By adding guitarist
Grant Green and tenor saxophonist
Booker Ervin to his standard rhythm section of bassist
George Tucker and drummer
Al Harewood, pianist
Horace Parlan opens up his sound and brings it closer to soul-jazz on
Up and Down.
Green's clean, graceful style meshes well with
Parlan's relaxed technique, while
Ervin's robust tone and virile attack provides a good contrast to the laid-back groove the rhythm section lays down. Stylistically, the music is balanced between hard bop and soul-jazz, which are tied together by the bluesy tint in the three soloists' playing. All of the six original compositions give the band room to stretch out and to not only show off their chops, but move the music somewhat away from generic conventions and find new territory. In other words, it finds
Parlan at a peak, and in many ways, coming into his own as a pianist and a leader. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine