Alligator Bogaloo
Encyclopedia
Alligator Bogaloo is an album by jazz
saxophonist Lou Donaldson
recorded for the Blue Note
label in 1967 and featuring Donaldson with Melvin Lastie, Lonnie Smith
, George Benson
, and Leo Morris.
The success of the title track surprised Donaldson: "[W]e made the date and we were three minutes short. I said we don't have no more material. And the guy said just play anything for three minutes so we can fill out the time. So I just made the riff and naturally the guys could follow it. That's the only damn thing that sold on the record."
and soul-jazz
".
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
saxophonist Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson
Lou Donaldson is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.His first recordings were...
recorded for the Blue Note
Blue Note Records
Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...
label in 1967 and featuring Donaldson with Melvin Lastie, Lonnie Smith
Lonnie Smith (jazz musician)
Dr. Lonnie Smith is a jazz Hammond B3 organist and pianist.-Biography:He was born in Lackawanna, New York, into a family with a vocal group and radio program. Smith says that his mother was a major influence on him musically, as she introduced him to gospel, classical, and jazz music...
, George Benson
George Benson
George Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
, and Leo Morris.
The success of the title track surprised Donaldson: "[W]e made the date and we were three minutes short. I said we don't have no more material. And the guy said just play anything for three minutes so we can fill out the time. So I just made the riff and naturally the guys could follow it. That's the only damn thing that sold on the record."
Reception
The album was awarded 4 stars in an Allmusic review by Al Campbell who states "Alligator Bogaloo is one example of Lou Donaldson's successful combinations of hard bopHard bop
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...
and soul-jazz
Soul jazz
Soul jazz is a development of jazz incorporating strong influences from blues, soul, gospel and rhythm and blues in music for small groups, often an organ trio featuring a Hammond organ.- Overview :Soul jazz is often associated with hard bop. Mark C...
".
Track listing
- All compositions by Lou Donaldson except as indicated
- "Alligator Boogaloo" - 6:57
- "One Cylinder" (Freddie McCoyFreddie McCoyFreddie McCoy was an American soul jazz vibraphonist. McCoy started out with Johnny "Hammond" Smith in 1961, then released seven albums for Prestige Records and then one in 1971 for the short-lived Cobblestone Records...
) - 6:49 - "The Thang" - 3:34
- "Aw Shucks!" (Lonnie Smith) - 7:23
- "Rev. Moses" - 6:28
- "I Want a Little Girl" (Murray Mencher, Billy Moll) - 4:29
- Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ on April 17, 1967.
Personnel
- Lou DonaldsonLou DonaldsonLou Donaldson is a jazz alto saxophonist. He was born in Badin, North Carolina. He is best known for his soulful, bluesy approach to playing the alto saxophone, although in his formative years he was, as many were of the bebop era, heavily influenced by Charlie Parker.His first recordings were...
- alto saxophoneAlto saxophoneThe alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions... - Melvin Lastie - cornetCornetThe cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
(tracks 1-5) - Lonnie SmithLonnie Smith (jazz musician)Dr. Lonnie Smith is a jazz Hammond B3 organist and pianist.-Biography:He was born in Lackawanna, New York, into a family with a vocal group and radio program. Smith says that his mother was a major influence on him musically, as she introduced him to gospel, classical, and jazz music...
- organ - George BensonGeorge BensonGeorge Benson is a ten Grammy Award winning American musician, whose production career began at the age of twenty-one as a jazz guitarist....
- guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Leo Morris - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....