(Soul-Jazz, Hard Bop) Jack McDuff - The Honeydripper - 1961, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Jack McDuff has come pretty far pretty quickly. Not so long ago, he was a member of the Willis Jackson Quintet. He recorded with that group for Prestige on three separate occasions (Please Mr. Jackson, 7162; Cool Gator, 7172; Blue Gator, 7183), and as sometimes happens, he was offered his own album. That was Brother Jack, 7174; and it was followed by Tough Duff, 7185. Those two albums, plus the ones he made with Willis Jackson, were enough to establish him as one of the most popular jazz organists in the business.
Now, on this album, he, in turn, presents someone who will probably be unknown to you. He is guitarist Grant Green, and this was his first record session. Grant was discovered by altoist Lou Donaldson in St. Louis, and Lou brought him to town.
But this is by no means a "Jack McDuff Presents" kind of album; the inclusion of a new name is mentioned only to give some indication of how far along Jack has come, and how quickly. The set closely approximates what you would hear Jack play in a club, and that, for the moment, is primarily the blues.
Recently, as everyone knows by now, the organ has become a highly favored and potent jazz instrument, and its main function has been in the area of funky, or soulful, blues. Considering the enormous impact that Ray Charles has had on jazz taste, it is safe to say that the fact that he has recorded an organ LP will make the instrument even more widely and highly regarded than it is now. When people who have looked at the organ with certain suspicion open their ears more objectively to the instrument, one of the players who is certain to benefit is Jack McDuff.
He is not, however, a bandwagon climber in his choice of mood or music; I would not want to imply that. As a matter of fact, when he first heard this album played for him, he was somewhat worried that perhaps he had included too much blues, that the album had too much of a sameness. But as he heard track after track, he became more and more satisfied, until finally, at the end of the LP, he admitted that he had, after all, made a pretty good record.
And so he has. All but one of the tracks are either blues or blues-based. The three outright blues are by Jack himself, and it is fitting that the most appealing of these is the one, "Dink's Blues," that he dedicated to his wife.
"The Honeydripper," which gives this album its title, goes fairly far back in the rhythm and blues tradition. It was composed by Joe Liggins in 1942 and his record of it was a big hit. McDuff, Forrest, and Green stretch out in this version and produce an admirable revival of the tune.
"I Want a Little Girl" goes back even further. Jimmy Rushing used to feature the number with the Basie band, and for a long time it was identified with him. It has also had an important place in the careers of two other great blues singers: Joe Turner's so-called "comeback" album included a powerful version; and when one night at Carnegie Hall, in the middle of one of the package shows that is always coming through, Ray Charles sang it, several previously unaware people awoke to his talent.
The number which occupies a somewhat unusual position in this set is "Mr. Lucky." It is, of course, the theme for the television show of that name, and was composed by the fabulously successful Henry Mancini, who had previously been responsible for the Peter Gunn music. The single record which Mancini made of "Mr. Lucky" was one of the biggest hits in the country about a year ago. It should come as no surprise to anyone that a Mancini record would be a hit, but this one was unusual because of its instrumentation. In the middle of a big band—brasses, reeds, strings, and all—Mancini featured, as the solo instrument, an organ. It is one of the few times that the instrument had ever been successfully used in that context. Perhaps this goes a little far afield from the main subject of these remarks, but one wonders just what effect that had on the organ's popularity. Previously it had been associated with church, or skating rinks, or "dirty" jazz, and here was the instrument used to symbolize an extremely suave, sophisticated, Cary Grant-type character. The human mind works in strange ways, and perhaps that piece convinced some people that it was all right to like the organ, after all. There is, by the way, little to suggest Mr. Grant in Jack McDuff's version, which is the first jazz organ recording of it that I know of.
None of these remarks, however, take into consideration one of the most important factors in the success of this album. I am speaking of the tenorman Jimmy Forrest, who is, I feel, among the most powerfully emotional voices around. He is primarily a blues player—the blues are always present whether they are explicitly stated or not—but his abilities are not limited to that. His is a no-nonsense approach; he says what he has to say, and then stops. Having written that, I realize that all those phrases could be annotator's evasions, to be used when discussing a near-rock V roll musician. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The line that separates blues playing from rock 'n' roll is sometimes a thin one, but there is always something to separate the men from the boys. In Forrest's case, it is a unique and exact sense of time. As one person said when listening to these tracks, "He's got a metronome in his head." Incidentally, he appeared once before with Jack McDuff, on the previously mentioned Tough Duff album, and has recorded as a leader on the appropriately titled Forrest Fire (Prestige/New Jazz 8250}
As is often the case with musicians who became well known for one particular thing, McDuff is beginning to be worried about stagnation. In this instance, the thing he has become known for, obviously, is the blues. He is, to borrow a phrase, happy with the blues, but wants to do more. It is not the case of the clown wanting to play Hamlet—he does not propose sessions with banks of strings and acres of vocalists; he just wants to expand a little on the basis he has built.
Accordingly, he has a new album planned. This one would feature four horns—he has them in mind, but due to the always uncertain availability of musicians, it would be best not to mention them, even though that might increase the anticipation—and his own arrangements. Also, his own compositions, because he has recently been working on that area, and feels he is about ready to display his wares in styles other than the blues. Also, he feels that he might play piano on a track or two, for variety, and for different blending with the horns. He played piano even before he played organ (he changed, he once said, because there were so many piano players that it was hard to get a job), and has kept it up, mostly in private, ever since. At this writing, he has a title for only one of the pieces he plans for the record, a piece which has met with so much success at his personal appearances that he has been forced lo play it every set. The title, interestingly enough, is "Sanctified Waltz."
Those plans, though, are in the Future, and for the present, there is a good deal of pleasure to be gotten from the blending of Jack McDuff, Jimmy Forrest, Grant Green, and Ben Dixon on The Honeydripper.

I WAS THE ENGINEER on the recording sessions and I also made the masters for the original LP issues of these albums. Since the advent of the CD, other people have been making the masters. Mastering is the final step in the process of creating the sound of the finished product. Now, thanks to the folks at the Concord Music Group who have given me the opportunity to remaster these albums, I can present my versions of the music on CD using modern technology. I remember the sessions well, I remember how the musicians wanted to sound, and I remember their reactions to the playbacks. Today, I feel strongly that I am their messenger.

01 - Whap!.flac
02 - I Want A Little Girl.flac
03 - The Honeydripper.flac
04 - Dink's Blues.flac
05 - Mr. Lucky.flac
06 - Blues And Tonic.flac
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