The Ballad Artistry of Buddy Tate featuring the Ed Bickert Trio (Sackville, 1982)

This post is by Scott

Buddy Tate (ts, cl); Ed Bickert (g); Don Thompson (b); Terry Clarke (d)

Recorded on June 12-13, 1981

If they know him at all, most jazz fans associate tenor saxophonist Buddy Tate with Count Basie.  Tate joined Basie's band in 1939, replacing Herschel Evans after his early death.  (Tate claimed that he'd had a premonition during a dream and knew that he would replace Evans before he ever got the job.)  Tate stayed with Basie's band for nearly ten years, leaving in 1948.  Later, he formed a band based in the Celebrity Club in NYC that lasted from 1953 to 1974.  Tate also frequently recorded with swing-era veterans, particularly those with Basie connections, such as Buck Clayton.

The strange thing about Buddy Tate is that I think his playing continued to improve as time went by.  He may have been associated with Basie and the Swing era, but he was still making terrific music in the 1970s and 1980s.  He recorded The Ballad Artistry of Buddy Tate when he was 68 years old, and I think it's one of the best albums he ever made.  Like a fine wine, it seems like Tate only got better with age.

It's hard to imagine a more simpatico rhythm section than the trio of Ed Bickert, Don Thompson, and Terry Clarke.  Without a piano, there's so much more space.  We can luxuriate in Tate's gorgeous tones as they hang in the air.  

I wonder if Canadian producers Bill Smith and John Norris were inspired by Paul Desmond's transcendent 1975 recordings from Toronto's Bourbon Street that also featured Bickert and Don Thompson.  (Desmond's high regard for Bickert is actually quoted in the liner notes.)  

Regardless of their inspirations or intentions, I'm grateful that they recorded Tate often.  All of Tate's Sackville albums are well worth hearing.  

But The Ballad Artistry of Buddy Tate stands above the others.  It's really special.