Our Roots

Jazzing up down-home blues is nothing new. Everyone from the Adderley Brothers to Charles Mingus made use of motifs lifted from field hollers, tent revivals and juke houses. While these artists may have sought to distance themselves from painful associations with the South, a younger generation of musicians embraces these roots with reverence.

On their latest recording, Our Roots (Origin), the Geof Bradfield Quintet reinterprets songs by country-blues patriarch Huddle Ledbetter, a.k.a. Leadbelly. Tenor saxophonist Bradfield had been inspired by tenorist Clifford Jordan's 1965 album These Are My Roots: Clifford Jordan Plays Leadbelly, and actually plays four of the same selections, aleit in his own fashion. The jaunty "Yellow Gal" takes on a Caribbean feel in its infectious chorus, although the raucous blowing of the ensemble--particularly Bradfield, trumpeter Marquis Hill and drummer Dana Hall--reflects an anxious, restless energy. On the introspective "Black Girl," Bradfield's ruminative tenor rides Clark Sommers' mournful bass and Hall's shimmering cymbals. A snippet of Leadbelly singing a line from "Dick's Holler" introduces the group's rendition of the song, by turns joyous and rueful as it creeps along. The album concludes with a quietly triumphant "Take This Hammer" in which the horns testify over a solid bass groove. Bradfield and company delve into other vintage blues fare, as well, including Blind Willie Johnson's plaintive "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground," an album highlight.