Person to Person: Houston's Got Soul

Houston Person began pounding out music on a piano when he was pretty young. Shortly, though, he switched to the saxophone, which would be the instrument that he spent the rest of his life with. He would go on to study music in college in his native South Carolina. But he was also necessitated to join the army. And oddly enough, while in service, he was introduced to and played with Eddie Harris, Cedar Walton, Leo Wright as well as Don Ellis. While he would maintain a passing stylistic commonality with Harris, he didn't do time with these players subsequent to his stint in the service.

For a number of years, during the early '60s Person worked as a side man in Johnny Hammond's organ focused groups. This experience, as much as the time Person spent listening to Eddie Harris manipulate his instrument, informed the rest of his long career. After leaving the employ of Hammond, though, Person would go on to lead a great many dates - and continues to do so today. Most of his combo's bare at least a passing similarity to those of Hammond's - that just means heavy on the organ and soul influence.

Working mostly with the Prestige label during the soul jazz hey day, Person was able to attract ample talent based upon his background and the fact that in addition to playing with Hammond, the sax player did time with Lena Horne, Horace Silver as well as Lou Rawls. So, on any given date, a random assortment of the soul jazz luminaries kicking around in the '60s may have appeared. And on Person to Person, the date leader was able to wrangle not just Idris Muhammad on drums, but Grant Green on guitar. The inclusion of these two big names, though, didn't necessarily ensure a hugely successful outing.

On an album dominated by covers, it would make sense that the date leader would then insert a huge amount of himself into the compositions or grant a great deal of space to showcase his side men. Neither of these things occurred on this 1970 recording. Getting as much time to solo as anyone else, it seems that Sonny Phillips, the date's organist, had garnered Person's graces. Perhaps due to the sax player's affinity for his time in Hammond's groups, Phillips is given ample time on not just "Yester-me, Yester-you, Yesterday," but also on the laid back "Close to You."

Grant Green is obviously showcased in a few places and keeps to his single note run approach to guitar. But he really isn't a factor in the recording overall. It's unfortunate, seeing as Person to Person suffers a great deal from complacency. The aforementioned "Close to You" really shouldn't have ever been recorded as it's cheese factor is off the charts.

The one redeeming number comes in the form of "Up At Joe's, Down At Jim's." It comes close to the un-funky approach that somehow got Jimmy Smith famous, but again, the keyboard solos keep the track from getting too lazy as on the remainder of the disc.