Customer Reviews

Traditionalism Revisited

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Brookmayer's long career have shown him to be amongst the most inspired arrangers of the post-Big Band Era. His genius was already obvious by the time of this great recording, though. Stints in support of Gerry Mulligan and Jimmy Giuffre (featured here!) had reinforced Bob's unique Valve Trombone style and distinctive arranging skills so that this release had a truly special place in the red-hot jazz world of the 1950s. The "traditionalism" were classic chestnuts of the early jazz canon, the "revisited" was the stylized recasting which Brookmayer, Giuffre and Jim Hall lent to them. As high a point in the "chamber jazz" movement as any of Giuffre's 3 or Chico Hamilton's recordings (which the curious are also strongly urged to check-out). "Kansas City Revisited" is also a must-have for anybody who enjoys this. For further research: Brookmayer's early-1980s return to the arranger's seat for some great Mel Lewis Big Band recordings!

Unlike many recordings given 5 star ratings on amazon[.com], this one actually deserves it. If you like Brookmeyer, or if you like west coast jazz or cool jazz at all, you should be very interested in this highly creative work. I'm not sure exactly what Brookmeyer and his gang were going for, but what they succeeded in doing was taking old, old tunes (from the 1920s, etc.) and giving them a fresh, swinging, 1960s feel, without losing the their essential old-fashioned aspects. The result is some seriously interesting, seriously delightful music.

This is as beautiful as I kinda hoped it might be...

If you're into West Coast jazz (50s, cool style) you 'll probably like it, but the same goes if you are a traditionalist (like I am)
or if you like merging of different eras and styles (like me, again)...
Bob Brookmeyer (on trombone and piano), Jimmy Giuffree (on reeds) and Jim Hall (on guitar)work tightly, elegantly and intelligently together showing how well jazz can work when it transcends boundaries...
Magnificent!

WANTED TO HEAR THE SONG "SLOW FREIGHT" BUT COULD'NT. HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIND IT FOR MONTHS