Lou Takes Off

Lou Donaldson was born in Badin, North Carolina, on November 1, 1926, and took up the alto after he went into the Navy in 1945. Robert Levin, in the original notes, files him with the many players Charlie Parker shaped, and says Donaldson had a real feel for Parker's tunes. By the end of 1957 he had several Blue Note records behind him. This one is a blowing date: four long tracks, two of his own and two bebop classics.

The date was Sunday, December 15, 1957, at Rudy Van Gelder's in Hackensack, with Alfred Lion producing. The front line was three horns, Donaldson with two Detroiters, Donald Byrd on trumpet and Curtis Fuller on trombone. Sonny Clark played piano, George Joyner bass and Art Taylor drums. Byrd, Fuller, Clark and Taylor had been on Sonny Clark's Sonny's Crib in September, so four of the six had recorded together before. Four tunes, four takes, all of them used.

Joyner, an outstanding rhythmic bassist, makes his Blue Note debut here.

Robert Levin, original liner notes

Joyner later took the name Jamil Nasser.

Side one opens with "Sputnik." The Soviet satellite had gone up in October, ten weeks earlier, and Donaldson's tune is a fast line that he uses as a launching pad. Parker's "Dewey Square" has solos from all three horns, Fuller first, with short spots for Joyner and Taylor before the end.

Side two is "Strollin' In," a long, bright Donaldson blues that runs past 14 minutes, with solos from Byrd, Fuller, Donaldson, Joyner and Clark. Dizzy Gillespie's "Groovin' High," built on the chords of "Whispering," closes the record, with Donaldson, Byrd, Fuller and Clark taking turns.

Wikipedia, citing a 2008 reissue note, has Donaldson recalling that Blue Note disliked the conga drums on the album, but no conga player is listed on this date.

The sleeve was designed by Reid Miles, with photography by Francis Wolff. The record came out in July 1958, and "Sputnik" went out on a single. Reviewers split. Billboard and the Toronto Star gave it two stars, but Down Beat gave it four:

A very good blowing set by the Young Turks of New York.

John A. Tynan, Down Beat, 1958

Three weeks after this date Clark made Cool Struttin'. Donaldson's next Blue Note session came seven months later, with a conga player this time, for Blues Walk.