HOWARD MCGHEE
Maggie's Back In Town (Contemporary/OJC)
Reviewed by Ron Saranich

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Few jazz fans are familiar with Howard McGhee and his importance to jazz. From 1945 through 1949, when Down Beat magazine named him Best Trumpeter, he was considered one of the masters of his chosen instrument, comparable to Dizzy Gillespie and Fats Navarro. Performing with Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Coleman Hawkins, and Charlie Parker, McGhee was a pivotal figure as jazz transitioned from swing to bop. However, heavy drug use took its toll and McGhee was largely inactive during the next decade. He attempted a comeback in the 1960s, but by then jazz was moving away from bop towards fusion and free styles.

On Maggie's Back In Town, McGhee's comeback reached its zenith. Backed by the dynamic rhythm section of Phineas Newborn Jr. on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass and Shelly Manne on drums, McGhee shone. Though still possessing the lightening-fast chops of his early years, his maturity enabled him to use pauses and spaces to convey his desired emotional state. McGhee's playing is white hot on such numbers as "Summertime" and "Willow Weep For Me." The entire quartet cooks on three standards, a McGhee original blues, two songs written by Teddy Edwards (including the title number, written as a tribute) and a Clifford Brown tune.

During the 1940s and 1950s, so many jazz greats lost either their lives or many of their peak creative years to drugs. McGhee was no exception. At the age of thirty one, he was selected best trumpet player over such luminaries as Gillespie, Navarro, Davis and Brown. Today, he is considered underrated. Do yourself a favor. Buy or borrow a copy of this recording and ensure that Maggie's back on your cd player. The man could play!

© 2000 - Ron Saranich