Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Arthur Prysock: The Milestone Years

152

Arthur Prysock: The Milestone Years

By

View read count
Arthur Prysock: The Milestone Years
Arthur Prysock lived in that murky area between jazz and R & B. He had a romantic bass/baritone voice which he applied with distinction to ballads in a manner comparable to Johnny Hartman. Prysock was less smooth than Hartman and had more of a throbbin' hitch in his voice which one also hears in Lou Rawls. At the same time he could go to upbeat R & B without missing a beat, working well with the instruments which characterize that musical genre, the honking, swinging tenor, lowdown guitar and keyboards programmed to replicate an organ.

This "best of" collection compiles tracks from three albums Prysock made for the Milestone label during the years 1985 to 1987. Even though they are among the last Prysock cut before he became ill, they represent some of his best work rivaling the Verve material, including his session with Count Basie. There are all sorts of gems on this compilation. "Baby You've Got What It Takes" with Betty Joplin rivals the 1959 Dinah Washington/Brooks Benton version. Lloyd Wilson's organ sounding keyboards get a healthy R & B workout here. Joplin also joins Prysock on "Everything Must Change", "Bring It on Home to Me", and a tug on the heartstrings renderings of "Teach Me Tonight". Arthur's brother, Red Prysock, does some soulful tenor on this cut making it a highlight of the album. There are few singers who could come close to Prysock when expressing emotional intensity in a ballad. Listen to his interpretation of "I Want to Thank You, Girl" and "It's all in the Game". Up tempo tunes are not ignored with swingers like "Next Time You See Me" and "Good Rockin' Tonight". The latter more than any other cut shows the similarity between Prysock and Rawls.

This compilation reminds us that Prysock was a vocal treasure who didn't get nearly the recognition he deserved during his life (what else is new). Kudos to Fantasy for issuing this compilation to let us get one more chance to hear and pay our respects to this marvelous voice.

Track Listing

All My Lovin' Was in Vain^#; Got to Get You off My Mind*$ Everything Must Change+@; Good Rockin' Tonight@; I Want to Thank You, Girl%~; Next Time You See Me%~; At This Moment*#; Rainy Night in Georgia@; Teach Me Tonight+~; I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone@; Bring It on Home to Me+@; It's all in the Game*#; Baby (You've Got What It Takes)+%~; After the Lovin'^#

Personnel

Arthur Prysock, Betty Joplin+ - Vocals; Red Prysock, Howard Johnson* - Tenor Saxophone; Hank Crawford* - Alto Saxophone; Howard Johnson* - Baritone Saxophone; Lloyd Wilson -Keyboards; Ralph Caldwell, Melvin Sparks* - Guitar; Jimmy Lewis, Ralph Hamperian%, Wilbur Bascomb* - Bass; Leon Lee Dorsey - Bass, Electric Bass^; Don Williams, Bernard Purdie* - Drums; Lew Soloff*, Alan Rubin* - Trumpet;

Album information

Title: The Milestone Years | Year Released: 2000 | 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

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

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.