Fred Jackson Hootin’ ‘N’ Tootin’ (Blue Note 1963)

In the fifties and sixties many rhythm & blues and rock & roll orchestras harboured musicians with jazz chops. Making a living was the main objective. A jam session freed them from their ties now and then. Rarely would a bandleader, who had no dealings with anything other than straightforward backing, let them cut loose. It was only after record companies hired some of these men – sometimes at the suggestion of arrived jazz men – that the jazz world would take notice of their appetizing blend of skills and down-home aesthetic.

Fred Jackson - Hootin' 'N' Tootin'

Personnel

Fred Jackson (tenor saxophone), Earl van Dyke (organ), Willie Jones (guitar), Wilbert Hogan (drums)

Recorded

on February 5, 1962 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey

Released

as BLP 4094 in 1962

Track listing

Side A:
Dippin’ In The Bag
Southern Exposure
Preach Brother
Hootin’ ‘n’ Tootin’
Side B:
Easin’ On Down
That’s Where It’s At
Way Down Home


Fred Jackson, who played with Little Richard, Lloyd Price and B.B. King, was that kind of earthy, jazz-oriented player in the r&b realm. People definitely took notice when he blew off the lids of the garbage cans at producer Rudy van Gelder’s Studio in New Jersey, assisting organist Baby Face Willette on the exciting organ jazz album Face To Face in 1961. Thereafter, Alfred Lion, intent on the growth of Blue Note’s soul jazz roster, thought it proper to record Jackson as a leader. The result is Hootin ‘n’ Tootin’.

It’s as down home as it can get. But down home doesn’t mean anything if the protagonist isn’t cut out for it. Fred Jackson certainly lives up to the earthy challenge that the song titles suggest. His wailing style, hard-edged pitch and controlled, relaxed phrasing lend substance to tunes as the slow blues Southern Exposure. Organist Earl van Dyke – who would later become part of the esteemed Motown backing band, The Funk Brothers – puts in an elevating blues solo that ows much to the style of Brother Jack McDuff.

Snappy lines like Dippin’ In The Bag are played out well by a tight group. Wilbert Hogan and Willie Jones are not as fiery and sophisticated as Ben Dixon and Grant Green on Face To Face, but they do a solid job nonetheless. On similar cookers such as Hootin ‘n’ Tootin’ Fred Jackson shows considerable agility, employing both repeated r&b tricks and deft, confident jazz phrasing. Snippets of the styles of Gene Ammons and Arnett Cobb come to the fore.

That’s Where It’s At is another of those appropriate titles. It’s a lilting medium-tempo tune wherein Jackson and Van Dyke trade quotes of the gospel traditional Wade In The Water. It stayed on their mind during this session, as Van Dyke also threw in a snatch of the traditional in Preach Brother. Resembling Nat Adderley’s Work Song, it has the excitement of a congregation. Van Dyke’s solo is a torrent of raunchy figures. Fred Jackson leads the congregation with witty and assertive statements. As far as clear-headed, deft jazz playing is concerned, Fred Jackson certainly was where it’s at. Unfortunately, after recording with organist John Patton in 1963/64 on Along Came John and The Way I Feel, Jackson disappeared from the jazz scene.

Baby Face Willette Face To Face (Blue Note 1961)

It was a busy week for organist Baby Face Willette, the last week of January, 1961. In fact, the three sessions Willette was involved in – sessions for Lou Donaldson and Grant Green and the leadership date of Face to Face – account for half of the organist’s discography. One may conclude Willette is something of a footnote in jazz history. As his best album, Face To Face, however, proofs footnotes usually don’t come that exciting.

babyface

Personnel

Baby Face Willette (organ), Fred Jackson (tenor saxophone), Grant Green (guitar), Ben Dixon (drums)

Recorded

on January 30, 1961 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ

Released

as BST 84068 in 1961

Track listing

Side A:
Swingin’ At Sugar Ray’s
Goin’ Down
Whatever Lola Wants
Side B:
Face To Face
Something Strange
High ‘N’ Low


Lou Donaldson certainly was of that opinion. In reference to the session for Donaldson’s Here ’Tis, the popular alto saxophonist is quoted as saying (he also mentioned accompanists Grant Green and drummer Ben Dixon): “These guys have all played a lot of rhythm and blues and they know what it’s about.” Lou Donaldson brought Grant Green to the attention of Blue Note’s Alfred Lion in 1960. Green was steeped in r&b and influenced by Charlie Christian. Together they met Willette in New York. Before turning to jazz, Willette had worked in a variety of r&b settings. Tenor saxophonist Fred Jackson worked with Little Richard, B.B. King and had been part of r&b-singer Lloyd Price’s outfit. Drummer Ben Dixon also played in that group.

Here ’Tis stems from January 23, Grant Green’s Grant’s First Stand (also including Ben Dixon) was recorded on January 28 and the Face To Face-session took place on January 30. It indeed is about the blues or has a blues-based format. Willette penned five catchy originals. Willette’s edgy sound, a combination of a plucky percussion-setting and slight vibrato, is mesmerising. Style-wise Willette uses a number of tricks from Jimmy Smith’s bag. Putting heat into a solo, stretching over bars by way of a suspended left hand chord and freewheeling right hand, is one of them. He uses it in Whatever Lola Wants and Swingin’ At Sugar Ray’s. The latter is a sassy tune on which Grant Green gets into the picture with some trademark, throat-grabbing blues licks. His sound is unusually distorted on this tune, which unfortunately draws the attention away from the rest of his statements.

Willette does a great job of avoiding blues clichés. His lines are jumpy and fresh. Rarely at a dead end, one can hear the pleasure Willette takes in putting something surprising and funky in each new chorus. Willette carefully builds momentum on the slow, down & dirty blues Goin’ Down. Tenor saxophonist Fred Jackson delivers a juicy and humorous piece of rock ‘n’ jazz. His solo is lively, direct and consists of long wails that alternate with short, breathy puffs, valve effects and speedy, big-toned figures that bear the mark of Coleman Hawkins and Gene Ammons.

The title track, Face To Face, is an uptempo, stop-time tune cleanly executed by the rhythm section. (including the bass Willette provides) Ben Dixon lays down a driving shuffle in the middle section that finds all soloists in fine form. Whatever Lola Wants is the only non-Willette composition. It has a very danceable, exotic rhythm. Willette cooks, Jackson variates nicely on the theme; the element of surprise inherent in Jackson’s work is a strong asset of Face To Face. Green doesn’t really break out of his routine phrasing. Clearly, on Whatever Lola Wants, Fred Jackson’s got the better of him.

The album ends on a satisfying note. Something Strange and High ‘N’ Low aren’t standout tracks, but fine blues cuts. In the second part of his recording career – the 1964 albums Behind The 8-Ball and Mo-Roc for the Argo label – gospel and Carribean themes were highlighted more than on his Blue Note recordings. The albums show a full-grown identity and have their moments, but are inferior to Face To Face. They lack drive and the abilities of the high-quality personel that was present on Face To Face and his other Blue Note recording from 1961, Stop And Listen.

The liner notes of Face To Face refer to the wanderlust that had been characteristic of Willette’s personality ever since he was a kid. This penchant for traveling also accounted for his occasional disappearance from the scene and obscurity from the public eye after 1964. Ultimately, failing health led to his decease in 1971. Could Willette have been a new organ star contending with Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff? No doubt. Baby Face Willette had the chops, and the looks. Face To Face was a promising start. It, however, was also very short to the finish.