David "Fathead" Newman - Lone Star Legend: Still Hard Times - Resurgence! (32 Jazz/Muse, 1997)

This post is by Scott

On Resurgence!: David Newman (ts, as, ss, fl); Marcus Belgrave (tr, flhn); Ted Dunbar (g); Cedar Walton (p, el p); Buster Williams (b); Louis Hayes (d); recorded on September 23, 1980

On Still Hard Times: David Newman (ts, as, ss, fl); Hank Crawford (as); Charlie Miller (tr); Howard Johnson (bs); Steve Nelson (vib); Larry Willis (p); Walter Booker (b); Jimmy Cobb (d); recorded on April 14, 1982 

Here's what Michael Cuscuna, the producer of these sessions, had to say about David Newman: 

“It's always been a mystery to me why David 'Fathead' Newman isn't one of the most popular instrumentalists of the second half of the twentieth century. ...He's got the intellectual chops to play bebop, ballads or blues with a backbeat and with feeling, creativity, and authority. ...When he plays a note with the unique Texas tenor tone, every cell in my body comes alive."

And Ray Charles, Newman's long-time employer, offered more praise for the saxophonist: 

"He has one of the kindest, sweetest dispositions of anyone I'd ever known. They called him 'Fathead' but I called him 'Brains' because of his keen intelligence. He had it all covered -- down and dirty blues and high flying bop. And he put it together with a smoothness that had me wishing I could blow sax half as good as him."

From my perspective, these two quotes sum up Newman's appeal.  He's got an effortless authority and a distinctive smooth-but-wide-open sound that I find irresistible.  

This 32 Jazz CD reissue compiles two complete LPs that Newman made for Muse in the early-80s.  Resurgence! is a quintet session featuring a formidable band.  It's wonderful to hear Newman in this relatively stripped down context, supported by a powerhouse rhythm section as well as his former bandmate with Ray Charles' band, trumpeter Marcus Belgrave.  The title of the second date, Still Hard Times, not-so-obliquely refers to Newman's famous sax work on Ray Charles' hit "Hard Times."  This session has the feel of a little big band date, like many of Hank Crawford's records.  Appropriately enough, Crawford's on hand to lend his one-of-a-kind sax work to the proceedings.  In fact, the entire cast of sidemen is stellar.

Unlike some listeners, I enjoy hearing Newman play in just about any context.  For example, I love his 1978 album for Prestige, Concrete Jungle, with arrangements by William Fischer.  But those who prefer to hear Newman in straight-ahead jazz contexts will be pleased with Lone Star Legend.  The "soul-jazz" elements characteristic of Newman's 70s albums are less prominent, but his supremely soulful sound remains. 

More "Fathead" Newman

At the end of the 1980s, Newman returned to Atlantic, the label where he'd made his first records, and released two LPs.  Both are outstanding, but I slightly prefer Fire! Live at the Village Vanguard (1989) with Hank Crawford and Stanley Turrentine.