Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Kenny Burrell, Leny White, et al.: Primal Blue

178

Kenny Burrell, Leny White, et al.: Primal Blue

By

View read count
Kenny Burrell, Leny White, et al.: Primal Blue
Drummer Lenny White never shortchanges his listeners on star talent—or tremendous musical combinations. Here, he nominally leads a dream band featuring guitarist Kenny Burrell (who, by virtue of the alphabet, gets first billing), pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ron Carter, trumpeter Tim Hagans and reedman Craig Handy. This set of easy, relaxed blues seems, at first listen, predictable and as programmatic as White's other Hip Bop all-star aggregates (Essence of Funk with Tom Browne and Benny Maupin and Afro Cubano Chant with Gato Barbieri and Bob James). But in this age of fifteen-dollar disks, there is something very rewarding about a group of great musicians getting together and making music that is so rich with the joy of playing together and enjoyable to the listener.

The genre is a natural for the guitarist (remember Midnight Blue?) and the bassist. But each player, including the very talented horn players, excels in this environment. This is Cedar Walton and Kenny Burrell's first teaming since the guitarist's 1991 disk, Sunup to Sundown, on Contemporary—and it's great to hear them together again. Ron Carter, as expected, has played with all these guys before. His talents are significant in blending the group in a warm, focused unity. White features Carter prominently throughout (as he does on other Hip Bop discs like Tom Browne's refreshing Another Shade of Browne) and most memorably here on John Coltrane's "Bass Blues" (originally from the 1957 album Traneing In). Every track works well, but standouts include White's "Uno Dos Adios," Burrell's "Primal Blue," Walton's ode to his mother, "Dear Ruth" and Carter's "For Toddlers Only."

One has trouble imagining how Lenny White can afford to continue gathering such talented friends together to make such a wide variety of stimulating genre jazz (remember his excellent Acoustic Masters series on Atlantic Jazz a few years back featuring Charles Lloyd and Bobby Hutcherson?). But here's hoping, through his Hip Bop label, he is able to continue. Recommended.

Track Listing

Bass Blues; Uno Dos Adios; Primal Blue; Dear Ruth; Stolen Moments; For Toddlers Only; You Go To My Head;

Personnel

Kenny Burrell
guitar, electric
Tim Hagans
trumpet

Album information

Title: Primal Blue | Year Released: 1997 | Record Label: Hip-Bop

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.