Buddy Collette (w/James Newton & Geri Allen) - Verona 1988

Buddy Collette (w/Jimmy Bond), Twentieth Century Fox Studio lot, 1974
(c) Donald Coy

Here's what I consider a treat: a boot by Buddy Collette (website, wiki, AMG), one of the great reedmen of what's usualy dubbed West Coast Jazz. Collette is black, and on tenor he could sound quite like that, too - a musician far above the etheric thin cliché of how West Coast sax players were to sound. He was very prolific as a doubler, not only using alto, tenor and clarinet, but also playing some fine flute. Collette recorded with everyone on the West Coast, but on me, he made his mark as a member of the great original Chico Hamilton Quintet. There were three Original Jazz Classics discs reissued by Fantasy, originally on Contemporary, all of which are likely gone for a while (at least until Fresh Sound or Lone Hill will come around reissuing them), of which I managed to get hold of the fine "Nice Day". Fresh Sound has two volumes available of more 50s sessions, "Tasty Dish" and "Soft Touch" (my own discs have faulty covers - you need both to have all of the music AND the fitting info...)
Collette's story in the 40s included involvment with Charles Mingus - check out the fantastic Uptown Baron Mingus disc, including all of Mingus' 40s West Coast recordings plus a huge, incredibly informative booklet (and don't fall for the Definitive boot in this case! It's really worth getting hold of the original, even if that means you'll have to pay a bit more!)
So quite logically, Collette turns up in Mingus' fascinating "Beneath the Underdog", which focuses mainly on his early years. In addition to that, he wrote his own book, "Jazz Generations: A Life in American Music and Society", which a friend sent me quite some time ago and which I should have read ever since... anyway, it's available for almost nothing on Amazon marketplace. (Mingus' book is up cheap from Amazon itself, check here.)
If you're looking for the best of Chico Hamilton's quintet (the later edition with Paul Horn was still fine, but Collette is my favourite... also you get Jim Hall, who was later replaced by John Pisano), there are two discs available from the Spaniards: studio & live. In addition to that, Blue Note unearthed "The Original Ellington Suite", which was not available when Mosaic put together their Chico Hamilton box. It's another highlight from Hamilton's output and it's still available. That one though is with Eric Dolphy in place - the final version of the Ellington Suite, included in the Mosaic box and to my knowledge not available since, reunited the original Hamilton quintet, with Buddy Collette doing a great job.

Anyway, now on to the music... sound quality isn't perfect here, in fact it's far from. But I consider it listenable to say the least. I got this from dime but did some fixing (mainly correcting marks, I didn't alter the sound in any way). Also I'm not sure the drummer that was given with the dime seed is correct. There are two band intros, the name I could possibly make out is Gianpiero Prins. If anyone who downloads this could confirm, I would be very grateful!
Correction: It's Giampiero Prina - thanks a lot for the help, Giovanni!

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Buddy Collette
Verona (Italy)
June 26, 1988

Buddy Collette - flute (1,2), alto sax (3,6), clarinet (7) (out on #5)
James Newton - flute (5,6,7)
Geri Allen - piano
Jaribu Shahid - bass
Sunship Theus - drums
Giampiero Prina - drums (see comment from anyonymous/Giovanni below - mille grazie!)

1. Hunt and Peck (Buddy Collette) > Ann BC (7:33)
2. Emaline (Buddy Collette) > Ann BC (8:55)
3. Andre (Buddy Collette) 6:02
4. Ann BC/JN (0:52)
5. Jessie and Nelson (James Newton) > Band Intros (14:18)
6. Crystal (Buddy Collette) > Ann BC (8:51)
7. Magali (Buddy Collette?) > Band Intros (6:53)

TT: 53:29

Source: Audience
Sound: B+

Note: there's a cut at the end of #3 as Collette says "Slow Boat" (likely referring to "Slow Boat to China" as the next tune?)