A Sense of Direction

Last updated
A Sense of Direction
A Sense of Direction.jpg
Studio album by
Released1961
RecordedMay 5, 1961
Studio Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Genre Jazz
Length40:54
Label New Jazz
NJLP 8268
Producer Esmond Edwards
Walt Dickerson chronology
This Is Walt Dickerson!
(1961)
A Sense of Direction
(1961)
Relativity
(1962)

A Sense of Direction is an album led by vibraphonist and composer Walt Dickerson recorded in 1961 and released on the New Jazz label. [1] [2]

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [3]
Down Beat Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [5]

AllMusic reviewer Steve Huey stated: "If it's a shade less challenging and inventive than This Is Walt Dickerson!, A Sense of Direction compensates by making Dickerson's innovations more accessible and inviting". [3] DownBeat reviewer Pete Welding wrote: "if it is only slightly less adventurous than his initial recording, it is still an ardent collection -- primarily of ballads -- treated with unflagging invention and restrain ...Were it not for the slight conventionality of some of the numbers, the rating would have been five stars." [6]

Track listing

All compositions by Walt Dickerson except as indicated

  1. "Sense of Direction" - 6:00
  2. "Ode to Boy" - 5:30
  3. "Togetherness" - 3:00
  4. "What's New?" (Johnny Burke, Bob Haggart) - 4:44
  5. "Good Earth" - 3:33
  6. "Why" - 4:48
  7. "You Go to My Head" (J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie) - 8:19
  8. "If I Should Lose You" (Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin) - 5:00

Personnel

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References

  1. Prestige Records New Jazz catalogue discography accessed March 27, 2015
  2. Fitzgerald, M., Walt Dickerson discography accessed March 27, 2015
  3. 1 2 Huey, S., Allmusic Review, accessed March 27, 2015
  4. Down Beat: Vol. 29, No. 23, September 28, 1961
  5. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 372. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.
  6. Weilding, P., Walt Dickerson Reviews Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine , accessed March 27, 2015