Great Rhythm Sections Make Great Bands

Album Title: The Tenor Giants featuring Oscar Peterson
Artist(s): Zoot Sims, Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis (Tenor Saxophones) Oscar Peterson (Piano) Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen (Bass) Louis Bellson (Drums)
Recorded: 1975 (Various Dates, Venues)
Released: 2000
Label: Fantasy, Inc.

I gotta say it. Of all the albums in my collection, which is extensive - or even ones that I've ever heard, which is even more extensive - this may be the most stirring, soaring, hand clapping, foot-stomping, just plain swingin' eight cuts to ever reach my ears.

The three ballads, My Old Flame, (I Don't Stand) a Ghost of a Chance, and Don't Worry 'Bout Me, as you would expect from the two tenor-masters, are soulful blues-flavored delights, but when these five guys rip loose with The Man I Love, a swinging, up-tempo version of the Gershwin classic, or Mack Gordon/Harry Warren's jazz standard, There Will Never Be Another You, (my personal favorite) there won't be a still foot in the house.

(Photo: Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen)

In particular, in case anyone's been wondering how a real rhythm section should sound, check out Oscar, Niels and Louis Bellson here. In fact, the decision to place  'The Great Dane'  Pedersen and Bellson  on the same stage - whoever made it - was nothing short of brilliant. For my money, Bellson, who had just entered his fifties in 1975 when these cuts were recorded, and was performing at the very peak of his fabulous career, steals the show . You will never hear better small ensemble drumming if you live to be two hundred, than Bellson's dazzling performance on There Will Never Be Another You. No solos or other devices to draw your attention. Just solid, inventive, perfectly on time rhythms, and this rare collaboration with the hugely talented Pedersen is just more icing on the cake. Niels Orsted Pedersen (NHOP) - God rest his soul - longtime regular member of Oscar Peterson's various groups, was the equal of any bass player who ever lived, including the great Ray Brown, and Brown would have been the first to admit as much. (In fact, that's exactly what he did)

How about Sims, Davis and Peterson on this album? Wasn't this album all about them? Yep. The album title clearly tells you so, and I can confirm: These are two of the finest jazz saxophonists to come along in recent memory, and Oscar Peterson's credentials have been well established over the years with so much written material and accolades attesting to his maestro status in the jazz world, that anything said here would only be redundant.

But Pedersen and Bellson. Wow! They are simply beyond description. NHOP at any tempo is an absolute master of the lower pitched double bass, and if you're one of those fans who dig drum solos, you're gonna love the final track. Here, to slake the thirst of all you bepop drinkers, the group lays down a head-bobbing version of Dizzy's Groovin' High in which Bellson does a kind of reprise of his Skin Deep days when, with Duke Ellington's band, he recorded the new paradigm Skin Deep, and wherein he employs his trademark double bass drum technique. At his peak, whether soloing or comping, there were none better than the great Louis Bellson, who, incidentally, at 82, is still active; performing and writing music and books while directing  the powerful Musicians' Warehouse Big Band. He recently performed in concert at the Healdsburg Jazz Festival.
                                                                                                                     (Photo: Louis Bellson)

Make no mistake: The album cover may give top billing to Sims, Davis and Petersen, but it will be abundantly clear to anyone with two good ears and is paying attention: This album belongs to Louis and Niels.