LOUIS HAYES “Artform Revisited”

ARTIST

Louis Hayes

ALBUM TITLE

“Artform Revisited”

LABEL

Savant

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For this writer, Louis Hayes will always be linked to an unforgettable night at Bergamo Jazz in 1976, when his quintet – with Junior Cook and guest soloist Woody Shaw – shared the stage with the Konitz/Marsh quartet, the Sam Rivers trio, and the Revolutionary Ensemble. Of that remarkable lineup, Hayes’s group was not the evening’s highlight, yet it still offered a memorable performance with excellent soloists. The same poetics, the same atmosphere and spirit, infuse this new recording from the now 87-year-old Detroit drummer.

Among his partners here, Steve Nelson stands out most prominently. The vibraphonist’s sound not only colors but largely defines the character of the music, especially in its interplay with the piano. Of the ten selections – written by various composers, with two contributions from Hayes himself – the tracks that best capture the quintet’s essence are the sixth, Cheryl (one of three by Charlie Parker), and the eighth, Billy Strayhorn’s A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing.

Throughout, the “sacred word” is jazz – the language born in the immediate postwar years, drawing on diverse sources and, in some cases, renewing its grammar. Hayes and his partners keep that language vital, with energy and conviction.

—Alberto Bazzurro

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