Straight Ahead is an album by American saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman, featuring performances recorded in 1960 for the Atlantic label.Atlantic Records Catalog: 1300 series accessed July 20, 2015David Newman discography accessed July 20, 2015Enciclopedia del Jazz; David "Fathead Newman accessed November 29, 2018David "Fathead" Newman Incomplete Discography accessed November 16, 2018
Reception
The contemporaneous DownBeat reviewer, Leonard Feather, described the album as "a modest, honest, most agreeable set", and highlighted Kelly's contributions, which he described as "amounting at times to a virtual duet with Newman". AllMusic awarded the album 4 stars, stating, "There is nothing particularly innovative about this recording, but the level of expertise and musical maturity displayed here is truly astonishing. This is simply straight-ahead hard bop performed by some of the finest musicians in 1960s jazz".
Track listing All compositions by David "Fathead" Newman except as indicated "Batista's Groove" (Marcus Belgrave) - 7:25 "Skylark" (Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer) - 4:39 "Night of Nisan" - 7:59 "Cousin Slim" - 7:07 "Summertime" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward) - 6:34 "Congo Chant" - 4:20
Personnel David "Fathead" Newman – tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, flute Wynton Kelly – piano Paul Chambers – bass Charlie Persip – drums
References