If a listener picks up a 50-minute jazz album that only contains four songs, he or she will rest assured that the musicians really get a chance to stretch things out. In the case of
Decidedly, featuring tested players like trumpeter
Roy Eldridge, guitarist
Joe Pass, tenor
Johnny Griffin, and pianist
Ray Bryant, this is a good thing. Recorded live in 1975 in Antibes, France, before an appreciative audience, the material is being issued for the first time in 2002. The group kicks off with an Eldridge original, "Bee's Bloos," and settles into a relaxed groove for the rest of the show. A 16-minute take of "Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)" follows, with lengthy, soulful solos handed in by everyone. Bassist
Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen and drummer Louis Bellson offer tasteful underpinning along with a little muscle on "Undecided." The disc closes out with an appearance by
Milt Jackson on piano for
Thelonious Monk's "Hackensack." It will perhaps seem odd that this swinging set, performed in France while the fusion movement was sweeping the states, will probably have a more receptive audience today than it would have had over 25 years ago. But history, and good taste, are never predictable.
Decidedly is a lovely live disc, and will be appreciated by fans of any of the participants. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.