When Gonsalves Swung in the Shadows
A solid tenor saxophone session that found its audience decades after the original release.
Paul Gonsalves' Cookin' arrived without fanfare and stayed that way for a long time. It was not a record that critics rushed to celebrate or that found immediate commercial traction. Instead it became one of those albums that lived in the margins — respected by musicians and serious listeners, largely invisible to everyone else. The session was strong enough to survive, though, and when it was reissued in 1998 combined with Out on a Limb with Clark Terry, it reached an audience that had never heard it the first time around.
What makes the music worth your time is straightforward: Gonsalves plays with the kind of relaxed authority that comes from someone who knew exactly what he wanted from the horn. The tenor work here is warm and direct, without the flash that sometimes dates records from this era. The sessions capture a working jazz musician doing his job well — not reaching for something epochal, just delivering solid playing with people who could meet him there.
This is not the place to start with Gonsalves if you want to understand his full reach as a player, but it is a good record if you stumble across it and you like tenor saxophone that swings without showing off. Sometimes that is enough.
Who's playing
Jimmy Woodebass
Willie Jonespiano
Remo Biondiguitar
Mike Simpsonflute, saxophone
Clark Terrytrumpet
Sam Woodyardmembranophone
Where next?
More by Paul Gonsalves
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