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Eddie Jefferson

Eddie Jefferson image
Parent Issue
Day
10
Month
September
Year
1976
OCR Text

Dummy George's

It was twenty-two summers ago this month, just a couple of years before everything was charcoal this and charcoal that (like the "herbal" wave today), that the jazz lyric truly blossomed.
Before King Pleasure's version of "Moody's Mood For Love" swept the country, such scat singers as Cab Calloway, Leo Watson, Joe Carroll, Slam Stewart and the venerable Ella Fitzgerald had held forth with their wordless creations. "Mr. Expubidence," Babs Gonzales, along with the clever Jon Hendricks, assisted in the transition of this singing style into the special genre of jazz vocalizing that today finds Eddie Jefferson as its most popular interpreter "vocalese." (See last week's Sun for an interview with Mr. Jefferson.)
Opening night at Dummy George's was very similar lo that grand occasion back in June at the Showcase Theatre when the combined forces of the Aboriginal Percussion Choir, the Artistic Truth and Eddie Jefferson brought the house. down. The smaller confines of the northwest Detroit club and its well-informed audience provided an even better setting for handling the intimacy of such tunes as Roy Brooks' "Rahim" and Mr. Jefferson's speedy rendition of "Night in Tunisia."
Brooks'
 tune, "Mjumbe" ("Messenger" in Swahili, and his spiritual name as well), which opened the Showcase affair, was rendered quite differently this time. The shifting rhythms were still present but, without the thunderous " percussion choir, the melody and the harmonic rivets could be easily discerned. Pianist Kenny Cox, shaking the rust and the dust from his gifted fingers, moved cautiously into this opening night solo, allowing bassist Ed Pickens and the masterful Roy Brooks enough time to establish the pulse before putting his tremendous vocabulary to work.
For "Rahim," Brooks' song for his son, Roy took over at the Fender Rhodes while the capable Bunny Cox and Lawrence Williams alternated on several percussive instruments. Tenor saxophonist Vince Bowens, from Marcus Belgrave's Jazz Development Workshop, though hesitant at first, gradually gained confidence and in the end was comfortable enough to display his first developing technique.
This was the lull before Mr. Jefferson's storm and, as expected, the uninvited chorus (comprised of most of the folks in the audience), which the Master must surely be used to by now, joined him on every song. Cass Harris's trumpet was perfect in filling the gapsvand taking the solos "I saw a chicken with lips, a snake with hips . . ." cracked us up for the umpteenth time as Mr. Jefferson explained why he ran away to that legendary soiree.
The evening at the club was the coup de grace to a day that had begun tor this reviewer with fun at The Sun's "going weekly" party. Yep, Messrs. Nevels, Jarrett and Scott having Roy and Eddie on your set proves that whoever George is, he. ain't no dummy!

- Herb Boyd