Harry Allen – Joe Cohn Quartet – Stompin the Blues – Arbors ARCD 19353-65:35 ****:
(Harry Allen, tenor sax; Joe Cohn, guitar; Joe Forbes, bass; Chuck Riggs, drums
With special guests, John Allred, trombone and Scott Hamilton, tenor sax on tracks 1, 4, & 8)
For fans of traditional “old school” tenor sax players such as Ben Webster, Illinois Jacquet, and Coleman Hawkins, it was an unexpected pleasure when a young tenor player has the full-throated warm sound of the old masters. In the late 1970s it was a young Scott Hamilton, who matched that bill. Scott had a whole catalog of Concord Records CDs that fit this genre and Hamilton had the mainstream tenor market largely to himself. Ten years later, the next relative youngster to come along to play the Great American Songbook classics at a young age was Harry Allen. Allen has now firmly established himself with well over 30 recordings.
Adding Hamilton to the Allen-Cohn group was due to the fact that Allen and Hamilton had just played together a few days before this recording at the Smithsonian Institute and Scott had time to join the group for this recording. Hamilton was an idol for Allen when Harry was just coming up as a teenager. Though playing on only three tracks, the intuition between these two tenors is uncanny. Joe Cohn, the son of the iconic Al Cohn, plays regularly with Allen, and the three musicians have blast on You’re Driving Me Crazy.
Trombone veteran John Allred, the other special guest on this CD, is a great addition to the quartet and shines on I’ll Get By and Don’t Want to Have To, where Allred and Allen take the tempo out and have a contrapuntal conversation. But I Will, an original composition of Allen, is highlighting by some great guitar work by Cohn. Hamilton finishes his session work on the Harry Warren chestnut, I Would Do Anything For You, with his typical swinging tone and Allred chimes in as well.
The charm and sophistication provided by Arbors on their straight-ahead issues is met with aplomb by this group of pros. It’s a shame that most Jazz radio stations ignore much of Arbors issues in favor of the latest flavor of the month. Younger jazz fans need the exposure to the warm swing that Arbors provides in spades.
TrackList: You’re Driving Me Crazy, I’ll Get By, Stompin’ the Blues, My Old Flame, Don’t Want to Have To, But I Will, I Have Eyes Only for You, (I Would Do) Anything for You, Medley: It Might as Well Be Spring/Spring is Here, So There
– Jeff Krow
