Taking off from director Joseph Mankiewicz' messy celluloid interpretation of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra (DeMille took the first and best stab at it in 1934), tenor saxophonist
Paul Gonsalves casts the Egyptian queen's life in a jazz set of originals and
Alex North movie themes. One of just two dates
Gonsalves did for Impulse and part of an all-too-thin solo catalog,
Cleopatra -- Feelin' Jazzy finds the famed
Ellington soloist in the prime company of hard boppers like pianist
Hank Jones, organist
Dick Hyman, guitarist
Kenny Burrell, bassist George Duvivier, and drummer
Roy Haynes. The band shines throughout, with
Hyman's organ adding exotic film theater ambience on the two
North cuts that kick off the album. Switching over to more straightforward fare,
Gonsalves and company stretch out on
Burrell's "Bluz for Liz" (read
Elizabeth Taylor, one of the leads in the movie) and
Ellington's "Action in Alexandria." The album's conceptual framework is maintained on standouts like "Cleo's Asp,"
Burrell's second piece here, and the
Manny Albam blues ballad "Cleopatra's Lament."
Gonsalves impresses with both complexly swinging solos and breathy ballad statements. A very fine effort by one of the unsung giants of jazz. ~ Stephen Cook