Yard's Pad (Remastered) Red Rodney

• 1 Yard's Pad 07:40
• 2 Red Rod 05:39
• 3 Informality 07:04
• 4 S.A.S. 07:26
• 5 Here At Last 03:58
• 6 The Fourth Of March 07:15
• 7 I Don't Remember April 03:32
• Total Runtime 42:34

Info for Yard's Pad (Remastered)

"As the album title implies, these sessions featuring trumpeter Red Rodney were taped in 1957, and listening to them is like discovering a long lost treasure. On the first date, his supporting cast includes tenor saxophonist Ira Sullivan, pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist Oscar Pettiford, and drummer Philly Joe Jones. Neither Rodney nor Sullivan run out of ideas within their extended solos during "Star Eyes." A soft very effective treatment of the ballad "You Better Go Now" is next, followed by "Stella by Starlight" at a crisp medium tempo. The second session was recorded just two days later, with Elvin Jones taking over the drums. Sullivan switches to trumpet to join the leader (Sullivan played trumpet prior to teaching himself tenor sax) on "Red Arrow," a high energy bop original by Rodney that repeatedly incorporates licks from "Turkey in the Straw." Pettiford's tasty bass is more prominent in Rodney's snappy "Box 2000." The bassist contributed the Latin-flavored "Ubas," which was dedicated to conga player Sabu Martinez (who is not present on this recording); without its Latin rhythm, the piece would sound more like an up-tempo spiritual."

Arne Domnerus, alto saxophone
Red Mitchell, bass
Ed Thigpen, drums
Bengt Hallberg, piano
Red Rodney, trumpet

Recorded 4th & 5th March 1976 at Metronome Studios Stockholm

Digitally remastered

Red Rodney
was a brash young trumpeter who had the mark of greatness before narcotics cut short his career. His lowest point came in January 1953, when a judge in Chicago sentenced him to Leavenworth for five years. Rodney was released on parole in March 1955, having served two years of his sentence, and shortly thereafter he recorded an album for Fantasy (tracks #1-12).

His luck ran out again in November 1955, and he was sentenced to serve the remainder of his term at the Lexington, Ky., federal narcotics hospital. His release on June 5, 1957 was something of an event among aficionados, and the results of his recording contract with Signal (tracks #13-15 on CD-1, and #1-3 on CD-2), are proof of just how much he still had to offer to jazz. He got hooked again for a while after that, until early 1959, when he made a new and briefbut successfulcomeback to the scene, cutting a new LP, this time for Argo.

Remarkably, the three stunning albums included in this set were made while Red was living on borrowed time, between one incarceration and the next. I can only repeat what Bird said he once explained about addiction. Dont do as I do, do as I say.

"You know, I sure would like to see a lot more respectability attached to jazz and jazz musicians. And I'd also like to see artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Lennie Tristano, and Miles Davis playing only in concert halls, where they'd get a chance to blow their greatest and not have to make any concessions." — Red Rodney, 1950

This album contains no booklet.