Horace Silver – Further Explorations (1958)

“A quick scan of the main quintet  line-ups during the Blue Note years fixes Further Explorations to the 1958 front line where Farmer stepped in to replace Donald Byrd and Clifford Jordan briefly replaced Hank Mobley.  It was a short-lived quintet as the following year Horace set up his long-term front line of Blue Mitchell and Junior Cook. … January 1958. I find this Horace title a mixed bag. The title is something of a misnomer, as I was expecting something Further Out when what it delivers a good  second helping of what came before. Putting things in context, it was recorded second week in January 1958. That’s almost 1957 in old money. Perhaps from that vantage point it had a more experimental approach to  bar structure, elements of latin rhythms, and other references that were novel in 1950’s bop. Further Explorations has some of my favourite Horace tracks, and some I confess I don’t warm to. …”
LondonJazzCollector (Audio)
W – Further Explorations
Flophouse Magazine (Audio)
Discogs (Video)

Clifford Jordan – In the World (1969)

“Clifford Jordan In the World was released on Strata-East in 1972 (though the album was recorded in 1969). Jordan was already a well-seasoned player, having worked with Max Roach, Horace Silver and Eric Dolphy. (The album credits state that it is the first in a Dolphy series produced by Jordan). Like Jordan’s Glass Bead Games which followed on Strata-East, In the World depends on two different groups of musicians- and there are some killers players here–Julian Priester, Don Cherry, Richard Davis and even Roy Haynes (who alternates with Albert Heath). The music is pretty accessible —nothing terribly exotic, and mainly Western influenced. The piano parts mix blues and traditional sounds; the horn parts are melodic and satisfying without much discord. The drumming is great as is the bass work. There are some nice deep passages where you can hear the full impact of the instrument’s range toward the end of the first track, ‘Vienna.’ The horn parts are ‘lovely’ without being predictable. …”
The Vinyl Press
W – In the World
Discogs (Video)
YouTube: In the World 45:05

Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore – Blowing in From Chicago (1957)

“Both born in 1931 and raised in Chicago, tenor saxophonists Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore scaled the heights of hard bop style motifs with a 1957 collaborative project that served as their shared album-length debut. A touch less intense than contemporaneous blowin’ sessions (like, uh, A Blowin’ Session [1957]), the aptly named Blowing in From Chicago showcases both the fluid phrasing of its constituent soloists and the deep, almost unfathomably tight rhythmic pocket generated by bassist Curly Russell, pianist Horace Silver, and ever-propulsive drummer Art Blakey. Doubling up on a particular instrument in a performance context almost always engenders an element of competitiveness, but this album finds each performer totally at ease with themselves and with their fellow musicians. Jazzwax.com tells me that Jordan is the one who mellows out whereas Gilmore plays with a more aggressive tone, and that befits their statuses as, respectively, roots-oriented narrator of human consciousness and adventurous Sun Ra associate. …”
Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore, Blowing in From Chicago (1957)
W – Blowing in from Chicago
Doc Wendell’s Prescription For Bop
W – Clifford Jordan, W – John Gilmore
Discogs (Video)
YouTube: Blowin in From Chicago 7 videos