Straight Ahead (David "Fathead" Newman album)

Straight Ahead
Studio album by David "Fathead" Newman
Released	1961
Recorded	December 21, 1960
Studio	Atlantic Recording Studios, studio A NYC
Genre	Jazz
Length	38:04
Label	Atlantic SD 1366
Producer	Nesuhi Ertegun
David "Fathead" Newman chronology
The Sound of the Wide Open Spaces!!!! (1960) Straight Ahead (1961) Fathead Comes On (1961)

Straight Ahead is an album by American saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman featuring performances recorded in 1960 for the Atlantic label. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
DownBeat	[6]

The contemporaneous DownBeat reviewer, Leonard Feather, described the album as "A modest, honest, most agreeable set", and highlighted Kelly's contributions, which he described as "amounting at times to a virtual duet with Newman". ^[6] AllMusic awarded the album 4 stars stating "There is nothing particularly innovative about this recording, but the level of expertise and musical maturity displayed here is truly astonishing. This is simply straight-ahead hard bop performed by some of the finest musicians in 1960s jazz". ^[5]

Track listing

All compositions by David "Fathead" Newman except as indicated

1. "Batista's Groove" (Marcus Belgrave) - 7:25
2. "Skylark" (Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer) - 4:39
3. "Night of Nisan" - 7:59
4. "Cousin Slim" - 7:07
5. "Summertime" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward) - 6:34
6. "Congo Chant" - 4:20

Personnel

• David "Fathead" Newman - tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, flute
• Wynton Kelly - piano
• Paul Chambers - bass
• Charlie Persip - drums

References

1. Atlantic Records Catalog: 1300 series accessed July 20, 2015
2. David Newman discography accessed July 20, 2015
3. Enciclopedia del Jazz; David "Fathead Newman accessed November 29, 2018
4. David "Fathead" Newman Incomplete Discography accessed November 16, 2018
5. Review, Allmusic. Straight Ahead – Review at AllMusic . Retrieved July 20, 2015.
6. Feather, Leonard (October 12, 1961). "Dave Newman: Straight Ahead". DownBeat . Vol. 28, no. 21. p. 32.