My response to the first few seconds of this CD was “hell yeah.” But the impression I received from its entirety puts me fifty years back in a sweaty, swinging jazz club. There I am, a disobedient white kid in the midst of shuffling dancers and awe-entranced white-bread boys, snapping with one hand and cradling a smoke in the other to the music of two fervently battling saxmen overpowering the skilled drive of their rhythm section. (I say “their” to signify the saxes’ domineering position.) Although certain tracks on this CD create this atmosphere, the CD embodies the R&B genre while also offering a medley of styles and variations of jazz and blues.
The “Return of Honk,” marks the return of one of the first honking saxmen, Joe Houston, in his first recording since 1978 with the Bihari Brothers. The title of the CD, which is now six years old, is, to say the least, appropriate. On it, Houston overrides the raging drive of the four-piece rhythm section with his unrestrained and ardent saxmanship, more so than his retrospective L.A. sax rival, Big Jay McNeely. The battling aspect is evident in this compilation as he competes, in several tunes, with British saxman Ray Gelato. Houston’s emphatic and primitive honking doesn’t sing like say Charlie Parker’s smooth and controlled melodies, but shouts just as effectively. In this collaboration with Otis Grand, blues guitarist, composer, arranger, and producer, Houston has the floor and aggressively tackles this position while overshadowing Grand’s willingly passive playing. Grand, in a less aggressive manner, lies back and stylistically mirrors riffs off Houston’s solo work with a more straight-ahead rhythmic feel. This CD is undoubtedly made for the sax enthusiast as the sax is where the highlight shines, uncharacteristically so for music of the ’90s.
The rhythmic style infuses “jazz age” swing, with bop, and changes to a more modern, low-down dirty Buddy Guy-esque blues which may alternate to an upbeat and chipper cut-time feel characteristic of B.B. King or T-Bone Walker. Although lyrics are sparce, they contain the same meaning as most “baby, I miss you” blues tunes. Track 8 unlike most, however, ends optimistically where Houston huskily sings that he’s “gonna get another woman, and [you] get another man.”
Most of the tracks follow the I-IV-V chord progression that is archetypal of the blues. The tempo is not in continuum throughout the CD as it varies with each style represented. Tracks 1 and 10 are carried by a swift cut-time drive with a running bass guitar. These tracks are jazzy in a very Ellington-esque way and Houston is just as impressionable, in a different way, in his soloing as the legendary trumpeter.
This CD serves as a re-emergence of a great talent. The versatility of style, rhythm and tone are exemplified justly. This CD is worthy of praise and purchase.
