Your Favourite Quartet Albums (drums + bass + guitar + sax)

[grahambop]

Herb Ellis - Nothing but the Blues has sax and trumpet (Stan Getz and Roy Eldridge) but no piano.

[Robmid]

Thanks for this thread. It’s helped me to fill out my collection. The guitar/sax quartet is my favorite jazz group configuration.

I have been collecting sax-guitar jazz quartet albums for several years.

I've now collected 140 of these albums and play them in an Apple Music playlist.

They are all good to great. My current favorite is Auteur: Music Inspired by Films of Wes Anderson, by Amanda Gardier.

A few are trios and a few substitute organ for bass.

They are organized by first name. All sidemen are included, unless unavailable.

Enjoy!




Cheers, Robert

[grahambop]

Dave Cliff and Geoff Simkins:

[Christian Miller]

Dave Cliff and Geoff Simkins:

Lovely record


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[jameslovestal]

[Robmid]

Dave Cliff and Geoff Simkins:

Not only have I never heard of this album, I’ve never heard of these artists! There’s always new jazz to discover.

Cheers, Robert

[jameslovestal]

Dexter Gordon is my favorite sax player. He has many albums where he plays with a piano trio.

This album is called Something Different because Gordon wanted a guitarist.

[Robmid]

This is one I missed. I just picked it up. Found a great review on Amazon.

Dexter recorded prolifically in his later European period, chronicled in the Steeplechase series. Most of these albums (The Apartment, Stable Mable, Bouncing with Dex) show him in the galloping, swinging, dynamic form that he carried through to his landing at the Village Vanguard. Something Different is a much more laid back album, reminiscent of The Panther, with the piano switched out for a guitar played by Philip Catherine. It is also a reunion with Billy Higgins on drums. The quartet is rounded out with old reliable Niels-Henning Oersted Pederson (b).

The selections consist of standards Freddie the Freeloader (two takes), When Sunny Gets Blue, Invitation, and Polka Dots and Moonbeams, along with the Slide Hampton piece Yesterday's Mood (two takes) and the Gordon original Winther's Calling, which provide excursions into the modal side of things. Winther's Calling is the most hard-driving piece on the album, but it's intensity isn't like a big light that dazzles and fills the room. It's more the intensity of a steady blue flame.

Billy Higgins provided a rocket boost for Dexter's work on Go and A Swingin' Affair, and the contrast with this album shows his incredible range as an accompanist. He does lots of fills and polyrhythmic figures, but not in a way that interferes with the quieter (yet swinging) character of this album. His drumming stands out not only technically, but for its musicality and support for the ensemble.

Philip Catherine is another drawing card, as a guitarist with a rapid but soft attack, wide dynamic range, and a sophisticated harmonic imagination. Think of Jean-Paul Bourelly with a whisper in his playing. On Invitation, Catherine switches to a nylon string acoustic guitar for a latin style finger-picked accompaniment. It works spectacularly. Thank you for bringing this player to our attention, Dexter.

And let's not forget the session leader - playing with a combination of freshness, swing, warmth, and power in reserve. Dexter's playing is usually like powerful oratory. On this album, his playing is conversational.

Cheers, Robert

[rpjazzguitar]

Glad To Be Unhappy.

Desmond, Hall, Connie Kay, and mostly Eugene Wright on bass. Gene Cherico played on one track.

[Christian Miller]

Dave Cliff and Geoff Simkins:

Since we’re on the Cliffy

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[David B]

Here's a very nice 2023 release from saxophonist Chris Byars in the tenor-guitar-bass-drums format.

[grahambop]

Since we’re on the Cliffy

Indeed I still am (I already have the Warne Marsh/Lee Konitz box set), and I recently picked up a couple more tasty items featuring Dave:

[kris]

[Robmid]

Just wrote the article for All About Jazz:

Saxophone Meets Guitar: The Dynamic Duo of Jazz article @ All About Jazz

RM

[enalnitram]

Paul Motian “On Broadway” Vols 1 & 2

Joe Lovano, Bill Frisell, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian

Vol 3 has 2 saxes….

[FRRGC_]

I believe they've been mentioned already, but my favorites are

Kenny Gerrett - Pursuance: The Music of John Coltrane
(Pat Metheny on guitar)

Joe Henderson - So Near, So Far (Musings for Miles)
(John Schofield on guitar)

Sonny Rollins - On The Bridge
(Jim Hall on guitar)

Ruby Braff With The Ed Bickert Trio
(Ed Bickert on guitar)

They're also four very different approaches to guitar in this piano-less context. Very great stuff in there.

[daveg]

Here's a very nice 2023 release from saxophonist Chris Byars in the tenor-guitar-bass-drums format.

Thanks for this!

DG

[supersoul]

Apologies in advance if this has been mentioned!
It's actually a quintet with tenor, guitar, bass, drums and Garvin Masseaux on chekere.

[jameslovestal]

Apologies in advance if this has been mentioned!
It's actually a quintet with tenor, guitar, bass, drums and Garvin Masseaux on chekere.

A great album to play on a weekend morning when one wants quite gentle music that doesn't make one feel they need to go back to sleep (since it still grooves!).

[wintermoon]

Apologies in advance if this has been mentioned!
It's actually a quintet with tenor, guitar, bass, drums and Garvin Masseaux on chekere.

This has been stuck in my car cd player for months......on purpose

[jameslovestal]

Thanks for this!

DG

Really enjoyed this album. It has that no nonsense Steeplechase sound I love, and the playing is first rate.

[jbernstein91]

North

Jerome Sabbagh, Ben Monder, Joe Martin and Ted Poor