Billboard : 07/15/1957
New Jazz Talent

An impressive debut by Chicago tenorists Jordan and Gilmore, who, in the tradition of Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt, etc., play with “hard” sound and sharply rhythmic attack to good results. Rhythm playing of vets A. Blakey, C. Russell and H. Silver, obviously stimulating to Jordan and Gilmore, is a real kick for listener. Valuable solo content and general vitality of this blowing session should please jazz buyers. Try Blue Lights as demo-track.

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Cashbox : 07/20/1957

The disk sells the two tenor sax men, Cliff Jordan, and John Gilmore, extremely well. Occasioned by particularly hard-driving work, and the backing of a notable three man crew (Horace Silver on piano; Art Blakey on drums; Curley Russell on bass), the sessions catch the featured artists in proactive stints. Excellent sound. Everything came off wonderfully here.

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Down Beat : 08/22/1957
Don Gold : 3.5 stars

This set serves to introduce two promising 25-year-old Chicago tenor men. Naturally, they went to New York to attempt to achieve recognition. Jordan is the most recent addition to Silver‘s quintet, by the way.

This is a blowing session, to say the least, and there is some temptation to huff and puff and blow down the studio. In this respect, Blakey, The Thunderous, does much to assist as he drops clean bombs throughout. Fortunately, Jordan and Gilmore do not make the San Juan charge screaming. They play with restrained fervor on all tracks.

There is a degree of retrogression evident, with memories of Lester Young in better days and Charlie Parker on a melodic wing present, but for the most part there is an honest effort to create beyond implied homage.

Both tenor men play with considerable rhythmic feeling and emotional power. The arrangements are somewhat thin, with Gigi Gryce‘s moody Blue Lights and Silver’s Everywhere the best. A third Chicago tenor man, John Neely, contributed Status.

Although this LP is not, as such, a major contribution, it is of value. Blue Note is to be commended for providing blowing room for Jordan and Gilmore, who show signs of maturing into the realm of the influential. They deserve to be heard, and this LP is an important step in their development. Based on the best of the sounds contained here, this LP can be a valid part of any jazz collection.

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Liner Notes by Joe Segal

Blowing In From Chicago represents another step forward being made by Blue Note to the purpose of placing Chicago’s musical talent on the map of respected recognition… Not since the days of the original “Chicago Jazz” style, a wide-open and raucously swinging evolvement of “New Orleans Jazz,” has there been such a wealth of young spirited Jazz talent from this mid-west area… As in the earlier style, a general feeling of uninhibitedness and eager experimentation dominates this new musical generation. Remember, it was here that Bird first made an impression, after leaving Kansas City, before he hit New York; here that the Earl Hines band organized and spawned the fabulous Billy Eckstine crew; here that Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt and Fats Navarro played many of their formative period gigs. Gene and Sonny most certainly have been the major influences in this area, with the more recent saxophonists favoring Sonny Rollins… It is here also that John Coltrane said to me “I haven’t heard so many good young tenor men anywhere else in the country.” … Here, then, are two of the most exciting of these two new tenor men, Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore…

Like the scholastic background of Blue Note’s first Chicago import, Johnny Griffin (BLP 1533 and BLP 1559), both Clifford and John were taught their musical ABC’s by Capt. Walter Dyett at DuSable High School on Chicago’s Southside… (Two of their classmates were bassist Richard Davis, now with Sarah Vaughan, and altoist, John Jenkins, soon to appear on a Blue Note LP, BLP 1560, with Hank Mobley.) … Both are 25 yrs of age, and have had varied experiences playing most every type of popular music; Clifford with many of the over-worked blues bands that infest the area; John, most notably as solo clarinetist for two years in an Army Air Force Band, and more recently as featured tenor soloist with a large band that Earl Hines assembled for a nation-wide tour as part of a show with the Harlem Globetrotters (He is now featured with the exciting experimental octet of Sun Ra)… Clifford has been playing 11 years, John, 10…

Both fellows list the same saxophonists as their favorites, including Pres, Byas, Lucky Thompson, Gene Ammons, Dexter Gordon, and of course, and most prominently, Bird and Sonny Rollins. However, two very special tenor men have influenced these seasoned youngsters as to the intenseness of their playing, the late Wardell Gray, and Sonny Stitt. This happened mostly when John and Cliff played with those two, on the famous Monday night sessions at the now defunct BeeHive, in “sink or swim” competition… (Wardell and Sonny have certainly caused many a young musician to get his feet wet, and both the musicians concerned, and the music world in general have benefited greatly)…

The rhythm section assembled by Blue Note for this session is a superlative one, indeed… Returning, on bass, from the Griffin LP, is Curley Russell, who, and we are very thankful for this, is finally getting enough recording dates and Jazz gigs to keep him from the myriad R&B jobs which virtually held him prisoner for the past few years… Leader of “The Jazz Messengers”, Art Blakey, is our percussionist for the date, and his reunion with pianist Horace Silver, grooved herein for posterity, is an electrifying one… Both seemed to feel greatly the nuances and anticipations so necessary to create an integrated and interesting rhythmic pulse… Their help in stabilizing a young nervousness, mostly naturally encountered on a first solo record date, is of inestimable value… Horace, incidentally, is greatly responsible for bringing John and Clifford to Blue Note’s attention. He became enamored of their talents jamming with them, while appearing here with “The Messengers”…

Clifford plays the lead parts in all of the ensemble work, and his mellower tone is readily distinguishable from Gilmore’s hard, more punching sound…

Status Quo, an original by John Neely (another fine Chicago tenor man), kicks off side 1 in a bright, hard driving manner, with Gilmore taking the first tenor solo… Art’s gutty fill-ins and solo are standouts in this cut which exhibits just how beautifully happy good Jazz can be…

Clifford Jordan’s Latin flavored Bo-Till follows. His is the first solo, and it sings as prettily… Horace presents here one of the most reflective and simply swinging solos of his entire recording career…

Side 1 closes with Gigi Gryce‘s Blue Light, quickly becoming a Modern Jazz standard… Gilmore solos first, and plays some very challenging chord changes. During Horace’s solo, he and Art build the tension to an almost unbelievable pitch with their famous “doubling timing,” only to swing twice as much when they resume the regular time. In this tune, Curley reminds the Jazz world that he deserves more solo space…

Billie’s Bounce, taken a little faster than usual, creates an in-person jam session feeling with its unrestrained flow of biting solos and exploding rhythmic decapitations…

Clifford’s Evil Eye (minor blues), relaxes the tempo into an easygoing bounce, with John following Cliff, and leading into another superbly well stated Horace Silver solo.

Horace’s lone composition for the date, a show-type tune he calls Everywhere, closes the LP, and in many respects is the smoothest flowing selections in the set.

Throughout the album, I think you will feel the sincerity of these two young horn men, their obvious difference in tone and conception, and the freshness of their mid-west approach… For, with the brilliantly creative musical background that Chicago has given them, it is inevitable that John Gillmore, and Clifford Jordan will make an important contribution to the world of Modern Jazz tenor playing… I agree with “Trane,” how about you????