Ping-Pong

The Jazz Messengers: Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), Cedar Walton (piano), Reggie Workman (bass) and Art Blakey (drums). From the album Ugetsu (1963).

Ping-pong or table tennis is a sport in which two or four players hit a light ball from side to side of a table divided by a net using a small racket. Except for the serve, here are the rules: players must allow the ball to bounce one time on their side of the table and must return it to bounce on the opposite side at least once. A point is scored when a player doesn’t return the ball according to the rules.

Two or four players can compete, in pairs, like in tennis. It’s a sport that requires a lot of preparation if you want to acquire a good level as a player. Quick reflexes are essential due to the speed in the movements and can be practiced at any age, having great health benefits.

Blakey starts the theme with the drums and then the rest of the group follows. This is a typical medium-fast tempo hard bop theme. The first one to make his solo is Shorter with good disposition and well constructed phrases. Hubbard follows him skillfully linking his fast melodic lines. Then Fuller appears showing off his technique with the instrument. After that, Walton enters with a continuous and well-measured discourse. Then the group re-exposes the theme, but Hubbard makes a new intervention while Shorter and Fuller make a sound mattress underneath. Then Walton also plays again and the theme ends with a few blows from Blakey.