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Tubby Hayes

Intensity

Tentoten Records TTTCDS 759

Recorded at Ronnie Scott's in spring 1965, this hitherto unreleased material catches Tubby Hayes in a brief period between bands ­ as fellow tenor player Simon Spillett points out in his comprehensive liner notes, Hayes experienced 'a recurring headache' caused by his 'inability to fix satisfying rhythm sections in the UK' until he chanced upon Tony Levin in 1966.

Here, he is joined by pianist Terry Shannon, bassist Jeff Clyne and drummer Benny Goodman (real name Dave), but ­ whether he's playing tenor or flute ­ listeners' attention will inevitably be irresistibly drawn chiefly to Hayes.

He launches himself into the lengthy opener, trumpeter Ian Hamer's driving blues 'Mini Minor', as if in obedience to a starting pistol, and never allows either his intensity or his inventiveness to flag over 35 choruses of searing, steaming tenor playing.

Ideas simply pour out of him, almost falling over each other in their rush to find expression via what Spillett (and who better to appreciate them) identifies as 'whole-tone motifs', 'favourite Hayes altissimo lines', 'Coltrane-like phrases ending in harsh bottom-of-the-horn booming', plus a 'touch of fashionable multiphonics' and occasional reliance on 'his infamous ability to double-time'.

A burningly affecting (tenor) visit to the Dietz-Schwartz classic 'Alone Together', and a flute-led exploration of 'Sometime Ago' (which is over half an hour long) complete the programme, the latter notable for the sheer power and intensity of Hayes's playing, which frequently addresses the instrument in a robustly physical manner, utilising breath and voice to produce a positive plethora of striking timbres and textures.

Despite his well-deserved reputation as one of the greatest musicians ever produced in the UK, Hayes is relatively under-represented by good live recordings; this newly discovered set is thus not only unequivocally enjoyable but also extremely valuable as a record of the inexhaustible imagination, breathtaking virtuosity ­ and occasional frustrations ­ of the protean improvising genius that was Tubby Hayes.