CD Review: Nigel Price Organ Trio - Heads and Tales Vol 2

Nigel Price (gtr); Ross Stanley (Hammond); Matt Home (dms) + Alex Garnett (alt/ten); Vasilis Xenopoulos (ten).

(Review by Lance).

Heads & Tales, an appropriately named double CD. Heads you win, Tales you still win! The trio is two-thirds of the trio that rocked the Jazz Café last month (Steve Brown stood in for Matt Home). To make it even more attractive we have the added presence of Vasilis Xenopoulos and Alex Garnett, either together or individually, on 7 of the 9 tracks on disc one.  Xenopoulos is a regular visitor to the area (as recently as last weekend) and Garnett played the Gala in Durham in May.

The Tales half is predominantly Price soloing or duetting with himself on familiar themes: Cherokee; Have You Met Miss Jones; Jeannine; Peace; Come Rain or Come Shine; Minority; Fragments of Blues; Slow Boat to China; Midnight Blue and, as a bonus, Joe Pass' composition Fragments of Blues was videoed during the recording although I have yet to view it.

Guitar playing at the ultimate level!

The Heads disc is an interesting concept. They are all "originals" by Price based on the themes he plays on the other disc. The titles are almost as clever as the tunes!

Blue Genes works around the changes of Jeannine (Genes, Jeans - get it?) Vasy is in on this one and he doesn't disappoint - does he ever? Nor does Nigel before Ross and Matt gangbang Jeannine.

Wet and Dry (Come Rain or Come Shine - don't worry the titles get worse/better!) brings Alex into the fray on alto whilst Vasy doesn't need an umbrella and nor does Nigel who picked up the melody line from a 1976 Ed Birkert solo!

Up and Out, a 3/4 blues with a bridge is related to some dialogue from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Matt Holm is given space.

Jimmy Raney's Parker 51 is based on Cherokee and giving Cherokee to Vasy is like giving him the freedom of Athens (if he doesn't already have it!)

War is rooted in Horace Silver's Peace and, whilst the tranquility of peace is depicted, so is the sombreness of war. Price, Stanley and Home convey the emotions the titles evoke with Garnett's tenor sax blending in perfectly (we want to hear you up north again man).

R & R has nothing to do with Rock & Roll but relates to Rita and Rigsby - Remember Rising Damp? Not surprisingly, it's based on Have You Met Miss Jones? Alex stays on board and Ross and Nigel suggest that they are well acquainted with Miss Jones!

Majority, based on Gigi Gryce's Minority brings the two horns back and it's up to the listener to say who got the majority!

Junk = Slow Boat to China. Garnett blows tenor on this one.

Smokescape is a take on Kenny Burrell's Midnight Blue and has Ross stretching out in after hours mode.

This is just about as good as it gets whether you're into guitar, organ, sax, drums or simply great jazz.

Must get out my Roget's Thesaurus and turn to the superlatives section - I'm running out of them!
Available on Whirlwind Recordings - WR4695 (November 11).
Lance,
NB: I reviewed this somewhat prematurely in September after the session at the Jazz Café. I've updated it so it appears nearer the official release date.