Track Listing

1. Way You Look Tonight
2. Ball Bearings
3. All the Things You Are
4. Smoke Stack
5. Smoke Stack [Alternate Take]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43027 in Music
• Brand: Griffin Technology
• Released on: 1999-05-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds

Amazon.com
This freewheeling 1957 session features three of the finest tenor saxophonists of the hard-bop genre--Johnny Griffin, Hank Mobley, and John Coltrane. While tenor battles have been a feature of jazz since the '30s, the three here are so distinctive in their approaches that it's musicality that reigns and even the new listener will soon identify the three saxophonists' sounds. Griffin has been billed as the world's fastest saxophonist, a hard claim to verify, but few would argue with his aplomb as he tears off electrifying solos, negotiating quicksilver arpeggios with a gruff sound and the blues-tinged wail that he had mastered in Joe Morris's rhythm & blues band. Mobley's approach was more subdued, producing inventive streams of melody even in these heated circumstances, while Coltrane was already the most adventurous of the three, pressing the changes for new harmonic extensions. Bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Art Blakey are both supportive and forceful, while trumpeter Lee Morgan and pianist Wynton Kelly add some variety to the dominant tenor voices. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

an incredible moment with incredible players!
as the liner notes inform us, this album happened by accident. griffin and hank mobley were scheduled for a dual sax date, when on the way to van gelder's studio, they ran into john coltrane setting up an impromptu sax summit. and what a meeting it was! this album cooks from start to finish with the three tenors (jazz style), pushing and reaching for higher and higher moments. it is a lot of fun to go along for the ride. in one sense, its too bad because the rest of the musicians here are also outstanding (wynton kelly on piano and lee morgan on trumpet, for example) and they don't have a lot of room to solo with these three giants going at it. oh, well... maybe some day they'll unearth lost masters of this session with 30 or 40 minute workouts! this album is a good introduction to griffin, who has spent much of his career as an expatriate musician in europe. he took a full-bodied, r&b approach to music, but with a subtle and deep touch. a great re-release!

Blue Note Brilliance
This is a great album for lots of reasons. It features three of the most distinct stylists on tenor saxophone, as well as an up-and-coming star on trumpet; the tunes (two standards and two Griffin tunes) bring out the best in the first-rate musicians; and the jam-session nature of the recording gives it a relaxed, spontaneous feeling. Johnny Griffin, the least known of the saxophonists, is unbelievable -- you won't believe your ears as he rockets through several choruses of the warp-speed "The Way You Look Tonight" but nevers loses sight of the blues. Hank Mobley's mellow, lyrical playing provides a great foil to his more aggressive counterparts. John Coltrane, then in his layoff from the Miles Davis group and beginning his tenure with Thelonious Monk, shows his rapidly evolving, harmonically challenging style. Lee Morgan is really inspired on this recording, and the rhythm section is incredible: Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Art Blakey. Blakey is on fire here, by the way; just listen to him trading choruses with Griffin! This is essential listening for anyone who likes 50s hard bop.

Overrated, IMHO...
Though this CD gets 5 stars from most of your reviewers, and appears on a number of "best ever" lists, I'd like to offer an emphatic dissent.First the good things. The rhythm section is excellent,(even if Art Blakey is typically a bit overpowering), both generally and in its limited solo space. And Lee Morgan's playing is excellent. I've never heard him play less than well; he had it all--ideas,tone,technique,fire,taste.Mobley and Coltrane play well, though nothing here will startle or excite anyone familiar with their work around this time.
As for the Johnny Griffin of the 50's:sure,he's one of the fastest horns in the West,but as a musician his talent ended at the wrists.Endless cockroach-on-the-keys scrambling up and down his horn,very little in the way of ideas,a harsh and at times plain out-of-tune upper register that sometimes sounded like somebody had stepped on a poodle. If you want to hear the difference between a real improvising musician and a cram-everything-in speed demon, compare the Monk-Sonny Rollins version of "Misterioso" with the Monk-Griffin version (each recorded right around this time). But JG is the dominant force/voice on this album,unfortunately. Sheer technical virtuosity has always played a role in jazz, but in the best jazz there's always a lot else besides. That's not the case here.