Requisites

Night Flight To Dakar ~ Al Cohn, Billy Mitchell, Dolo Coker, Leroy Vinnegar, Frank Butler | By Eddie Carter

Submitted for your consideration this morning is the second of two albums recorded during The Xanadu All-Stars’ first tour in Senegal, West Africa.  Night Flight To Dakar (Xanadu Records 185) was released in 1982 after the first LP, Xanadu In Africa hit the stores a year earlier.  The personnel consists of Al Cohn and Billy Mitchell on tenor sax; Dolo Coker on piano; Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Frank Butler on drums.  My copy used in this report is the original release.  On the four quintet tunes, Cohn is heard on the left channel and Mitchell on the right channel.

The album opens with the title tune, Night Flight To Dakar was composed by Coker as a tribute to his bandmates and in honor of the ensemble’s trip to Africa.  It’s a tune the group has fun on with a vigorous beat by both horns in unison leading the trio on the melody.  Al opens with a scintillating groove of spirited wailing as refreshing as a cold drink on a hot summer day or evening.  Billy makes his point next with innovative energy on a superb statement.  Dolo digs into the finale with a tasty reading before the front line shares the final two choruses into the reprise and close.

Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying was written by Joe Greene in 1946 and showcases the trio in a gorgeous performance.  Dolo tenderly presents the melody and approaches the song’s only solo with delicate respect, sustained by Leroy and Frank’s gentle foundation.  It’s back to a blowing session for the quintet’s first side finale with an uptempo version of Blues Up and Down by tenor saxophonists Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt.  This jazz favorite was written in 1950, making its first appearance on a Prestige 78-rpm single and reissued a year later on the LP, Battle of The Saxes.

The song is charged with electricity from the opening notes of the melody.  Billy begins the fireworks with an exciting exhibition of musical virtuosity.  Cohn comes right on his heels with a blistering heatwave of his own.  Coker swings into a bouncy, happy groove on the next interpretation.  Vinnegar steps up next with a rousing chorus shadowed by Butler, then swings swiftly on the next five verses.  Butler makes a crisp contribution, exchanging the final statement with both saxes into a most satisfying conclusion.

Sweet Senegelese Brown by Billy Mitchell is dedicated to a woman from Georgia.  This song opens Side Two built on the chords of the 1925 standard, Sweet Georgia Brown by Ben Bernie, Maceo Pinkard, and Kenneth Casey.  Al and Billy provide the first two exemplary readings, but the showcase here belongs to Frank who has the longest solo at 5 ½ minutes.  It’s not a bad performance, but his readings on Blues Up and Down and The King are better in my opinion. Dolo and Leroy don’t solo themselves but provide the propulsive power on the opening and closing themes and behind both saxophonists.  The finale is by Count Basie and became a signature song for Illinois Jacquet.

The King is an uptempo cooker allowing everyone solo space and opens with a high-voltage melody collectively.  Billy soars first into a fiercely, heated lead solo, then Al attacks the next one with the quick motion of a whirlwind.  Dolo executes the next reading with rapid-fire agility, then Leroy takes a joyful excursion next.  Frank exchanges a few riffs with Al and Billy, taking the ensemble home on a high note.

Night Flight To Dakar was recorded by American engineer Paul Goodman and he delivers an album with good sound quality.  I say good because the one area that fails as you’re listening is when a musician is talking.  You can barely make out what anyone is saying until the very end of The King when one of the guys says Merci Beaucoup to the crowd.  That issue aside, the ensemble delivers a solid live performance with excellent musicianship and a soundstage from the instruments that’s good enough to provide excellent playback on any mid-fi or high-end audio system.  I’m intrigued enough to start looking for the first album Xanadu In Africa for a serious listen and enjoyed the music on Night Flight To Dakar enough to recommend it for fans of Al Cohn, Billy Mitchell, Dolo Coker, Leroy Vinnegar and Frank Butler.

~ Blues Up and Down, Battle of The Saxes (Prestige PRLP 107); Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Cryin’ (Prestige 877); Xanadu In Africa (Xanadu Records 180) – Source: Discogs.com

~ Sweet Senegelese Brown – Source: Album liner notes by Don Schlitten

© 2020 by Edward Thomas Carter

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