Listening to Prestige 454: Jimmy Forrest

I've spoken before about how the rhythm and blues tenor honkers were often also the most soulful, sensitive balladeers. We heard that just recently, with Willis "Gator Tail" Jackson, and we hear it again here with Jimmy Forrest, although that's not the only note struck by this versatile tenorman. Unlike Jackson, Forrest isn't doing a Moodsville session, so the ballads are only a part of it.

Forrest's big hit, and one of the greatest rhythm and

blues records of all time, was "Night Train," his reworking of a Duke Ellington riff. He also had an instrumental hit with "Bolo Blues," back in 1953, which he reprises here. Listening to both versions, the most striking difference is in the tone. The earlier version cuts like the bolo it was named for; the Prestige version is warmer, but it also ventures into an area we've seen before with other rhythm and blues veterans, a sort of mellow honk. Forrest gives a hint of the Dionysian excitement--more than a hint, really--but keeps it within the subtler context of bebop ballad improvisation.

"Bolo Blues" is one of only two Forrest originals on the album. He comes back (going with the album order here) with "I Cried for You," a tune which has equally been recorded as a ballad or an uptempo swinger, and Forrest ratchets up the energy for it. And he does seem to have his own ideas about tempo in general. Joe Liggins's original recording of his tune, "I've Got a Right to Cry," takes it in brisk swing time (as does Mose Allison, on a recording contemporaneous to Forrest), but Forrest makes takes tongue out of cheek and makes it a romantic ballad, which certainly fits the title.

Forrest's 1961 "Bolo Blues," at just over four minutes, is about a minute longer than his original hit version, made in the days when 45 RPM was coming into its glory, and 78 RPM records were still hanging on for a last hurrah. The new version was also released on 45, and though Forrest had the benefit of LP production values, most of these album cuts are under five minutes long, with "By the River Sainte Marie" the longest at 5:13. The format for all of these is essentially the rhythm and blues juke box format, with the emphasis on the primary soloist and very little solo space for the other musicians.

"By the River Sainte Marie," with a melody by Harry Warren, does have an extended solo by Tommy Potter, which is unusual for the session, and also unusual for Potter, who rarely soloed. Potter, best known for his work with Charlie Parker, was near the end of his career, although he did continue to work with Forrest on all his Prestige albums.

Right at the beginning of his career, and getting solo space on "I Cried For You," is Joe Zawinul. Zawinul would break out as a star with Cannonball Adderley and his electric piano playing on the Zawinul-composed "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (on a Wurlitzer, although he would soon switch to the Fender Rhodes which he helped to popularize, and on which he achieved his greatest fame). Zawinul's career trajectory was swift. He had emigrated from Austria in 1959 with a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, but left Berklee after a month to go on the road with Maynard Ferguson. After that came a gig with Dinah Washington (he played on her hit record, "What a Difference a Day Makes"). Then this album with Jimmy Forrest, and by June of 1961 he was in the studio with Adderley for the first time, for a recording session with Nancy Wilson.

Esmond Edwards produced the session. The Prestige release was called Out of the Forrest. "Bolo Blues" was the single, with "Remember," from the earlier Forrest Fire album (Larry Young on organ) on the flip side.