On the Spur of the Moment is the fifth album by American jazz pianist Horace Parlan

Horace Parlan

Horace Parlan is an American hard bop and post-bop piano player.He is noted for his contributions to the classic Charles Mingus recordings Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots....

 featuring performances recorded and released on 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 1961.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album 4 stars and stated "There are a few ballads, and even when things are at their hottest, Parlan's understated playing is a cue for the group to keep it tasteful, but that relaxed atmosphere is part of the reason why On the Spur of the Moment is another winning effort from the underrated pianist".

Track listing

All compositions by Horace Parlan except as indicated

1. "On the Spur of the Moment" - 5:52
2. "Skoo Chee" (Booker Ervin
   Booker Ervin
   Booker Telleferro Ervin II was an American tenor saxophone player. He was perhaps best known for his association with bassist Charles Mingus....
   
   ) - 10:55
3. "And That I Am So in Love" (Harold Ousley
   Harold Ousley
   Harold Lomax Ousley is an American jazz tenor saxophonist and flautist.Ousley began playing in the late 1940s, and in the 1950s recorded behind vocalists such as Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington. He played as a sideman with Gene Ammons in the 1950s and with Jack McDuff and George Benson in the...
   
   ) - 5:04
4. "Al's Tune" (Ervin) - 7:02
5. "Ray C." (Leon Mitchell) - 6:45
6. "Pyramid" (Roger Williams
   Roger Williams (pianist)
   Roger Williams was an American popular music pianist. As of 2004, he had released 116 albums.-Biography:...
   
   ) - 6:28
7. "On the Spur of the Moment" [alternate take] - 7:55 Bonus track on CD reissue
8. "Pyramid Talk" [alternate take] (Williams) - 6:31 Bonus track on CD reissue
   • Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ on July 14, 1960

Personnel

• Horace Parlan
  Horace Parlan
  Horace Parlan is an American hard bop and post-bop piano player.He is noted for his contributions to the classic Charles Mingus recordings Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots....
  
   - piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  
• Tommy Turrentine
  Tommy Turrentine
  Thomas Walter Turrentine, Jr. was a swing and hard bop trumpeter of the 1940s to 1960s, the older brother of saxophonist Stanley Turrentine.-Biography:...
  
   - trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  
• Stanley Turrentine
  Stanley Turrentine
  Stanley William Turrentine, also known as "Mr. T" or "The Sugar Man", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Turrentine was born in Pittsburgh's Hill District into a musical family...
  
   - tenor saxophone
  Tenor saxophone
  The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
  
  
• George Tucker
  George Tucker (musician)
  George Andrew Tucker was an American jazz double-bassist.Tucker attended the New York Conservatory of Modern Music, studying bass in the late 1940s. Early in his career he played with Earl Bostic, John Coltrane, and Jackie McLean...
  
   - bass
  Double bass
  The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
  
  
• Al Harewood
  Al Harewood
  Al Harewood is a musician and teacher, born in Brooklyn. As a drummer Harewood worked with many jazz musicians including the J.J. Johnson/Kai Winding group, the Art Farmer/Gigi Grice band, David Amram, and the Curtis Fuller-Benny Golson Sextet...
  
   - drums
  Drum kit
  A 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 ....