Ike Quebec - 1962 - Easy Living

Ike Quebec

1962

Easy Living

01. See See Rider - 9:01

02. Congo Lament - 6:51

03. Que's Pills - 5:42

04. B.G.'s Groove Two - 6:12

05. I.Q. Shuffle - 9:46

06. I've Got A Crush On You - 6:40

07. Nancy (With The Laughing Face) - 7:20

08. Easy Living - 5:00

Bass – Milt Hinton

Drums – Art Blakey

Piano – Sonny Clark

Tenor Saxophone – Ike Quebec

Tenor Saxophone –Stanley Turrentine (tracks: 1 to 3)

Trombone – Bennie Green (tracks: 1 to 3Notes

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on January 20, 1962.

The release history behind Ike Quebec's Easy Living session is pretty convoluted. Eight songs were recorded in all, five of them bluesy sextet jams and three of them ballad standards in Quebec's trademark romantic style. The LP was slated to feature three of the blues tunes and all of the ballads, but remained unissued; in 1981, all five blues were released as Congo Lament, and in 1987, Easy Living was issued on LP in its originally intended, six-song form. Blue Note's CD reissue cuts through all the confusion by gathering all eight songs, grouping the blues cuts together in the first part of the album for continuity's sake. The sextet lineup is absolutely stellar, featuring fellow tenor Stanley Turrentine, trombonist Bennie Green, pianist Sonny Clark, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Art Blakey -- all extremely well suited to the blues material that leads off the album. On the standards, Quebec performs with the rhythm section only, and Clark's soft touch takes over the backdrops. His lines on these selections are long and lyrical, full of harmonic details as well as atmosphere. Contrast that with the album's exuberant first half, highlighted by a raucous romp through "See See Rider," where Quebec's wide swing-era vibrato meshes fantastically with Green's down'n'dirty trombone slides. Green's two originals, "Congo Lament" and "B.G.'s Groove Two," are both winning and rhythmically infectious, while Quebec's "I.Q. Shuffle" is the most bop-tinged sextet workout. The mood isn't as unified as some of his carefully calibrated romantic dates, but Easy Living offers the two strongest sides of Quebec's musical personality in one place, encapsulating a great deal of what he did best.

Ike Quebec Carrer peaked during the 40's, and during early sixties we have a comeback of his art, this CD belongs to that period. This album shows him at his maximum maturity. Ike Quebec strength would be the blues, here the spirituality he achieves is supreme, technical mastery and the most subtle interpretations get combined, particularly in Congo Lament, Que's Pill and Easy Living.

Unfortunately, personal dificulties took Quebec out of the front-line during part of the forties and part of the fifties; that's why he is not so well known as other great tenor saxophone players like C. Hawkins, that influenced him. This album is for the greatest pleasure of every jazz, soul & blues lover. Recorded at 1962, the album also has excellent sound quality.