Frank Foster
Soul Outing! (Original Jazz Classics 984)

The first track on Soul Outing! is so strong, the rest of the album suffers by comparison. Good as it all is, it ends up coming off like very hot premature ejaculation.

The disc includes five tracks by the extremely underrated tenor sax great Frank Foster (known from the Count Basie band, but better known as a sideman to various other "big names") accompanied by some cool basically-no-names (Virgil Jones, trumpet; Pat Rebillot, piano; Alan Dawson, drums and congas; Bob Cunnigham, bass; augmented further by guitarist Billy Butler on two tracks which also feature Richard Davis on bass).

The session has no right to be as good as it is, but it swings, it cools down, it grooves, it hits all the right notes in all the right places. The players aren't "names" but it makes for a very great, unpretentious album rooted in soul and bossa jazz.

"Show the Good Side" is the amazing opening track, another one of those "Why isn't this heralded as an all-time great jazz performance?" type of performance that crop up on several of these Original Jazz Classics albums. It's a simple sax-and-trumpet harmony gospel-soul thing not dissimilar to some of Lee Morgan's mid-60s Blue Note groove stuff … an awesome song, listenable over and over and never tiring. The kind of tune that could get Ted Nugent into jazz. (Hm, not a bad line considering I know virtually nothing about Ted Nugent OR jazz!)

"While the City Sleeps" is a nice bossa nova sounding sort of like Horace Silver meets Vince Guaraldi ("Why, hello Horace!" "Well if it isn't Vince Guaraldi!") … very nice, relaxed stuff.

"Skankaroony" veers even more toward the "Sidewinder" type of blues-jazz thing, although featuring something approaching a country-western beat behind the groove. Very cool. "Chiquito Loco" is one of those "Let's pretend we're in Tiuana" kind of songs these jazz guys were turning out in the mid-60s for some reason. I ain't complainin', baby ... hell, I'm the first one on the dance floor with Tequila in hand workin' up the first lovely lady I sees.

The closer, "Night Song," is very much that … not a late night song, but maybe more of an 8 o'clock song, 10:30 at the latest. Another great melody line. If there's a flaw here it's that some of the songs sound totally familiar upon the first couple of listens … it's not music that reveals itself upon repeated listens.

Everything's out on the floor right away. Not a bad thing, as the songs don't get tedious, they just remain a pleasure upon repeated listenings.

This is one of the best Original Jazz Classics reissues I've found. A great album by a key but underappreciated player working as a leader to a band that's trying to do him right. The trumpet player flubs the most, but you can tell he's trying.

The first time I listened to it, I liked Soul Outing! but thought it might be one of those CDs I like but never listen to. But this stuff gets into your brain and you're hooked.

I play this album every couple of days now, whenever I want to hear some jazz (and keep in mind I've got hundreds of jazz CDs). Maybe this is a classic after all. If it's all about what you actually listen to instead of what you claim is "the best," then take me for a Soul Outing! whenever possible.

Loud Bassoon rating scale

Review by Jo Ann Glans