Saxophonist Joe Ford has released just one studio album as a leader. Which is surprising considering how superb the recording is. The album is Today's Nights, recorded in New York for the American Bluemoon label in March 1993. The lineup features Joe Ford (as,sop), Kenny Kirkland (p), Charles Fambrough (b) and Jeff "Tain" Watts (d). Special guests include Darrell Brown and Nasai Abady (d), and Vince Evans (synth). Born in 1947, Ford studied with Jackie McLean, and Frank Foster, among others, and began his recording career in 1974 playing with Birthright on Free Spirits.
After four albums with McCoy Tyner—Focal Point (1976), The Greeting (1978), Horizon (1979) and 13th House (1980), Ford recorded as a sideman on a long string of dates with different leaders, including additional albums with Tyner. He joined Jerry Gonzalez's Fort Apache Band in 1988. In the late 1990s, he led two groups, the Black Art Sax Quartet and a big band called The Thing. In March 2007, Ford was recorded in Ukraine on Live at Kiev Conservatorium Hall. He's still recording today.
In addition to being a beautiful player on both alto and soprano saxophones, Ford is a tight composer. For this album, he wrote Today's Nights, Interior Motive, Buffalo Chips, Blue Muse, Izit and Always Thinking of You. Fambrough wrote Amy's Waltz, Chemical Residue is by Herbie Hancock and My Life With You is by Gerry Eastman. Some of Ford's compositions are straight ahead while others feature a bit more abstraction. This album should be reissued.
A note on Bluemoon from Peter Levin:
This Bluemoon label isn’t the Spanish Blue Moon; it’s the American label founded by George Nauful and Jim Snowden in 1989 as part of Mesa/Bluemoon Recordings, with support from Rhino Records. An early news story about it can be found in the LATimes of October 15, 1989, for those who subscribe online. After a long period of inactivity, Bluemoon was resuscitated by Nauful and occasionally issues new releases. Its output is mostly closer to “smooth jazz” than straight-ahead jazz.
JazzWax tracks: Joe Ford's Today's Nights is out of print. I came across it after Ignatios Alexander emailed me about Ford. When I researched Ford's leadership albums, I discovered Today's Nights. I see there are a couple of CD copies available at eBay.
JazzWax clip: Here's the title track...
A special thanks to Dennis Galloway.
Weekend correction: My apologies to singer Randy Crawford. Over the weekend, I referred to her as "the late Randy Crawford." She is still very much with us. My post has been fixed. Crossed wires writing late at night. Thanks to readers who flagged the error.
