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Music CD - Larry Young: Unity
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Music CD: Unity
Artist: Larry Young
List Price: $11.98
Our Price: $6.84
Your Save: $ 5.14 ( 43% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Blue Note Records
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Tracks:
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1. Zoltan
2. Monk's Dream
3. If
4. The Moontrane
5. Softly As In A Morning Sunrise
6. Beyond All Limits
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0724349780828
Format: Original recording reissued
Label: Blue Note Records
Manufacturer: Blue Note Records
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Blue Note Records
Release Date: 1999-03-09
Studio: Blue Note Records
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Makes you want to go out and buy a leslie speaker for your synth...
Comment: As a former church organist converted to jazz piano over a thirty year period, I didn't think there was anything that could get me interested in the organ again, but I was wrong. The organ of Larry Young in Unity has a bold, crisp sound that is hard to get without a lot of old equipment, like the church organ speaker my band and I used to carry to gigs to get the leslie sound. Of course, when you are pounding and moving the notes like Young does, the listener can be forgiven for focusing on the music and not on the sound, but if one takes a moment to hear it, the production is really excellent and original. There's a serious shortage of great jazz organ recordings, but this is the one they will all be judged by, so go ahead and add this to your collection to see how high the bar is set. This is a wonderful recording.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not Your Average Jazz Organ Quartet
Comment: Larry Young has been referred to as the "Coltrane of the B-3 organ". While I applaud those who appreciate his artistry, I believe that this description does not really do him justice. During the era that this recording was made, jazz organ on Blue Note was dominated by Jimmy Smith, whose success helped keep Blue Note afloat financially. Jimmy played in a blues and boppish style. Larry Young, on the other hand, had a totally different conception. This date from 1965, really showcased his advanced harmonic and melodic style. Additionally, the supporting cast was truly world class; Woody Shaw on trumpet (one of his first dates), Joe Henderson, and the legendary Elvin Jones. This was truly a date for the ages; it sounds just as fresh today as it did when released over 40 years ago! This recording should be in everyone's basic jazz library.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Larry Young, Elvin Jones, Woody Shaw, and Joe Henderson.
Comment: "Unity" is an album that belongs in the post-Hardbop category. Larry Young was the first Organist to start to break away from the Jimmy Smith tradition. If you have experienced any of his first few sessions for the Prestige label, you will hear the undeniable Jimmy Smith influence in his playing. Jimmy Smith is the king of the Organ but Young took what Smith had done and refined it. He also added his own material to start a whole new way to look at an instrument that was handicapped by it's own size, but stood out with it's incredible sound. Joining the "Young" organ master is the masterful Elvin Jones with his complicated Rhythmic drumming, Elvin had just left the Coltrane group and, if you have heard any of his earlier sessions with the Coltrane group, you will start to hear his playing change in a way that he is more open to what the soloist is doing yet still keeping the beat and Enhancing the feeling. Larry played the Organ more like a piano so he constructs his solos on lines more than sticking to the more chordal improvisation that was so heavily used by Smith and others. Joe Henderson, a very talented Tenor Saxophonist is often considered to be incredibly original yet you will hear an almost direct relation between him and fellow sax men Junior Cook and Sonny Rollins. Hendersons solos are constructed of broken up phrases that are loud but meaningful statements. Woody Shaw is a very fine trumpeter who sounds like a combonation of Blue Mitchell and Freddie Hubbard. The players are in top form, the Compositions are played with intensity.
"Zoltan", the opening tune, was composed by Woody Shaw and the solo work done on this song alone is worth the price of the album. Young and Jones play a Duo on "Monks Dream" which is obviously by Thelonious Monk. "Moontrane", another Shaw original, was written for John Coltrane since he was one of Shaws, Youngs, and Hendersons biggest influences. The form is standard 32 bars but the harmonies and Chordal structure are much different than that of many standard jazz compositions. "If" is a Henderson tune resembling the blues but many of the chords are replaced with altered voicings that make it very unique sounding. The group plays a reworking of the standard "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise" and features excellent solos from all around. The closer, also by shaw, is a smoker and uses even more complex harmonies and chord patterns that "Moontrane" not to mention the odd number of 5o bars. If you want to hear extremely good jazz, this is one of the best examples.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Unity: One of the Greatest Modern Jazz Albums
Comment: For fans of post-bop jazz, Larry Young's Unity is, quite simply, essential. Young has been called the Coltrane of the Hammond B-3 organ for his progressive, modal, accessible music. Like Miles' Kind of Blue, Coltrane's A Love Supreme and Horace Silver's Song For My Father, this album -- although unfairly unheralded -- is one of those magical musical occasions. Elvin Jones, Woody Shaw and Joe Henderson do some of their best work on this session. A classic.
Customer Rating:
Summary: This is a must have!
Comment: Wow, what a great album. Who would have thought that Larry Young would provide one of the great jazz albums of the 60's. This album is the perfect blend of old and new. A lot of jazz purists scoffed at the organ as having a roller rinky, circus kind of sound, but this album proves how great the organ can be. Along with the outstanding playing of Woody Shaw on trumpet, Unity creates a unique vibe of its own. It's hard to deny the power of this album. Not overly uptempo or funky like some of the organ albums of the seventies and not entirely contained in the boundries of the traditional jazz of the fifties. This album is for any fan of jazz. You will not be disappointed.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Recorded in 1965, in the afterglow of avant-garde jazz's first significant wave, Unity proved what organist Larry Young's Blue Note debut, Into Somethin', foreshadowed. Young had been a straightforward protégé of Jimmy Smith prior to his Blue Note years, and he later went full-tilt into fusion, eventually joining Tony Williams's Lifetime for their rightly named debut, Emergency. But here Young dug into an exploratory groove that fed in part off the Hammond B-3 tradition and in part off the pulse-oriented rhythmic developments then occupying Cecil Taylor and others. That said, the tunes are all keeled on even tempos, with thoughtful, tight soloing from Joe Henderson and a young Woody Shaw. With drummer Elvin Jones powering the quartet, the music cruises along, but Young's free-flying organ is the most striking point, with its fall-apart deconstructions and its architecturally complex solos and melody statements. More than anything, this recording helped clarify how relevant the B-3 was for the new breed of jazzers. This Rudy Van Gelder remaster improves the sound, both brightening it and bolstering the low end. Also added are a couple of great photos and a new liner essay. --Andrew Bartlett
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