Previously unheard recording from clarinetist Eddie Daniels
& pianist Roger Kellaway joined by Buster Williams on bass and Al Foster on
drums
Recorded live at the historic Village Vanguard on November
26, 1988
Vital addition to the Daniels/Kellaway discography includes
20-page booklet with vintage photos, essays by Resonance producers George
Klabin and Zev Feldman, jazz writer John Murph, plus interviews and reflections
from Daniels, Kellaway and Buster Williams
Resonance Records is proud to
announce the release of Just Friends: Live at the Village Vanguard, a spirited
never-before-heard live recording by clarinetistEddie Daniels and pianist Roger
Kellaway featuring bassist Buster Williams and drummer Al Foster. Recorded by
Resonance Records founder George Klabin in the front row at the storied Village
Vanguard in Greenwich Village, New York City in late 1988, Just Friends is a
revelatory meeting of two jazz masters, with one of the best imaginable rhythm
sections, deep in dialogue on a set including the venerable standard "Just
Friends" and two original pieces each by Daniels and Kellaway.
Klabin received permission from the band to record on this
Saturday night of their weeklong run at the Vanguard, and came prepared with a
high-quality cassette recorder and a single Sony stereo microphone. "I
just placed the mic on the table facing the band, hit 'record' and let it run.
It was as simple as that," Klabin recalls in his liner note essay.
"The tape sat in my personal collection ever since I recorded it. Nearly
three decades later, in 2016, I pulled it out and listened to it. Immediately I
was transfixed again. I decided to send digital copies to Roger and Eddie for
their enjoyment." Discussions ensued. Klabin got the go-ahead from all
four quartet members and began laying plans for this remarkable DIY recording
to finally come to light. The album cover photo is by the legendary jazz
photographer William Claxton, with interior images by Tom Copi and Richard
Laird, all beautifully assembled into the CD package by longtime Resonance
designer Burton Yount.
And yet, as John Murph observes in his liner notes, Just
Friends is "Not only a fascinating musical snapshot of Eddie Daniels and
Roger Kellaway Daniels' early years playing with Kellaway, it introduces the
larger jazz world to rare compositions penned by the two." Kellaway's fiercely
uptempo but strikingly multifaceted "The Spice Man" is something the
pianist hasn't revisited and doesn't intend to ("I just don't want to play
that fast"). His "Some O' This and Some O' That" reveals a
Thelonious Monk influence, perhaps Art Blakey as well, in its driving shuffle
feel and dazzling solos. Daniels' contributions, the gorgeous ballad
"Reverie for a Rainy Day" and the Mozart-inspired "Wolfie's
Samba," are also rarities, never again performed by the clarinetist.
Just Friends also offers a window into a particular period
in jazz history, when Daniels was a "roving studio rat" on multiple
reeds who had logged many hours on the Vanguard bandstand with the Thad
Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. Williams, as noted in his booklet interview, had
just begun working with Kenny Barron in the supergroup Sphere, as well as the
Timeless All-Stars featuring Cedar Walton and others. Al Foster, still in the
midst of his long Miles Davis association, was also playing with the likes of
Joe Henderson, John Scofield and more. Kellaway, with sideman credits including
Wes Montgomery, Oliver Nelson, Clark Terry, Sonny Rollins and Herbie Mann, was
recording sporadically but always superbly as a leader, bolstering the case for
himself as one of the most compelling if overlooked pianists in jazz. Just
Friends adds to our understanding of this elusive but important figure.
Adding to the auspiciousness of Just Friends is the fact
that Bill Evans' Some Other Time: The Lost Concert from the Black Forest, a
landmark Resonance release from 2016, won top honors for Historical Album of
the Year in the annual DownBeat, JazzTimes and Jazz Journalists Association
(JJA) critics polls. As Nate Chinen of WBGO.org remarked in a story this April
about Resonance's efforts tying in to the annual Record Store Day, the label
has built a one-of-a-kind profile with its deluxe historical releases,
including recent items by Wynton Kelly, Wes Montgomery, John Coltrane and Jaco
Pastorius. "Each release is a gem," wrote Chinen, and Just Friends
certainly upholds that lofty standard.
Track Listing:
Some O' This and Some O' That (9:32)
Reverie for a Rainy Day (5:37)
Wolfie's Samba (9:09)
Just Friends (17:47)
The Spice Man (15:57)
Personnel:
Eddie Daniels, clarinet
Roger Kellaway, piano
Buster Williams, bass
Al Foster, drums
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