Requisites
The Rat Race Blues ~ Gigi Gryce | By Eddie Carter
Multi-instrumentalist Gigi Gryce was one of the most exciting jazz musicians during the hard-bop era. In addition to the alto sax, he also played the flute and clarinet. He was also known as a brilliant arranger and composer. This morning’s record from the library, The Rat Race Blues (Prestige New Jazz NJLP 8262), is a splendid 1960 session that was one of the best records he recorded between 1955 and 1960. It’s the quintet’s second appearance together following their previous release, The Hap’nin’s. The ensemble consists of Richard Williams on trumpet, Gigi Gryce on alto sax, Richard Wyands on piano, Julian Euell on bass, and Mickey Roker on drums. My copy is the 1983 U.S. Original Jazz Classics Mono reissue (Prestige New Jazz OJC-081).
Side One opens with The Rat Race Blues by Gigi Gryce. A fiery uptempo smoker that begins with a scintillating introduction by Gigi and Richard soaring over the rhythm section. Wyands begins the first solo with his fingers flying fiercely over the keys. Williams opens the throttle on the muted trumpet next, and Gryce heightens the excitement in the finale. Strange Feelin’ by Sam Finch slows the speed to a medium pace for the ensemble’s relaxing melody. Williams steps up first for a carefree solo. Gryce gets into something good in the following reading. Wyands concludes with a charming interpretation, leading to a perfect climax.
Boxer’s Blues by Gigi Gryce begins with a two-instrument dialogue between Richard and Wyands. Gigi, Julian, and Mickey join them for a mellow theme. Gigi starts the solos with a lovely melodic line. Williams lays down the next elegant groove. Wyands takes over to give a graceful performance ahead of the reprise and slow fade. Blues In Bloom by Norman Mapp begins Side Two with a soft-voiced bass solo by Euell that segues into the quintet’s melody. Gryce goes to work first with an exceptionally tender tone, and then Williams carefully caresses the second reading with sensitivity. Richard delivers the closer with plenty of heart and soul into the theme’s restatement.
Monday Thru Sunday, also by Norman Mapp, is a slow blues that reaches a medium beat for the ensemble’s melody. Gigi solos first with a beautifully conceived interpretation. Williams maintains the therapeutic tempo in the second reading. Wyands is entirely at ease in the third statement, and Euell makes an impeccably polite comment during the ending theme. Esmond Edwards supervised The Rat Race Blues, and Rudy Van Gelder was the recording engineer. Gary Hobish mastered this Original Jazz Classics reissue. The album’s sound quality is excellent, with a superb soundstage placing the listener’s sweet spot in the center, surrounded by the quintet as they’re playing.
The Rat Race Blues is the next to last record Gigi Gryce would make before leaving the music scene to become a beloved music teacher in the Bronx. He continued teaching until just before his death at age fifty-seven on March 14, 1983. Of the eleven albums he recorded in those five years, The Rat Race Blues by Gigi Gryce is one of the gems that hard-bop fans shouldn’t miss on their next record shopping trip. It’s also a superb listening experience I’m sure you won’t be able to listen to just once!
~ The Hap’nin’s (Prestige New Jazz NJLP 8246) – Source: Discogs.com © 2024 by Edward Thomas Carter
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Mike Stern was born Michael Sedgwick on January 10, 1953 in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in Washington, D.C. He attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston and when he was twenty-two, he became a member of Blood, Sweat & Tears, spending three years with the band. During this stint he appeared on the albums More Than Ever and Brand New Day.
1979 saw him joining Billy Cobham’s fusion band. Two years later he joined Miles Davis, making his public debut in 1981, a performance recorded on the album We Want Miles. He remained with Davis through 1983 until he was replaced by guitarist John Scofield. From 1983 to 1984 he toured with Jaco Pastorius and in 1985 returned to tour with Davis.
Stern’s solo debut, Upside Downside, with Jaco Pastorius, David Sanborn, and Bob Berg, was released on Atlantic Records in 1986. For the next two years he was a member of Michael Brecker’s quintet, appearing on Don’t Try This At Home. His second Atlantic album, dropped in 1988, was Time in Place, and he would go on to release more than a dozen albums.
He formed a touring group in 1989 with Bob Berg, Dennis Chambers and Lincoln Goines. His acclaimed 1993 album, Standards (and Other Songs), led to his being named Best Jazz Guitarist of the Year by the readers and critics of Guitar Player. He was nominated for two Grammy awards, received another Best Jazz Guitarist award, and in 2009 in the first of a series of articles celebrating Down Beat‘s 75th anniversary, Stern was named one of the 75 Great Guitarists of all time.
Serious injuries to his shoulders and right arm after tripping and falling led to the ending of his 2016 European tour. Modifying his playing technique in the summer of 2017 he returned to Europe on tour with a new formation called Mike Stern/Randy Brecker Band, featuring Randy Brecker, Teymur Phell and Lenny White.
Guitarist Mike Stern, who received a Certified Legend Award from Guitar Player magazine, continues to perform, record and tour.
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Bobby Battle was born on January 8, 1944 and grew up in Detroit, Michigan. He moved to New York City in 1968, playing with Roland Kirk and Pharoah Sanders shortly after his arrival.
He studied at New York University from 1972 to 1975. He played with Don Pullen and Sam Rivers through the late 1970s, and worked often with Arthur Blythe in the 1980s and 1990s. He also worked with Kenny Dorham, Sonny Stitt, and Sonny Fortune. He worked as a duo with Jimmy Ponder in 1987.
Battle’s only release as a leader is The Offering, issued in 1990 on Mapleshade, on which Battle leads a quartet with David Murray, Larry Willis, and Santi Debriano. As a sideman he recorded four albums with Arthur Blythe and four with Don Pullen.
Drummer Bobby Battle, who occasionally played saxophone, died on December 6, 2019 in his hometown.
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Joe Haider was born January 3, 1936 in Darmstadt, Germany and performed as an amateur musician in the region Stuttgart, Germany between 1954 and 1959. He studied at Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich, Germany from 1960 to 1965. During this period he also played in the Fritz Münzer Quintet and recorded Live in HR 1962 and Jazz For Young People.
From 1965 to 1968, he worked as a pianist and led a trio in jazz club Domicile in Munich. During his residency Joe performed with many European and American jazz musician such as Benny Bailey, Duško Gojković, Nathan Davis, Booker Ervin, Klaus Doldinger, Hans Koller, Leo Wright, Attila Zoller, George Mraz, Peter Trunk, Philly Joe Jones, Joe Nay, Kurt Bong, Klaus Weiss and Pierre Favre.
After leading the Radio Jazz Ensemble of the Bayerischer Rundfunk, he worked from 1970 with the quartet Four for Jazz with alto saxophonist Heinz Bigler, bassist Isla Eckinger and Peter Giger on percussion. He founded his own trio with Eckinger and Favre and put together a combo with Duško Gojković and led a big band together with Slide Hampton, in which Dexter Gordon also performed.
1979 saw Haider establishing his own label EGO in order to release his own records and those of his German colleagues. He recorded with his orchestra and Mel Lewis, toured with Woody Shaw, and various soloists such as Andy Scherrer, Roman Schwaller, Sandy Patton or Don Menza. From 1984 to 1995, he was the director of the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, Switzerland. In 1994, the Canton of Bern’s government awarded him the Great Cultural Prize for his contribution in the field of music.
The turn of the century had him working for the next eleven years with Brigitte Dietrich and a double quartet with bowed string instruments. In 2016, he published the album Keep It Dark. Pianist Joe Haider, at 87, is not very active in music.
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Andrés Thor was born on December 27, 1974 in Hafnarfjordur, Iceland, a little harbour town near Reykjavík, Iceland. He began his musical studies at age 12 and his initial influences were glitter and hippie rock bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and Bon Jovi.
During his teens was when he first heard the music of John Coltrane and Pat Metheny which led him to become more fascinated with jazz. He soon started studying with some of Iceland’s finest jazz educators at the FIH music school and after graduating his musical quest brought him to study at the Koninklijk Conservatorium (The Royal Conservatory) in The Hague, The Netherlands in 2000.
Finishing his Bachelors and Masters degrees by 2006 he went on to study under the guidance of Wim Bronnenberg, Peter Nieuwerf, Eef Albers, John Ruocco and Hein v/d Geyn as his main teachers. He also attended workshops and masterclasses lead by Michael Brecker, Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Abercrombie and Avishai Cohen, as well as performing with the late Michael Brecker and the Royal Conservatory Big Band in concert.
Living and studying in the Netherlands lead to the first recording featuring Andrés as a co-leader of the organ trio Wijnen, Winter & Thor. The band featured songs by all members of the trio. Since then he has been based and working in and out of Iceland and has released five albums under his own name and a handful of albums in collaboration. He has been active in various collective projects and as a sideman with bands like ASA trio, Icewegian, The Viking Giant Show, BonSom, Andreas Dreier quartet and Music with Z to name a few.
Thor has been an active performer in Scandinavia, Europe and America, as well as a session musician in studios and educator in Iceland. He doubles on the mandolin, banjo and steel guitars. Guitarist Andrés Thor continues to record and perform blending his positively ambrosial tonal palette with the elegant harmonic substance and incisive, ornamented cross-rhythms.
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