FEBRUARY 15

                 HORACE PARLAN

           Happy Frame of Mind

     

               Recording Date:
                     Febraury 15, 1963

               Personnel:
                    Johnny Coles    TP
                    Booker Ervin    TS
                    Grant Green     G
                    Billy Higgins      D
                    Horace Parlan    P
                    Butch Warren    B

             LINK Retired

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Happy Frame of Mind finds Horace Parlan breaking away from the soul-inflected hard bop that had become his trademark, moving his music into more adventurous, post-bop territory. Aided by a first-rate quintet -- trumpeter Johnny Coles, tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin, guitarist Grant Green, bassist Butch Warren, drummer Billy Higgins -- Parlan produces a provocative set that is grounded in soul and blues but stretches out into challenging improvisations. None of the musicians completely embrace the avant-garde, but there are shifting tonal textures and unpredictable turns in the solos which have been previously unheard in Parlan's music. Perhaps that's the reason why Happy Frame of Mind sat unissued in Blue Note's vaults until 1976, when it was released as part of a double-record Booker Ervin set, but the fact of the matter is, it's one of Parlan's most successful efforts, finding the perfect middle ground between accessible, entertaining jazz and more adventurous music.