(Donald Byrd, trumpet; Pepper Adams, baritone sax; Duke Pearson, piano; Laymon Jackson, bass; Philly Joe Jones, drums.)
On the cover of The Cat Walk, Donald Byrd is portrayed leaning up against a luxury car, looking suave and sophiscated in a suit and tie. Everything about the presentation whispers one word: cool. One can imagine an early sixties jazz fan proudly leaning his vinyl copy of the album against his speaker cabinet, just waiting for someone (a girl most likely) to associate the album with him. What’s notable now, listening to the RVG remaster of Cat Walk, is how much the album actually sounds like the cover.
The album begins with Say You’re Mine, an impossibly suave and sophisticated track. Featuring a muted trumpet solo from Byrd that is the very definition of controlled energy and emotion, the song is fully realized when Pepper Adams delivers a baritone sax solo that’s like the woozy third drink to Byrd’s clear-headed first. Bizarrely, Duke Pearson, usually a beacon of melody on every track he appears on, can’t match the expressiveness of Byrd or Adams. What makes this anomaly even stranger is that the song is Pearson’s composition.
Duke’s Mixture is another Pearson song, featuring a swinging theme with simple changes that reminds me of the theme to an old TV variety show. Byrd sounds brash, but in control as usual, swinging effortlessly. The theme’s melody resolves with two gorgeous sustained notes that resonate every time they’re played. On his solo, Adams finds a rich mid to low tone that finds the hidden high register in the baritone sax. The title track features great harmonizing between Byrd and Adams and a stop-start arrangement that creates giddy tension.
One of the album’s true treats is Hello Bright Sunflower, a song that almost sounds like something you’d hear on Sesame Street. Sing-songy, the tone of the track is jaunty and joyous.
While I’m too selfconscious to place The Cat Walk around my room in the hopes of impressing a girl or a friend, I’m confident playing the album’s reissue in the company of snobby electronic DJs and indie rock fans would still elicit the same reaction the original vinyl issue did decades ago: “Damn, that’s cool.”
TrackList: Say You’re Mine, Duke’s Mixture, Each Time I Think of You, The Cat Walk, Cute, Hello Bright Sunflower.
– Daniel Krow
