Three things, actually, all of them good. They've been playing for the people for a long time. So to Jackson, McDuff and Jennings, trying something new doesn't mean what it means to Coleman or Coltrane. It means finding new little surprises to wake up an audience. It means you'll be booed for a week if the audience knows what to expect from you, and you'll be held over for another week if you give them a little of the unexpected, too.
How about if you're at a dance hall, and the Gator announces that "Now we're gonna play an old favorite -- 'Sunny Side of the Street,' and your feet start tapping in anticipation, because you can feel the tempo already? And you're getting set to sing along: "Grab your coat and get your hat...Leave your worries on the doorstep..."
And then Jack McDuff starts that odd organ riff, teasing the melody and bumpety bumping away from it, and you're scratching your head for about 20 seconds before the Gator comes in with the melody, and now you're tapping your toes and saying, "Hey, that was some cool shit brother Jack put down."
This isn't music appreciation postgraduate level, it's Music Appreciation 101, and that's what makes a lot of folks happy.
This session was broken up and sold for parts. "Sunny Side of the Street" "Blue Strollin'" went to Cool "Gator," released in 1960, and rereleased as Keep on a-Blowin'. "East Breeze" was on Blue Gator, a later 1960 release. "When I Fall in Love" was held off for Cookin' Sherry, a 1961 release. "Glad a See Ya" came out in 1965, after McDuff had moved on to lead his own group, on an album entitled Willis Jackson and Jack McDuff--Together Again! and the medley saw daylight the following year on Together Again, Again! Esmond Edwards produced this session and the others that were mixed and matched on all those albums.
"On the Sunny Side of the Street" was the flip side of a 45 that featured "Come Back to Sorrento."
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