The Congregation

Johnny Griffin was born and raised in Chicago, and his tenor had a big, muscular sound, rooted in the blues and in spirituals. Robert Levin, in the original notes, lists the bands he had been through, Lionel Hampton's, Clark Terry's, Thelonious Monk's, and says he was then in and out of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Levin hears the old tenor players in him, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young and Don Byas, as well as Charlie Parker.

His strident voice has a raw, virile quality

Robert Levin, original liner notes

This was his third Blue Note LP, and it turned out to be his last for the label. The date was Wednesday, October 23, 1957, at Rudy Van Gelder's in Hackensack, with Alfred Lion producing. It was a quartet. Sonny Clark, 10 days after his own trio record, played piano. Paul Chambers, who had been on that one too, played bass. On drums was Kenny Dennis, a Philadelphian who had worked with Sonny Stitt; a review reprinted on The Jazz Tome says this was his first time on record. Six takes were made, and five came out.

Side one opens with the title tune, a Griffin original with a gospel feel to its groove.

The tune proves that it is possible to be funky without being angry.

Robert Levin, original liner notes

"Latin Quarter" came from John Jenkins, the Chicago alto player; Levin notes that its melody line is built on "Tangerine." Side two starts with the standard "I'm Glad There Is You," the ballad a Billboard reviewer picked out at the time. "Main Spring," Griffin's other tune, is a down-home blues, with solos from Clark and Chambers as well as the leader. The record closes with the Cahn and Styne song "It's You or No One."

The sleeve is unusual for Blue Note. Reid Miles designed it, but the cover is an illustration, and Wikipedia credits it to Andy Warhol, then still working as a commercial illustrator. Francis Wolff is credited for photography.

The record came out in March 1958. The one tune left over, "I Remember You," first turned up on a Japanese Blue Note set and was added to the CD in 1994. Clark went on working at Van Gelder's for Lion that autumn, on dates for Cliff Jordan and Curtis Fuller.