January 4, 2016

Rollin With Leo Parker 1961: A Lost Classic From the Blue Note Catalog

Rollin' With Leo Parker Blue Note
Another sad casualty of demon addiction: Leo Parker (1925-1962) was a fine baritone saxophonist who created a pair of Blue Note records in 1961, less than 6 months before is untimely demise at the age of 36.

Rollin' With Leo Parker wasn't even released until 1980, not sure why, because it is a fine hard bop album firmly inside the best of the Blue Note Record label's tradition

 Certainly  the album is the equal of the lone Blue Note released during his brief lifetime Let Me Tell You About It .

 "Bad Girl" is worth the price of the disc alone.

Dave Burns offers support on trumpet, Bill Swindell on tenor, John Acea on piano, Stan Conover or Al Lucas on bass, and Wilbert Hogan or Purnell Rice on drums.

Nothing extraordinary happens here, but I do like the overall traditional blues vibe on the album. I kept wishing Lester Young was still around and would drop by. That says a lot, and describes this record pretty well I think; a silky smooth and easy listen.

John Acea does a nice job with tasty piano throughout, well recorded of course too, other than the leader's baritone, he stands out the most to me, Acea tickles the ivories, that's a great way to describe his playing.

 I had no idea Acea passed away so young as well, only a few month after Parker on July 23rd 1965 at the age of 45.

My thinking is, swing fans will also dig the record. It has a quality that seems to hearken back to the 30's. I do feel like Coleman Hawkins or Ben Webster are going to grab a solo at any moment. A fine record...I really enjoyed it this evening for my first post of 2016.


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