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Blindfold TestBy Ted Panken“I got everything wrong,” trumpeter Hugh Masekela said, recalling hisfirst Blindfold Test, in 1967, with Leonard Feather. He earned a bettergrade on round two, held 42 years later, on a New York press day to publicizea tour in support of Chola (Times Square), the latest refinement ofhis fusion of American jazz with South African township dance music.Max Roach–Booker Little“Tears For Johannesburg” (from We Insist: Freedom Now Suite, Candid, 1960)Roach, drums; Booker Little, trumpet; Julian Priester, trombone; Walter Benton,tenor saxophone; Abbey Lincoln, voice; James Schenk, bass.I loved that. I don’t know who it is, but it reminds me a lot of the thingsthat Max Roach was doing in the ’60s, when he was into Africanactivism, and got guys like Chief Bey to come and play. It could havebeen Charles Tolliver, or Booker Little, or Cecil Bridgewater. But I’mnot good at guessing. 5 stars.Dudu Pukwana“Diamond Express” (from Diamond Express, Arista, 1975) Pukwana, altosaxophone; Mongezi Feza, trumpet; Frank Roberts, keyboards; Lucky Ranko,guitar; Ernest Othole, electric bass; Louis Moholo, drums.I don’t know when it would have been, but that’s Dudu Pukwana on saxophone,when those guys were in London with Chris McGregor as the BlueNotes or later as the Brotherhood of Breath. The guitar player sounded likeLucky Ranko, and probably Mongezi Feza on trumpet. Dudu was one ofthe most beautiful players. That’s a wonderful South African groove. Iwish that the South African musicians could be listening to stuff like this.5 stars.Wynton Marsalis“Place Congo” (from Congo Square, JALC, 2008) Andre Haywood, trombone;James Zollar, trumpet; Sherman Irby, alto saxophone; Yacub Addy, master drum.Wow, that’s beautiful. That sounded like something from the late ’60s orearly ’70s. If Duke Ellington wanted to write an African suite, he wouldhave done an arrangement like that—the voicings, the solos, the contemporarystuff. I suspected that it was him, but I have no idea if it was someonetrying to imitate him. I keep hearing people like Chief Bey playing inthe drum section. 5 stars.Jerry Gonzalez and The Fort Apache Band“To Wisdom The Prize” (from Moliendo Café, Sunnyside, 1991) Jerry Gonzalez,flugelhorn, congas; Carter Jefferson, tenor saxophone; Joe Ford, altosaxophone; Larry Willis, piano; Andy Gonzalez, bass; Steve Berrios, percussion.For a time, the piano player sounded like Larry Willis, who was with myfirst group. The piano solo, the voicings and so on, Larry did nice stufflike that. If it isn’t Larry Willis, then the guy tries to play like him—or heinfluenced Larry. The trumpet player with the beautiful fat tone, I don’tknow who it might be. Maybe Eddie Henderson. 4 stars.Amir ElSaffar“Flood” (from Two Rivers, Pi, 2007) ElSaffar, trumpet; Rudresh Mahanthappa,alto saxophone; Zafer Tawil: violin, oud, dumbek; Tareq Abboushi: buzuq, framedrum; Carlo DeRosa: bass; Nasheet Waits: drums.I got thirsty on that one. It was sort of Middle Eastern jazz or Arabic jazz,or maybe Saharan jazz. I had pictures of camels and a lot of sand and sandstorms,and I was dying for an oasis. But thematically, I enjoyed it. 3 stars.Charles Tolliver“Chedlike” (from Emperor March, Half Note, 2009) Tolliver, trumpet; orchestra.I loved it. If it wasn’t the Gil Evans band, then it was somebody who is abig fan of Gil Evans. I have all the things he did with Miles Davis. If thedrummer isn’t Elvin Jones, it’s a great fan. The first night I came to NewYork, in September 1960, I saw Elvin Jones with John Coltrane, ReggieHughMasekelaWorkman and McCoy Tyner, and I’d never seen a drummer play likethat. I don’t know the trumpet player. Could it be Johnny Coles? I’m notsure. 4 stars.Brecker Brothers“Wakaria (What’s Up?)” (from Return Of The Brecker Brothers, GRP, 1992)Randy Brecker, trumpet and flugelhorn; Michael Brecker, tenor saxophone;Armand Sabal-Lecco, bass, piccolo bass, drums, percussion, vocals; MaxRisenhoover, snare programming, ride cymbal; George Whitty, keyboards;Dennis Chambers, drums.I loved the arrangement. I have no idea who it is. With Miles Davis andClifford Brown and Fats Navarro and Dizzy Gillespie, all those guys fromthat time, and of course Louis Armstrong before that, you could alwaystell who was playing. Later on, people became technically unbelievable,but you couldn’t really say, “There is so-and-so.” Having been away fromthe States for over 18 years, I haven’t followed any of the new developments.I loved the melody, a nice children’s song kind of thing. 4 1 /2 stars.Dizzy Gillespie“Africana” (from Gillespiana, Verve, 1961) Gillespie, trumpet; Leo Wright, flute;Lalo Schifrin, piano; Art Davis, bass; Chuck Lampkin, drums.That felt to me like Dizzy Gillespie, though it could have been JonFaddis. The flute sounded a little bit like James Moody—I don’t knowhow long ago it was done. I loved the piece, which is very Dizzy-esque. Idon’t know who arranged it. I remember a time when Dizzy was doing alot of work with Quincy Jones, but this sounds like something much later.Dizzy was the Svengali and God of the trumpet. So many people camefrom him. Harmonically, he was amazing. He did beautiful things on theHarmon mute—when he and Miles played it, I threw mine away. DBThe “Blindfold Test” is a listening test that challenges the featured artist to discuss and identifythe music and musicians who performed on selected recordings. The artist is then askedto rate each tune using a 5-star system. No information is given to the artist prior to the test.MICHAEL WEINTROB74 DOWNBEAT August 2009