Face to Face (The Rudy Van Gelder Edition) [Remastered]

Raised by a missionary and a minister in Little Rock, Arkansas, Roosevelt “Baby Face” Willette's organ playing is rooted in the church. His youth and young manhood were spent travelling the country with various R&B and gospel combos until a revelatory discovery of Charlie Parker turned his attention full-time to jazz. Willette’s youthful fervor and his ability to fuse the energy from several different genres is what makes his Blue Note debut so memorable. As he explained in the original liner notes, “there’s really not much difference between rhythm and blues and even church music and jazz. (The church) is where it all came from.” Everything Willette played was steeped in the salty, pungent tone he got from his organ. “High ‘N Low” and the throbbing “Goin’ Down” are pure soul food, Fred Jackson’s charcoal tenor mixing with Willette’s vinegar organ. “Whatever Lola Wants” (a slinky showstopper from an unlikely source, the musical Damn Yankees) is the unexpected centerpiece. Here, the young foursome converges to turn Broadway brass into something far more broiling and bluesy.