''Blue Fable'' is an album by pianist

Larry Willis Lawrence Elliott Willis (December 20, 1942 – September 29, 2019) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He performed in a wide range of styles, including jazz fusion, Afro-Cuban jazz, bebop, and avant-garde jazz, avant-garde. Willis was b ...

which was recorded in 2006 and released on the

Highnote HighNote Records is a jazz record company and label founded by Joe Fields with his son, Barney Fields, in 1997. Joe Fields worked for Prestige Records in the 1960s, and in the 1970s founded Muse Records. After he sold Muse, he started the Highn ...

label early the following year.

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Ken Dryden reviewed the album stating "Larry Willis' second CD for HighNote is a provocative affair, alternating between a trio and quintet as the pianist takes a fresh look at well-known pieces, along with more recent compositions by participants on the date. ... Highly recommended".

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

' Donald Elfman observed "it sounds like a smart jazz group having fun. The horn players — alto saxophonist Joe Ford and trombonist Steve Davis — are longtime associates of Willis' and play with funk and sass but never as showboaters, listening carefully and beautifully complementing the sterling trio (bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Billy Drummond) on four of the tunes here as well as each contributing a composition. And a sterling trio it is. They can find the sweetness in a ballad — Willis has always made it a point of learning lyrics and Drummond and Gomez must do the same — and then a minute later, knock your socks off with something up-tempo".Elfman, D.
All About Jazz Review
accessed December 14, 2018

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growth ...

' Mike Joyce noted "It’s easy to take Larry Willis’ gifts for granted, since the veteran pianist who has contributed to countless studio sessions over the years always seems to elevate the level of play. But ''Blue Fable'' opens with such a delightful jolt that even longtime listeners will sit up and take notice".Joyce, M.
JazzTimes Review
accessed December 14, 2018

Track listing

All compositions by Larry Willis except where noted # "

Rhythm-a-Ning This is a list of compositions by jazz musician Thelonious Monk. 0-9 52nd Street Theme A contrafact based loosely on rhythm changes in C, and was copyrighted by Monk under the title "Nameless" in April 1944. The tune was also called "Bip Bop" b ...

" (

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...

) – 6:30 # "Insidious Behavior" – 4:56 # " Nardis" (

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

) – 7:09 # "Blue Fable" (

Jackie McLean John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their deat ...

) – 5:42 # "Never Let Me Go" (

Jay Livingston Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison, March 28, 1915 – October 17, 2001) was an American composer best known as half of a song-writing duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote music and Evans t ...

Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter. He was a partner in a composing and song-writing duo with Jay Livingston, known for the songs they composed for films. Evans wrote the lyrics and Living ...

) – 7:23 # "Landscape" (Joe Ford) – 5:22 # "Who's Kidding Who" – 8:09 # "Prayer for New Orleans" (Steve Davis) – 9:17

Personnel

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Joe Ford –

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

(tracks 2, 4, 6 & 8) *

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he rea ...

–

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

(tracks 2, 4, 6 & 8) *

Eddie Gómez Edgar Gómez (born October 4, 1944) is a Puerto Rican jazz double bassist, known for his work with the Bill Evans Trio from 1966 to 1977. Biography Gómez moved with his family from Puerto Rico at a young age to New York, where he was raised. ...

– bass *

Billy Drummond Willis Robert "Billy" Drummond Jr. (born June 19, 1959) is an American jazz drummer. Early life Billy Drummond was born in Newport News, Virginia, where he grew up listening to the extensive jazz record collection of his father, an amateur dr ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Production

Don Sickler Don Sickler (January 6, 1944) is an American jazz trumpeter, arranger and producer.Rudy Van Gelder Rudolph Van Gelder (November 2, 1924 – August 25, 2016) was an American recording engineer who specialized in jazz. Over more than half a century, he recorded several thousand sessions, with musicians including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Theloni ...

- engineer

References

{{Authority control Larry Willis albums 2007 albums HighNote Records albums Albums recorded at Van Gelder Studio