CD review: Houston Person – Reminiscing At Rudy’s 2022: Video, CD cover

Tenor saxophonist Houston Person’s playing has a lot in common with a perfectly brewed cup of coffee: both are bold, satisfying, smooth, eye-opening and addictive once experienced.

Whether it be during smouldering blues-tinged numbers (“Please Send Me Someone to Love”), up-tempo takes on old favorites (“At Long Last Love,” “Moon River”), or steamy, sultry, late-night ballads (“Put Your Head on My Shoulder”), Person never fails to deliver a performance where expressivity is the order of the day. The band is made up of a hand-picked group from Person’s cadre of regular colleagues with guitar great Russell Malone adding his imaginative voicings and swinging rhythms to the mix.

The album’s title is an homage to Houston’s engineer of choice, the legendary Rudy Van Gelder. Person’s very first recording as a leader, the 1967 ‘Underground Soul!’, was done at Rudy’s fabled Englewood Cliffs studio and they continued their friendship and working relationship until Van Gelder’s passing in 2016. But this is a not a backward-looking memorial album. That is not Person’s style. If you go by his busy performance schedule and his extensive discography, Houston Person is, like his fans, always looking forward to his next gig.

01. At Long Last Love 4:57
02. Again 6:50
03. Moon River 4:48
04. Put Your Head on My Shoulder 5:27
05. Why Did I Choose You 4:12
06. Nothing Ever Changes My Love for You 4:17
07. My Romance 6:15
08. I’ll Let You Know 7:42
09. Please Send Me Someone to Love 7:01
10. Reminiscing at Rudy’s 5:50

Houston Person (tenor saxophone)
Russell Malone (guitar)
Larry Fuller (piano)
Matthew Parrish (bass)
Lewis Nash (drums, vocal #6)