Cal Massey - Blues To Coltrane (1961 Candid)

I have read a lot of times name of Cal Massey on compositions of many albums by other artists, for example:

Freddie Hubbard - Here To Stay
Jackie McLean - Demon"s Dance (1967)
Philly Joe Jones - Blues For Dracula (1958) Riverside
Lee Morgan - The Rajah
John Coltrane - The Believer (1957) Prestige
Lee Morgan - The Sixth Sense (1967) Blue Note
Lee Morgan - Lee-Way (1960) Blue Note
Archie Shepp - The Way Ahead(1968)
Archie Shepp - Things Have Got To Change
Archie Shepp - Cry of My People

Here a link with a table with a more complete list of interpretations:
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/hardbop/Massey/Massey.html

I had curiosity listen to this artist playing his own compositions; seems an only one recording is available in the market, and I dont know if he recorded some more.

Biography by Ron Wynn
Born 1928, Died 1972

There's some doubt about the birthdate of composer and trumpeter Cal Massey, with some accounts having him born in 1928. But there's no question about his ability as a composer; Massey wrote some poignant and compelling material, and had works recorded by John Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, Lee Morgan, Philly Joe Jones and Archie Shepp, among others. Some Massey numbers that were cut included Bakai, by Coltrane, Fiesta by Jones, Assunta, Father and Son by Hubbard, Message from Trane by McLean and Cry of My People by Shepp. Massey studied trumpet with Freddie Webster and worked in big bands led by Jay McShann, Jimmy Heath, and Billie Holiday. Massey then opted to concentrate on composing and didn't do much playing the rest of his career, though he did lead an ensemble that included Jimmy Garrsion, McCoy Tyner and Tootie Heath in the late '50s. This group played Massey's compositions, and had periodic guest appearances from Coltrane and Donald Byrd. Massey worked and toured with Archie Shepp from 1969 until his death in 1972, and he also worked with Romulus Francechini, co-founding The Romas Orchestra which also performed Massey compositions. His musical play Lady Day A Musical Tragedy was Massey's final work. The Shepp albums Attica Blues, and Things Have Got To Change and Cry of My People contain several Massey compositions and there is a Candid CD featuring rare examples of Massey's fine trumpet playing.

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Cal Massey - Blues To Coltrane (1961 Candid)

Credits:
Patti Bown Piano
Hugh Brodie Sax (Tenor)
Jimmy Garrison Bass
Wilbert G.T. Hogan Drums
Cal Massey Trumpet
Julius Watkins French Horn

1 Blues to Coltrane Massey 9'11
2 What's Wrong Massey 3'44
3 Bakai Massey 8'15
4 These Are Soulful Days Massey 8'15
5 Father and Son Massey 11'21

Review By Samuel Chell (from ALLABOUTJAZZ web http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=28155)

This is the only recording by the luckless, quasi-legendary trumpeter-composer Cal Massey, whose elliptical, often anonymous career can be a challenge to piece together. Some close followers of the music are aware of the late musician, at least by name, because of “These Are Soulful Days,” a composition programmed by trumpeter Lee Morgan (Lee-Way, Blue Note, 1960) and subsequently recorded by pianist Benny Green and organists Don Patterson and Joey DeFrancesco. For others, the name registers because of pianist Stanley Cowell's composition “Cal Massey,” one of the tracks on saxophonist Clifford Jordan's scintillating and indispensable Glass Bead Games (Harvest Song 1973, 2006).

The present recording appears to have been made in 1961 for Nat Hentoff's Candid Records, when Massey was 32. It was immediately lost and forgotten, then rediscovered and released for the first time, posthumously, in 1987. As for Massey, he died of a heart attack in 1972 at the age of 43, the night after he had seen the preview performance of Lady Day: A Musical Tragedy, to which he had contributed several songs.

Listening to this new edition is an experience of great ambivalence. The music is as original as it is conventional and accessible. It's as well played as it is occasionally somewhat ragged and amateurish in its construction and execution. Jimmy Garrison's bass on “Blues to Coltrane” gets the proceedings off to a strong, reassuring start, but his resonant sound subsequently gets lost in the audio mix until a second unaccompanied walking bass solo later in the program. Massey's trumpet at times reveals a minimalist quality reminiscent of Miles Davis' seminal Walkin' session (Prestige 1954). Julius Watkins' French horn proves a gratuitous solo instrument, limiting the already brief playing time of the leader. Patti Bown, despite her impressive credits, is on this occasion a “dabbling” pianist (on an out-of-tune piano at that), her feathery touch making it difficult to appreciate her contributions or even to distinguish her comping from her soloing.

The revelation on the date is a tenor player by the name of Hugh Brodie, who sounds closer to John Coltrane than any number of players who have provoked the comparison. In fact, on “These Are Soulful Days,” it's likely many listeners would guess Coltrane in a blindfolded heartbeat—he's that close to the legendary tenor giant in terms of his technique, harmonic-melodic conceptions and, above all, intense, gripping sound.

Blues to Coltrane will strike many as a dismissible album, though it's very likely a touchstone to the music and life of Cal Massey—undeniably sad yet intermittently satisfying—delicate, frail, vulnerable yet possessing unmistakable honesty and self-candor (twice during his solos he quotes “Nobody knows the trouble I've seen,” and he can be heard scolding himself when he misses a note).

If nothing else, the recording helps keep alive the name “Cal Massey,” even if the man himself remains a shadowy and inscrutable figure, forever inviting questions that seem to go to the heart of the jazz life itself.