I've never listened to Kenny Drew before... I don't know much about him. This record has great repertoire ("In Your Own Sweet Way," "Oleo"), great sidemen (Tootie Heath & NHøP), and was recorded on a great label (Steeplechase). As one could expect, the band takes Oleo at 7,000 MPH.
I like that Tootie Heath's snare drum is not set up how one is accustomed to hearing snare on modern recordings. I feel like the trend of designing "jazz" instruments is a new occurence that came out of the late 90's and throughout the 2000's. It seems like in the past, if you were a drummer, you would just get a really nice drum kit and not worry about the dimensions. Nowadays a jazz drummer typically tunes up all the drum heads as tight as possible (yuck), and must have a 18" bass drum (20" is acceptable, but is pushing it...)
A couple Kenny Drew c.v.
ReplyDeleteKenny grew up in the same magical neighborhood with Bud Powell, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, etc., and has chops and style not unlike Bud. Kenny moved to Europe like other American jazz greats and became an in-demand accompanist for Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, etc.
Kenny's playing is always tasteful and virtuosic, and after you've heard him as a sideman on album after album, you start to realize he's one of the greats.