Houston Person – Houston Express (Prestige, 1971)

Houston Person (ts); Cecil Bridgewater (tr); Harold "Money" Johnson (tr); Thad Jones (tr); Ernie Royal (tr); Garnett Brown (tb); Jack Jeffers (tb); Harold Vick (ts, fl); Babe Clarke (bs); Paul Griffin (p, el p); Jimmy Watson (org); Ernie Hayes (org, el p); Billy Butler (g); Jerry Jemmott (el b); Bernard Purdie (d); Buddy Caldwell (cga); Horace Ott (arr, cond)

Recorded on April 8 & 9, 1971

Reissued on Houston Person: Legends of Acid Jazz (Prestige, 1996), paired with music originally released as Person to Person! (Prestige, 1970).

What makes this album special?  First off, this is BIG BAND soul jazz.  Well, the majority of the album is.  Horace Ott arranged and conducted a big band on four of the LP's seven cuts.  Ott also composed the album's superb title cut and contributed a second composition, "Enjoy."  Given his notable contributions, you could make a strong argument that Ott deserves a credit -- or at least a mention -- on the front of the cover.

I don't say that to diminish Houston Person's impact.  As the leader and front-man, his super-tough sound is just as impressive as his soloing.  Person also has the good fortune of playing an incredible selection of songs.  Along with Ott's two tunes, the band churns out one classic after another.  The album opens with Nina Simone's "Young, Gifted and Black" and goes on to cover The Temptations' "Just My Imagination" and The Chi-Lites' "Give More Power to the People."  The album closes with 'the Black national anthem': "Lift Every Voice and Sing," the timeless composition by author & activist James Weldon Johnson and his brother, John Rosamond Johnson. 

One other thing that I've got to mention: Listen to Jerry Jemmott's powerful bass guitar work on this record.  With drummer Bernard "Pretty" Purdie and percussionist Buddy Caldwell, Jemmott lays down a deep and relentless groove that makes you want to get up and move!  (It's no surprise that Jemmott's nickname was "The Groovemaster.")  As one of the foremost studio bassists of the late-1960s and early-1970s, Jemmott recorded everything from jazz to blues to soul to R&B.  Just consider the diverse (and legendary!) musicians he supported: King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Duane Allman, the Rascals, Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, Laura Nyro, Ben E. King, B.B. King, Freddie King, Chuck Berry, Otis Rush, Champion Jack Dupree, Mike Bloomfield, Herbie Hancock, Freddie Hubbard, Erroll Garner, Les McCann, Eddie Harris, George Benson, Archie Shepp, Lionel Hampton, Herbie Mann, Hank Crawford, Groove Holmes, Charles Earland, Shirley Scott, Eddie Palmieri, and Jerry Jeff Walker.  And there are many others.

Turning back to the album at hand, I've already said that I think the early-1970s were golden years for soul jazz.  From my vantage point, Houston Express is another perfect example of the style.