On October 23, 1957, a 29-year-old Chicago tenor saxophonist walked into Van Gelder studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, to report his third album The Congregation, for Blue Observe, the influential New York jazz label run by producer Alfred Lion. Johnny Griffin had simply spent seven months working with Artwork Blakey’s Jazz Messengers however was now specializing in forging a profitable solo profession.
At 5 foot 5 inches tall, Griffin was deemed quick in stature, however musically, he was an absolute colossus. For a small man, he had a commanding sound. That’s why he was nicknamed “Little Giant.” Griffin was the person who put the “hard” into “hard bop” and was the saxophone-playing equal of a gun-slinger: a fast-draw specialist whose speedy fingering method was awe-inspiring and whose sound was energetic, virile and full-bodied. However whereas he might blow out molten melodic strains at 100 miles an hour, he additionally possessed a supreme sensitivity and was masterful on gradual ballads.
Arguably one of the best of Griffin’s three Blue Observe albums, The Congregation – which adopted within the wake of Introducing Johnny Griffin and A Blowin’ Session, the latter of which noticed Griffin battle in a titanic saxophone duel with John Coltrane and Hank Mobley – was a quartet session that discovered the diminutive Chicagoan accompanied by pianist Sonny Clark, Detroit-raised bassist Paul Chambers (who had additionally appeared on A Blowin’ Session) and Philadelphia drummer Kenny Dennis.
Gospel-influenced soul jazz
The opening title observe is a Griffin unique that’s a gospel-influenced slice of soul jazz whose title signifies, maybe, that it must be thought of a companion piece to Horace Silver’s standard Blue Observe single “The Preacher.” After Griffin’s strong solo, Clark’s piano appears delicate by comparability. Chambers, who additionally recorded albums as a pacesetter at Blue Observe throughout the identical interval, shines on a strolling bass solo earlier than Griffin and Co. reprise the jaunty principal theme.
Penned by fellow Chicagoan and alto saxophonist John Jenkins, “Latin Quarter” finds Griffin revisiting a tune that he had recorded every week earlier as a sideman for bassist Wilbur Ware (on the Riverside album The Chicago Sound). Alternating between a sultry Latin groove and swinging jazz rhythms, the piece options some stupendous blowing from Griffin, who additionally treats us to a elegant saxophone cadenza close to the tip.
The midtempo swinger “I’m Glad There Is You” is Griffin’s tackle a much-covered jazz customary that was co-written in 1941 by large band jazz man Jimmy Dorsey, and was a success for Frank Sinatra six years later. In addition to displaying a formidable mastery of saxophone method, Griffin’s emotionally nuanced efficiency reveals that he’s no stranger to emotional sensitivity.
Melodic invention
Griffin wrote “Main Spring,” a loping, nocturnal blues propelled by a elegant groove from Chambers and Dennis. The saxophonist’s sense of melodic invention reveals no signal of drying up as he turns the tune inside out with an extended, lithe solo that remembers the bar-walking blues tenors of the early 50s. In contrast, Sonny Clark’s piano enjoying is lean and economical. “Main Spring” can be distinguished by an extended arco bass solo from Paul Chambers.
The tempo quickens for the springy “It’s You Or No One,” a Jules Styne-Sammy Cahn tune that was initially sung by Doris Day on the soundtrack to the 1948 Hollywood film Romance On The Excessive Seas. Griffin takes the tune at breakneck pace in contrast with the jaunty unique, blowing a storm of notes and coming over like a Windy Metropolis hurricane.
One other film music, a nostalgic ode referred to as “I Remember You,” was co-written by Johnny Mercer and sung by Dorothy Lamour within the 1942 flick The Fleet’s In (20 years later, it was a giant UK hit for Australian crooner Frank Ifield). Griffin transforms the music right into a driving arduous bop exposition full with a drum solo by Kenny Dennis, who was making his recording debut on the session.
One of the crucial technically-gifted arduous bop saxophonists
When it was launched in March 1958 as BLP 1580, The Congregation was housed in a particular cowl designed by Blue Observe’s design guru, Reid Miles, that includes an illustration drawn by a then-unknown artist referred to as Andy Warhol. The music confirmed that Griffin was one of the crucial technically gifted saxophonists within the arduous bop idiom.
Sadly, Griffin didn’t make one other album for Blue Observe, however went on to report for a raft of different labels, together with Riverside and Status, earlier than shifting to Europe in 1963 the place he lived and labored till the tip of his life. The Congregation, although, confirmed the “Little Giant” enjoying a giant half within the rise of arduous bop and represents a high-water mark in each Griffin’s and Blue Observe’s historical past.
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