Chicago has long been famous for big-toned tenor men, and when jazz enthusiasts are discussing hard bop tenor giants who have lived in the Windy City,
Johnny Griffin's name inevitably comes up, along with the likes of
Gene Ammons (who died of cancer in 1974), and
Ira Sullivan (who also plays several other wind instruments, including alto and soprano sax, trumpet, and flugelhorn).
Griffin was 71 when, in February 2000, he visited Hamburg, Germany and recorded
Close Your Eyes, an album of tenor/piano duets with pianist
Horace Parlan (who was 69 at the time). Neither bass nor drums are employed on this German release -- strictly sax and acoustic piano -- and this intimate setting works well for the veteran jazzmen, who enjoy a consistently strong rapport throughout the album. Clearly, neither musician has lost anything in the chops department; both are very much on top of their game. Over the years,
Griffin has had no problem with the fiercely competitive, hell-bent-for-chops approach -- there's a reason why his admirers used to describe him as "the world's fastest tenor" -- but
Close Your Eyes isn't about competition. It's about dialogue, intimacy, and lyricism, and
Griffin's lyrical side serves him nicely on standards like "My One and Only Love," "Someone to Watch Over Me," "I Hear a Rhapsody," and
Thelonious Monk's "Pannonica". Yes, many of the songs on this CD are warhorses that have been beaten to death over the years, but when the tenor in question is a 71-year-old bop survivor who has spent more than half-a-century in the trenches, one tends to be forgiving of the warhorse factor.
Close Your Eyes falls short of essential, but it's a respectable, solid addition to
Griffin's sizable catalog. ~ Alex Henderson