''The Fabulous Fats Navarro, Vol. 1'' is a studio album by

Fats Navarro Theodore "Fats" Navarro (September 24, 1923 – July 7, 1950) was an American jazz trumpet player and a pioneer of the bebop style of jazz improvisation in the 1940s. A native of Key West, Florida, he toured with big bands before achieving fa ...

and released posthumously by

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it deriv ...

. Material for the album came from record dates with a variety of musicians including

Tadd Dameron Tadley Ewing Peake Dameron (February 21, 1917 – March 8, 1965) was an American jazz composer, arranger, and pianist. Biography Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dameron was the most influential arranger of the bebop era, but also wrote charts for swi ...

Ernie Henry Ernie Henry (born Ernest Albert Henry, September 3, 1926 – December 29, 1957) was an American jazz saxophonist. Henry played in the late 1940s with Tadd Dameron, Fats Navarro, Charlie Ventura, Max Roach, and was a key member of Dizzy Gilles ...

Wardell Gray Wardell Gray (February 13, 1921 – May 25, 1955) was an American jazz tenor saxophone, tenor saxophonist. Biography Early years The youngest of four children, Gray was born in Oklahoma City. He spent his early childhood years in Oklahoma b ...

Charlie Rouse Charlie Rouse (April 6, 1924 – November 30, 1988) was an American hard bop tenor saxophonist and flautist. His career is marked by his collaboration with Thelonious Monk, which lasted for more than ten years. Biography Rouse was born in Wash ...

, and

Bud Powell Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. A pioneer in the development of bebop and its associated contributions to jazz theory,Grove Powell's application of complex phrasing to ...

. The music was recorded on three sessions, with one coming from 1947, 1948, and 1949 respectively.

Reception

Jazz critic Stephen Cook described Navarro as a "fluid and inventive bebop trumpeter" and considered the album "an essential title for jazz enthusiasts." The authors of ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled b ...

'' awarded the album a full 4 stars and a "crown," calling it and its companion volume "one of the peaks of the bebop movement and one of the essential modern-jazz records." Critic John Fordham described the two volumes as "essential Navarro, and essential bebop generally, featuring a string of dazzling themes illuminated by the trumpeter's glowing tone." Author Tom Piazza stated that the albums "show instantly what set Dameron's work apart," and commented: "Among bebop dates, these were really something special, full of carefully worked-out ensembles, introductions, and codas, yet still with plenty of stretching room for the soloists." Saxophonist and writer Benny Green noted Dameron's "ravishing tone" and "precise delivery," and called the recordings "a reminder of the grace of one of the earliest modern pioneers, a grace that was precocious because in the 1940s modernists had still not formulated their own conventions."

Track listing

''All compositions by Tadd Dameron unless otherwise stated'' # "Our Delight" (alternate take) – 3:09 # "Our Delight" – 3:00 # "The Squirrel" (alternate take) – 3:22 # "The Squirrel" – 3:01 # "The Chase" (alternate take) – 2:59 # "The Chase" – 2:46 # "Wail" (alternate take) (

) – 2:44The masters from this session were released under

's name for the album '' The Amazing Bud Powell'' # "

Bouncing With Bud Bouncing with Bud (also known as Bebop in Pastel) is a 1946 jazz standard by American pianist Bud Powell and Gil Fuller, which features the saxophone of Sonny Stitt and the trumpet of Kenny Dorham. It was originally recorded on 23 August 1946 as " ...

" (alternate take) (Powell) – 3:16 # "Double Talk" (

Howard McGhee Howard McGhee (March 6, 1918 – July 17, 1987) was one of the first American bebop jazz trumpeters, with Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Navarro and Idrees Sulieman. He was known for his fast fingering and high notes. He had an influence on younger bebo ...

, Navarro) – 5:35 # "Dameronia" (alternate take) – 3:15 # "Dameronia" – 3:00

Personnel

* Fats Navarro – trumpet *

– trumpet (9) *

– alto saxophone *

– tenor saxophone (1-6, 10–11) *

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American retired jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded over sixt ...

– tenor saxophone (7-8) *

Milt Jackson Milton Jackson (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999), nicknamed "Bags", was an American jazz vibraphonist. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with ...

– vibraphone, piano (9) *

– piano (7-8) *

– piano (1-6, 10–11) * Curley Russell – bass (9) *

Nelson Boyd Nelson Boyd (February 6, 1928, Camden, New Jersey – October 1985Social security register of deaths.) was an American bebop jazz bassist. Biography He was born in Camden, New Jersey, and played in local orchestras in Philadelphia around 1945, an ...

– bass (1-6, 10–11) *

Tommy Potter Charles Thomas Potter (September 21, 1918 – March 1, 1988) was an American jazz double bass player, best known for having been a member of Charlie Parker's "classic quintet", with Miles Davis, between 1947 and 1950. Born in Philadelphia, Penn ...

– bass (7-8) *

Kenny Clarke Kenneth Clarke Spearman (January 9, 1914January 26, 1985), known professionally as Kenny Clarke and nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride ...

– drums (9) *

Roy Haynes Roy Owen Haynes (March 13, 1925 – November 12, 2024) was an American jazz drummer. In the 1950s, he was given the nickname "Snap Crackle" for his distinctive snare drum sound and musical vocabulary. He is among the most recorded drummers in ja ...

– drums (7-8) *

Shadow Wilson Rossiere "Shadow" Wilson (September 25, 1919 – July 11, 1959) was an American jazz drummer. Much of Wilson's early work was with swing jazz orchestras. He played with Frankie Fairfax's Campus Club Orchestra in 1936, with Lucky Millinder in ...

– drums (1-6, 10–11)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fabulous Fats Navarro, Vol. 1 Fats Navarro albums Blue Note Records albums 1957 albums