Pete La Roca's first ounce of jazz fame may have been his 1957-1959 stint with Sonny Rollins, leading to a recording credit for a few matinee tracks on Rollins' A Night at the Village Vanguard. As the 1960's started, La Roca was also involved in a brief incarnation of John Coltrane's quartet; it was here that La Roca would meet pianist Steve Kuhn, with whom he formed a lasting friendship and musical connection. After their time with Coltrane, La Roca and Kuhn played in a trio with famed bassist Scott LaFaro, known for his work with the great Bill Evans. La Roca would also become friends with bassist and composer Steve Swallow early in the decade, playing in trumpeter Art Farmer's quartet with Jim Hall on guitar. Swallow recalls when they first met, in an interview with Ethan Iverson:
"I met Pete La Roca on a Don Ellis gig in Queens. Jaki Byard was the pianist, and afterwards, Jaki would always tease me, ‘I was there the night you fell in love.’ The very first beat, it was love at first hit. After that, Pete and I were inseparable. We had a solemn pact to recommend each other for gigs; we also shared a room on tour, did drugs together, and studied the world."
For this album, La Roca's only album for Blue Note (he clashed heavily with producer Alfred Lion), he assembled his close friends Kuhn and Swallow, as well as tenor sax giant Joe Henderson. While La Roca had played with Henderson before, neither Swallow or Kuhn really knew him. Nonetheless, as Swallow states, "Joe was utterly remarkable and aced the recording." Indeed, this is probably one of Henderson's most fiery, unchained, and utterly weird recordings. With his 1963 debut album Page One (on which La Roca played), he had already established a truly unique voice on his instrument, which would stay consistent throughout his life. Consistency aside, Henderson's forte is surprise and the unexpected. His best solos involve sudden, inspired changes of gear between anything from the blues to bebop to angularities to pure noise, all contained in a neat, asymmetrical package. On this album, he gets ample space to stretch out on some long yet expertly crafted solos.
The first track, Ernesto Lecuona's Malagueña, made particularly famous by Stan Kenton's version, is given a looser quartet treatment here; one phrase of the melody is used as the basis for a Spanish-esque vamp that lasts nine minutes, and yet it is not at all boring (for me, anyway). From the first utterances of Henderson's solo, it is made clear that he aims to please. He runs the gamut from single repeated notes to short motifs, boldly proclaimed overtones to more bombastic distorted noise, modern-sounding bebop lines to simpler melodies. All of this is accomplished with perhaps more than a little glimpse of the man's soul behind his dry, on-the-nose, somewhat ironic tenor sound. An absolute masterpiece.Not to be outdone, Steve Kuhn then provides an equally bombastic and nearly as genius piano solo. The introduction provides some nice flamenco-esque exposition, but quickly takes a more rhythmically adventurous turn. Kuhn was known around this time as a more avant-garde pianist; here, he uses the entirety of the piano, from smashing the top octaves to drawing from the very bottom keys. Kuhn also frequently uses groupings of 4 over the waltz time of 3, providing even more rhythmic intensity; throughout, Swallow and especially La Roca keep a tight, yet swirling and responsive waltz time feel to complement Kuhn's animosity. After the melody is played once more, Henderson vamps to a fade out, matching and even exceeding the fervor from his solo. This track is definitely the highlight for me.
Another La Roca composition, Candu, is a medium-slow blues given energy by La Roca's driving groove. Henderson gets a chance to show his blues influence, delivering a blues-drenched solo without sounding corny or blasé. The highlight is near the end, when he breaks out some high wailing noises somewhat evocative of a blues singer. Kuhn is next, utilizing some typically bluesy piano licks while mixing in an element of discord and intensity. Swallow provides a great solo here as well - along with some great double-stops (playing two strings at once), he quotes from the melody, which is given an entirely different feel by his broad, Mingus-inspired sound on upright. Henderson next trades fours with La Roca, showcasing the drummer's power, as well as his lenience with time.
Steve Swallow recalls the atmosphere when recording:"Basra has great soloing and a great groove, but what is behind all of that is Pete’s insistence on detail. Like a good performance by a Shakespearean actor, the effort behind that record is unseen. It’s extremely artful. It’s very much Pete’s album. Pete was insistent on countless details within that music. Rehearsals were grueling and lengthy. We seldom made it through a tune without him stopping and correcting us, to the point that the rest of us were on the verge of fleeing the room. It was terrible to rehearse with him, but the results were worth it."
The ballad of the set, John LaTouche and Jerome Moross' Lazy Afternoon, is given a delicate and definitive rendering by Joe Henderson. Despite this, the main feature here is a more introspective and impressionistic Steve Kuhn, taking a break from his harsher antics from earlier in the album. While in a more laid-back ballad setting, Kuhn is nonetheless equally prodding and insistent. Swallow recalls a take of the piece that would have sounded much different, and what the recording engineer, Rudy Van Gelder, thought of it:
"We were in full flight, mid-take, with our eyes closed, when Kuhn reached inside the piano to pluck a chord. There were immediate loud and abrupt noises over the P.A. Rudy came running out to the room in the middle of the take and angrily told Kuhn, ‘If you touch those strings again, this date is over.’ We were all sitting there pinned to our seats with our eyes bugged out."
The final piece is actually a historic one: this recording of Steve Swallow's Eiderdown was not only the first recording of the piece, but of a Swallow composition in general. It's one of my favorite Swallow pieces because while it has a darker hue, it is not necessarily sad, and lends itself to more of a chill, relaxing vibe. It's particularly good listening for winter. While not as extensive as the other pieces (each player only gets one chorus), it is more easy-going and each player gets room to have his say. Henderson delivers a more subtle, yet equally driving solo, and Kuhn sounds probably the closest to Bill Evans as he gets on this album, while still keeping his own personal stamps. Swallow's bass solo is probably the standout one on this track, featuring a keen sense of swing and a fluidity throughout the whole range of the instrument.
On the whole, this album is another underrated gem. Aside from being one of Joe Henderson's finest recordings, it's also a great document of a rhythm section that isn't documented nearly enough. It's also a fitting showcase for the brilliant artistry of the undersung Pete La Roca, both as a drummer and a composer. Much of this material would be revisited later; Lazy Afternoon would be reused by Joe Henderson on his album Power to the People, and Eiderdown would be revisited by Kuhn and Swallow on a more obscure trio recording, Childhood is Forever. (Incidentally, Bill Evans recorded probably the best known version of Eiderdown in 1977 with Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh.) However, the renditions here are just as definitive and it's a shame this album didn't get as much recognition upon its release. There are little to no missteps, and the entire band shows great chemistry. An absolute masterpiece. 10/10.Track listing:
1. Malagueña
2. Candu
3. Tears Come From Heaven
4. Basra
5. Lazy Afternoon
6. Eiderdown
My next review will be on Sing Me Softly Of The Blues, an Art Farmer recording featuring this same rhythm section.
References/further reading:
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