Terell Stafford and his quintet bring a warm, heavy tone to a tribute album honoring the late Philadelphia horn player Lee Morgan. Kevin Whitehead says the new album is risky – but successful.
TERRY GROSS, HOST:
It’s FRESH AIR. Our jazz critic Kevin Whitehead has reviewed a new album by trumpeter Terell Stafford. Stafford leads his own bands and has recorded with Bobby Watson, Matt Wilson and The Clayton Brothers, among others, and directs the jazz program at Temple University in Philadelphia. Stafford’s new album pays tribute to fellow Philadelphia trumpeter, the late Lee Morgan.
(SOUND EXTRACTION OF TERELL STAFFORD’S SONG, “HOCUS POCUS”)
KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Terell Stafford playing Lee Morgan’s “Hocus Pocus” from Stafford’s new album, mostly devoted to Morgan tunes, “Brotherlee Love.” To invite comparison with this great trumpet ancestor is risky, but Stafford captures Morgan’s fearless spirit and asserts his own voice. Terell Stafford has a warm, heavy tone and a personal way of breaking down swings, alternating strong and weak accents to vary his phrasing.
(SOUND EXTRACTION OF TERELL STAFFORD’S SONG, “HOCUS POCUS”)
WHITEHEAD: I like that sly paraphrase of “Mona Lisa” towards the end. Terell Stafford loves playful quotes like Lee Morgan. One of the main reasons – or five – why his tribute album does so well is the Stafford Quintet. They have been recording together for a decade with just one change of personnel. And Stafford and tenor saxophonist Tim Warfield have played together for much longer than that.
(SOUND EXTRACTION OF TERELL STAFFORD’S SONG, “CAROLYN”)
WHITEHEAD: Terell Stafford and Tim Warfield on Lee Morgan’s ‘Carolyn’, retracing the steps of Morgan and Hank Mobley from 1963. There’s not too much slowing down stuff on Stafford’s ‘Brotherlee Love’. This group wants to strut. The solos are all fresh, but sometimes they’ll mimic Lee Morgan’s arrangements, and sometimes the rhythm section will highlight them for a hyper-realistic take on classic hard bop. When pianist Bruce Barth launches, his two-fisted solos have an irresistible momentum. Big Chicago drummer Dana Hall gives it an extra boost.
(SOUNDTRACK FROM TERELL STAFFORD’S SONG, “YES I CAN, NO YOU CAN’T”)
WHITEHEAD: Lee Morgan’s boogaloo “Yes I can, no you can’t.” The title is an apparent dig from Sammy Davis, Jr.’s current autobiography, “Yes I Can” – a jibe consistent with Morgan’s cocky attitude. Terell Stafford’s group catches that in abundance, but even in the thick of it they can simmer a minute for contrast. Here, Stafford and bassist Peter Washington on “Speedball,” Morgan’s blues name for the cocaine and heroin cocktail.
(SOUND EXTRACTION OF TERELL STAFFORD’S SONG, “SPEEDBALL”)
WHITEHEAD: Terell Stafford’s solos sometimes allude to another of his inspirations – Wynton Marsalis. Like Lee Morgan, Marsalis has digested some important influences on how to be influential himself. This is also pretty much the story of Terell Stafford. The same is true in oral traditions like jazz – even if you start by telling other people’s stories, as you tell them, those stories will become your own.
(SOUND EXTRACTION OF TERELL STAFFORD’S SONG, “SPEEDBALL”)
GROSS: Kevin Whitehead writes for Point of Departure and is the author of ‘Why Jazz?’ He reviewed “Brotherlee Love”, the new album by trumpeter Terell Stafford. Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, I’ll be speaking with writer Vendela Vida, who is the co-founder of literary magazine The Believer. Her husband, Dave Eggers, founded the literary magazine McSweeney’s. Vida’s new novel, “The Diver’s Clothes Are Empty,” was on our book reviewer Maureen Corrigan’s list of four books to read earlier this summer. She described it as both a cautionary tale about travel and a fantasy about the endless possibilities travel offers.
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