This is one of those recordings with which I am so intimate that I am swiftly thwarted in attempts to make anything original of it in my writing. One of the reasons I have always loved this record, though, is that Clark, for much of his recording career something of a nondescript, "professional" accompanist, managed to make a quintessential Blue Note album that nonetheless breaks -- rather, elides -- many of that specific "sound's" formulas. Without question, it is one of the coolest -- in terms of overall emotional temperature -- yet brightest of all the classic sessions made for that label during the early 1960's. The Sonny Clark / Butch Warren / Billy Higgins rhythm section, entirely a studio creation (almost like a tromp l'oeil soundstage setting or matte painting), was one of the finest there ever was, and there is both an effortlessness and lyrical bounce to their work -- a feel which is quite different from the insistent, backbeat-heavy swing you feel on those sessions with Art Blakey and Art Taylor on the drum riser. I'm tempted to say their swing was understated, but I know that's not the word I want. Placid? Unemphatic? Relaxed, definitely. But also joyous, and joy implies at least the letting loose of some tension, an event explosive... Leapin' and Lopin' also features one of the more uncharacteristic front-lines to be given the OK by Lion and Wolff: the Ben Webster-cum-Dexter Gordon stylings of Charlie Rouse on tenor sax, and the quirkily surging, silvery soloing of Tommy Turrentine (older brother of Stanley) on trumpet. The tunes Clark wrote for this date are uniformly delightful, even infectious. Clark's spacious modal structures -- "Melody For C", "Something Special", "Voodoo" -- are not callow or expedient hard bop "heads". On this album, more so even than the impeccable Cool Struttin', Clark has outgrown overtly macho poses of virtuosity, and he has found idiosyncratic partners that do not require him to make his blues nothing but funky and his ballads all about the longing. Clark sounds completely at one with his instrument here, in the flow -- in the zone -- as if, as I think it is possible to do, he has seduced himself into true discipline.
Sure, if you introduce biography into the assessment, Leapin' And Lopin' is surrounded by squalor, infamy, and madness. Charlie Rouse returned to his regular gig with Monk's quartet and much of his subsequent work for Blue Note was filed away as "not for release", Tommy Turrentine struggled for the remainder of his career with mental illness, and Clark himself was dead from an overdose not too long after this recording was completed in November 1961 (he was also mourned quite memorably by Bill Evans, "N.Y.C.'s No Lark" [Conversations With Myself]). Narcotics were a critical variable in the Blue Note formula, too, after all. One could pshaw that Leapin' And Lopin' is just a junk-streaked mirror held up to Miles' Kind Of Blue. But I'll take my cue from the invariably tasteful pianist / composer himself and assume a sublime impassivity with regard to such matters.
Posted by joe on February 23, 2004 6:33 AMHow would you compare this with DIAL "S" or SONNY'S CRIB?
Posted by: al at February 23, 2004 10:41 AMShort answer: it's better.
Long answer: the composing and playing is more personal -- and more mature -- than on Clark's earlier Blue Notes. I've never really had much affection for SONNY'S CRIB, honestly, Coltrane or no Coltrane. DIAL "S"... is a "bad" records, no doubt, but sometimes the overall darkness of mood tips over into lugubriousness.
Joe, I'd have to agree with everything you said, although I might enjoy CRIB a little more than you. It was one of my first Clark records, so you know how that goes. You turned me on to LEAPIN and LOPIN a few years ago, and it's one I've played quite often, if I'm to compare it with the others. Higgins was just in his element with this group, wasn't he?
Posted by: al at February 23, 2004 12:31 PMYeah, but who was Zelmar?
Posted by: Grassella Oliphant at February 23, 2004 1:22 PMThis is a great record. I just discovered Clark a couple of years ago, picking up Cool Struttin' when it was reissued as part of the RVG series, and Leapin' and Lopin' was my second purchase by him. I definitely like it better than CS, mostly because of Charlie Rouse. (I've also discovered in the past year or so that I like the Columbia Monk albums from the 60s much more than the Blue Note stuff or the Prestige/Riverside stuff.) Rouse is one of the most ignored/underrated saxophonists in jazz. I love his tone, and his note choices are never shocking for shock's own sake, but there's always plenty of pleasant surprise in his solos. Great, great player.
Posted by: Phil Freeman at February 23, 2004 1:31 PMPhil -- have you heard the Clark / Duvivier / Roach trio record that was originally recorded for the Time label in 1959? Sonny's not working on the best piano in the joint, but its one of his best showings on record.
Posted by: Joe Milazzo at February 25, 2004 2:32 PMHaven't heard that trio disc but there's also a good one on Blue Note with Chambers & Philly Joe Jones. Actually, everything of Clark's I've heard has been good, except for the boring Standards.
Posted by: nd at February 25, 2004 9:41 PMMY CONCEPTION is a peach of disc too. Especially the half with Cliff Jordan & Kenny Burrell.
Posted by: derek at February 26, 2004 5:49 AMMY CONCEPTION is indeed excellent.
The Time label put out some stunning recordings during its brief existence -- 2 of Kenny Dorham's finest (JAZZ CONTEMPORARY especially), the Booker Little Quartet date, Tommy Turrentine's sole outing as a leader, an excellent Bennie Green record featuring both Jimmy Forrest and Clark. I would really like to know who was responsible for A&R at the label; it was, for being short-lived, a pretty class act.
The Clark / Duvivier / Roach trio is particularly valuable too in that the program consists entirely of Clark originals (something he had heretofore not attempted), several of which were re-arranged for the quintets documented on MY CONCEPTION. Clearly, these compositions were important to Clark.
Posted by: Joe Milazzo at February 26, 2004 6:40 AMaside from he wonderful trio with roach there's also a bennie green album on time/bainbridge featuring writing and playing by mr. clark. but i think sonny's best work aside from leapin' and loapin' has to be on the three grant green blue notes (especially his solo on it ain't necessarily so) and his work with jackie mclean. has anyone heard "easy living" the ike quebec album w/ sonny?
Posted by: anatole at March 22, 2005 11:05 AMYeah. . .it's okay, Conrad Yeatis doesn't reall stand out though. Damn, I was about to correct you in that the only Bennie Green recording w/Sonny was "Soul Stirrin'" (which I like), but am I fortunately wrong.
Green/Forrest/Clark?! I need to snag this. Is it available?
Pan Milazzo, yes, the early finds are all worth the rent:
--"1954 Memorial Album" (Jazz Factory)
--"Oakland 1955" (Uptown)
--"Sonny Clark Trio" (Time)
Green/Forrest/Clark?! I need to snag this. Is it available?
i found it used... probably not available new, but worth the search i think. the rest of the line up is geoge tucker and al dreares. the tommy turrentine and booker little dates are not too shabby either. maybe someone at mosaic should look into doing a time/ bainbridge box.
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