Bill Leslie - Diggin' The Chicks

Bill Leslie - Diggin' The Chicks - Argo LP 710 - Original Argo Pressing, Mono, Deep Groove, Tan Promotional Label

Bill Leslie - Tenor Sax & Saxella
Tommy Flanagan - Piano
Thornel Schwartz - Guitar
Ben Tucker - Bass
Art[hur] Taylor - Drums

Recorded - October 19, 1962, Van Gelder's Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ

Supervision - Esmond Edwards
Engineer - Rudy Van Gelder
Cover Photo - Raimondo Borea

Released - May 4, 1963

UPDATE: Bill Leslie recently passed away in Philadelphia.

Here's a wonderful and rather understated rare Argo side by the somewhat obscure tenor sax player Bill Leslie! Leslie who hailed from Philadelphia had a rather brief jazz career from 1962-65, playing on only five sessions according to Lord's discography. This is the second of his two sides on Argo, along with an earlier co-led date with Thornel Schwartz, 'Soul Cookin' which I posted late last year. 'Diggin the Chicks' is essentially the companion piece to Soul Cookin', cut only a month later, complete with similar personnel and liner notes by LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)

This side incidentally was one of Chess Jazz A&R man Esmond Edwards' attempts from 1962-1963 to extend Argo's influence to the New York scene by recruiting local players and recording with Rudy Van Gelder in New Jersey. Yet the Argo sound is still intact here, as this side doesn't sound anything close to a Blue Note/Impulse record. Leslie's take on Ornette Coleman's Lonely Woman is intriguing and worth a listen. Nice fidelity off an original Argo deep groove mono promotional vinyl. Somewhat of a rarity as difficult to track down on vinyl, but this side briefly appeared as a Japan only CD (of course OOP) in 2004.

Get it