In April 1983, guitarist Doug Raney, son of guitar great Jimmy Raney and a stunning player in his own right, assembled quite a sextet at the studios of Criss Cross Records in the Netherlands. Joining Raney were two tiger tenor saxophonists—Dutch player Ferdinand Povel and Swedish hornman Bernt Rosengren, who doubled on flute. In the rhythm section were the American expatriate Horace Parlan on piano, the Danish bassist Jesper Lundgaard and Norwegian drummer Ole Jacob Hansen. [Photo above of Doug Raney]
Recorded in Monster, Holland, which is perfect enough, the tracks were Up in Quincy's Room, Blues for Bart, Waltz Number One, Arrival, Lover Man and The Night Has a Thousand Eyes. By the date of this recording, Raney had been living in Europe for 16 years. He had worked often in Holland with Povel. When he relocated to Copenhagen, he bonded with Rosengren. Both musicians were Raney's kind of saxophonist—hard-charging and swinging, with assertive tones and a bite. In the spring of 1983, when Raney was offered a 10-day tour of Holland, Belgium and France, he formed a group with the two reed players out front.
Raney arranged Gigi Gryce's Up in Quincy's Room and Parlan composed and arranged Waltz Number One and Arrival. Povel composed and arranged Blues for Bart, a tribute to Dutch trombonist Bart van Lier. Charts for the standards Lover Man and The Night Has a Thousand Eyes were crafted in the studio. [Photo above of Ferdinand Povel by Eddy Westveer]
The playing all around is sensational. You can tell Rosengren apart from Povel because his tenor has a deeper tone. On Up in Quincy's Room, Povel takes the first solo. On Blues for Bart, Povel goes first. Rosengren is on flute on Waltz Number One, and Povel solos first on Arrival. Lover Man features Rosengren first followed by Povel, who is first out of the gate on The Night Has a Thousand Eyes. All of the musicians act as a clutch of darts hurled at the wall. All hit their target and the united impact is thrilling. [Photo above of Bernt Rosengren]
Povel, Rosengren and Lundgaard are around today and still sound great.
Doug Raney died in 2016, Hansen died in 2000 and Parlan died in 2017.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Doug Raney's Meeting the Tenors here.
JazzWax clips: Here's Up in Quincy's Room...
And here's Arrival...
