lou and Co. set a groove and take us on a compelling sonic hang. George Benson's guitar and the tasty ...
read more50th Anniversary Blue Notes for June
by Marc Cohn
Blue Note 50th anniversaries from June 1970, just two though: Horace Silver (That Healin' Feelin') and Lou Donaldson (Pretty Things). There was also a Reuben Wilson session, but it was never released, and only the 'vault gods' know if it was any good. But you know there's more (don't you?). 21st century music from the Posi-Tone Swingtet, Poncho Sanchez, Akiko Tsuruga, Sebastien Amman's Color Wheel, Randy Brecker, Gregory Porter and Tony Dagradi. Also another R&B compare and contrast with Ruth ...
read moreBlue Note 50th Anniversaries: November 1968 & More
by Marc Cohn
We celebrate the 50th anniversary of Blue Note sessions recorded in November, 1968 from Lou Donaldson (with Charles Earland, Blue Mitchell, Jimmy Ponder and Idris Muhammad), Bobby Hutcherson (with Stanley Cowell and Harold Land) and McCoy Tyner. Bien sur, there's more, including 78 rpm recordings of The Port Of Harlem Jazz Men from 1939--the first ensemble recorded by Alfred Lion--on Blue Note number 3, and even a track from some of the first material listed in the Erroll ...
read moreThe Best of Lou Donaldson, Volume 1 – 1957-1967
by Marc Davis
I'm not a huge fan of Best Of albums. Artists make albums of music--some with themes, some without--and you go with it. One album generally equals one mood, so why mix them up? But then... Lou Donaldson is an alto saxophonist who spent virtually his entire career at one label: Blue Note. Bigger names have recorded on Blue Note--Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins--but none so extensively, from the 1950s to '70s. Trouble is, ...
read moreLou Donaldson: Blues Walk – 1958
by Marc Davis
There's a tendency among some jazz purists to poo-poo Lou Donaldson. Not flashy enough, they say. Not groundbreaking. Too bluesy, too simple. Predictable. Derivative. A notch below the best Blue Note saxmen. A craftsman, not an artist. Aw phooey! I like Lou Donaldson and I don't mind anyone knowing. It has always been a mystery to me why certain jazz artists get tagged as simplistic and not quite jazzy enough. Dave Brubeck got that a lot. ...
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