This medium swing is straight out of the bebop and hard bop traditions with a twisting, turning melody that keeps both the musician and the listener on their toes.
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As you hear in the audio excerpt, Hot Sausage is steeped in the bebop and hard bop language, full of the melodic combinations you hear in the solos of great artists. It will work at a variety of tempos. Johnny Griffin heard it as a real "cutsey" head, and it works great that way.
Don Sickler: On the 'Way Out!' date, Johnny decided to feature new compositions by four of his talented Chicago colleagues. In 1957, the year before this date, Jodie was in the house band with Johnny at the Beehive Club in Chicago. Years later, when Johnny first talked to me about Jodie, he spoke of him as one of those great talents who never left Chicago for New York and therefore didn't get the recognition that he deserved. Of course, it was a good thing for Johnny, since he always had a pianist that he loved to play with for his hometown Chicago gigs."
Jodie Christian was one of the most in-demand pianists in Chicago during the 1950s, but he never rose to great fame because he never left his hometown. Despite Chicago’s undeniable jazz history, New York was the epicenter of the jazz universe when Jodie was active, and thus he earned the reputation of “one of those great players who never came to New York.” But he excelled nonetheless, working with all of the biggest artists of the time: Lester Young, Johnny Griffin, Coleman Hawkins, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Eddie Harris, Sonny Rollins, Don Byas, Milt Jackson, Benny Carter, Frank Foster, Red Holloway, Teddy Edwards, Leo Parker, Ira Sullivan, and more. Read more...
