Hip Jazz Bop: This Is Your Brain

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 1, 1999)
• Original Release Date: June 1, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: 1201 Music
• ASIN: B00000J8A8
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #904,507 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Night Work - Sonny Stitt

2. Minor Mishap - Freddie Hubbard

3. Shades of Blue - Howard McGhee

4. Bright Attitude - Earl Hines

5. Black and Tan Fantasy - Duke Ellington

6. All the Things You Are - Oscar Pettiford

7. Doxy - Dexter Gordon

8. Trinkle, Tinkle - Thelonious Monk

9. Box Cars - Zoot Sims/Bob Brookmeyer

10. Hot House - Bud Powell

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Collection of Black Lion Label Musicians, August 27, 2001

By 

M. Allen Greenbaum (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Hip Jazz Bop: This Is Your Brain (Audio CD)

This is a compilation album of jazz musicians who recorded for the venerable Black Lion company. Included here are songs led by Sonnie Stitt, Freddie Hubbard, Howard McGhee, Earl Hines, Ellington, Oscar Pettiford, Dexter Gordon, Monk, Zoot Sims and Bob Brookmeyer, and Bud Powell, with supporting work from other headliners and sidemen.

The sound is good, though not uniformly outstanding, and most songs are blues-based. A better combination of song styles and tempos would have improved this CD. What's especially fun about this CD series is discovering sidemen who steal the spotlight from the "lead" player. For example, Howard McGhee, Klook, and Sonny Stitts all perform well on the opener, "Night Work," but it is Walter Bishop's piano that satisfies the most. Similarly, Freddie Hubbard's muscular trumpet is very good, but I enjoyed D. Pearson's Powell-esque piano (though more mellow) Pepper Anderson's baritone sax even more.

"Bright Attitude" features Earl "Fatha" Hines birthing a spirited piano, but "Doc" Cheatem on trumpet is not well recorded and doesn't add much. The surprise here is the textures added by J. Wilkins (g) and J. Leary (b). "Black and Tan Fantasy" (4:33; recorded in 1962) shows the usual Ducal colors. The trumpet section (including Ray Nance on cornet) blows some New Orleans styles, and the legendary Duke (though playing very briefly) is wonderful. I enjoyed Oscar Pettiford's bass and cello on "All the Things You Are," Dexter Gordon's relatively melodic solo on the 1967 "Doxy," Monk's playful rendition of "Trinkle Tinkle" (with lots of left-hand syncopation and two-step march), and Bud Powell's progressively more boppish lines on "Hot House."

Perhaps the album highlight is Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone) and Zoot Sims' (tenor sax) "Box Cars," a swinging, energetic number that elevates the entire CD. Jo Jones (d) and B. Crow (b) keep it moving, and Sims' work is shot through with imagination. Howard Jones plays an excellent, slightly boppish piano solo. Great solo and ensemble work. Although not quite as good as some others in the Black Lion compilation series (e.g., "Not Your Typical Self Made Man"), this is a good addition to (especially) a beginner's jazz library.