Howard Johnson has built a reputation as one of the few artists able to bring the unwieldy tuba into the forefront of modal jazz. Here, he ups the ante with a front line of tuba-ists (in various keys) Velvet Brown, Dave Bargeron, Earl McIntrye, Joseph Daley, Bob Stewart and Joe Exley along with a rhythm team of Carlton Holmes/p, Melissa Slocum/b, Buddy Williams/dr and a group of guest vocalists.
The strength of the tuba is most vivid here as are its weaknesses. On the pl us side, you get amazingly rich and glorious harmonies on the songs that hint of John Coltrane’s Africa or Hank Mobley’s High Voltage on exciting pieces such as “Testimony” and “Evolution.” The team slinks with a herky jerky squawk and s pant on the fun “ High Priest” that includes Johnson’s famed baritone sax in the l ead, while earthy vocals by Nedrea Johnson delivers some earthy hues on the Kansas City swinging “”Working Hard For The Jones.” Lots of fun comes when Johnson’s penny whistle arm wrestles with the beefy brass section on “Little Black Lucille” as well, but when the times come for the tuba to solo, it tends to get a bit drowned out for the simple reason of its difficulty to be as dynamically expressive as a smaller brass horn or reed. As with Spock on Star Trek, some people and instruments are made to be excellent second in commands, but not captains in the lead.