Wess Anderson and cohorts celebrate Natural History and Lou Donaldson
4th September 2018 · 0 Comments
By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer
Hand claps and the words natural history continually repeated make for an invigorating start to the album – well, what else? – Natural History . Its creators are a collaboration of musicians with our own saxophonist Wess Anderson, trumpeter Mark Rapp, organist/pianist David Ellington and drummer Chris Burroughs. The group, with drummer Geoff Clapp stepping in for Burroughs, will celebrate the release of the CD as well as pay tribute to saxophone legend Lou Donaldson at the Prime Example on Thursday, August 30 and Snug Harbor on Friday, August 31, 2018. Boasting the right instrumentation for the job, the band will probably touch on Donaldson’s signature boogaloo style.
“We’ll definitely do, ‘Alligator Bogaloo,’” Anderson declares referring to Donaldson’s hit on his Blue Note album of the same name. The saxophonist then adds that personally he associates boogaloo, a rhythm that originated in Cuba and traveled to New York, to dance. “The essence of boogaloo is groove, so it dances.”
Even though Natural History contains all original material by Anderson or co-written by him with members of the band, New York City and Donaldson ultimately played a big part in its creation.
“There was a tribute to Lou Donaldson a couple of years ago {2015} at Wynton Marsalis’ place, Dizzy’s Club in New York, “Anderson explains. “We played two sets a night and on the last set, guess who walks in – Lou Donaldson. He comes right to the front and he says, ‘Let me hear what you’re playing, let me see. Because if you are bull shitting, we are going to have a problem,” Anderson vividly remembers and knew, by Donaldson’s reputation, that the legend wouldn’t mince words.
“Papa Lou, give it to me honestly,” Anderson asked him. His reply was that the set was great and offered, ‘What made it great was, y’all played the tunes but you played them the way you play them. You weren’t trying to imitate my sound.’” Anderson was naturally honored by the compliment coming from such icon. “That’s how we got the band together.”
As a fellow alto saxophonist, Anderson was naturally influenced by Donaldson. “I’m originally from Brooklyn so I always used to come over to Manhattan to see him at the Village Vanguard. He used to play there twice a year and he and {organist} Dr. Lonnie Smith would come in there and you would think it was a church prayer night.”
(Incidentally, Dr. Lonnie Smith plays regularly in New Orleans and Donaldson’s bands have included Crescent City greats like trumpeter Melvin Lastie and drummer Idris Muhammad. Perhaps not coincidentally, it’s the same line-up—alto, organ, trumpet and drums – as on Natural History.)
Let’s get back to that… Anderson wrote the tune in 2001, right around the time, he says, of the 9/11 terrorist attack. His inspiration was performing at New York’s Museum of Natural History. “I brought the tune to the recording session {some 16 years later}and they liked it,” says Anderson who credits Burroughs as co-writer. “So we started playing it and my drummer says, ‘Let’s put some hand claps on it and say something – just say natural history.’”
The effect is somewhat reminiscent of when the Sun Ra Arkestra would march around singing “Space is the place,” eventually engaging entire audiences to join in the chant.
When the band plays it live, they encourage folks to repeat natural history throughout the entire song – “even when we’re playing solos.”
Anderson is at his most adventurous on this cut, taking it outside of the swing and hard bop for which he is best known while trading some gritty bars with Rapp.
Anderson agrees that his aim was to challenge himself. “I’ve had three strokes and this is the first recording I’ve played since I was sick,” he offers. “I was worried people would notice. Mark helped me relax saying, ‘Don’t worry about your hand, just go ahead and play.’ All the musicians’ input really helped me. It turned out to be really fun.”
In 2002, New York City was also the locale of Anderson hooking up with trumpeter Rapp. “Mark used to play in New York at the Carnegie Club bar which was three blocks away from Lincoln Center,” Anderson recalls. “So whenever I finished a concert with Wynton at Lincoln Center, I was still up and wanted to hear somebody play and have a drink. I started sitting in with him and then I started playing with him. I said we need to put a band together. He was working with David Ellington so he said, ‘Let’s try an organ thing.’”
If the name David Ellington rings a bell to local music devotees, it should. The pianist, who presently focuses primarily on the Hammond B-3, was very active on the New Orleans scene playing and recording with the likes of Walter “Wolfman” Washington and the Wild Magnolias, doing some jazz gigs and leading his own band. Ellington headed to Atlanta in 2005.
“I didn’t know David when he was here,” Anderson says. “Our paths didn’t cross but our paths have crossed now.”
Ellington’s strong organ is featured on Anderson’s toe-tapping “Stroke Blues” that just screams of an era when B-3s often stood center stage at barrooms around the country. Rapp picks up the mute for an easy going and finely tuned solo. Ellington teamed with Anderson to compose “Pati,” and moves from organ to piano for a quieter acoustic sound while Anderson’s soloing is a study in the beauty of simplicity.
Anderson explains that since his illness, he now plays the way he’s always taught. “I teach musicians not to play with so many notes but with more feeling,” he offers. “Okay, now I can’t play fast. Let’s see if I can still bring the same intensity just playing three notes.”
Anderson remembers asking Lou Donaldson about moving from working with hard bop giants like trumpeter Clifford Brown and drummer Art Blakey to his more soulful, blues-oriented sound. “He told me when he started with Blue Note Records, they wanted something different and a lot simpler and getting back to a dance groove.”
That’s a torch that Anderson carries on Natural History. “It’s good time, that’s what it is,” he declares in describing his upcoming shows. ‘If you feel good, clap your hands, move your head, move your foot because we’re going to take you to the best place ever – natural history.
This article originally published in the August 27, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
