Etta Jones & Houston Person - Don't Misunderstand

HighNote 7173

The Muse label was a recording refuge for many “soul jazz” artists seeking to sustain financial solvency in the wake of fusion’s ascendancy, among them saxophonist Houston Person and organist Sonny Phillips. The pair first collaborated on a string of sessions for Prestige in the previous decade, churning out a potent strain of the music equally informed by R&B, funk and soul, but still sustaining an underlying jazz pedigree. The tracks on this newly issued live date come from a NYC club engagement in 1980 teaming the two with vocalist Etta Jones, a fellow Muse émigré who’s musical kinship with Person ran even deeper. Drummer Frankie Jones completes the band, his sticks providing competent, largely frills-free, beats and rising to the occasional solo nod with enthusiasm.

There are no surprises in terms of tunes, just a meat and potatoes songbook composed of bop and swing staples. The singer plus organ trio combination might seem like an odd fit, but the players make it work and the relaxed atmosphere of the venue helps in this regard as well. Also advantageous is the program’s balance between vocal and instrumental features. Jones’ earthy vocals grace four of the eight numbers, her pipes evincing the debts to both Ella and Dinah and a strong blues feeling. Person’s forthright blues-inflected tenor, an outgrowth of abiding Stitt and Ammons influences, is a prime foil as well as a potent loadstar on the sans-Jones tracks. In addition to comping with a lithe touch, Phillips, who was something of a closet experimentalist, has the chance to stretch out imaginatively with his instrument on several of the longer pieces. During the tail end of a lengthy version of Milt Jackson’s “Bluesology” he flips some switches and builds some pedal swollen bass figures that sound like they’re coming from a vintage synth deck rather than a B-3. This concert could easily have followed the format of countless others prior and after, but the players brought élan to the stand to ensure that such a cul de sac was never encountered. The pastels-sketched cover on the other hand… not so much.

~ Derek Taylor