Larry Price: Press

"From Now Own"
This Larry Price artist’s album (we discovered him lately when performing amidst the D.D.
Williams’ SOLE), reveals from the first listening of the tunes a deep and moving
orientation/influence : evocation of Yusef Lateef, Coltrane and spirituals which declines a
quite
rare aestetics. The sound influenced from blues and Parker’s is powerful, touchable, alive and
confirms with authority his will of jazz. No stylistic definition will avoid the absurd obstacle
because he plays blues as Hodys and as Coltrane did, without specific classified dogmatism,
as any real jazzmen. Both gospels inverventions of Michelle Lachaux explain if it was
necessary his orientation. The front line alto-trumpet-guitar is original and the percussions
added in the SOLE ways, gives an exotic touch to serve wonderfully jazz on those happy tunes
(‘’Yusef’’), or darker orientation (‘’Exotica’’). ‘’A psalm for John’’ is tense and doleful. The
various climates come from a spontanous approach where blues is omnipresent. The
sincerity and efficiency without hard plugging of musicians produces a music likeable
modesty, witnessing the original vitality of a jazz approach, from its own culture, and from a
practice which has never stopped eventhough it has been ignored by the prominent European
jazzmen who have decided once and for all that American jazz was not creative anymore or
simply did not exist anymore.
Considering the low proportion of reviews dedicated to talented people such as Larry Price,
not enjoying any Government financial support, neither begging from the taxpayer to have
festivals shaped for their personal and exclusive use, there is a lot to say about jazz reality,
and the dropouts are not those we believe they are . well known tune/!

Translation by "Agnes Perret"

"From Now Own"
This CD features a hotshot saxophonist in front of a rhythm section ripping through a program of mostly hard Bop flag-wavers, with the odd mid-tempo tune or ballad thrown in for leavening. It's a self-produced effort by the leader on alto, ably abetted on the front line by trumpeter Codrington in hard-hitting renditions of six originals, along with a standard and two spirituals. Price's compositions are well-structured and firmly melodic, his improvisations on them, especially in the elegiac "A Psalm For John" and "Eleanora", deeply felt and logical.

Price is a talent on his instrument· He gets a sweet tone on the alto and is capable of quicksilver runs, He is matched step-for-step by Codrington on the uptempo numbers, Pianist Louie Argese contributes a driving, propulsive solo on "Exotica."

The only misjudgment on the album is the inclusion of slightly overwrought vocals by Mechelle Lachaux on three tunes, She comes on so strong in "My Funny Valentine," it sounds as if she is trying for tragic opera. Her grand approach works better on the concluding "Amazing Grace." There is also an oddly truncated version of "When The Saints Go Marching In"; this ends just as it starts to get underway. Since the other tunes range in length from 3:38 to 10:21, with plenty of room for everyone to stretch out, one wonders why this snippet was thrown in. All in all, a satisfying session for repeat listening.