The cover of St. Louis Shoes, the sixteenth CD that alto saxophonist Greg Osby recorded for Blue Note, looks like a catalog for a shoe store specializing in very classic models. This footwear represents the practical training he received in St. Louis in dubious establishments, where home-brewing alcohol, illegal gambling and filthy prostitution were rampant. After his official performances, he joined
… this kind of business to jam there until the early hours. It goes without saying that he learned more there than at any school. So at St. Louis Shoes he goes back to the music he played there, which spans a period of no less than seventy years. For example, Duke Ellington (East St. Louis Toodle-Oo), Thelonious Monk (Light Blue), George Gershwin (Summertime) and Charlie Parker (Shaw Nuff) are featured. Of all the compositions on this CD, Osby has only left the melody intact. He has rearranged everything around it. This provides a brilliant mix of Osby's usual funky style, which is rooted in Steve Coleman's M-Base collective, and its musical roots. An admirable achievement. (AD)more