''Mudfoot'' is the debut album by the all-star jazz group

The Leaders The Leaders is a jazz supergroup formed in 1983. The initial lineup of the Leaders was put together in 1983 by saxophonist Chico Freeman and featured trumpeter Don Cherry, alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe, along with a rhythm section of pianist Don ...

released on the Black Hawk label in 1986. The album features performances by

Lester Bowie Lester Bowie (October 11, 1941 – November 8, 1999) was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and co-founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Biography Born in ...

Chico Freeman Chico Freeman (born Earl Lavon Freeman Jr.; July 17, 1949) is a modern jazz tenor saxophonist and trumpeter and son of jazz saxophonist Von Freeman. He began recording as lead musician in 1976 with ''Morning Prayer'', won the New York Jazz Award ...

, Arthur Blythe, Cecil McBee,

Kirk Lightsey Kirkland "Kirk" Lightsey (born February 15, 1937, Detroit, Michigan) is an American jazz pianist. Biography Lightsey had piano instruction from the age of five and studied piano and clarinet through high school. After service in the Army, Lights ...

and

Don Moye Donald Moye, Jr. (born May 23, 1946), known as Famoudou Don Moye, is an American jazz percussionist and drummer. He is most known for his involvement with the Art Ensemble of Chicago and is noted for his mastery of African and Caribbean percuss ...

Reception

The

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 databa ...

review by Scott Yanow states "it is an excellent effort. Two songs are group compositions (including the ad-lib 'Midnite Train'); Freeman provided a tribute to Eric Dolphy ('Freedom Swing Song'); and the other selections include originals by Blythe and McBee, plus Sam Cooke's 'Cupid' (which has a Freeman vocal). Worth searching for". Robert Christgau wrote: "Opening with a glorious and playful 13-minute blues and closing with a sweet and crooked 'Cupid'... this all-star blowing unit gets arty in between and also gets away with it... Familiar gambits all by now, but this kind of execution is what everybody who begins with them is hoping to end up with." Mike Joyce of

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

commented: "All-star sessions are a commonplace in jazz... every so often an album such as ''Mudfoot''... comes along and makes the idea seem vital and exciting again... It's an impressive lineup, but the group's debut album succeeds primarily because the band is just that -- a real band, not just a group of all-stars gathered for a hastily produced recording session." Pianist and composer

Ethan Iverson Ethan Iverson (born February 11, 1973) is a pianist, composer, and critic best known for his work in the avant-garde jazz trio The Bad Plus with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King. Biography Iverson was born in Menomonie, Wisconsin. ...

praised Blythe's "Miss Nancy," writing: "damn, does Blythe take a great solo on this song... It's all there: the honk, the surreal, post-Coltrane pentatonics, even nailing the hard parallel changes when needed. Yeah!"

Track listing

# "Miss Nancy" (Arthur Blythe) - 13:14 # "Elaborations" (Blythe) - 4:21 # "Midnite Train" (Blythe, Lester Bowie, Chico Freeman, Kirk Lightsey, Cecil McBee, Don Moye) - 3:40 # "Freedom Swing Song" (Freeman) - 4:41 # "Song of Her" (McBee) - 5:37 # "Mudfoot" (Blythe,

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...

, Freeman, Lightsey, McBee, Moye) - 6:49 # " Cupid" ( Sam Cooke) - 3:06

Personnel

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

* Arthur Blythe: alto saxophone * Cecil McBee: bass *

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 keybo ...

: drums

References

{{Authority control 1986 debut albums The Leaders albums BlackHawk Records albums