Cashbox : 03/28/1959

Composer-conductor-arranger Salim has surrounded himself with an impressive aggregation of jazz names (i.e. Phil Woods, Nat Adderley, Eddie Costa), and led them over six blues compositions. Result is a lively, swinging session that gives each man a chance to strut his stuff. Aside from the various solo stints, the nine pieces perform in unison, giving out with the big band sound. Of particular jazz interest.

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Oakland Tribune
Russ Wilson : 06/21/1959

Blues Suite consists of seven compositions by the ex-Basie reedman, A.K. Salim played by a nonet that includes Nat Adderley, Phil Woods, Seldon Powell and Buster Cooper. Salim’s gift for writing in the blues idiom has been noted here before; once again he provides a framework that for all its modern harmonies maintains its funky feeling and also excellently sets off the soloists.

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San Francisco Chronicle
Ralph J. Gleason : 06/18/1959

Another excellent new LP is Blues Suite by A.K. Salim, in which a nine-piece band that includes Nat Adderley and Seldon Powell plays some wonderful variations on the blues as arranged by Salim. The orchestration makes the band sound bigger than it is, the ideas and sound give a very modern twist to the traditional blues and the whole LP is full of good solos and surprises. Like How Long Baby, on which Adderley is featured, may be the best track on the LP. It certainly has the most impressive single chorus (Nat’s solo). The whole LP illustrates the undying possibilities of the blues that have served vocalists and instrumentalists well for half a century, and are showing no signs of weakness yet.

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San Francisco Examiner
C. H. Garrigues : 06/21/1959

A series of tracks written by A.K. Salim which involves much big voiced blowing by such men as Phil Woods, Seldon Powell, Sahib Shihab, Nat Adderley and others but which, for this listener, does not add up to a very important result.

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Liner Notes by H. Alan Stein

This is a shoutin’ Suite! Leader-composer-arranger A.K. Salim has brewed 7 mighty blues tracks, showcasing the talents of this mighty crew in vari-hued but ever-swinging passel o’ 12, 16 and 32 bar compositions. I just wish I’d been there to see that look of contentment on the musicians’ faces that is projected in the happy sounds herein!

Since each track is a showcase, let’s run ’em up the flag and see who’s saluting! The opener, Payday, enters fast with flourishes from ex-Lionel Hampton drummer Hogan, and jumps from a double-time ensemble passage into a swinging, walking 12-bar blues setting for Buster Cooper. Coming on in the tradition of Bill Harris, Vic Dickenson and Benny Green, he enters on staccato burst and expands his excitement throughout the track. On No. 2, Joybox, double threat vibes star Eddie Costa takes to piano in a series of brilliant, spare choruses on a 16 bar minor blues theme. Using a heavily punctuated rhythmic approach and linear style, he ranges the middle and upper octaves for the early choruses, dropping into a series of Monk-ish abstractions in and around George Duvivier‘s bass chorus, dropping into an open octave style for the close. Side A closes with the 12-bar blues Full Moon. From the opening “Hall of the Mountain King” figures by Duvivier, the ensemble picks up a kick tempo, punctuated brilliantly by Hogan’s dramatic rolls and Duvivier’s moving “fills” into Phil Woods‘ solos. The alto man’s preachings and musings soar up and over the recurring linear theme. Side B’s rousing opening, Blue-Bary, has lively boppish unison lines. A 12-bar pattern, it surrounds veteran modern sax star Sahib Shihab‘s baritone meanderings. Utilizing an angry, buzzing, double-timing, yet purely “funky” approach, Shihab roars out-from-under, away-from, and rising-over the ensemble’s shouts. His staccato chorus of variations from a one-noted line are worth the price of the set alone! Tenor man Seldon Powell, a much underrated soloist has his own field on The Sultan. A medium 12-bar blues, he gently chides, urges, strains into the rhythm and generally pulses with the “cooking” rhythm section. Track No. 3, Blue-Shout, is a fast 12-bar blues that’s everyone’s cup of tea. Everyone blows against the churning rhythm from top to bottom. Final track, Like How Long Baby, is a powerful slow-drag blues, 32-bar variety. Nat Adderley is the man of the hour, surging up from the organ chords of the ensemble in a brilliantly preaches series of solos that range from the brilliance of the Harry James style of years past with his half-valve virtuoso work into the most modern of today’s styles and the most basic of blues horn styles for years past and in the future. It is an unusual track to those of you familiar with Nat’s recent recorded work, but is basic and true to the spirit of this album… deserving the accolade of contentment and hubbub that follows the end of the track from the musicians themselves!