Anthony Williams: Spring (Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series) [BLUE NOTE]

Why you'll love it

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series edition was mastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180g vinyl. Williams wrote all five pieces and leads an uncommon two-tenor front line of Shorter and Rivers.

This edition

• Blue Note Classic Vinyl Series
• 180g vinyl
• Mastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray
• Pressed in the EU
• Stereo mix

About the album

Most teenagers are still working out how to parallel park. Tony Williams, at 19, was already the drummer in Miles Davis's quintet when he recorded Spring on August 12, 1965, his second album as a leader for Blue Note, following Life Time. It shares the exploratory spirit of the Miles records he was making at the same time.

He brought along his Miles bandmates Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock, added Sam Rivers on tenor and Gary Peacock on bass, and wrote every note himself. "Extras" opens with the two saxophones circling each other over Peacock and the drums, "Echo" is Williams alone at the kit, "Love Song" gives Hancock and Rivers a quieter space, and the long "Tee" brings the whole band together. Shorter plays on three of the five pieces and Rivers on four, so the line-up shifts from track to track.

It catches hard bop right as it was opening out into something freer, and a few years later Williams would form Lifetime and help invent jazz-rock. Here he pushes time around as if it owed him money.

Also at Kops: more Tony Williams on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Blue Note (cat# 5523656), a reissue of the 1966 album.