Signifyin' (album)

Last updated
Signifyin'
Signifyin' (album).jpg
Studio album by Lou Donaldson
Released 1963
Recorded July 17, 1963
Studio A & R Recording Studio, New York, NY
Genre Jazz
Length31:37
Label Argo
LP-724
Producer Esmond Edwards
Lou Donaldson chronology
Good Gracious!
(1963)
Signifyin'
(1963)
Possum Head
(1964)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]

Signifyin' is an album by jazz saxophonist Lou Donaldson recorded for the Argo label in 1963 and performed by Donaldson with Roy Montrell, Tommy Turrentine, Big John Patton, and Ben Dixon. [2]

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression. It then emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms".

Lou Donaldson American saxophonist

Lou Donaldson is a jazz alto saxophonist. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.

Argo Records was a record label in Chicago that was established in 1955 as a division of Chess Records.

Contents

Reception

The album was awarded 4½ stars in an Allmusic review by Thom Jurek who states "Donaldson has a band that can cook whatever meat he gives them... the band keeps the beats tight, full of deep backbeat funk and raw soul... No matter how you add it up, the only complaint about these six tracks that can justifiably be mustered is that there weren't more". [3]

Track listing

All compositions by Lou Donaldson except where noted

  1. "Signifyin'" - 7:07
  2. "Time After Time" (Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne) - 2:35
  3. "Si Si Safronia" - 5:38
  4. "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" (Duke Ellington, Bob Russell) - 3:53
  5. "I Feel It in My Bones" - 8:15
  6. "Coppin' a Plea" - 4:09

Personnel

Alto saxophone type of saxophone

The alto saxophone, also referred to as the alto sax, is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s, and patented in 1846. It is pitched in E, and is smaller than the tenor, but larger than the soprano. The alto sax is the most common saxophone and is commonly used in concert bands, chamber music, solo repertoire, military bands, marching bands, and jazz. The fingerings of the different saxophones are all the same so a saxophone player can play any type of saxophone.

Thomas Walter Turrentine, Jr. was a swing and hard bop trumpeter of the 1940s to 1960s. He rarely worked as a bandleader, and was known for his work as a sideman with drummer Max Roach and his younger brother, the saxophonist Stanley Turrentine.

Trumpet musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family

A trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group contains the instruments with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpet-like instruments have historically been used as signaling devices in battle or hunting, with examples dating back to at least 1500 BC; they began to be used as musical instruments only in the late 14th or early 15th century. Trumpets are used in art music styles, for instance in orchestras, concert bands, and jazz ensembles, as well as in popular music. They are played by blowing air through nearly-closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound that starts a standing wave vibration in the air column inside the instrument. Since the late 15th century they have primarily been constructed of brass tubing, usually bent twice into a rounded rectangular shape.

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References

  1. Allmusic Review
  2. Lou Donaldson discography accessed December 8, 2009.
  3. Jurek, T. Allmusic Review accessed December 8, 2009.