Curtis Amy
Katanga (180gm analogue Tone Poet)

Saxophonist Curtis Amy and trumpeter Dupree Bolton recorded ‘Katanga’ on 3^rdFebruary 1963 for Pacific jazz Records.  It features Jack Wilson on piano, Ray Crawford on guitar, Victor Gaskin on bass and Doug Sides on drums.  The title track starts the set in full-on Hard Bop mode. The slow Blues of ‘Lonely Woman’ in contrast is downbeat and melancholy.  Amy’s smoking modal ‘Native Land’ with its American Indian inspired melody and shuffling rhythms and subtle riffs is a ten-minute masterpiece and the album’s standout.  Jack Wilson’s ‘Amyable’ is a bright and light groove that swings merrily with Crawford, Bolton and Wilson delivering sympathetic solos.  The standard ‘You Don’t Know What Love Is’ is given a sombre and understated workout and in truth is somewhat underwhelming.  The swinging ‘A Shade Of Brown’ is a fine boppish number that bounds along at pace.  The ensemble playing is a delight. For a West Coast Jazz set, ‘Katanga’ has a harder sound closer to that purveyed by the likes of New York’s Blue Note and Prestige.