The Heath Brothers - Passin' Thru

Passin' Thru Review

 

by Scott Yanow

The Heath Brothers' second recording and Columbia debut has an impressive amount of variety. The core group -- Jimmy Heath on tenor, soprano and flute, bassist Percy Heath, drummer Albert "Tootie" Heath and keyboardist Stanley Cowell -- is joined on some selections by their future guitarist Tony Purrone, percussionist Mtume (Jimmy's son), and a four-piece brass section. With Jimmy's arrangements for the fairly diverse but consistently straight-ahead set adding color, this LP, which mixes together bop standards with more recent originals, is well worth searching for.

The Heath Brothers

Jimmy, Percy, and Tootie Heath teamed up in 1975 to form the Heath Brothers. Up until then, bassist Percy had been busy with the Modern Jazz Quartet, but with the group in "retirement" (temporarily as… 
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The Heath Brothers       Passin' Thru  

1. A New Blue 2. Light Of Love 3. In New York 4. Artherdoc Blues 5. Mellowdrama 6. Yardbird Suite 7. Changes 8. Prince Albert Jimmy Heath - tenor, soprano sax & flute Jim Buffington, Joe De Angelis - french horn Wayne Andre - trombone Howard Johnson - tuba Stanley Cowell - keyboards Percy Heath - bass Albert "Tootie" Heath - drums Tony Purrone - guitar

Recording Date

May 19, 1978