Will all due respect to some of the players on my father’s albums
I’ve just given a re-listen to one of his most overtly swinging lesser known albums on which he was a sideman: Dave Pike Plays the Jazz Version of “Oliver”
The rhythm section consists of:
Walter Perkins on drums (yeah baby!)
George Tucker on bass (double yeah)
Tommy Flanagan on piano!
*Note. Photo above is different session with Dave & Jimmy around the same time (1963). George Duvivier is pictured. I believe that session is Limbo Carnival.
That one just sets your foot tapping and Dad gets positively groovy (for him – he was pretty laid back) on the all too short solo “Who Will Buy” with a Charlie Christian chord lick to finish. Dave Pike no slouch either. Milt Jackson’s got nothing on this fella. Excellent bebop lines.
If only he could’ve used these guys all the time on his records! Just try to imagine Jimmy Raney on a 50s Cannonball record. That’s what this feels like to me.
Below are the only 3 tracks I possess. The album is long out of print. Now bear in mind. Jimmy is a sideman, so his contributions are relatively short but great solos all around Dad, Tommy and Dave. But’s it the pocket underneath that I really like and hearing that in the spaces where Jimmy takes a breath, it sounds like he’s really having a good time. Little melody quotes in there and stuff. It’s not radically different the way he plays, he’s still doing his choice phrases. But hearing in this new context just makes me hear it differently. Plus I’m pretty sure that’s the 60’s engineering work of Rudy Van Gelder so you hear that distinctive sound. That makes it sound different than some other albums where frankly listen my father’s solo then kind of tune out due to the missing groove that I like to hear from a rhythm section.
I’ll Do Anything
Who Will Buy
It’s A Fine Life
