Released 1961 Straight Ahead
(1961) Main Stem
(1961) Release date 1961 Label New Jazz Records | Length 36:53 Artist Oliver Nelson Producer Esmond Edwards Genre Hard bop | |
 | ||
Recorded March 1, 1961
Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs Similar Oliver Nelson albums, Other albums | ||
Straight Ahead is a jazz studio album by saxophonist Oliver Nelson. It features acclaimed musicians such as Eric Dolphy on sax, clarinet and flute (his last appearance on a Nelson album following a series of collaborations recorded for Prestige), and Roy Haynes on drums. It was recorded in March 1961 at the celebrated Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs. All the pieces were first takes; Joe Goldberg recalls: "The session was scheduled for one in the afternoon and I arrived at 3:30, thinking that by then the music would have been rehearsed and the men would be starting to play. What I found was a studio empty of everyone but A&R man Esmond Edwards", the supervisor, "and engineer Rudy Van Gelder, who were packing up to leave and looking very satisfied." Released in 1961 for the Prestige/New Jazz label (as NJ 8255) and remastered in 1989, the album is notable for its long and thoughtful horn duets by Dolphy and Nelson. Don DeMicheal described the album "All in all, a warm, very human record".
Contents
Track listing
All pieces by Oliver Nelson, unless otherwise noted.
- "Images" - 5:43
- "Six and Four" - 7:15
- "Mama Lou" - 5:04
- "Ralph's New Blues" (Milt Jackson) - 9:52
- "Straight Ahead" - 5:31
- "111-44" - 3:28
Personnel
Songs
1Images5:48
2Six and Four7:18
3Mama Lou5:04