“I get something out of listening to Coltrane, Shepp, and Coleman; I’m really pleased that young players are trying to change things. If they go back the roots and come up with something new, that’s fantastic.” This comment was made by saxophonist Hal Singer to Gérard Terronès for the magazine Jazz Hot in 1968. Two years later, Terronès would issue Singer’s album Blues and News, on his label Futura Records. Though born in 1919, Hal Singer claims, just like the precursors of free jazz, “to always be looking for something else.” When he started out, he played in numerous swing bands, then worked in bop with Don Byas, Roy Eldridge, or Red Allen, before joining Duke Ellington’s band. In 1948, he recorded a successful single, “Cornbread” under his own name, which allowed him to travel to the four corners of the earth with his own group. Then, in 1965, Hal Singer came to live in France: in Paris, he played at clubs like the C’hat qui pêche or Riverbop; in the studio, he multiplied his experiments and experience. It was one such session led to Blues and News: joined by Jacques Bolognési (trombone), Jean-Claude André (guitar), Siegfried Kessler (keyboards and flute), Patrice Caratini (double bass), Art Taylor (drums), and Alain Charlery (percussion), the saxophonist himself goes “back to the roots,” to also “come up with something new.” Things kick off with “It’s My Thing”, a soul jazz number reminiscent of Cannonball Adderley or Lou Donaldson. After the pretty ballad “Lina,” comes “Malcolm X,” a luminous homage which resists the storm whipped up by Kessler on piano. Getting back to swing, Singer makes music with his communicative ‘joie de vivre’ (“Du Bois”, “Pour Stéphanie”) before signing off with a flamboyant blues dedicated to him by Kessler for the occasion: “Blues For Hal.” But, was another title possible?… Blues For All! Carefully remastered from the master tapes by Gilles Laujol. Graphic design by Stefan Thanneur. Licensed from Futura Records. 425 gsm brownboard outer sleeve; 180 gram vinyl.