Nathan Davis - Happy Girl (1965/2025) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

A hell of a hardbop classic – one of a handful of 60s European sessions recorded by the amazing Nathan Davis – an American player, but one whose work really took off when he headed overseas! The set's done in a top-shelf style, put together by the MPS/Saba label – with a lineup that features a young Woody Shaw on trumpet, Jimmy Woode on bass, Billy Brooks on drums, and the great Larry Young on piano – making a rare European appearance here, and playing in an acoustic mode that's very different than his famous Hammond jazz records for Blue Note! All players groove together in a soulful approach to hardbop that shows traces of modalism, and of the "new thing" exploration that Jackie McLean was bringing to some of his work around 1963 and 1964 – but with more of a swing, too – a soulful groove that really hangs right on the cusp.

TRACKLIST

1. Nathan Davis - The Flute in the Blues
2. Nathan Davis - Spring Can Really Hang You up the Most
3. Nathan Davis - Happy Girl
4. Nathan Davis - Evolution
5. Nathan Davis - Theme from Zoltan
6. Nathan Davis - Along Came Byrd
7. Nathan Davis - Mister E



Thanks to the Original customer.