''Mudfoot'' is the debut album by the all-star jazz group The Leaders released on the Black Hawk label in 1986. The album features performances by

Lester Bowie Lester Bowie (October 11, 1941 – November 8, 1999) was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and co-founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Biography Born in th ...

Chico Freeman Chico Freeman (born Earl Lavon Freeman Jr.; July 17, 1949) is a modern jazz tenor saxophonist and trumpeter and son of jazz saxophonist Von Freeman. He began recording as lead musician in 1976 with ''Morning Prayer'', won the New York Jazz Award ...

Arthur Blythe Arthur Murray Blythe (July 5, 1940 – March 27, 2017) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer. He was described by critic Chris Kelsey as displaying "one of the most easily recognizable alto sax sounds in jazz, big and round, with a ...

Cecil McBee Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) is an American jazz bassist. He has recorded as a leader only a handful of times since the 1970s, but has contributed as a sideman to a number of classic jazz albums. Biography Early life and career McBee was b ...

Kirk Lightsey Kirkland "Kirk" Lightsey (born 15 February 1937), is an American jazz pianist. Biography Lightsey had piano instruction from the age of five and studied piano and clarinet through high school. After serving in the army, Lightsey worked in Detr ...

and Don Moye.

Reception

The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

review by

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author. Life and career Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Beginning in 1974, Yanow was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles and was the jazz e ...

states "it is an excellent effort. Two songs are group compositions (including the ad-lib 'Midnite Train'); Freeman provided a tribute to

Eric Dolphy Eric Allan Dolphy Jr. (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader. Primarily an alto saxophonist, bass clarinetist, and flautist, Dolphy was one of several multi-instrumentalists to gain ...

('Freedom Swing Song'); and the other selections include originals by Blythe and McBee, plus

Sam Cooke Samuel Cooke (; January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964) was an American singer and songwriter. Considered one of the most influential soul music, soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the "King of Soul" for his distin ...

's 'Cupid' (which has a Freeman vocal). Worth searching for".

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

wrote: "Opening with a glorious and playful 13-minute blues and closing with a sweet and crooked 'Cupid'... this all-star blowing unit gets arty in between and also gets away with it... Familiar gambits all by now, but this kind of execution is what everybody who begins with them is hoping to end up with." Mike Joyce of

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

commented: "All-star sessions are a commonplace in jazz... every so often an album such as ''Mudfoot''... comes along and makes the idea seem vital and exciting again... It's an impressive lineup, but the group's debut album succeeds primarily because the band is just that – a real band, not just a group of all-stars gathered for a hastily produced recording session." Pianist and composer

Ethan Iverson Ethan Iverson (born February 11, 1973) is a pianist, composer, and critic best known for his work in the avant-garde jazz trio The Bad Plus with bassist Reid Anderson and drummer Dave King. Biography Iverson was born in Menomonie, Wisconsin. ...

praised Blythe's "Miss Nancy," writing: "damn, does Blythe take a great solo on this song... It's all there: the honk, the surreal, post-Coltrane pentatonics, even nailing the hard parallel changes when needed. Yeah!"

Track listing

# "Miss Nancy" (Arthur Blythe) – 13:14 # "Elaborations" (Blythe) – 4:21 # "Midnite Train" (Blythe, Lester Bowie, Chico Freeman, Kirk Lightsey, Cecil McBee, Don Moye) – 3:40 # "Freedom Swing Song" (Freeman) – 4:41 # "Song of Her" (McBee) – 5:37 # "Mudfoot" (Blythe,

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. He played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins. After concluding a playing career in the A ...

, Freeman, Lightsey, McBee, Moye) – 6:49 # "

Cupid In classical mythology, Cupid ( , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus and the god of war Mars. He is also known as Amor (Latin: ...

" (

) – 3:06

Personnel

: trumpet *

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 and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

, vocals *

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

: bass *

: piano * Don Moye: drums

References

{{Authority control 1986 debut albums The Leaders albums BlackHawk Records albums