Houston Person: Reminiscing At Rudy’s

  Judging by his deeply soulful sound on the tenor saxophone, octogenarian Houston Person sounds like a warm and friendly soul, the kind of guy you’d love to buy a coffee and hang with for a while. Reminiscing At Rudy’s is his latest HighNote effort, featuring his usual tasteful selection of tunes and a thoroughly compatible group to play them. Russell Malone is on guitar, Larry Fuller is on piano, Matthew Parrish is on bass, and Lewis Nash is on drums. Nash also contributes a vocal, on Nothing Ever Changes My Love For You, a 1956 hit for Nat “King” Cole. This was a pretty sappy song back then, and it has not improved with age. Person’s first album as a leader was the 1966 Prestige release Underground Soul. Like so many of his projects since that Lp, it was recorded in the same Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, studio run by the late Rudy Van Gelder. The studio is now under the guidance of Maureen Sickler, who assisted Van Gelder in his final years and who recorded and mixed Reminiscing At Rudy’s. The saxophonist has got quite a few memories of Rudy and the studio to call to mind when he starts to play in that familiar room. Perhaps in deference to Person’s elder status, the tempos here tend to be relaxed and laid-back, making a perfect setting for Person’s eloquence and melodic invention. Highlights include a snappy Moon River, an exquisitely tender version of Paul Anka’s Put Your Head On My Shoulder, a sweet stroll through Cedar Walton’s I’ll Let You Know, and the gut-bucket beat that the band applies to the Percy Mayfield classic Please Send Me Someone to Love, complete with a biting Malone guitar solo. The disc concludes with the title track, an upbeat original blues by Person that offers more fine blowing by the saxophonist. I’ve been trying hard to cut my music collection down to a manageable size, but this inspired date will surely make the cut. Recommended, for sure. 

HighNote HCD 7343; Houston Person (ts) Russell Malone (g) Larry Fuller (p) Matthew Parrish (b) Lewis Nash (d, vcl on *); Englewood Cliffs, NJ, July 19, 2022; At Long Last Love/ Again/ Moon River/ Put Your Head on My Shoulder/ Why Did I Choose You/Nothing Ever Changes My Love For You*/ My Romance/ I’ll Let You Know/ Please Send Me Someone to Love/ Reminiscing at Rudy’s; 57:26. www.jazzdepot.com

Houston Person: Live In Paris

  First heard on record with organist Johnny “Hammond” Smith on Riverside back in 1963, the work of tenor saxophonist Houston Person has been consistently enjoyable over the years whether as a bandleader, sideman, and record producer. His latest outing, Live In Paris, recorded at the 2019 Festival Jazz à la Villette, is another winning set with nearly an hour of blues-drenched soulful jazz. Person brought an eminently compatible and supportive quartet to the City of Lights with Peter Bernstein on guitar, Ben Paterson at the Hammond B-3 organ, and Willie Jones III on drums. Together they tackle a choice selection of pop songs and jazz tunes, including Johnny Griffin’s Sweet Sucker, Billy Taylor’s Easy Walker, Lester Young’s timeless Lester Leaps In, and Bobby Hebb’s Sunny, a favorite of saxophonists since it debuted in 1966. While I’m especially partial to the album’s slower numbers, like the band’s stroll through Only Trust Your Heart, a Benny Carter composition introduced by Stan Getz in 1964, and the way that Person caresses ballads like The Way We Were and Since I Fell For You, the truth is there isn’t a dull moment here. Definitely recommended. 

HighNote HCD 7338; Houston Person (ts) Ben Paterson (Hammond B3 org) Peter Bernstein (g) Willie Jones III (d), Paris, France, September 8, 2019; Sweet Sucker/ Only Trust Your Heart/ Easy Walker/ The Way We Were/ Lester Leaps In/ Since I Fell for You/ Sunny/ Jean-Jaures Shuffle; 59:02. www.jazzdepot.com

Houston Person: I’m Just A Lucky So And So

Veteran tenorman Houston Person is in his eighties, but he’s still blowing with his usual soulful and bluesy elegance on his latest HighNote release, I’m Just A Lucky So And So. The basic quartet, with Lafayette Harris on piano, Matthew Parrish, and Kenny Washington on drums, is augmented by trumpeter Eddie Allen and guitarist Rodney Jones on many of the pieces. A funky introduction by Jones is a bit startling at the beginning of Willow Weep For Me, but things settle down soon enough as Person caresses the familiar theme. One of the special pleasures of a Houston Person session is the care that he puts into song selection. A few of the pieces in the repertoire are familiar vehicles for improvisers, like Willow Weep For Me and Who Can I Turn To. But more often than not, Person has resurrected numbers that are not nearly as well-known. Music by Sammy Cahn, represented here by Wonder Why, I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry, and Day by Day, seems to be especially favored by Person. As pianist Harris, a Person associate since 2014, told Willard Jenkins for his liner notes, the saxophonist has opened him up to “so many great songs that musicians don’t play and sometimes haven’t even heard!” The biggest surprise is the funky closer, Next Time You See Me, a hit for Junior Parker back in 1957 and not a common vehicle for improvisers. The most obscure piece is Alone With Just My Dreams, a posthumously uncovered song by bassist George Duvivier which was the title track of a 1991 album by trumpeter Joe Wilder. Befitting the source, bassist Parrish takes the introductory chorus. Parrish, a long-time member of pianist David Leonhardt’s group who appeared on Person’s Rain Or Shine in 2017, fits in perfectly. Guitarist Jones contributes the date’s sole original composition, the blues-like Song for a Rainbow. Trumpeter Allen is in excellent form throughout. He’s especially effective on Billy Eckstine’s I Want to Talk About You. The rhythm section of Jones, Harris, Parrish, and Washington is warmly supportive and faultlessly swinging at any tempo. Houston’s graceful approach to melody and his unfailingly lovely saxophone sound make all of his projects a joy to listen to over and over, and I’m Just A Lucky So And So is no exception. Happily recommended.
HighNote HCD 7327; Eddie Allen (tp on 1,3,4,6,8-10) Houston Person (ts) Lafayette Harris (p) Rodney Jones (g on 1,2,5,6,8,10) Matthew Parrish (b) Kenny Washington (d); Englewood Cliffs, NJ, November 30, 2018; 1.Willow Weep For Me/ 2.Wonder Why/ 3. I Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry/ 4.I’m Just a Lucky So and So/ 5.Who Can I Turn To/ 6.Day by Day/ 7.Alone With Just My Dreams/ 8.Song for a Rainbow/ 9.I Want to Talk About You/ 10.Next Time You See Me; 55:32. www.jazzdepot.com

Houston Person & Ron Carter: Remember Love

Frequent collaborators Houston Person & Ron Carter have learned a thing or two about music over the years, and on the stirring Remember Love, this stellar duo is ready and able to tell you all about it. Tenor saxophonist Houston and bassist Carter debuted as a duo with 1989's Something In Common for Muse, and followed that up with five more sessions over the decades. Obviously, it’s a situation that both men enjoy, and if the enthusiastic reception of their releases is any indication, plenty of listeners and critics have also found joy in their repeated encounters. Remember Love presents a typically well-selected group of songs, with standards including My One and Only Love (gorgeous) and The Way You Look Tonight (tender and romantic), Luiz Bonfá’s Gentle Rain, the Ellington/Strayhorn masterpiece Day Dream, and a pair of originals in Carter’s Blues for D.P. and Person’s Why Not. The only real surprise, and a welcome one, is the inclusion of You Are My Sunshine, a feature for an unaccompanied Carter. To close the show, Person goes it alone on the standard Without a Song, where he chooses not to improvise at all but just state the melody with his warm and reedy sound. That’s all he really needs. It’s easy to take such mastery for granted after Person and Carter have spent so many years in the spotlight, but that would be a grave mistake. You’d miss the immense pleasure of hearing great melodies performed by two truly gifted jazzmen. Recommended, without a doubt.
HighNote HCD 7315; Houston Person (ts) Ron Carter (b); Englewood Cliffs, NJ, March 27, 2018; Love Is Here to Stay/ My One and Only Love/ Why Not/ Day Dream/ Gentle Rain/ The Way You Look Tonight/ You Are My Sunshine/ Blues for D.P./ Easy to Remember/ Without a Song; 52:46. www.jazzdepot.com