1970 · Album
Humming Bird
Recorded 1970 · U.K. release · Musicians: Stan Tracey (piano), Alan Branscombe (bass), David Horler (drums), Kenny Wheeler (trumpet)
Gonsalves in London: A Transatlantic Encounter
A saxophonist past his peak, playing with capable strangers in unfamiliar territory.
Humming Bird catches Paul Gonsalves in England in the company of local musicians — Stan Tracey on piano, Alan Branscombe on bass, David Horler on drums, and Canadian trumpeter Kenny Wheeler — playing in a register that feels cautious and restrained. The tempo never rushes. The arrangements are workmanlike. Gonsalves plays with the careful deliberation of someone aware he is no longer the player he was in his Duke Ellington days, back when his tenor could unspool for minutes without stopping for breath. Here the ballads hang heavy and the uptempo numbers plod along without much urgency. Wheeler's trumpet offers some textural interest, and Tracey holds the session together with reliable comping, but there is no sense that anyone in the room is pushing anyone else toward something more alive. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings gave it 2.5 stars out of 4, which feels about right — a record that exists, that was made with professional competence, but that never catches fire. This is a late-career session by an artist who had already given his best work elsewhere. It holds interest mainly for listeners committed to hearing everything a major saxophonist recorded, regardless of circumstance. Start elsewhere — with his Ellington years — if you want to understand why Gonsalves mattered.
Who's playing
Dave Greendouble bass
Kenny Napperdouble bass
Stan Traceypiano
Alan Branscombepiano
Paul Gonsalvestenor saxophone
Kenny Wheelertrumpet
David Horlertrombone
Benny Goodmandrums
Where next?
More by Paul Gonsalves
All 17 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
