Blues Up And Down – 1998
David “Fathead” Newman and Houston Person
A rare meeting between two great tenors
Click here if you have a memory of this artist that you’d like to share
–
Click here to Support Jazz on the Tube
“Blues Up And Down,” a cooking blues with a catchy melody, was first recorded in 1950 by tenors Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, and definitively on their 1961 album Boss Tenors.
David “Fathead” Newman and Houston Person both had long careers in which their big tenor sounds uplifted a countless number of sessions.
Except for appearing on a Hank Crawford album as part of a larger group in 1985 and on “Blues For Edward G” on a 1998 recording with guitarist Randy Johnston, Newman and Person never recorded together.
In 1998 while in Europe, the two tenors were joined by pianist Rein De Graaff, bassist Koos Serierse, and drummer Eric Ineke for their version of “Blues Up And Down.”
Both Person (who solos first) and Newman stretch out during their hard-swinging solos although surprisingly they do not engage in tradeoffs with each other.
The solos are strong and give one a very rare opportunity to see the two tenors playing together.
-Scott Yanow
Click here if you have a memory of this artist that you’d like to share
–
