The Brother Jack McDuff Quartet - Brother Jack At The Jazz Workshop Live! (1963)

"Where has he been all this time?'

The speaker — Art Auerbach, owner of San Francisco's hip mecca, "The Jazz Workshop."

The person being spoken of, Brother Jack McDuff.

The question — one that thousands of jazz fans all over the country are asking.

Seemingly from nowhere a 37 year old jazz organist springs into stardom. Two of his albums reach the national best seller charts in 1963. "Standing Room Only" signs go up almost everywhere he works. And the "hipsters" — who knew Brother Jack awhile back and put him down for playing those "funny blues" — suddenly begin to speak of a new brand of SOUL. A discovery has been made — funk and esoterica can be amalgamated. Why put it down? It's now art. Plus, it's selling.

Twenty years ago a young sailor bought himself a book on how to play the piano. He dreamt — as did so many young men from poor negro homes — of being another Basie or Ellington. Like most dreams, though, this one foundered on the rocks of reality. The bright road to success emerged as a series of bumpy two laners in Arkansas, Missouri and the south-west with McDuff as pianist for a third rate rhythm and blues group. But, as hard as the life was, it was still experience. And young musicians need this before all else.

Within the scope of the musical world in which he lived, Jack McDuff developed as far as he could. He went from one rhythm and blues group to the next, getting better money and more recognition each time. But the life was drab and the music even drabber. The sound of Monk, Garner and the like sang in his ears. The world of creativity — of jazz — called. In 1953, McDuff formed his own jazz group.

The history of Brother Jack McDuff as a jazz piano player and leader can be summed up briefly. He worked enough to build a fantastic reputation within the world of Chicago musicians, not enough to keep a good group together for any period of time, and certainly not enough to eat with regularity. By 1956 Jack had become so disenchanted with his lack of success that he decided to quit music. During the next year and a half he managed a dry cleaning store which his father had opened in Champagne, Illinois.

Giving up his music completely, though, was more than McDuff could do. An excellent local band was working every weekend at the colleges in his area and asked McDuff to join. Unfortunately the leader played piano and the only weak spot was-bass. So Brother Jack McDuff became the bass player. (Notice the amazing bass line he plays on the organ.)-As could be expected, his talent was transferable. Within a year he had become so proficient that he was offered a job as bass player with one of the top jazz bands in the country. Jack turned them down, but the offer buoyed his spirits to the point where he was able to give his career in music another try.

Returning to Chicago, Jack alternated between piano and bass jobs for the next year. Meanwhile he was trying his hand at the organ during his spare time. Though he had little conception as yet of what might be done with the instrument, its possibilities fascinated him. When Willis "Gator Tail" Jackson, the popular blues musician, found himself without an organist while passing through Chicago, Jack got his chance. Hired as a ^fill-in while Willis looked for a regular organist, Jack stayed with the group over two years playing every day and really learning what the organ was all about.

In 1960 Brother Jack McDuff went out on his own again. Unwilling to stick to the standard organ trio format, he formed a quartet. The fuller, richer sound, the greater variety a lowed, made it easy for Jack to get work for his group — unfortunately, at trio prices. So Jack again found himself broke. But ,at least, this time he was working. And, as he worked, he experimented.

While not eschewing the blues form, he began, to place it in different motifs, trying out melanges of various sounds and making full use of the organ's electronic variations. A new sound began to emerge bearing little relation to that of Jimmy Smith around whose style almost all other jazz organists seemed to congregate. Then came the breakthrough.

In January of 1963, McDuff's sixth album (Prestige 7259) Screaming was released. Vibrant, dynamic, yet with a touch of beauty, it was a tremendous success. Agents and club owners, who had never before expressed any interest, suddenly began to romance him. Always a crowd pleaser, Jack began to draw and satisfy larger audiences. Then, the big push.

Live!, (Prestige 7274) McDuff's first "in person" recording, was released shortly before this album was cut. Incorporating a range and excitement seldom be fore heard from an organ group, it became a hit almost immediately. But, despite its enormous success, this album was only an indication of one step in the growth of one of the most exciting and creative jazz artists of the decade.

Brother Jack At The Jazz Workshop is Jack AAcDuff at his best. This album is an amazing blend of soul, swing and sweet music recorded before a jam packed and highly enthusiastic audience.

You don't have to be a jazz fan to enjoy this recording, but — if you do just happen to be one — you're going to love it.

Produced by Peter Paul and Lew Futterman

- Источник оцифровки: автор новости (plastinka aka nickhome)
- Тип сохранности винила: G
- Проигрыватель: Victor QL-Y44F
- Картридж (звукосниматель): Goldring Elite
- Предварительный усилитель (фонокорректор): Musical Fidelity MX-VYNL
- АЦП: Tascam UH-7000 (ASIO 2.0)
- Обработка: без обработки
- Формат записи (Bit/kHz): 32 float/192