LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Arnett Cobb was the very archetype of the Texas tenor. His playing had swagger, deep blues feeling, and a sound as spacious as the skies of his native state. The critic, playwright, and poet LeRoi Jones once called Cobb "an old swinging work horse stomper." That description is accurate as far as it goes, but it overlooks a rather more sophisticated side of Cobb's playing, his tenderness, which is apparent here in "Ghost of a Chance." The rest of the album's music supports its title. Cobb moves right along in the company of a rhythm section a generation younger but equally dedicated to finding the grit at the heart of the music. In 1960, when Movin' Right Along was recorded, "soul" was a byword in jazz circles. Everyone wanted soul. Cobb had it all his life. Nitty Gritty, All I Do Is Dream of You, (I Don't Stand) a Ghost of a Chance (With You), Exactly Like You, Walkin'; Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise; Fast Ride, the Shy One with Bobby Timmons, Tommy Flanagan, Sam Jones, Arthur Taylor, Buck Clark, Danny Barrajanos