Fats Navarro
The Fabulous Fats Navarro

LA RECENSIONE

If one were to write a chapter about musicians who died prematurely, jazz could fill several pages. Fats Navarro was only 26 years old when he died. Officially from tuberculosis, but probably from the effects of excesses accumulated by that age.

Complexed by his shrill voice and his imposing physique (which earned him the nickname "fat girl"), he channeled all his creativity into his instrument, the trumpet, shaping a style without weaknesses. Great melodic intuition, strong attacks, significant harmonic knowledge. He adapted the bebop language and coined an original version of "Gillespie's orthodoxy."

Fats sought structural perfection and the utmost formal refinement in every solo. Based on his phrasing, he was a precursor of hard bop, a style that would develop later and which, unlike bebop, is more melodic and refined. He worked in the quintet of Bud Powell and also collaborated on an orchestral level with Billy Eckstine in the 1940s. In this collection, divided into two volumes, with pieces recorded at the end of the 1940s, there are tracks of classic jazz such as "The Squirrel", "Our Delight", and "If You Could See Me Now."

The first volume is in a sextet, with pianist Ted Dameron (another character with an extraordinary personality) where Navarro is in top form. Each of his solos is a little gem. The alto sax of Ernie Henry contributes, with his notable sense of the blues, to creating a decidedly captivating sound. It closes with two pieces from the Bud Powell quintet "Double Talk" and "Dameronia", in which the tenor sax of a very young Sonny Rollins also performs.

The second volume collects the sessions that gave birth to tracks like "Lady Bird", "Jahbero", and "Symphoniette", and a reunion of Navarro with one of his mentors, the trumpeter Howard McGhee. Label Blue Note.