Recorded in 1957,
Sonny's Crib features a front line of
Curtis Fuller,
Donald Byrd, and
John Coltrane with
Sonny Clark on piano,
Art Taylor on drums, and
Paul Chambers on bass. Truly still a
bebop recording, done a full year before the landmark
Cool Struttin' session, nonetheless the set produced some awesome readings of classic tunes, like the opener,
"With a Song in My Heart," with one of the knottiest
Byrd solos ever. As
Chambers and
Taylor up the rhythmic ante and
Clark comps with enormous chords in the background, the entire line solos, but it is
Byrd's that is stunning in its complexity -- though
Coltrane could play
bebop as well as anybody. The most notable tracks on the session are the classic readings of
Kurt Weill's
"Speak Low" and
"News for Lulu," the latter of which has been adopted by
John Zorn as his theme. On the former,
Clark's rearrangement, with
Coltrane leading the front line, is truly revelatory. Using a
Latin rhythm in cut time,
Clark sets up a long, 22-note melody line that moves right into
Trane's solo. He moves the key around and harmonically shifts gears as
Clark follows and stays in the pocket for him while
Trane uses the middle register for legato pyrotechnics.
Fuller's next and covers over the
blues inherent in the tune with pure
swing, before
Byrd brings it back into the fold with a gorgeous counterpoint of the melody.
Clark taps his way into extended harmonics on the sixths and sharpens the accents as he trounces the original key and plays double trills to get back. The latter is a smokin'
Latin take on the
hard bop blues, with a staggered melodic line and a large tonal palette that gives the horn players room to explore the timbral possibilities of
Clark's colors -- which are revealed in the loosest, skittering skein of bluesy phrasing this side of
Horace Silver in his solo. In all,
Sonny's Crib is a phenomenal recording, one that opened the door to
hard bop becoming the norm in the late '50s, and one that drew deft, imaginative performances from all its players. ~ Thom Jurek
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