Grits, Beans And Greens: The Lost Fontana Studio Session 1969

Album review

Masterpiece warning! Will Edward ‘Tubby’ Hayes, hailed as one of the best british saxophone players, finally taste redemption thanks to Grits, Beans and Greens : The Lost Fontana Sessions 1969? Accqqording to Simon Spillett, author of The Long Shadow Of The Little Giant: The Life, Work and Legacy of Tubby Hayes, a reference biography, this discovery is essential : “Sometimes when tapes that have been lost or rumoured to exist finally surface there is a touch of anti-climax or the need to ‘spin’ them in a way that makes them more important than they are. These sessions, on the other hand, are absolute classics in every regard. It’s an album that can sit equally alongside the best Coltrane, Rollins or Dexter Gordon LPs. It really is a lost masterpiece, make no mistake.”

In 1969, when these recording sessions took place, Tubby Hayes had already made a name for himself on the international jazz scene. The Londoner recorded under his own nae, produced his own TV show and collaborated with big names like Quincy Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Mingus or Duke Ellington. Even Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley and Sonny Rollins praised his virtuosity and style. He wasn’t nicknamed the Little Giant for nothing! The time between 1969 and 1970 was also one for Haynes to practise a few crossovers, most notably with his commercial project, called The Orchestra, through which he revisited songs from the Beatles, Burt Bacharach and Nancy Sinatra in an easy-listening format. The experiment was unsuccessful, and he would never really bounce back, until his early death at only 38 years old in 1973.

Recorded at the Philips studios in London, between May and June 1969, the tapes from Grits, Beans and Greens are now available, what’s more, in impeccable sound quality. They display a musician with a direct and honest sound; a virtuoso who’d clearly listened to the greats of his time. Back by the bass player Ron Mathewson, drummer Spike Wells, pianist Mike Pyne and at times, the guitarist Louis Stewart, Tubby Hayes’ tenor is a solid anchor, never letting go of the melodic line, like some sort of endless swing. Even if traces of Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Zoot Zoot or even Joe Henderson show up here and there, this unearthed gem is a classy and original hard bop record, which hasn’t aged a year. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz