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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 11 August 2004 |
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"One of the unique qualities of Lou's work is that he incorporates a great deal of the whole jazz tradition in his playing. He's listened to just about everyone, and not only alto players. With this knowledge of the entire jazz language, Lou is definitely an individual voice."
--Horace Parlan
by Al Campbell
Alligator Bogaloo is one example of Lou Donaldson's successful combinations of hard bop and soul-jazz. Of the six tunes, three are Donaldson originals, including the title hit. The excellent band, consisting of Melvin Lastin Sr. on cornet, George Benson on guitar, Lonnie Smith on organ, and Leo Morris on drums, mixes laid-back vamps beneath driving hard bop charts.
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My years with Blue Note were from 1952 until 1975—on and off. I left in ‘63, and went with Chess Records’ Argo label for three years–that was the only break. In ‘68 with Blue Note we got a hit with a little tune called “Alligator Boogaloo”. In fact, I was the first jazz musician to do something like that; but it sold, man. I made a lot of money—no regrets about that. People like Lonnie Smith and George Benson were on the record; so that was a real good band. As for the commercial–type albums I made in the ‘seventies, the ideas for these came from the company.
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Basically, my playing is a cross between Charlie Parker and Johnny Hodges—you know, the people that I listened to when I was coming up. See, when I play my ballads, I play almost identically like Johnny Hodges. A lot of younger musicians don’t know this; they say: “How do you do this? What is that?” But I say: “Well, it’s hard for me to explain it to you, unless you heard Johnny Hodges and Lester Young, people like that.” That’s the way they played ballads, and it’s natural for me to pattern my style slightly after that. -lou D |
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