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George Coleman: My Horns of Plenty

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s

Artist: George Coleman
Title: My Horns of Plenty
Released: 1991
Label: Disques Dreyfus
Time: 63:05
Producer(s): Jean-Francois Deiber
Appears with:
Category: Jazz
Rating: ******.... (6/10)
Media type: CD
Purchase date:  2002.05.14
Price in €: 10,99
Web address:

 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Lush Life (B.Strayhorn) - 12:33
[2] Conrad (G.Coleman) - 11:15
[3] My Romance (L.Hart/R.Rodgers) - 13:37
[4] The Sheik of Araby (H.B.Smith/T.Snyder/F.Wheeler) - 3:00
[5] You Mean So Much to Me (G.Coleman) - 8:57
[6] Old Folks (D.L.Hill/W.Robison) - 13:43

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


GEORGE COLEMAN - Alto, Soprano & Tenor Saxophone, Arrangement
RAY DRUMMOND - Bass
BILLY HIGGINS - Drums
HAROLD MABERN - Piano

RUDY VAN GELDER - Recording Engineer, Mixing, Mastering
MAUREEN SICKLER - Assistant Engineer
JAQUES BENEICH - Photo
PIERRE DUFOUR - Photo
FRANCOIS MARTIN-BLED - Art Direction & Design

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1992 CD Verve 314511922
1992 CD Polygram 511922
1992 CS Polygram 511922
2002 CD Disques Dreyfus 37005

Recorded at Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on March 4 & 5, 1991.



On this excellent set, George Coleman plays his usual tenor on four tunes, alto on "Old Folks," and soprano on "Conrad." With the assistance of pianist Harold Mabern, bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Billy Higgins, Coleman is heard at the top of his game, coming up with interesting variations on lengthy version of "Lush Life," "My Romance" and "Old Folks." Recommended for hard bop and post-bop collectors.

Scott Yanow, All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2002 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



If the promo people at PolyGram have half the success with George Coleman's label debut that they've had recently with fellow tenorist Joe Henderson's-LushLife has topped both the Billboard and CMJ jazz charts-then he should finally achieve his long-overdue international breakthrough. To my way of thinking, Sonny Rollins, Henderson and Coleman are the reigning tenor monarchs, and even a cursory listen to My Horns Of Plenty-a quartet session on which the man they call The Chief plays soprano and alto saxes (in addition to tenor) with breathtaking authority-will testify to his worthiness among such exalted company. The brawny Coleman, possessor of a robust, room-filling tone and a bluessoaked, straight-ahead conception that proudly proclaims his allegiance to his hometown of Memphis, is poised, in musicbiz argot, to happen. While the 56-year-old tenorist has lived in New York City for 30 years and been a dependable, often explosive live performer - the true measure of royalty, many believe - his popularity with both critics and the record-buying public has waxed and waned, partly because he has recorded infrequently and for small independent domestic or foreign labels (Amsterdam After Dark and Eastern Rebellion, both for Timeless, are terrific but often hard to find). Coleman's star is surely on the rise now, not only with the release of the new My Horns Of Plenty but also the reissues of Manhattan Panorama (a mid-'80s quartet side for Theresa) and some of his most bravura playing in the mid-'60s with the Miles Davis Quintet (My Funny Valentine and Four & More). Welcome though these releases are, the real story is My Horns Of Plenty, a 1991 DDD recording from Rudy Van Gelder's studio that displays his multiplereed prowess-he's heard on tenor, alto and soprano for the first time-in the company of his longtime pianist Harold Mabern and kindred spirits Ray Drummond on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. Released earlier this year in France on the PolyGram- affiliated Birdology label, My Horns Of Plenty captures Coleman (who, like Rollins, is far more comfortable and expressive on stage than in the recording studio) at his sometimes relaxed, other times burning best for 63 minutes with musicians who anticipate, when they don't shadow, his every move. Coleman's main axe, the tenor, which he took up upon joining bluesman B.B. King's band in 1955, is warmly resplendent on the opening track, "Lush Life," which he treats not as a ballad but as a waltz. "The Sheik Of Araby" (a onetime vehicle for tap dancers), the 13-minute ballad "My Romance" and the leader's own "You Mean So Much To Me" (rendered as a fox-trot) are also handled on tenor, whereas he returns to his first horn, the alto, for the nearly 14-minute "Old Folks." Another tune, "Conrad," a Coleman original named after and dedicated to his longtime driver, now deceased, showcases Coleman's continuing development on the soprano, an instrument he introduced to fine advantage on record last year-after but one year of woodshedding - as a duet with pianist Richie Beirach (Convergence, Triloka). Despite his short acquaintance with the soprano, to say nothing of its devilishly difficult intonation, Coleman plays with assurance and abundant imagination. He's even managed to adapt his patented circular-breathing technique-a crowd-pleasing, simultaneous inhaling and exhaling-to the straight horn. Perhaps coincidentally, but certainly to Coleman's advantage (and ours), Columbia (P.O. Box 4450, New York, NY 10101-4450) has reissued on CD Coleman's superb work with Miles Davis circa 1963-64. Seven Steps To Heaven and the two-CD set My Funny Valentine + Four & More: The Complete Concert: 1964 fill an important gap in the company's Davis catalog. These albums represent a transition period for the fabled trumpeter-Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams were already aboard, and Wayne Shorter would shortly replace Coleman-but the performances (especially the standards and staples from Davis' earlier repertoire) are outstanding. Evidence Music (1100 E. Hector St., Suite 392, Conshohocken, PA 19428/ 215-832-0807), the company responsible for bringing out on CD five titles from Sun Ra's Saturn label of the mid-'50s through mid-'60s, has acquired the Theresa label and reissued, among other things, Coleman's Manhattan Panorama, a 1984 quartet session, most of which was recorded live at the Village Vanguard.

CMJ.com

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