Paul Gonsalves - Tell It the Way It Is!

Japanese 24 Bit/96KHz remastered reissue of 1963 album originally issued on Impulse! & out-of-print in the US. Packaged in a limited edition miniature gatefold LP sleeve. 2001. Album Description

I ain't hearin' much

A somewhat disappointing outing, that has a rushed, let's-get-this-over-with feel about it. It also affords a very poor use of the incredible talent available at the session. For example, Johhny Hodges is on the date, but I don't think he gets even 5 minutes of solo space on the whole album. On the longest track, TELL IT THE WAY IT IS, a medium-up blues on which Gonsalves takes 20 choruses, Hodges doesn't even play! That's a waste of talent, my friends. The excuse is that while that tune was being recorded Hodges was in another studio working out the arrangement to another tune played later on the date, RAPSCALLION IN RAB'S CANYON, which turns out to be a very elementary 12-bar blues. Poor excuse. Ray Nance is also present (playing fiddle on one track), though you'd hardly notice. Only pianist Walter Bishop is allowed in on the action. Ernie Shepard sings on one tune, and I hope it was the last time. One track is pretty decent: Hodges's IMPULSIVE, which is NOT a blues (four of the six tunes are) and is a very handsome tune indeed. Not a very memorable date. September 7, 2005

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