[MRL 388] The Night Blooming Jazzmen - Freedom Jazz Dance

1 Freedom Jazz Dance
2 Rio
3 Countin' My Tears
4 Heavy Hearted Blues
5 All This And Heaven Too
6 Twelve Tone Blues

AMG Review
by Scott Yanow

For the second and final album by Leonard Feather's Night Blooming Jazzmen, he performs "Freedom Jazz Dance" and two of his originals with the same group that was on the first set (including trumpeter Blue Mitchell, the reeds of Ernie Watts, organist Charles Kynard, and Kitty Doswell, who sings "Counting My Tears"). The latter half of the date retains Mitchell but this time has Lew Tabackin on tenor and flute, guitarist Joe Pass, bassist Andy Simpkins, drummer Stix Hooper, Willie Bobo on conga and, masquerading as "Phil Johnson," Leonard Feather himself on piano. Their three numbers (all Feather tunes) include the complex "Twelve Tone Blues." This worthwhile set (along with the first recording) was briefly available on CD in the early '90s.

Dust Groove sez:

An excellent LP of funky big band jazz -- way better than you'd guess from the name of the group! The all-star ensemble -- which includes Blue Mitchell, Willie Bobo, Stix Hooper, Paul Humphrey, Charles Kynard, Ernie Watts, and Joe Pass -- does an excellent job of grooving tightly, in a mellow funky style that's extremely well crafted. The highlight of the LP is the group's hard swinging version of "Freedom Jazz Dance", which begins with a bouncing bass sample that we totally love -- but there's loads more nice tracks, including "Rio", "All This & Heaven Too", and "Twelve Tone Blues".