Dial Records initiated the "tenor battle" concept in 1947 when the label brought bebop saxophonists Dexter Gordon and Wardell Gray into the studio to record Gordon's composition The Chase. Prestige Records then perfected and exploited the dueling-tenors format, starting in 1950, with Sonny Stitt and Gene Ammons recording of Blues Up and Down and other 78 sides.
Among Prestige's series of tenor pairings between 1950 and '60 were Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane playing Tenor Madness (1956); Very Saxy in 1959 with tenor saxophonists Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Buddy Tate, Arnett Cobb and Coleman Hawkins; Tenor Conclave (1956) with Hank Mobley, John Coltrane, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn; Sonny Stitt and Sonny Rollins on Sonny Side Up (1959) and "Lockjaw" Davis and Johnny Griffin on Battle Stations (1960). Many more would follow.
One of the baddest, "boss tenors" tracks recorded by Prestige during this 10-year period was Jimmy Forrest's original Soul Street. The earthy blues was captured during Prestige's Soul Battle recording session in September 1960, featuring tenor saxophonists Jimmy Forrest, King Curtis and Oliver Nelson. The LP wasn't released until 1962.
Too long for the album at 9:06, Soul Street turned up instead on a Forrest compilation LP of the same name, also in 1962. The rhythm section backing the three tenors featured Gene Casey (p), George Duvivier (b) and Roy Haynes (d). Sheer perfection!
Here's Soul Street, with Forrest taking the first solo, Curtis the second and Nelson the third...
Other Perfection tracks in this ongoing series...
- Paul Desmond and Jim Hall: Any Other Time, go here.
- John Coltrane: You Say You Care, go here.
- Quincy Jones: Funk Junction, go here.
- Art Farmer's Work of Art, go here.
- Miles Davis: A Gal in Calico, go here.
- Gene Krupa: Mulligan Stew, go here.
- Dave Brubeck: The Duke, go here.
- Horace Silver: The Back Beat, go here.
- Horace Parlan: Up & Down, go here.
- Dexter Gordon: Society Red, go here.
- Barney Kessel: You Go to My Head, go here.
- Count Basie: Corner Pocket, go here.
- Herbie Mann: Manteca, go here.
- Donald Byrd: Bronze Dance, go here.
- George Shearing: I'll Be Around, go here.
- Ammons & Stitt: You Talk That Talk, go here.
- Count Basie: Blues in My Heart, go here.
- Moonlight in Vermont, go here.
- Johnny Griffin / Matthew Gee, Here, go here.
- Jimmy Smith / Stanley Turrentine, When I Grow Too Old to Dream, go here.
- Chet Baker: Estate, go here.
- Jazz Studio 1: Tenderly, go here.
- Herb Pomeroy: Down Home Outing, go here.
- Frank Sinatra: There's a Small Hotel, go here.
- Bill Harris Herd: Blackstrap, go here.
- Gerry Mulligan: Westwood Walk, go here.
- Red Garland/Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis: We'll Be Together Again, go here.
- Bill Evans: Reflections in D, go here.
- Ted McNabb & Co.: Mountain Greenery, go here.
- Maynard Ferguson: Fox Hunt, go here.
- Serge Chaloff & the Herdsmen: The Most!, go here.
- Maynard Ferguson: Starfire, go here.
- Urbie Green, Please, go here.
- Machito, Conversation, go here.
- David Allyn, Love Is a Serious Thing, go here.
- Lennie Tristano, Wow, go here.
- Teddy Charles, Borodin Bossa Nova, go here.
- Gerry Mulligan, Night Lights, go here.
- Tommy Flanagan, In the Blue of Evening, go here.
- Stan Getz, Stella by Starlight, go here.
- Erroll Garner, It's the Talk of the Town, go here.
- Sonny Stitt, Miss Ann, Lisa, Sue and Sadie, go here.
