Poll Winners Three

Shelly Mann, Ray Brown, Barney Kessel, Poll Winners | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 17, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ojc
• ASIN: B000000YWI
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #100,918 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Soft Winds

2. Crisis

3. The Little Rhumba

4. Easy Living

5. It's All Right With Me

6. Mack the Knife

7. Rain Check

8. Minor Mystery

9. (I'm Afraid) The Masquerade Is Over

10. I Hear Music

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Three-Peat is a Bit of a Repeat, February 1, 2004

By 

Michael B. Richman (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Poll Winners Three (Audio CD)

As the reviews below are not very helpful, I will try to contribute one that is. As I have indicated in my reviews of the first two Poll Winners CDs, Guitarist Barney Kessel, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Shelly Manne were the people's choice on their instruments in the late 1950s. Since they had recorded together in the past (with a variety of frontmen), it was only natural that they try to reap the financial rewards of their popularity by forming the Poll Winners Trio. Their third album, "Poll Winners Three!" recorded on November 2, 1959, is perfectly good but the formula of running through the standards of the day is getting a bit repetitive. The album's three originals, "Crisis," "The Little Rhumba," and "Minor Mystery" contributed by Kessel, Manne and Brown respectively, offer some differentiation, and the performances of "Soft Winds" and "Easy Living" are excellent, but the true spirit of these trio collaborations are best captured on the first two albums. "Three!" and "Exploring the Scene" are certainly less about cashing in than their 1975 reunion album "The Straight Ahead," but for my money I would start at "poll" position.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It doesn't get better than this!, April 10, 2008

By 

Ex Republican (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Poll Winners Three (Audio CD)

If there is a better trio around than I haven't heard them. Barney Kessel got me into jazz years ago even though I was a hard core rocker. I own all of the Poll Winners recordings and if you want to hear jazz like it SHOULD be played, this is the place to go.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A winner album, August 3, 2004

By 

Jazzcat "stef" (Genoa, Italy Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poll Winners Three (Audio CD)

I heard that Barney Kessel passed away last may. This is the right occasion to tribute his talent rewieving this album. 1959 was running when this album was released. Just two years were passed since the Jazz zenith, 1957, but the freshness was still there. At least in the hands of these three poll winners, Barney, Ray and Shelly for sure. What separate this guitar /doublebass/ drums trio from trios of the same category are two things. Fantasy and fun. Fantasy because these three giants approach every tune with a different mind, contributing with fresh harmonic, melodic and moreover rythmical ideas, so the tune still if it is a well known standard finds new life. Few guitar based trios have the ability to sound fresh and inventive. The guitar has some idiosyncrasis which make it difficult for the guitarist to be interesting as a band leader. Only few did it successfully, Montgomery, Kessel,.. very, very few. The second is fun. Jazz surely should be deep musically but it should be funny too. These guys never forget this rule. They create interest, they are always ironic, and more than anything else they don't ever forget to swing hard. A special mention should be done to Barney because he has in the trio format, the greatest weight to carry. I don't want to steal you the surprise of hearing for yourself what were able to create these guys, talking about the tunes contained here. It will be enough to say that these guys were winners, and rightly so.