Thursday, November 04, 2021

Don Pullen's "Trees and Grass and Thangs" and the George Adams-Don Pullen Quartet with Dannie Richmond on drums in early 1988

Today, I listened to a 1984 album by the George Adams-Don Pullen Quartet, "Decisions", which begins with the joyous Pullen composition "Trees and Grass and Thangs". Pullen plays one of his singular piano solos that start with R&B melody and end up with free jazz cascades of swirling notes – just like when I heard him play with Adams, bassist Cameron Brown, and drummer Dannie Richmond at Yoshi's in Oakland in early 1988. Richmond's performance that evening was also memorable; he played with as much joy and life as I have ever seen any musician produce on stage. And a few weeks later, he suddenly died of a heart attack at 56. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 4 November 2021)

 

File:Dannie Richmond.jpg
Dannie Richmond in Half Moon Bay, 1981 (from Wikipedia)


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