No, the
Al Green
who plays on
Mister Lucky
isn't the famous
soul
icon turned
gospel
-singing Protestant minister who gave listeners '70s classics like
"Take Me to the River,"
"Let's Stay Together,"
"Love and Happiness,"
and
"I'm Still in Love With You."
This
isn't from Memphis, and he doesn't sing
or
; he's a Chicago-based drummer who started out playing
blues
before making
instrumental
hard bop
his main focus. And
bop
is exactly what he plays on
, a 2002 session that he co-leads with alto saxophonist and fellow Chicago resident
Othello Anderson
(who has an attractive tone in the
Charlie Parker
/
Jackie McLean
Sonny Stitt
Phil Woods
vein). Neither
Green
nor
Anderson
are well known, but they've both been around the Windy City
jazz
scene for decades -- which means that they're exactly the sort of players who would typically record for
Delmark
(a Chicago-based indie that has been great about giving lesser-known local talent a chance to record). On
,
co-lead an acoustic quintet that employs
Dr. Odies Williams III
on trumpet and flugelhorn,
Leandro Lopez Varady
Jodie Christian
on piano, and
John Whitfield
on bass. The performances are pleasant, although very few surprises occur. For the most part,
are content to pick overdone warhorses and play them the same old way.
make a few interesting choices, including
Henry Mancini
's
"Mr. Lucky"
Benny Golson
"Are You Real."
But all too often, they offer conventional readings of beaten-to-death songs like
"The Way You Look Tonight,"
"All the Things You Are,"
"Stella by Starlight."
No one is asking
to reinvent the
wheel, but it would have been nice to hear more surprises and fewer warhorses on this decent, if conventional, outing. ~ Alex Henderson