Louis Hayes: Artform Revisited

  I started my day listening to Lee Morgan’s 1962 Riverside album Take Twelve, with Louis Hayes on drums. When I checked my mail in the afternoon, there was a promotional copy of Hayes’ fresh new release, Artform Revisited. Sixty plus years seemed to vanish in a flash as I listened to Hayes and his devoted quintet of Abraham Burton on tenor sax, Steve Nelson on vibes, David Hazeltine at the piano, and bassist Dezron Douglas, who also acted as co-producer with Hayes. This unit was first heard on 2021's Crisis, followed by 2023's Exactly Right!, both on Savant. For his third release for the label, Hayes had it in mind to revisit, in Maxine Gordon’s words, “the music that had influenced him and the musicians who were so important to his life.” That translated to the band tackling compositions from Dizzy Gillespie (with a jumping Tour de Force to start things out), John Lewis (Milestones), Ray Brown (the classic Ray’s Idea), Billy Strayhorn (the timeless A Flower is a Lovesome Thing, here spotlighting Nelson’s flowing vibes), and no fewer than three Charlie Parker gems in My Little Suede Shoes, Cheryl, and Dewey Square. There’s also the lesser-known Bobby Troup composition You’re Looking At Me, featuring Burton at his balladic best, and a pair of original compositions to round out the program. Hayes’ Ruby, dedicated to his mother, is a bouncy tune that came into his mind all at once, sympathetically arranged by Hazeltine. Closing the session is G, a straight-forward piece that Douglas describes as a “Kansas City barbecue style blues.” The tune rolls right along, a fitting capstone for the date. Hayes was quite happy with the sound that engineer Chris Sulit got for his drums on his last session, so they want back to Paramus, NJ, to make this one. It helps immensely that the drummer was working with a group where, he writes, the individuals “enjoy each other’s company and ... communicate as friends.” Good tunes, a convivial band, and the best working conditions all contribute to the goal to “play the music on the highest level possible and always respect the past.” Mission accomplished. It’s another winning outing for NEA Jazz Master and national treasure Louis Hayes. 

Savant SCD 2218; Abraham Burton (ts) Steve Nelson (vib) David Hazeltine (p) Dezron Douglas (b) Louis Hayes (d); Paramus, NJ, January 25, 2024; Tour de Force/ Milestones/ My Little Suede Shoes/ You’re Looking at Me/ Ruby/ Cheryl/ Ray’s Idea/ A Flower is a Lovesome Thing/ Dewey Square/ G; 50:32. www.jazzdepot.com

Louis Hayes: Exactly Right!

  When NEA Jazz Master drummer Louis Hayes counts off the tempo to start a tune, you can be sure that it will be Exactly Right!, which happens to be the apt title of his latest Savant release. Accompanied by his frequent associates tenor saxophonist Abraham Burton, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, pianist David Hazeltine, and bassist Dezron Douglas, Hayes swings hard through an hour of inspired small combo jazz. The music is basically in the hard bop style that was prevalent when Hayes made his recording debut back in 1956 as a member of the Horace Silver quintet. To honor his early days, Hayes and company perform Silver’s Mellow D, originally heard on 1959's Finger Poppin’ With The Horace Silver Quintet with Hayes as the drummer. There’s also a homage to fellow percussionist Art Blakey with the closing tune, Cedar Walton’s Ugetsu, the title track of a 1963 Blakey album on Riverside. Tenorman Burton’s burly tone serves him well on upbeat numbers like Duke Pearson’s Is That So, and he also has a beautiful way with a ballad, as he demonstrates on Sergio Mendes’ So Many Stars and Fred Lacey’s Theme For Ernie with exquisite support from vibist Nelson and the sensitive Hazeltine. By now, you might have noticed that Hayes, as bandleader and co-producer with bassist Douglas, has a well-honed talent for picking interesting tunes to play, and ones that are not heard too often. In the Sixties, Hayes briefly co-led a quintet with Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson called the Jazz Communicators. It’s a name that the drummer revived around 2010, with many of the same musicians as Exactly Right! , but even if he’s not using the moniker now, the essence is the same: music that’s honest, unpretentious, and deeply satisfying. Recommended. 

Savant SCD 2206; Abraham Burton (ts) Steve Nelson (vib) David Hazeltine (p) Dezron Douglas (b) Louis Hayes (d); Paramus, NJ, December 16-17, 2022; Exactly Right!/ Is That So?/ Hand in Glove/ So Many Stars/ Carmine’s Bridge/ Nefertiti/ Mellow D/ Theme For Ernie/ Scarborough Fair/ Ugetsu; 54:54. www.jazzdepot.com