The Tubby Hayes Quintet

Modes And Blues

GEARBOX. LP Previously unissued concert from the British Coltrane. Though he began his solo career as a hard bop acolyte, by the early 1960s Tubby Hayes was seeking new sonic challenges. A big Coltrane fan, Hayes was acutely aware of how the American saxophonist was breaking new ground with his simpler modal style that freed musicians from a relentless cycle of chord changes. This looser approach let Coltrane open up and extend his music, allowing longer, more exploratory solos. Hayes, too, found creative freedom by going modal as this rare archival recording of his quintet at Ronnie Scott’s in ’64 reveals. It consists of one 33-minute track (divided across two sides of vinyl), which begins tentatively before exploding into life. From then on it’s a thrilling, white-knuckle rollercoaster ride with Hayes’s tenor sax soloing flat-out for 20 minutes while never running out of steam or ideas.