This is one of those albums I pull out regularly, especially because it is mostly an up-tempo bebop romp with oodles of soul thrown in for good measure. The sound is excellent on this Atlantic reissue that in 1958 marked David “Fathead” Newman’s debut as a leader. Newman was in Ray Charles’ band at the time and hence Charles and some of his musicians are also present on this album. Everyone delivers a more than solid job and the tight ensemble sound is just fun to listen to. At times one gets the impression that one is listening to a much larger band: Hank Crawford’s charts, apparently also added to by Quincy Jones, are invariably excellent.

The fascinating thing about David Newman, who went on to record a slew of other leader dates, most recently on an independent label (HighNote Records), is his tone and his broad musical influence. Already on his debut you can discern the rich, warm and round tone which clearly shows the influence of such players as Herschell Evans, Buddy Tate, Budd Johnson, Illinois Jacquet or Arnett Cobb and their full broad tone. Add to this the many recordings he later participated on as a session musician for Atlantic and others - most famously, he played on Aretha’s “Respect” and recorded with greats such as Jimmy Scott, Donny Hathaway, Les McCann, Cornell Dupree, Herbie Mann, Cal Tjader, Hank Crawford, Cedar Walton, Buster Williams, Louis Hayes, the Allman Brothers, and even Queen Latifah - and you get a musician who since that debut recording has developed into one of those seasoned musicians who aren’t in the limelight, don’t reap in the prizes and don’t grace the front pages and polls of the various music magazines … but are the better for it. So, check out his later material as well. It is well worth it.

Rating: ****/*****

Artist(s): David Newman
Title: Fathead - Ray Charles Presents David Newman
Release Date(s): 1959/2003

Original Album: Atlantic SD-1304, August 1959
This CD: Atlantic Jazz Masters 8122-73708-2, 2003
Other (Re-)Issues: Apparently, this recording was also reissued by Collectables in 2005 (January 25, 2005; UPC 090431654125; not heard by me).

Titles:
001: Hard Times (04:39)
002: Weird Beard (04:46)
003: Willow Weep for Me (04:56)
004: Bill for Bennie (04:14)
005: Sweet Eyes (03:43)
006: Fathead (05:20)
007: Mean to Me (04:13)
008: Tin Tin Deo (05:18)

Personnel: David Newman (as, ts), Ray Charles (p), “Bennie” (Hank) Crawford (bar), Marcus Belgrave (t), Edgar Willis (b), Milton Turner (d)
Notes: David Newman plays alto sax (as) on “Hard Times”, “Willow Weep for Me” and “Mean to Me”. He plays tenor sax on all other numbers. Hank Crawford is listed as “Bennie” for some reason.

Recording Date: November 5, 1958
Recording Venue: Atlantic Recording Studios
City: New York City
Recording Engineer: Tom Dowd

Cover Photo: Lee Friedlander
Cover Design: Marvin Israel
Supervision: Nesuhi Ertegun and Jerry Wexler

Reissue Supervision: Joel Dorn
Atlantic Jazz Masters Supervision: Patrick Milligan
Audio Supervision: Jeff Magid
Remastering: David Donnelly at Dan Mastering, Studio City, CA
Reissue Art Direction and Design: Gregg Allen@gapd
Editorial Supervision: Cory Frye
Back Inlay Photo: Michael Ochs Archives.com

Categories: (03) Millennium Project
Tags: CD, David Newman, Fathead, recommended