Curtis Amy & Dupree Bolton - 1963 - Katanga!

Curtis Amy & Dupree Bolton

1963

Katanga!

01. Katanga

02. Lonely Woman

03. Native Land

04. Amyable

05. You Don't Know What Love Is

06. A Shade Of Brown

Bass – Vic Gaskin

Drums – Doug Sides

Guitar – Ray Crawford

Piano – Jack Wilson

Saxophone – Curtis Amy

Trumpet – Dupree Bolton

In the late sixties and early seventies, after more than a decade of journeyman jazz work, the fine West Coast-based saxophonist Curtis Amy had his moment in the sun, appearing on hit recordings by the Doors and Carole King. Dupree Bolton, Amy’s nominal co-leader on the 1963 album “Katanga!,” now reissued on vinyl, is best known for disappearing from the public eye soon after the album was released, before he was able to cement his reputation as a passionate and inventive trumpeter. This means that “Katanga!,” a fervent project that captures a transitional moment when hard-bop players began exploring newer modes of jazz expression, has the added cachet of being one of the very few records on which Bolton’s promising work can be found. Bolton and Amy, heard here on both tenor and soprano saxes, deserve more than footnote status—as do their bandmates, including the pianist Jack Wilson and the guitarist Ray Crawford, each an undervalued stylist.

Tenor saxophonist Curtis Amy recorded six albums for Pacific Jazz during 1960-63. This CD reissue from 1998 has all of the music from his sixth set (Katanga) and half of the performances (three selections) from his fourth outing, Way Down. Amy had a fine hard bop-oriented style with a soulful sound. The Katanga date matched him with the legendary (and barely documented) trumpeter Dupree Bolton, guitarist Ray Crawford (heard in top form), pianist Jack Wilson, bassist Victor Gaskin and drummer Doug Sides on four originals, plus "A Shade of Brown" and "You Don't Know What Love Is." The other session finds Amy with a completely different group consisting of trumpeter Marcus Belgrave (one of his few recordings from the era), valve trombonist Roy Brewster, vibraphonist Roy Ayers (at the beginning of his career), bassist George Morrow and drummer Tony Bazley, performing three of Amy's tunes. Obscure but rewarding music that was overshadowed during the era and was previously long out of print.

A stellar set from one of the most underrated reed players of all time -- a brilliant bit of searching soul jazz, cut at a time when Curtis Amy was leaving behind his Texas roots for the new sounds of the Coltrane generation! The album's quite different than the organ and tenor dates that Amy had previously cut with Paul Bryant -- and instead, is put together with a nascent spiritualism that's really wonderful -- a sound that definitely lives up to the bold title and cover image, with lots of modal moments in the rhythms! The group features some equally under-acknowledged geniuses -- including trumpeter Dupree Bolton, pianist Jack Wilson, and guitarist Ray Crawford -- all coming together perfectly with Amy's work on tenor and soprano sax. The best tunes here are originals by the group members.