San Francisco Examiner
C.H. Garrigues : 09/29/1957

Originally the tuba performed the chores in the jazz band which have been taken over in latter days by the string bass. in Tuba Sounds, Draper, a youngster who has just passed his 17th birthday, reintroduces it to jazz as a leading front line horn – and does it most successfully.

The record is chiefly interesting for the close work between Draper and Jackie McLean‘s hard, biting alto. These alone give it stature with the best, though a more experience trumpet man is needed than the young Webster Young. Young shows technical facility and promise but his musical ideas are derivative and tend to dissolve the tension which Draper and McLean build.

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Saturday Review
Nat Hentoff : 09/28/1957

For this month’s sound that is farthest back in the history of jazz instrumentation but intently modern in conception, there is the solo tuba of 17-year-old Ray Draper in Tuba Sounds which illustrates that no instrument, even perhaps including the bagpipe, is inherently impervious to the thoughtfully intense influence of Miles Davis. The album also includes a twenty-five-year-old trumpeter, Webster Young, who could become an urgent lyrical voice of value.

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Down Beat : 11/28/1957
Don Gold : 3.5 stars

If jazz is to progress, it must be given regular transfusions of young blood.

This is one example of the young musicians who must inherit the jazz world and extend it into the future.

It is the first LP as a leader for the 17-year-old Draper. It marks, too, the recorded debut of 24-year-old Young, who has played with groups in the Washington, D.C. area. Dixon, 22, worked with Young in Washington. McLean, 25, has been on a variety of blowing session sides. DeBrest is 20. Waldron, at 30, is the oldest member of the group.

The six-tune format is an excellent one. Draper plays well, within the solo limitations of his instrument. If the liner notes are accurate, Draper is an astonishingly capable young musician and composer. If so, it might be wise for him to attempt to express himself on another instrument, since the tuba is not, essentially, a vividly melodic instrument. He plays well, here, but I would prefer to hear him on an instrument not so limited in terms of articulation.

McLean continues to strike with great force, but isn’t as fluent conceptually here as he has been in past efforts. Young shows considerable promise and deserves additional opportunities to be heard. Waldon contributes grace and maturity throughout. The rhythm section is sturdy.

Draper’s two originals, Dolly and Interlude, show a fondness for minor keys and attractive lines. Young’s Terry Anne is lively and his Davis is a thoughtful tribute to Miles.

The rating would have been higher, but most of those present have a way to go and show it. Nevertheless, all show potential and should be heard.

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Liner Notes by Ira Gitler

This is an album of firsts; the first album for Ray Draper as a leader and the recording debut of Webster Young. It may be a first for you too, in that these names may be appearing before your eyes for the first time.

Raymond Allen Draper, first heard in Jackie McLean & Co. (Prestige LP 7087), is a native New Yorker born on August 3, 1940. (That’s not a typographical error; at this writing he’s not yet seventeen years young.) Since his father, Barclay, played trumpet with Duke Ellington and his mother is a retired concert pianist, it might be said that Ray comes from a musical family.

Ray began to carry on in the family tradition from the age of 13 when he was able to enter a special band class in junior high school. The first two weeks found him playing string bass but when a new tuba arrived, the instructor asked him to take it over as he had been the last bass player to come into the class. Ray reluctantly picked up the huge horn but in a few weeks began to feel that he didn’t want to put it down. Later, through an audition that he made with it, he was accepted at the High School of Performing Arts where he now attends.

Ray is primarily concerned with jazz and in the field his favorites are Miles Davis, Jackie McLean, Clifford Brown and Horace Silver. On his chosen instrument he prefers Bill Barber, the tubaist on the significant Miles Davis nonet recordings of 1949-50. Insofar as an active part in jazz is concerned, Ray has been participating in many of the sessions sponsored by the Jazz Unlimited organization of Brooklyn which took place at the Pad (now defunct) and Birdland during 1956 and 1957.

His interests also lie in other directions. Musically, they include composition. He has written a Fugue For Brass Ensemble which was performed at New York University and is working on a symphony. He was a member of the All-City High School Symphony which was the subject of a documentary film to be released in September of 1957. Ray also has tried his hand as a playwright and there is a possibility that one of his scripts may reach the boards before the year is over.

All of these efforts and accomplishments attest to a certain amount of precocity. The value of starting young has been proven many times. Such an advanced, as well as early, start by Ray augurs well for a bright future. After graduation from Performing Arts in June of 1958, Ray plans to attend the Manhattan School of Music and receive his degree. For the present he is occupied with the Jazz Disciples, a group whose front line is made up of three hornmen in this LP.

Webster Young (and doesn’t that sound like the name of a jazzman) is a young trumpet player who because of an earlier affinity for the style of John Gillespie was dubbed Diz and is still sometimes called that although his main inspiration has become Miles Davis.

Born in Columbia, South Carolina on December 3, 1932, Webster moved to Washington, D.C. before he was old enough to remember Columbia. Until he came to New York in June of 1956, most of Webster’s playing had been done around Washington. After a service sojourn from 1951-1955, during which time he played with an Army band (that included Hamp Hawes) in both California and Japan, Webster returned to the nation’s Capitol and played with the bands of Rick Henderson, Lloyd Price and Buck Hill. Since arriving in New York, he has taken part in numerous sessions and played with Draper in the Jazz Unlimited afternoon bashes. Webster features a thoughtful style not unlike his inspirer.

One of the two “veterans” of this recording is Jackie McLean, whose alto sax you have heard on many of his own Prestige recordings. Jackie, now 25 knows what it is to record young (he appeared with Miles Davis when he was only 19) and was especially helpful to Ray and Webster throughout the date. The active concern he showed was as if it was his own session rather than just an appearance as a sideman. As usual, his blowing is hot, swinging and emotion-packed.

The rhythm section, like the horn division, features two young newcomers and a young “veteran.”

One of the newcomers is drummer Ben Dixon who, like Webster Young was born in South Carolina (Gaffney) in December (25, 1934) but later migrated to Washington, D.C. in 1952, Ben took up the drums and has since appeared with several rhythm and blues groups, tenorman Buck Hill’s band and tenorwoman Vi Burnside’s Jazz Disciples. When Webster came to New York, Ben accompanied him. He names Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakey, Kenny Clarke and Max Roach as his favorite drummers.

James “Spanky” DeBreast [sic] is from Philadelphia where he was born on April 24, 1937. He studied bass in high school and played locally with Jimmy DePriest and Lee Morgan before joining Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. “Spanky” likes the bass work of Percy Heath, Ray Brown, Oscar Pettiford and Wilbur Ware.

Mal Waldron the “veteran” at 30, has come swiftly to the fore in 1957 both as a soloist and composer-arranger. Hear Mal-1 (Prestige LP 7090) for further concrete proof. Mal, like Jackie, was a steadying influence on the younger performers here.

Five originals and a seldom done standard make up the geography of this album.

Draper’s written contributions include Jackie’s Dolly and Mimi’s Interlude, both of which show his penchant for the minor keys.

The sprightly blues, Terry Anne (for his daughter) and the moody House Of Davis (for Miles) are Webster Young’s interesting compositions.

Mal Waldron’s Pivot gives everyone a chance to blow as in the other selections but is mainly a vehicle for its composer.

You’re My Thrill, because of its association with Billie Holiday was suggested by Webster Young who happens to be one of Billie’s most ardent fans. Webster plays the melody chorus with sensitivity and the improvised solos follow.