Milt Buckner & Buddy Tate - Them There Eyes (Black & Blue)

Jimmy Smith held the trump cards of bop and timing. He wasn’t the first jazz organist, but he’s still widely reverred as the most idiomatic. It’s a bit of a pity considering the pool of talent that preceeded him. Waller, Basie, Doggett and Buckner- each of these guys had distinct swing-grounded styles that were subsumed when Smith hit the scene, salubrious Blue Note contract in hand. Once domestic record dates dried up Buckner spent a lot of his time across the pond, touring and recording for Euro labels like Black & Blue and MPS. This seven-tune set, taped in a Paris studio in the winter of 67’, has all the earmarks of late evening club date and much in common with Illinois Jacquet’s Comeback (Black Lion) from 71’, another session teaming robust tenor with Buckner’s organ and a drummer. Here as there, Buckner routinely plays the part of mad ice rink organist, leap-frogging between notes like the famous bouncing lyric ball. Gruff hiccups, gutteral scatting and swaggering shouts of self-encouragement dapple his steady grooving fills and flourishes. The vocal histrionics make Keith Jarrett look like a monosyllabic milksop. Tate plays it straight for the most part, swinging hard and blowing smooth, striking a cool contrast to his partner’s ebullient gesticulations. Odd thing is, Buckner’s almost ceaseless hand-waving never gets old and ends up being a lot of fun. There are also exceptions to the arrangement and Tate is goaded into a more aggressive, overtly preaching stances on occasion by Buckner’s strenuous comping behind him. Such is the case on the 10:29 rundown of “Margie” where a string of ruddy choruses spills from his tenor’s bell, pocked by Buckner’s syncopated exhortations. Largely unassuming, drummer Wallace Bishop sketches plumb bob rhythms behind the soloists, content in his peripheral placement in the presence of two strong personalities. All in all it’s a healthy dollop of good time jazz with nary a bum note heard.