Grit-Gittin' Feelin'

Grit-Gittin' Feelin' Artist: Harold Ousley
Label: Delmark
Category: Music



Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1


UPC: 038153052027
EAN: 0038153052027
ASIN: B00004UENX


Release Date: 2000-08-15

Related Categories:

Bebop General Bebop General
Related | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music
General General
Related | Jazz | Styles | Music
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Tracks:

  1. Without A Song
  2. Canadian Sunset
  3. Night Song
  4. Lush Life
  5. Grit-Gittin' Feelin'
  6. Now That I Am So In Love
  7. El Senioree
  8. Go Away Little Girl
  9. A Troubled Soul

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Flexible and Fantastic.......2001-02-21

This is the first recording I've heard by the now 72 years old Mr. Ousley. It's a treat. Nevermind the 4 stars; if Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" is 5, I just can't quite rate this wonderful disc its equal. That being said, I still highly recommend it. Not the least of its merits is what one might call its flexibility. Not only will the jazz aficionado find much to enjoy in its nuanced directness, but the casual fan and even the jazz beginner will find it very accessible. Mr. Ousley does not indulge in virtuosity for its own sake, so it never mars the sheer musicality of his arrangements. His sound here is round and ripe. His control of his emboucher to produce a wide range of tonal variety is extraordinary. So, too, is his fine sense of when not to play. This is, perhaps, not a trait suprising to find in a fellow that played for a time with Count Basie, but it is a welcome relief from the all too frequent modern tendency toward over wrought improvisational flights.

His compatriots in this enterprise are Jodie Christian on piano, John Whitfield on bass, and Robert Shy on drums. Art Hoyle's trumpet gets added to the mix on the latin flavored "Senioree" to good effect. None of these Chicago sidemen are exactly household names, but they all play "of a piece" and the group sounds like they've been together for years. Mr. Christian's playing is especially delightful on "Night Song", where his runs are so clear, clean, and sweet as to put you in mind of Alpine streams; and Whitfield's bowed bass solo on the same piece will knock your socks off. Robert Shy's multi-layered, near inevitable beat, especially on the later pieces "Senioree" and "Go Away Little Girl", is always right. A favorite spot of mine is about 5 minutes into "Now I'm So In Love" where Ousley, Christian and Shy start trading interlocking snatches of musical dialogue with short lines cascading back and forth almost (dare I say?) like in a Bach concerto.

This is wonderful music making. Buy it! Tell your friends to buy it! Then, maybe Delmark (or somebody) will record some more of this fabulous sound.

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