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New Tone Poets – Curtis Amy – Katanga & Art Blakey – Witch Doctor

ART BLAKEY – WITCH DOCTOR

Recorded in 1961, but not released until 1967, The Witch Doctor features one of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers’ all-time great line-ups: Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Lee Morgan on trumpet, Bobby Timmons on piano, and Jymie Merritt on bass. Shorter and Morgan each contribute two tunes, with Timmons penning one. Highlights include Morgan’s spectacular 6/8 modal piece “Afrique” and Shorter’s minor masterpiece “Those Who Sit And Wait.” Bobby Timmons brings the deep soul goods on his composition “A Little Busy,” and the album closes with a fleet-footed romp through Clifford Jordan’s tune “Lost and Found.”

 

CURTIS AMY – KATANGA

Who are these guys? That’s the usual reaction of anyone fortunate enough to have come across this remarkable (and remarkably rare) session from 1963. The last of six albums saxophonist Curtis Amy recorded for Pacific Jazz in the early-1960s, Katanga! transcends not only the rest but plenty of other recorded jazz from that period as well. Trumpeter Dupree Bolton’s brilliant playing here is simply breathtaking in one of his very few recorded appearances during a career plagued with personal problems. Bolton and Amy are joined by guitarist Ray Crawford, pianist Jack Wilson, bassist Victor Gaskin, and drummer Doug Sides on this gem of an album.

Buy the Art Blakey Tone Poet HERE

Buy the Curtis Amy Tone Poet HERE