Curtis Fuller - 1957 - New Trombone

Curtis Fuller

1957

New Trombone

01. Vonce #5
02. Transportation Blues
03. Blue Lawson
04. Namely You
05. What Is This Thing Called Love?

Alto Saxophone – Sonny Red Kyner
Bass – Doug Watkins
Drums – Louis Hayes
Piano – Hank Jones
Trombone – Curtis Fuller

Recorded May 11, 1957.

This 1957 date matches Fuller with bluesy, fervent alto sax wailer Sonny Red Kyner. They make both a tight ensemble pair and an excellent contrasting frontline, with Kyner's spewing, flailing delivery featured on such cuts as "Blue Lawson" and "Namely You" operating against Fuller's equally intense, but lighter and smoother trombone lines. With Hank Jones operating as the rhythm section's harmonic link on piano, bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Louis Hayes mesh underneath effectively. These undiluted, straight-ahead bop and blues numbers are still par for the course.

Not only did this recording serve to introduce Fuller to the public at large in 1957, it was also a graphic example of the wealth of talent coming from Detroit to New York during this period.

The front line–Fuller and his running buddy, Sonny Red–is backed by bassist Doug Watkins, who had preceded them to the Big Apple by three years; and 20-year-old drummer Louis Hayes, who had departed the Motor City in the summer of 1956 to join Horace Silver’s quintet. Adding the veteran seasoning and keyboard sagacity is Hank Jones, who had left the environs of Detroit a decade earlier to make his mark on the world jazz scene.