Duke Pearson – The Phantom
Duke Pearson – Say You’re Mine
Duke Pearson – The Moana Surf

This was another discovery over at Adrian Younge’s ArtForm Studio. Part of what drives many DJs to dig in the crates is the chance that they’ll find something especially cool that they’ve never seen or heard before. That feeling of discovery is one of the reasons DJs dig and dig and dig deeper as their collections and knowledge expand. At this point in the game, after almost 20 years of digging for vinyl, it’s pretty rare that I get surprised with material from a label as well known as Blue Note. In all that time however I’d never run into this LP from Duke Pearson. So I had the initial shock of not recognizing the cover and then a bit of double shock once I put the needle on the title track of this record, “The Phantom.”

The Phantom is a slinky bit of dark soulful jazz, with a sly groove that hits right from the beginning courtesy of the rhythm section featuring Bob Cranshaw and Mickey Roker. Things largely stay in the pocket throughout it’s entire 10 minutes, with solos from Pearson and Bobby Hutcherson as well as bits of flute floating in from time to time, but it’s the subtle peaks and valleys that happen throughout that build a bit of tension without altering the rhythm. Not sure how I’ve managed to never come across this one over the years, but I’m seriously glad I’ve got a copy now.

Many of the other songs seem to be based on other compositions, even though the Nat Hentoff penned liner notes don’t mention other people’s work as inspiration. “Bunda Amerela” has “Take The A-Train” all over it, but the Brazilian style perhaps obscures it enough for some. “Say You’re Mine” leads off like an alternate version of “Cantaloupe Island” before going in some different places, all with a very rainy day kind of vibe. “The Moana Surf” reminds me quite a lot of several songs from Baden Powell at the start and features a nice percussion breakdown with Roker and congalero Potato Valdez. It would have been interesting to have had a conversation with Pearson about Sampling especially on this album, but alas that will only happen in my dreams, which is pretty much where beautiful music like this belongs.

Cheers,

Michael