Explore Records
2007
Come And See
About This Album
It may be true that vocalist Joe Lee Wilson is best known for his appearances on three of Archie Shepp's seminal albums Things Have Got To Change, Cry Of My People, and Attica Blues. That said, he also worked with a many notable jazz artists before and after, from Sonny Rollins and Miles Davis to Lee Morgan and Jackie McLean, to Pharoah Sanders to Clifford Jordan and then some. Unfortunately, the recordings under his own name didn't do as well commercially despite their intensely high aesthetic merit. These include Livin' Off Nickels And Dimes and Secrets From the Sun in the 1970s, to Hey Look At You, and Ballads For Trane in the 21st century were issued only in Japan and are out of print. Thankfully, Explore Records, the excellent jazz and classical music reissue label has come to the rescue of many fine artists (not to mention jazz fans) and titles and Joe Lee Wilson is one of them. In fact, this set, recorded in 1981 for Japan's Cheetah imprint--but not issued until 2007 on Explore--helps to fill in some of Wilson's missing years and is a genuine lost treasure in jazz. Come And See features Wilson in duet with the great and criminally under-recognized guitarist Jimmy Ponder (who has his own smokin' solo live album on the label as well).
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,6 and 9)

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