Like fellow saxophone player
Hal Singer
,
Sam "The Man" Taylor"
moved easily between jazz and Rhythm and Blues (with early rock and roll overtones), although his rough, hard driving way with the horn usually finds him classified as an R&B icon. This bargain-priced album goes a long way to support the R&B labeling. Joined by another sax player who often found himself moving between jazz and R&B, baritone
Haywood Henry
, this album catches
Taylor
in three sessions he made for
MGM Records
in March of 1955 and November of 1956. In addition to
Henry
he is joined by other habitues of the R&B world like
Lloyd Trotman
on bass and
Freddie Washington
on piano. Among the tracks which show off
's unique ways with the sax are
"Ride, Sammy, Ride"
where
is urged on by the band shouting the title line, and a blues dripping
"Sam's Blues."
There's some yakety - yak al la
Boots Randolph
on
"High Winds"
which also features a rousing give and take between
and
. With the exception of
and some occasional choruses by
, this album is pretty much
's show. Little room is made for any of the other participants to solo. While this album is an excellent vehicle to show off the talents of a foremost R&B sax player, it also demonstrates that this sax style with its one-dimensional approach to the art of the sax wears thin very quickly. This is an interesting, but not a major reissue. However, it shows
as he was before he started making romantic albums in the 1960's like
The Bad and the Beautiful
. ~ Dave Nathan