Live at the Bee Hive - Clifford Brown and Max Roach (Columbia)
Live
at the Beehive is a wild and wooly document of the
excitement of the jam session. Recorded in a Chicago bar in 1955, the audio quality is not the best, as the
sound is muddy and flat, there's an excess of surface noise, and the continual buzz
of customers ordering drinks and talking through the best solo moments are sn
annoyance. The music from the bandstand easily overcomes and transcends the
grouchy ambience. The collective sound is lively, rambunctious and packs the
punch of a chain-mail glove.The several extended forays of the late Clifford
Brown are especially exciting. Before his sudden death, Brown had established
himself as possibly the premier trumpet player on any jazz scene, and this
record, especially the workout on Sonny Stitt's "Cherokee," reminds
us of his incandescent powers as a soloist. Clifford possessed a big, fat
sound, and was alternately lyrically sublime and frenetically rapid in his
choice of note. Bee Hive is a handy display case of this man's brilliance. The other players hold their own as well. The searing sax work 'of Sonny
Rollins and Nicky Hill, the shimmering guitar of Lou Blevins and the pulsating
time kept by pianist Billy Wallace and drummer Max Roach is featured. Audio quality
is ragged, which is to be expected, but
these things are remedied and the music proceeds, quickly regain momentum. Live
at the Bee Hive exists as an example of superb musicians just flat-out
playing their hearts out.
