Four Classic Albums

RELEASE
August 01, 2011
LABEL
Real Gone Jazz
GENRES
Jazz, Post-Bop, Progressive Jazz, Straight-Ahead Jazz, Modern Jazz, Progressive Big Band

Album Review

The cover of this this Real Gone Jazz repackaging of Quincy Jones' work circa 1956-1960 is a curious one. While the box set shows three of the the four album's original covers -- This Is How I Feel About Jazz (1956), Go West, Man! (1957) and I Dig Dancers (1960) -- it also depicts the cover of Birth of a Band, Vol. 2, when the album actually included is the original from 1958. Aside from this, these four recordings, from the very beginning of Jones' career as a bandleader, staff writer, and arranger for Mercury, are all high in quality and feature some of the greatest names in jazz. Among them: Pepper Adams, Conte and Pete Candoli, Benny Carter, Paul Chambers, Buddy Collette, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Art Farmer, Curtis Fuller, Herb Geller, Benny Golson, Freddie Hubbard, Milt Jackson, Hank Jones, Mel Lewis, Melba Liston, Herbie Mann, Shelly Manne, Charlie Mariano, Charles Mingus, Oliver Nelson, Art Pepper, Jack Sheldon, Sahib Shihab, Zoot Sims, Billy Taylor, Clark Terry, Lucky Thompson, Leroy Vinnegar, Frank Wess, and Phil Woods. Jones composed a few tunes here, but other writers like Golson, Bobby Timmons, Cannonball Adderley, Johnny Mandel, and Mariano contributed to the overall excellence of these recordings (the tune "A Sleepin' Bee" was co-written by Harold Arlen with Truman Capote!). From readings of standards like "Tuxedo Junction" and "Our Love Is Here to Stay," to modern jazz tunes like "Moanin'" and "I Remember Clifford," these performances are tight, focused and swing like mad. Given the price, the 35 tracks included on these two discs are a bargain.
Thom Jurek, Rovi

Track Listing

  1. Walkin'
  2. Stockholm Sweetnin'
  3. Evening in Paris
  4. Sermonette
  5. A Sleepin' Bee
  6. Boo's Blues
  7. Dancin' Pants
  8. Blue's Day
  9. Bright Moon
  10. No Bones at All
  11. The Oom Is Blues
  12. Be My Guest
  13. What's New/We'll Be Together Again/Time on My Hands/You Go to My Head/L
  14. London Derriere
  15. King's Road Blues
  16. The Birth of a Band
  17. Moanin'
  18. I Remember Clifford
  19. Along Came Betty
  20. Tickle Toe
  21. Happy Faces
  22. Whisper Not
  23. The Gypsy
  24. A Change of Pace
  25. Tuxedo Junction
  26. Pleasingly Plump
  27. G'wan Train
  28. Moonglow
  29. Tone Poem
  30. You Turned the Tables on Me
  31. Chinese Checkers
  32. Our Love Is Here to Stay
  33. The Midnight Sun Will Never Set
  34. Trouble on My Mind
  35. A Sunday Kind of Love