TONY COE

Really enjoying the Tony Coe CD I got out of the charity shop on Friday.
Got a few albums already with Coe on, as a sideman, but nothing with
him as leader.
Started with Humph' and also worked with the Kenny Clarke - Francy
Boland Big Band. I've got albums with Coe from both these periods in
his career, as well as some he's done with Alan Barnes and Brian
Lemmon.
Coe's "stream" is firmly in the "main".
Plays both the sax and clarinet (though not at the same time). He's
said in the past that a sax should sound like a sax. John Coltrane had
a sound from his saxophone that was like an oboe. And, while that
worked well for Coltrane, there were so many imitators of, and others
so heavily influenced by, that sound that it all became a bit too
much. He wanted to bring things back a bit.
This album is part of a "prize" he got in 1995 - The international
Jazzpar award. He won the award in recognition of his playing rather
than his compositions, and as such has chosen a few covers for the
album.

The Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra provide the backing (the Jazzpar
project is arranged by the Danish JazzCentre) but there is also
backing from Bob Brookmyer on Valve Trombone and Steve Arguelles on
drums.

It's always nice to get something new from a charity shop (and this
was "new" it hadn't even been taken out the cellophane). What's even
nicer is when you get it home and thing - "if I had heard that first I
probably would have sought it out and aid full price).

Once I get my PC fixed/replaced/whatever this is going on the MP3 player.