LP-699

Eldee Young – Just For Kicks

Released 1962

Recording and Session Information

Leo Wright, alto saxophone, flute; Mal Waldron, piano; Eldee Young, bass, cello; Richard Evans, bass; Redd Holt, drums
Ter Mar, Chicago, December 28 1961

11389 Thing-a-ma-jig
11390 Untitled
11391 Sometimes I feel like a motherless child
11392 Mr. Kicks
11393 When Johnny comes marching home
11402 Blues
11403 Goodbye
11404 Crazy she calls me
11405 John Henry
11406 Cry me a river Truly
Big brother
Just for kicks

Track Listing

When Johnny Comes Marching Home	L. Lambert	December 28 1961
Goodbye	Gordon Jenkins	December 28 1961
Crazy She Calls Me	Sigman-Russell	December 28 1961
Big Brother	E. Young	December 28 1961
Cry Me A River	A. Hamilton	December 28 1961
Truly	E. Young	December 28 1961
Mr Kicks	Oscar Brown Jr.	December 28 1961
Motherless Child		December 28 1961
Just For Kicks	E. Young	December 28 1961
John Henry		December 28 1961

Liner Notes

YOUNG CARL YOUNG "blew" guitar and sang and dug jazz the most. In his middle twenties his driving dream was to make it as a musician. Naturally, he turned his Little Brother on to music. The kid was still skinning his shins in a West Side Chicago schoolyard, but he was eager to learn.

"Wash your hands and I'll let you play". Carl would say. To Big Brother, the instrument was too beautiful for dirty hands to hold. Then when the kid retutned all scrubbed and ready, the lessons would begin.

"Don't just grab the instrument any old way. Hold it just so. Now try this change. No, listen to how Lonnie Johnson does it. See? try that run again, and swing, dammit, swing!

The directions pointed by Big Brother Carl have guided Little Brother, Eldee Young all his life. He has the same deep love of music and respect for his instruments. His sounds, like his hands, are clean and correct. And above all, he swings. This album, "Just For Kicks" is a moving demonstration of how far Eldee has come and of how much farther he can go.

His recipe is simple. Take a handful of prime musicians, seasoned well. Mix with bold, but sensitive musical concepts. Pour in plenty of purpose and salt it with a sack of soul, and cook. The result is well done.

"I've wanted to make this album for a long time", Eldee explains. "I wanted to show what my instruments can do. The bass has always been part of jazz, but it's seldom used as a boss instrument. Its melodic possibilities are seldom explored and the cello is hardly used at all."

Side one is Eldee's boss bass swinging in boldly as "Johnny Comes Marching Home". "Goodbye" could be a love scene with the bass cast as boy, and Leo Wright's bittersweet alto sax as girl. Eldee grows pensive and more melodic for "Crazy She Calls Me", while "Big Brother" is full of happy memories of Carl. "Cry Me A River" features Wright's alto and reads like a dear John letter.

Side two takes us to the land of the cello, starting with some blues: "Truly", some blues. As the hip slickster, "Mr. Kicks", Eldee introduces himself both on cello and with his spoken vocal. Then comes the weep and wail of the lonely "Motherless Child". The company was perfect to swing "Just For Kicks", the title tune, and to stand tall like mighty "John Henry."

This was what Eldee wanted. A triumph? Yes — but he'd be first to tell you of the rich contributions made by Leo Wright's sensitive sax and flawless of how strong Mal Waldron is on piano and Richard Evans on bass, and of the melodic thunder drummed up by Red Holt who with Eldee and Ramsey Lewis forms one of the most formidable trios in jazz.

And there was one more musician in the group, unseen save by Eldee himself. Big Brother Carl who gave guitar in his thirties; who died at age 41 just four anonths before this album was cut, but whose spirit was in every note.

Yes, the musical Young Brothers made it — both of them.

Oscar Brown. Jr.