Billboard : 07/01/1957
Score of 72

Second Donaldson set for Blue Note in last two months. Tho the material and blowing is typically boppish, the straight-ahead, uncluttered feeling of the performances lend distinction. Donaldson, a competent disciple of the late Charlie Parker, has some fine moments here, but it is trumpeter Don Byrd who cops solo honors. Try Move It as best demo band.

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Cashbox : 07/27/1957

The sessions speak well of the artists assembled here. Alto saxist Lou Donaldson heads the quintet on six bands, four effervescent swingers, two beautifully warm spots. Donald Byrd (trumpet); Art Taylor (drums); Herman Foster (piano); and “Peck” Morrison (bass) form Donaldson’s artful backing. Eventful jazz issue.

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Down Beat : 07/25/1957
Leonard Feather : 3.5 stars

Donaldson was the Cannonball of his day. We hope you appreciate the fine irony of this statement. Lou came too late to be Bird and too early to be the posthumous successor. He is, nonetheless, among the more persuasive altos of the hundreds in Parker’s ineluctable shadow.

Caravan is a little too percussive for my ears, though the exotic rhythmic threads and Art‘s expert work certainly are tailored for many tastes. Old Folks, of which Bird’s version was cluttered up by a vocal group, is unencumbered and quite moving in the hands of Lou, Don, and the block-chording Foster.

Feeling, says Ira Gitler, “will make you fell as good as if money, even the smallest denomination, is raining from the sky.” But he’s wrong; it’s not quite based on the changes of Pennies from Heaven. Almost, though. He should have added that Move It will make you feel fine and dandy. It does, and is.

Byrd plays with sober and melodic simplicity on the ballads; his colorless tone occasionally gives an automatic quality to his to his up-tempos. Lou’s execution and ideation generally are excellent, though now and then he inserts a quote and does it with less wit and relevance than Parker.

L.D. Blues is medium-bright blues. Though only five minutes long, it has at least a semblance of routining, with the horns riffing to climatic effort during Foster’s solo. Lou is a true maitre de funk in the paying of his blues dues.

Nothing challengingly new here but plenty of medium-rare meat into which the followers of Blue Note’s admirable hard bop school can get their teeth.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

He’s a cooker, he’s a wailer
when backed by Arthur Taylor
or any swinging drummer
of the modern school.

He’s grooving, always moving
with a beat behooving us
to say most unreservedly,
“He’s a swinging fool.”

The subject of my little poem is, of course, Lou Donaldson. If I had been able to find a rhyme for Donaldson, perhaps I might have continued for a few more stanzas but it seems, like orange and silver, there are no rhymes for Donaldson. There are, however, a few synonyms which apply to him such as soul and drive and also some antonyms like static and effete.

Two of the titles of Lou’s originals (and certainly the music within the tracks bearing their names) are clearly indicative of his outstanding attributes.

One is That Good Old Feeling where Lou imparts the warmth that fills your being any time you hear a sincere, uncluttered, basic performance. This one will make you feel as good as if money, even of the smallest denomination, is raining from the sky.

The other is Move It. Lou certainly does as he keeps things soaring after Donald Byrd, as a Byrd in flight, catapults out of the opening chorus.

Even Juan Tizol‘s Caravan is supplied with jet camels. Lou moves his moving horn in a biting, kicking, chorus as Art Taylor backs him with an unrelenting Afro-Cuban motif during the first sixteen bars and the last eight, switching to roaring 4/4. After Art Taylor solos and Lou returns to blow against the drums, Donald handles the bridge and the caravan disappears over the sands. You won’t listen to this one from a supine position.

The soul I mentioned before really stands out on the ballads, neither of which has been done too often.

Old Folks, a nostalgic song about the demise of an old Civil War veteran maintains that quality even without the lyrics because of its sadly beautiful notes and harmony. Charlie Parker was the only modern jazzman to record this piece and Lou sort of pays a little tribute here.

There Is No Greater Love was once done by Billie Holiday but has been more or less neglected since. Even as the ballads contrast in mood with the rest of the selections, so does one ballad with the other in terms of feeling.

L.D. Blues was written by L.D. and we don’t need a guess to identify him. That “good old feeling” is in evidence as “down home” is revisited by all.

If you have been following modern jazz on Blue Note, Lou Donaldson and Donald Byrd are no strangers to you.

Lou, like so many other top performers, made his debut as a leader on this label. (Others have been Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Fats Navarro, Tadd Dameron and Clifford Brown.) Some of his best work can be heard on Blue Note BLP 1537 with his own quartet, quintet and sextet; Clifford Brown’s first session (BLP 1526); the Night at Birdland series with Art Blakey (BLP 1521, BLP 1522).

Donald, one of the Detroiters who has solidly established himself both as an important jazz trumpeter and as a New Yorker in the past three years, has graced many fruitful sessions recently including those of Paul Chambers (BLP 1534), Horace Silver (BLP 1539), Sonny Rollins (BLP 1542) and Hank Mobley (BLP 1540).

A name that will be unknown to you when you pick up this album is Herman Foster, here making his recording debut as a jazzman after having accompanied many rhythm and blues proceedings.

Herman, blind since the time of his birth in Philadelphia on April 26, 1928, became interested in the piano while he was in grammar school. “A girl taught me a hymn,” he relates, “and I went on from there.”

He moved to New York in 1944 but did not play professionally until 1949-50 in Asbury Park, New Jersey. In 1951-52 financial reasons caused him to give up music and go into factory work but in 1953, while living on Staten Island, he met tenorman Eric Dixon and worked with him during 1953. Then along came Lou Donaldson. He liked what he heard of Herman and hired him for several jobs including a week in Buffalo, New York and a dance date at North Carolina A&T (Lou’s old school) in Greensboro. During the past two years, Herman has worked at various clubs in Harlem like Connie’s, the Pigalle, Freddie’s and the Shalimar with groups such as Bill English‘s, Lord Westbrook‘s and Seldon Powell‘s.

Foster’s favorite pianists are Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Erroll Garner and Hampton Hawes. You will hear certain suggestions of Garner and a similarity with Peterson and Hawes in that Herman likes to use the locked hands chord style first popularized by Milt Buckner. However, he uses the style much more extensively than Oscar or Hamp and in his own way. In creating other effects and sounds on the piano, Herman many times approximates the feel of the organ as he utilizes some of the manifold possibilities of the keyboard and pedals.

The rhythm section is completed by Arthur S. Taylor Jr. (mentioned earlier in the introductory verse) and John A. “Peck” Morrison. Art, a native born New Yorker (1929) is familiar to Blue Note fans through his previous work with Lou Donaldson and Bud Powell. As one of the most expert in the Art Blakey-Max Roach tradition, he is constantly in demand in the New York area by the many group leaders who value his rhythmic support highly.

“Peck,” born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1919, studied music on several instruments, including trumpet, drums and bass, at New Rochelle (New York) High and the Harnett School of Music (New York City). In the Fifties, he has appeared with the groups of Lucky Thompson, Billy Graham, Jay and Kai, Gerry Mulligan, Johnny Smith and Lou Donaldson. He names Milt Hinton, Oscar Pettiford and Clyde Lombardi as his favorite bassmen.

In closing, I offer you what I believe to be some sound advice in the form of a quatrain.

Perhaps you don’t own a sailboat
and can’t sail with your crew,
but you can own this record
and go wailing with Lou.