Customer Reviews

Al Cohn Quintet

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Hats off to Verve for continually culling their vast vaults and re-releasing long out-of-print classic jazz albums. Recently this effort has included a bunch of old Coral Records LPs, including this one by tenor saxophonist Al Cohn. "The Al Cohn Quintet" is only the second album by the jazzman I have purchased, with the first being "You N' Me" with Zoot Sims. However, I'm quite familiar with the rest of the group -- the great valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, pianist Mose Allison, bassist Teddy Kotick and drummer Nick Stabulas. This December 1956 session features 12 songs all arranged by either Cohn or Brookmeyer, six of them standards and three each penned by the frontmen. All but one song is under 4 minutes (and it logs in at only 4:20) so there isn't a lot of stretching out during the solos. But the arrangements are so tight and the solos so concise and well articulated that the swinging never suffers. Overall, it is an enjoyable CD, but be aware this is a limited edition title and will only be available until March 2008.

The beauty of this music comes both from the tight interplay of the musicians and from their individual excellence; occasional jazz standards ("The Lady is a Tramp", "Ill Wind", "Shine") surely helps, but the ellegant swinging lightness of this quintet shines throughout the cd...

Although Bob Brookmeyer's valve trombone is by no means sturdy or expressive as some less cool trombones, within the strict limits of the mood set by this album it contrasts Cohn's sound beautifully, making them sound richer and more diverse than one would expect from listening to their respective individual soloing... I LIKE THIS!