Happy Time

by Roy Eldridge

Product Description:

Personnel: Roy Eldridge (vocals, trumpet); Oscar Peterson (piano); Joe Pass (guitar); Ray Brown (bass); Eddie Locke (drums).

Recorded in New York, New York on June 4, 1975. Originally released on Pablo (2310-746). Includes original liner notes by Benny Green.

Digitally remastered by Phil De Lancie (1991, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California).

A collection of old favorites, recorded in 1975. In addition to his trumpet playing, Roy Eldridge lends his vocal stylings here, with a sense of tribute to the artists who made them so famous years before; in particular, Eldridge's crooning of "Sweethearts on Parade" recalls Louis Armstrong's famous version. The trumpet jam is uniquely Roy Eldridge, however, with its rollicking pace and quirky, ecstatic high notes, while Joe Pass's electric guitar interlude adds an extra dash that vitalizes this romantic excursion.

Like his trumpet playing, Eldridge makes a musician's choices in his vocal phrasing. His low key vocalizing is well suited to the torch song "Willow Weep for Me." His horn reprises his voice in its sentimental quality, but with the intensity and power that makes him one of the foremost trumpet players in jazz history. Oscar Peterson gives a splendid piano performance of the Jimmy Rushing hit "Gee Baby," and Eldridge contributes beautifully tender trumpet on this song, too.