This 1960 album by the great jazz alto saxophonist Gigi Gryce can be hard to find because its rare. It is very bluesy and innovating with a hard bop format and a strong gospel sound to it. Very entertaining and easy for the ears to digest. “Saying Somethin’!“ was recorded for the New Jazz label. This record label was renamed shortly after to Prestige and was known to attract all the jazz greats at the time. Famous producer Bob Weinstock and legendary recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder worked together on most these legendary recordings. Find out more about Prestige and their interesting policy to record all their albums on only one take, very interesting. Here’s a link to the discography of Prestige which was sold to Fantasy Records in 1971 and later sold to Concorde. Enjoy!
About the album:
Digitally remastered by Phil De Lancie (1994, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California). Altoist Gigi Gryce’s last regular group before moving to Africa and largely retiring from music was the quintet featured on this CD, two other Prestige/New Jazz sessions and an album for Trip. Gryce’s alto matched well with Richard Williams’s impressive trumpet and, with fine support from pianist Richard Wyands, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Mickey Roker, the two horns explore mostly blues-based originals by Gryce, Curtis Fuller and Hank Jones. There is more variety than expected and the contrast between Gryce’s lyricism and the extroverted nature of Williams’s solos make this set fairly memorable……Read More
