HiFi / Stereo Review
Peter J. Welding : August, 1961

Interest: Derivative
Performance: Polished
Recording: Excellent

Here Horace Parlan strings together a series of acknowledgements of the several men who have influenced his spare, discreet style. The more conspicuous borrowings are from Red Garland, Wynton Kelly, Ahmad Jamal, Junior Mance, and Bud Powell. Parlan receives impeccable support from George Tucker and Al Harewood, but there is not a single surprise on either side.

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Washington Afro American (Washington, DC)
Louis D. Stone : 04/15/1961
Four stars

30 years old and still a growin’ boy, musically, Horace Parlan has made a vast improvement over his first release on Blue Note. He projects a smoother, well thought-out range of ideas, with less annoying repetition. The fact that Parlan does not use all fingers, due to polio, does not hamper his vigorous style. One of the highlights of this album is Lady is a Tramp, in which Horace skillfully builds to the climax, “just-a-bouncin’ and carryin’ on.” Us Three incorporates the gospel church concept and is based solely on an F minor chord. Parian gives Walkin’ all the funkiness of greasy chicken. Wadin’, a Parlan composition is a good vehicle for bassist, George Tucker, but otherwise is undistinguished.

Parlan, Tucker and Harewood are more than just friends—they play well together.

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Liner Notes by Nat Hentoff

I first became aware of Horace Parlan during his stay with Charles Mingus’ inexorably demanding Jazz Workshop. I was impressed at Parlan’s capacity to absorb and execute what Mingus wanted while maintaining his own strong individuality. He had the further ability to communicate vigorous, unfettered emotion without ignoring the softer and more subtle possibilities of jazz.

Parlan, now with Lou Donaldson, has continued to mature; and as his other albums (Movin” & Groovin’, Blue Note 4028; Speakin” My Piece, Blue Note 4043) demonstrate, he has the range of emotion and imagination to sustain interest as a leader of his own albums. This new set reinforces that impression.

The biographical details about Parlan are provided in detail in the notes for Movin” and Groovin’. To summarize briefly, he was born in Pittsburgh, January 19, 1931; started studying privately in 1943; attended the Pittsburgh Musical Institute and the Carnegie Institute; and became a full-time professional in 1952. He had by then developed a style that made it possible for him to make wide-ranging use of the piano despite the fact that his right hand had been left partially paralyzed as the result of a polio attack when he was five.

As Leonard Feather has succinctly explained: “The fourth and fifth fingers of the right hand are not used at all. The second and middle fingers, and sometimes the thumb, are used to complete voicing of chords that are basically supplied by the left hand. Occasionally, too, the left hand is used exclusively in single note lines. Incredible as it may seem, along with all this, the left hand does a normal complement of comping in its regular register.”

From 1952 to 1957, Parlan gained experience in Pittsburgh. He decided to brave New York in 1957, and worked with Charlie Mingus for two years. Since June, 1959, Horace’s main regular activity has been as a member of Lou Donaldson’s unit. Parlan has spoken often of the fact that Mingus has been a major influence on him. “He taught me,” Parlan explains, “what discipline really meant and how one could be freer while improvising.” Pianistically, Parlan’s influences have included Bud Powell and John Lewis. He is also fond of Wynton Kelly, Ray Bryant, Tommy Flanagan, and places Ahmad Jamal near the top of his current influences. Like Miles Davis, Parlan is intrigued at Jamal’s use of space—his clarity and his lack of extraneous notes.

For this album, Parian did the arranging, collaborating with bassist George Tucker on Us Three. The title refers to the fact that it’s a trio number. The initial concept came from the idea of a chant such as can be heard in gospel churches. “I mean,” says Parlan, “the kind of chant that starts with one voice, theme or motif and is gradually picked up by other voices. It builds to an intense climax, and then dissolves after the tension has been spent.”

The piece also illustrates the thinking Parlan has done along the lines of Miles Davis’ increasing concern with more melodic and less chordal improvisation. “This work, for example,” Parlan points out, “is based on just an F minor chord.”

George Tucker begins the chant and is joined by Horace and Al Harewood. The strong church flavor is sharply changed into straight-away, pulsating jazz. Because of the deliberate chordal limitations, the emphasis is on melodic improvisation; and, as is endemic to chant-like motifs, the performance becomes rather hypnotic.

Parlan has long felt that I Want To Be Loved has been overlooked by many jazz players. He first heard Dinah Washington’s version ten years ago and was drawn to arrange it for a vibes-with-rhythm combo with which he was then working in Pittsburgh. This version is a transcription of that arrangement. Parlan, a man of sensitive temperament as well as of lucid intelligence, can play a ballad on its own terms as well as plunge unrestrainedly into “soulful funk.” Note also the clarity of his line and the overall logic of his improvisatory patterns. Parlan, moreover, can convey intensity in a ballad performance without sacrificing tenderness.

Come Rain or Come Shine is another standard that Parlan has been playing off and on for a long time. “It combines,” he observes, “both a tender feeling and a sense of earthiness so that you can incorporate both those elements when you play it.” The combination in Parlan’s interpretation is delightfully successful. He takes the tune in a thoroughly relaxed groove; implies a strong feeling of the soil and yet keeps its main outline as a ballad quite clear and fresh.

Wadin’, a Parlan original, is a blues. “The title,” says Horace, “is meant to indicate that I always like to dig in as deeply as possible when I’m playing the blues.” Horace, as throughout the album, gets well-knit, sturdy support from George Tucker and Al Harewood. “Rhythmically, Parlan emphasizes, “this is the most comfortable unit with which I’ve ever been involved. We’ve all played together a while now so that we really do work as a unit.” Tucker, Florida-born, has played with, among others, Earl Bostic, Sonny Stitt, John Coltrane, Mary Lou Williams, and Art Blakey. He’s now with Lou Donaldson.

“George,” says Parlan, “is developing into a remarkable bass player. He is gaining complete control of his instrument; and in his touch on the strings, he has one of the purest sounds I’ve heard. He is also one of the few who actually does have a different style from most other bass players.

Al Harewood’s experience has included time with the J. J. Johnson-Kai Winding combo; a band led by Gigi Gryce and Art Farmer; another headed by Benny Golson and Curtis Fuller; and now he too is with Lou Donaldson. “Kenny Clarke,” notes Parlan, “was always one of my favorite drummers, and Al Harewood is one of the few drummers who has Kenny’s particularly relaxed feeling with regard to time. Also, he doesn’t ever get in the way.”

The Lady Is A Tramp came to Parlan’s attention through a recording by the late Carl Perkins whom Parlan admired. “I especially like it,” adds Horace, “because it’s the kind of tune in which I can explore the use of space and the tension that can be developed without playing too many notes.” There is an infectious good humor about Horaces romp through the tune and he does play with spare, swinging taste. Note Tucker’s clear, full sound and quite personal conception.

Walkin’ is one of the most popular jazz standards among musicians. “I must have played it well over a hundred times in the past few years,” says Parlan. “I chose it for this album because I’ve found out that the tunes I know most intimately are the ones that come out best. The more I play them, the more comfortable I am in them, and the more I discover in them.” Horace digs into the tune with consummate care and conviction, gradually building up tension and exemplifying his feeling that “this is so very natural a tune. The tempo and everything else about it makes it so easy to just fall into.” Tucker enters with a brief, resilient and thoroughly personal bass solo.

Return Engagement is thus titled because Alfred Lion of Blue Note had invited Horace to make another trio album. “I was sitting down thinking about the new album,” says Horace, “and while fiddling around, this tune came to my head. It’s a 16-bar structure, repeated twice. I wrote the line first, before I wrote the chords. It sometimes also works the other way with me when I write.” The theme is attractive, rather wistful, and conducive to swinging improvisation. Again, Parlan plays with total commitment. There is no feeling of holding back, of emotional inhibition. He puts all of himself into a performance’ and accordingly, he communicates passion and power as well as order and intelligence.

Parlan, as mentioned before, has continued to grow in the past few years; and this album, it seems to me, marks yet another stage in his development. He knows what he wants to say, has developed the equipment to say it as he hears it, and is entirely without pretentiousness or compromise. He is, in short, the kind of jazzman I’ve learned to expect from Blue Note since I bought my first Sidney Bechet record on that label over fifteen years ago.