This is deffo a disc I shall keep coming back to.
Stunt Records cat.no: STUCD24012 (CD) STULP24011 (LP)
Jim Mullen (guitar), Jan Harbeck (tenor saxophone), Ben Paterson (organ), Kristian Leth (drums).
For Heaven’s Sake / Kiko / I’ll Close My Eyes / Angel Eyes / Medica on / This Here / The Touch Of Your Lips / Stairway To The Stars / Swanee River / When In Rome / Caravan
Jim Mullen plays guitar with a extraordinary range of styles, ranging from in-your-face jazz fusion dating back to Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express and the legendary Morrissey-Mullen group (with tenor giant Dick Morrissey) through light swing to lush slow ballads. He is as at home as a featured soloist or discreet accompanist, as for instance in the recent and recently reviewed Elaine Delmar release. Along the way Mullen has been featured with just about everyone including Mose Allison, fellow-Scot Tam White, Mike Carr, Jimmy Witherspoon, Claire Martin and Georgie Fame. He just sits, blends in and plays whatever fits the bill. I once saw him at the Camden Jazz Café zen-ignoring the way an embarrassingly bad-tempered Jimmy Smith was being rude to an unfortunate member of the audience who – when asked – had said he played piano and organ. “Learn to play one thing properly before you try something else….” sniped Smith, with many colourful expletives.
Glasgow-born Jim Mullen (now 79, though no-one would believe it from his playing) is self-taught and like Wes Montgomery plays with his thumb. Anyone hearing Mullen will not be surprised to hear that Wes Montgomery, George Benson and Jim Hall are his favourite players. The way he never dominates or intrudes, is nicely evidenced here. Although the album is titled the Jim Mullen Quartet it could equally well be labelled with the name of Chicago organist Ben Paterson or Paul Gonsalves-styled tenor Jan Harbek. There’s no bass because Paterson does the job, presumably with B3 feet. Drummer Kristian Leth, also from Denmark, is a subtle rock.
The general feel reminds of those wonderful small group albums made by Jimmy Smith (the fact that he could be a difficult chap, never affected his sound) but Harbek’s sax is more sinuous and less booty than Smith’s various partners.
This recording, made in Copenhagen in October 2023, but not mixed and mastered until nearly a year later, was organised by drummer Leth, who also put together a group tour. I’d love to hear them in a club.
The CD has 11 tracks and a very decent running time of over 63 minutes. I don’t see how that can all be squeezed onto a single LP, with gutsy sound quality, so check the comparative content and price of different release formats.
The sleeve has some nice moody monochrome photos and a useful insert booklet. There are some good tunes, too, including Medication by Mullen, Cy Coleman’s When in Rome, Angel Eyes by Matt Dennis and This Here by Bobby Timmons.
This is deffo a disc I shall keep coming back to.
