Then Fred Jackson weighs in with a passage of gutsy sax blowing.Īfter the furious pace of “Swingin’ At Sugar Ray’s,” the much slower “Goin’ Down” allows the listener to get their breath back. Grant Green, subdued for the first couple of minutes, then breaks out with a tasty piece of improv – notes flying from his fretboard in a torrent of inspiration. Powered by Dixon’s pulsing drums, the tune proceeds at a brisk pace with Willette stating a bluesy theme before unleashing a punchy solo. As “Swingin’ At Sugar Ray’s,” the opening cut of Face To Face, reveals, Willette attacked the keyboard with a percussive ferocity, even though his touch was exceptionally light and staccato-like. That’s probably because Willette sounded markedly different from most other Hammond players, including Smith. Though Jimmy Smith was a big seller for Blue Note, Lion presumably felt that another organist wouldn’t harm his company. To give the studio date a different flavor from Grant’s First Stand, Alabama saxophonist Fred Jackson, noted for his raspy tone, was added to expand the group to a quartet. Grant Green was happy to be a sideman on Willette’s maiden session and he was joined by drummer Ben Dixon, who had also played on an earlier session with the guitarist. The label’s producer, Alfred Lion, must have dug Willette’s sound, as, on January 30, 1961, he took the young organist out to Van Gelder studio in New Jersey to record the tracks that would become Face To Face, the first of the organist’s two LPs for Blue Note. Five days later, Willette played on the session that produced Green’s Blue Note debut, Grant’s First Stand. Also on the session was guitarist Grant Green, himself a newcomer in New York. Four months after arriving in the Big Apple, on January 23, 1961, Willette found himself playing with Donaldson on the saxophonist’s album Here ’Tis. To get himself known, he attended local jam sessions, where he made his mark, and then got a gig with alto saxophonist Lou Donaldson, who was also Blue Note’s unofficial talent scout. Even more significant, perhaps, was his switch from piano to organ – a move he attributed to hearing black gospel organists Mayfield Woods and Herman Stevens.Īt the age of 27, Willette ventured to jazz’s capital city, New York, in the autumn of 1960. It was there, after being inspired by a Charlie Parker record, that the diminutive keyboardist decided to devote himself to jazz. But after 15 years on the road, Willette made Chicago his base for a while in the late 50s. His itinerary also took him north to Canada and he even toured a pre-revolution Cuba. Totally immersed in music, Willette went where the work was, and his stints as a sideman for hire (with Johnny Otis, Guitar Slim, Big Jay McNeely, and many others) took him to various destinations the length and breadth of the United States. Listen to Face To Face on Apple Music and Spotify.īorn in 1933, Willette started playing the piano when he was four – encouraged by his piano-playing mother, a church missionary – and by his late teens was playing professionally in various gospel and rhythm’n’blues groups. Smith’s success and the popularity of his recordings validated the organ as a bona fide jazz instrument and resulted in a raft of wannabe Hammond heroes looking to make it on the American jazz scene. Releasing his debut album, Face To Face, in 1961, this son of a preacher rode in on the wave of aspiring jazz organists that proliferated in the wake of Jimmy Smith’s breakthrough in the late 50s. Though his place of origin is disputed – some believe he hailed from jazz’s birthplace, New Orleans, while others claim he was a native of Little Rock, Arkansas – what can’t be disputed is his mastery of the Hammond organ. Nicknamed “Baby Face” on account of his fresh features and youthful visage, soul jazz organist Roosevelt Willette played his instrument with a sanctified fervor that reflected his roots in gospel music.
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