Johnny Griffin [The Cat]
The Chicago born American Johnny Griffin, sadly passed away in 2008, but has left a legacy of recordings, once known as the fastest Tenor on the block, he has by the time of this recording, slowed down somewhat, he was in his sixties when he recorded this disc.
The track i love the most is track 2 'Wistful', a Griffin original [in fact all of the tracks are by Griffin], it starts off with a tick tock intro between Cymbal [Kenny Washington], and Piano [Michael Weiss], and Griffin comes in playing this lop sided swing theme on Tenor Saxophone [0:10-1:31], which has this catchy chorus in the middle [0:52-1:10], Griffin then takes his solo [1:32-4:12], which develops a nice intensity, while Washington has some fine hits on the Drums, after a Weiss Piano solo [4:13-5:30], Griff brings the main tune back to great effect [5:30-end], a simple piece, no great shakes of pyromania, but satisfying because the tune is so strong, and executed so well by Griffin.
Here's Griffin in action on YouTube, gives you some idea what he's like.
