The Cass Harrison Trio - Rare And Obscure Jazz Albums

Cass Harrison born in New York in 1917, Cass Harrison developed his keyboard technique since he was a tender four years of age. He studied classical piano and composition at the prestigious Julliard School. Harrison got his professional wings in the Teddy Powell band, which included in its personnel such noted musicians as Ray Wetzel, Charlie Ventura, and Irving Fazola.

Harrison played in Pennsylvania in 1944, subsequently toured with big bands and appeared widely as a soloist, usually leading his own combo. In 1948, he played intermissions at Cafe James in New York. In 1954, he played with a singer at the Hotel Warwick in Philadelphia. Notable in his background was a big jazz band of his own with which he toured South America prior to recording with his trio.

Cass Harrison will be remembered by record fans for his M-G-M albums The Duke and I (MGM E3388), and Wrappin' It Up (MGM E3495) both superlative collections of urihackneyed standards by six outstanding pianist-composers: Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Earl Hines, George Wallington, Horace and Fletcher Henderson.

The first trio album, The Duke and I, consisting of versions of little-known Duke Ellington compositions, was released in 1956. The reviewer for Billboard wrote: "Harrison is an extremely gifted pianist who ought to be better known. He is technically facile, imaginative, fresh in his harmonic conception and possessed of one of the most rock ribbed beats imaginable". Followed in 1957 by Wrappin' It Up. Critic John S. Wilson described the performances as "a lightly swinging, unencumbered workout".

Around 1960, Harrison led a trio performing at the Park Central Hotel in New York. Harrison later moved to Puerto Rico.

The Duke And I : In 1956, on his first M-G-M album, Harrison delved into Duke Ellington’s  extensive songbook. In addition to two familiar selections, “Azure” and “Prelude”, he brought out  some minor treasures, old Ellington tunes like "Move Over", "Yearning for Love", "Stevedore’s Serenade" or "Ridding on the Moon", which are an interesting testament to his genius. Harrison shows that he was a very talented pianist who should have been better known. He was technically facile, imaginative, fresh in his harmonic conception and possessed one of the most rock-ribbed beats imaginable.

Wrappin' It Up: Three decades of jazz piano are reflected in this second album by Cass Harrison, recorded in 1957 also for M-G-M, in which the pianist interprets the work of six outstanding pianist-composers: Fats Waller, Earl Hines, Horace Henderson, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson and George Wallington. While Cass Harrison's playing was thoroughly modern, he tried to be faithful to each composition, interpreting it in the rhythm and style of his creator while infusing each piece with something new through his own harmonic and rhythmic ideas. Three seasoned musicians of the New York jazz scene, Milton Hinton on bass, along with either Cozy Cole or Jo Jones on drums, provided backing for Cass Harrison on this recording. *Jordi Pujol*

1 - Move Over

(Duke Ellington)

2 - Yearning For Love

(Ellington, Parish, Mills)

3 - I’m Riding On The Moon And Dancing On The Stars

(Duke Ellington)

4 - The Gal From Joe's

(Ellington, Mills)

5 - Stevedore's Serenade

(Ellington, Edelstein, Gordon)

6 - Lost In Meditation

(Ellington, Tizol, Singer, Mills)

7 - Blues Of The Vagabond

(Duke Ellington)

8 - Azure

(Ellington, Mills)

9 - Sump'n 'Bout Rhythm

(Ellington, Kurtz, Mills)

10 - Prelude To A Kiss

(Ellington, Gordon, Mills)

11 - Ain't Misbehavin

(Waller, Razaf, Brooks)

12 - Big John's Special

(Horace Henderson)

13 - Cavernism

(Hines, Mundy)

14 - Rug Cutter's Swing

(Horace Henderson)

15 - Mood Indigo

(Ellington, Bigard, Mills)

16 - Just To Be In Caroline

(Hines, Carpenter, Dunlap)

17 - Strange At It Seems

(Waller, Razaf)

18 - Lemon Drop

(George Wallington)

19 - I Let A Song Out My Heart

(Ellington, Nemo, Redmond, Mills)

20 - Down South Camp Meetin'

(Henderson, Mills)

21 - Morning Dew

(Wallington, David)

22 - Wrappin' It Up

(Fletcher Henderson)

#1 to #10:

Cass Harrison (piano), Mort Herbert (bass), Cozy Cole (drums).

Recorded in New York City, September 1956.

#11 to #22:

Cass Harrison (piano); Milt Hinton (bass); Cozy Cole [#11 to #16], Jo Jones [#17 to #22] (drums).

Recorded in New York City, September 1956 (#11 to #16) and February 1957 (#17 to #22). 

Bob Gordon Quintet - Meet Mr. Gordon

Bob Gordon was a fine West Coast bop-oriented baritonist. He played with Shorty Sherock (1946), Alvino Rey’s Orchestra (1948-51) and Billy May (1952) before becoming an in-demand session player for jazz dates with the likes of Shelly Manne, Maynard Ferguson, Chet Baker, Clifford Brown (1954), Shorty Rogers, Tal Farlow and Stan Kenton. While on his way to playing at a Pete Rugolo concert in San Diego, Bob Gordon was killed in a car accident at only 27 years old.

Meet Mr. Gordon, subtitled "Bob Gordon Plays The Compositions And Arrangements Of Jack Montrose", the only album released under his name as a leader, is a brilliant testimony to the baritone sax player who helped define the cool and bouncy West Coast sound.

Composition in jazz music, even in as small a group as is displayed here, plays a very important part in creating the over-all impression the soloist works toward. Bob Gordon chose Jack Montrose to compose the music for this, His firt Pacific Jazz. This choise was a natural one for Bob and Jack have played together frequently in the past and were the guiding force in the experimental rehearsal orchestra which later developed into the Chet Baker Ensemble. This close relashionship combined with Jack's development as a tenor soloist of importance made it apparent that an album combining both talents would be fruitful.*(Liner notes)*

Those who follow the works and ways of the younger West Coast musicians are in for a musica experience of the first order in this collection of Jack Montrose compositions and arrangements, as played by the Bob Gordon Quintet. The playful, neatly turned counterpoint of Gordon's bold, clean style is heard on originals such as "Meet Mr. Gordon" and "For Sue". As well as other jazz albums have been going recently, this, too, should strike pay dirt with many modern collectors.

*Billboard, August 7, 1954*

Side 1

01 - Meet Mr. Gordon

(Montrose)

02 - Two Can Play (Modus Operandi)

(Montrose)

03 - What A Difference A Day Makes

(Grever, Adams)

04 - Onion Bottom

(Montrose)

Side 2

05 - Tea For Two

(Youmans, Caesar)

06 - Two Can Play

(Montrose)

07 - For Sue

(Montrose)

08 - Love Is Here To Stay

(G. and I. Gershwin)

Bob Gordon (baritone sax), Jack Montrose (tenor sax), Paul Moer (piano), Joe Mondragon (bass), Billy Schneider (drums).

Recorded at Radio Recorders Studio, Hollywood, May 6 (#1, #2, #4, #5), and May 27 (#3, #6, #7, #8), 1954.

Jack Montrose - Jack Montrose Sextet

There have lately been a good many bosomy sermons —now that the apologists have done their work— within and without the music about jazz, the art. Few of these hosannas, however, ever point out this fact: Jazz is alwaysan art form; but it is only an art when it recreates, in whatever mode, its chosen materials into fresh, higher superstructures that give the listener a kind of surprised emotional elevation, sustenance, and release-akin, in a sense, to the purge and exhilaration of Greek tragedy. The jazz artist who achieves this connection with his listener must, perforce, be more than just a professional. And as an artist he must, of course, also be an individualist,even an iconiclast —great jazz being, it would seem, a remarkable working union of iconoclasts— or else he would simply be a skillful reshader or copyist.

Modern jazz, however, has, in addition to a general lack of oomph, few individualists among its members. Individuality, like the tortoise, takes time and courage. But there has recently appeared in the modern jazz world a powerful and almost Victorian workship of "progress" as a virtue in itself. Thus a competent musician, to be "progressive", often handily copies what seems progressive in the work of a slightly more mature musician. This is easy, and at the same time, stylish. Real progress in jazz, though, can take place only when a musician has full knowlwdge of who and what have come before in his medium and has decided, beneath his own sun, that he is ready to try and forge a new branch on his tree-a condition of patience and work that few modern jazzmen have the endurane and imagination for.

One modern jazzman who is worth quietly watching and studying, is Jack Montrose, a serious, single-minded and unhurried twenty-six-year-old composer, arranger, and tenor saxophonist. Montrose is representative of the new school of West Coast modern jazzmen —the shiny silver fish od contemporary jazz— in that he combines these capacities to a professional and perhaps even higher degree.

One of the balancing weights on Montrose, The instrumentalist, has been his close association in the past few years with the late Bob Gordon (Bob was killed in a automobile accident Sunday, August 28, 1955, in Los angeles), who handles the baritone saxophone here, and who is also twenty-six. Gordon is a hot, heady baritone saxophonist, a quality which has probably watered down Montrose's tendency toward over-intellectualization in his playing.

Montrose has arranged all of the eight tunes here, five of which are his originals. Listen for the brightness and humor of "Listen, Hear" and "Some Good Fun Blues", where, with "Credo" there are excellent demostrations of Montrose's fluid, ensemble work. Listen for de solos on "Bewitched Bothered And Bewildered" by Gordon and Candoli, and the touching, hard-pressing tenor saxophone statement by Montrose on "Pretty". Here is individuality, skill, and honesty. Because few jazz students have yet learned how to listen to modern jazz, there is little successful modern jazz. This album, then, is a chance for as much earnest study and awareness from the listener as Montrose has put into it. *Whitney Balliett (liner notes)*

Improvisation is of prime importance. Everything I write is a framework for jazz. In my compositions, I want the jazz musician to improvise within the framework that I have constructed for him. In order to do this successfully, I have to write a complete structure conceived of from beggining to end with these musicians in mind; the way they play, the way they sound. I take all this into consideration when I write a jazz composition. My objective is to create a complete structure that enables the jazz musician to play compatibly with my composition. My object as composer is to organiza the perceptions of the jazz musicians involved.

Bob Gordon was an inspiration to every jazz musician or aspirant who ever heard him play or was, perhaps, fortunate enough to share the bandstand with him; fortunate enough to partake of the fire that roared and the sparks that flew and the proclamations of the Gods that sounded when he put his big horn to his lips and made the world abound with life and zest and unbounded love. For the world was a better place to live in when he played and perhaps this singular ability to make it so was in itself his greatest gift.

For me Bob Gordon was more than just as inspiration he was my other half and together we formed a musical whole. Our partnership has not ended, however, for his part is indelibly stamped upon my soul and then task is mine to carry on. For we understood one another and agreed completely. I am fortunate to have loved and been loved in return by one such Bob Gordon. I also realize that the companionship and artistic rapport which we enjoyed were of such a nature as is not commonly experienced. I am fortunate and a better man for having known and loved Bob Gordon.

*Jack Montrose (liner notes)*

Side 1

1 - Listen, Hear

(Jack Montrose)

2 - Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered

(Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)

3 - Some Good Fun Blues

(Jack Montrose)

4 - Fools Rush In

(Rube Bloom, Johnny Mercer)

Side 2

5 - Speakeasy

(Jack Montrose)

6 - Credo

(Jack Montrose)

7 - Pretty

(Jack Montrose)

8 - That Old Feeling

(Sammy Fain, Lew Brown)

Jack Montrose (tenor sax), Conte Candoli (trumpet), Bob Gordon (baritone sax), Paul Moer (piano), Ralph Pena (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).

Recorded in Los Angeles, California, June 24 (#1, #2, #6, #7) and July 6 (#3, #4, #5, #8), 1955.

Gerry Mulligan - Mulligan Plays Mulligan

Before Gerry Mulligan went to California to found his pianoless quartet and find gold, there were many lean days in New York. Whatever his financial hardships were, Gerry always managed to keep active musically by jamming around town and rehearsing various size groups for gigs that were never even in the offing. The latter is a very difficult thing to do. Even when there is a tentative engagement in view, it's hard to round up the boys for a rehearsal. Getting them together to read just for the love of music is really a problem. Gerry could always get them not because he was a great organizer but rather on the strength of his music. Everyone was interested in playing his compositions and arrangements. When there were no studios to be had, Gerry improvised. One afternoon he took a big band down by the lake in Central Park. It was an ideal location but the police thought otherwise. Out of these rehearsals grew his first tentette, heard here in six selections all written and arranged by Gerry.

The second side of this LP is an example of the sessions which Gerry participated in during this period. He combines swinging and thinking very effectively, and the composer in him is evident in that as he improvises, he constantly constructs lines which are food for new compositions. The general informality, and relaxed interplay between Gerry and Allen Eager reveal a climate of jazz not often caught on record. *Ira Gitler (liner notes)*

Gerry Mulligan's first session as a leader and one of the first to showcase his baritone was recorded in New York shortly before he relocated to Los Angeles and formed his famous pianoless quartet with Chet Baker. There is a piano on this set (George Wallington) but Mulligan's writing (all seven selections are his) for a two-baritone nonet that also features trumpeter Nick Travis and tenor saxophonist Allan Eager is already in his influential "cool style". *Scott Yanow*

Incredible work from Gerry Mulligan – material that predates his better-known west coast sides of the mid 50s! These 1951 recordings are a seminal document of the team of Gerry Mulligan and Allan Eager – offering some of Mulligan's first big impact on the east coast scene before moving to the west – and featuring some nicely crispy tenor from Eager! The group's a largeish one – with players that include Nick Travis on trumpet, George Wallington on piano, and Walt Bolden on drums – but the groove is clean and fluid, yet in a good way that's also bit more raspy than later Mulligan work. Titles include "Ide's Side", "Bweebida Bobbida", "Roundhouse", "Kaper", and "Funhouse" – plus the track "Mulligan's Too", which features a smaller group with George Wallington on piano.  *dustygroove.com*

Side 1

1 - Funhouse

2 - Ide's Side

3 - Roundhouse

4 - Kaper

5 - Bweebida Bobbida

6 - Mullenium

Side 2

07 - Mulligan's Too

(All compositions by Gerry Mulligan)

Gerry Mulligan, Max McElroy (baritone saxes); Allen Eager (tenor sax); Jerry Hurwitz, Nick Travis (trumpets); Ollie Wilson (trombone); George Wallington (piano); Phil Leshin (bass); Walter Bolden (drums); Gail Madden (maracas).

Recorded at Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey, August 27, 1951.

Elliot Lawrence • Gene Krupa - More Mulligan Arrangements

 

Elliot Lawrence

Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements

Marc Myers: Whose idea was it for you to record a full album of Gerry Mulligan’s arrangements in 1955?

Elliot Lawrence: Sol Zaentz of Fantasy called us because we didn't have a recording contract with a label. He asked if I wanted to record for Fantasy. Those were the arrangements I had bought from Gerry. At the time, he needed money so he offered to write a few new ones for me. I said yes and I bought them from him. The album helped him raise some cash.

*from an interview for JazzWax, February 2016*

Elliot Lawrence, who led a swing-oriented big band after the swing era had already passed its prime, primarily worked in the studios in the 1950s. This reissue from the Original Jazz Classics series (which has not yet surfaced on CD) was one of Lawrence's few jazz dates of the decade. Utilizing a dozen Gerry Mulligan charts (seven of the songs were also composed by Mulligan) and an all-star crew of young modernists (including trumpeter Nick Travis, trombonist Eddie Bert, altoist Hal McKusick, and Al Cohn on tenor), the results are quite pleasing. Although Mulligan himself does not play, his presence is very much felt on songs such as "The Rocker", "Bweebida Bwobbida", "Strike Up the Band", and "Apple Core". Other highlights include tributes to Zoot Sims ("The Swinging Door") and Lester Young ("Mr. President"). *Scott Yanow*

Elliot Lawrence loves jazz. When he was an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania (he won the Thornton Oakley Award, given each year to the undergraduate who has contributed most to the arts, and won only once before in the field of music), he had himself a swinging band, which used to gig around the Eastern seaboard, blowing up quite a jumping storm. After he'd been graduated, he went to radio station WCAU, where he continued his swinging ways, despite the fact that studio bands are supposed to be strictly commercial. It paid off, though, because soon people started noticing his band much more than they did other studio groups, and finally offers became so frequent and attractive that Elliot and men left WCAU, bowed in at the Hotel Statler in New York, and automatically became a name band!

In that early Philadelphia outfit there was a young saxophonist, a redheaded, wide-eyed, enthusiastic youngster named Gerry Mulligan. Even then he was an arranger, and, encouraged by Elliot, who has done a great deal of writing, himself, Gerry began turning out a batch of manuscripts for the band. And when the gang left the studios, Gerry went with it, and he continued to write for it for several years thereafter, even after he’d quit playing baritone so that he could concentrate exclusively on arranging.

These then are the twelve tunes that comprise an LP of truly superior blowing of truly superior arrangements. The playing is by a bunch of modern, musicianly musicians, led by one of the most talented and enthusiastic leaders of big band modern jazz and penned by a composer-arranger whose contributions to the same medium have been tremendous. It's the first collection of several by Elliot Lawrence which Fantasy plans to issue in the months to come, and it's also the first that shows what a surprisingly blowing and exciting band Elliot Lawrence has been keeping under wraps for much too long. *George T. Simon (liner notes)*

1 - The Rocker

(Gerry Mulligan)

2 - Bye Bye Blackbird

(Henderson, Dixon)

3 - Happy Hooligan

(Gerry Mulligan)

4 - Mullennium

(Gerry Mulligan)

5 - My Silent Love

(Suesse, Heyman)

6 - Bweebida Bwobbida

(Gerry Mulligan)

7 - Strike Up The Band

(G. and I. Gershwin)

8 - Apple Core

(Gerry Mulligan)

9 - Elegy For Two Clarinets

(Gerry Mulligan)

10 - The Swinging Door

(Sims, Mulligan)

11 - But Not For Me

(G. and I. Gershwin)

12 - Mr. President

(Mulligan, Lawrence)

Elliot Lawrence (piano); Bernie Glow, Al De Risi, Dick Sherman, Nick Travis, Stan Fishelson (trumpets); Al Robertson, Eddie Bert, Paul Seldon, Ollie Wilson (trombones); Freddie Schmitt, Tony Miranda (French horns); Al Cohn, Charlie O'Kane , Eddie Wasserman , Hal McKusick, Sam Marowitz (saxes); Buddy Jones [#2, #4, #5, #6, #7, #10, #11], Russ Saunders [#1, #3, #8, #9] (basses); Don Lamond (drums).

Recorded at Fine Sounds, New York City, July 1955.

***

Gene Krupa

Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements

Gerry Mulligan joined the Gene Krupa band in February, 1946, and remained about a year. He arranged for the band all that time, played alto for a couple of months and tenor for about two more. The arrangements he did during that year —when he was 19— are both interesting in themselves and illuminating in the context of the way his writing has developed since. He did about 24 altogether.

At the age of 17, Mulligan had already started arranging professionally — for Johnny Warrington's band at the Philadelphia radio station, WCAU; for Tommy Tucker on Gerry's first road trip; and then for Elliot Lawrence, who had taken over the WCAU orchestra.

"The Krupa band, however", Mulligan recalls, "was the most professional band I'd ever written for. They were so professional they sometimes scared the hell out of  me. They had no trouble playing anything I wrote. Having that skilled a unit to write for was a new and a challenging experience". 

Before he heard these versions of the arrangements he'd done for Krupa, Mulligan had feared that twelve years would make them sound much too dated for comfort, but he was hearteningly surprised to hear that they still stand up. "There were a lot of things", he said, "I thought I hadn't tried until I started writing for Claude Thornhill, but now I hear that I'd already been doing them with Gene's band". 

Mulligan feels he learned a great deal from his year with Krupa, not only about writing and playing, but about people. The band traveled throughout the country, and the experience broadened Gerry considerably. He was also fond of Gene personally, and appreciated the fact that Gene let him write as much as he did — and used most of it. Krupa, in turn, liked Mulligan because he always stood up for what he believed, and knew what he wanted to do. 

Adding this album to your Mulligan-Krupa collection should prove to be an instructive pleasure. It gives —in high fidelity— a cross-section of an important year in Mulligan's history; and it also indicates that Krupa had the prescience to keep the 19-year-old with the band, and —up to a point— give him his head. *(Liner notes)*

Gerry Mulligan was only 19 in 1946 when he joined Gene Krupa's band, playing a bit of alto and tenor sax, but primarily serving as an arranger. But the Verve LP Gene Krupa Plays Gerry Mulligan Arrangements wasn't made until 1958, long after Mulligan went out on his own. Although there are solo features built into the framework of each piece, Mulligan was quite confident in his ability to showcase the entire band as well. Mulligan's "Disc Jockey Jump" became a hit for Krupa, though it wasn't recorded until after he left the band. The vague liner notes fail to identify any of the musicians in Krupa's big band, which includes Jimmy Cleveland, Hank Jones, Barry Galbraith, Kai Winding, and Phil Woods, though Woods' alto sax solos are easily identifiable to his fans. Baritone saxophonist Danny Bank is a bit disappointing compared to what Mulligan could have recorded on the instrument, though it would have been unlikely that the composer would have been interested in rejoining Krupa, even for one record date, at the time it was recorded. It's surprising that this excellent LP remained out of print for so long, particularly with the strong resurgence of interest in all aspects of Mulligan's work since his death in 1996. *Ken Dryden*

Gene Krupa and Gerry Mulligan —hardly a pairing that we would have thought of— but one that works surprisingly well here, and which showcases Mulligan's increasing fascination for larger group settings! The album features Gene on drums with a set of players that include Kai Winding, Urbie Green, Phil Woods, Hank Jones, and Barry Galbraith – but the real star of the set is Gerry, who's not playing here, but conducting the larger group of jazz players through charts that are all his own, and which display the same love of fluid ensemble horn parts that he used in his own smaller combo work. There's a lot more brass in the mix than you'd usually get from Gerry —which gives the album a bit more of a Krupa kick— and Gene also gets some nice space to show himself on drums. *dustygroove.com*

1 - Bird House

(Mulligan)

2 - Margie

(Conrad, Robinson, Davis)

3 - Mulligan Stew

(Krupa, Mulligan)

4 - Begin The Beguine

(Porter)

5 - Sugar

(Pinkard, Alexander, Mitchell)

6 - The Way Of All Flesh

(Mulligan)

7 - Disk Jockey Jump

(Krupa, Mulligan)

8 - Birds Of A Feather

(Mulligan)

9 - Sometimes I’m Happy

(Youmans, Caesar, Grey)

10 - How High The Moon

(Lewis, Hamilton)

11 - If You Were The Only Girl

(Ayer, Grey)

12 - Yardbird Suite

(Parker)

#1, #2, #3, #12:

Al DeRisi, Ernie Royal, Doc Severinsen, Al Stewart (trumpets); Eddie Bert, Jimmy Cleveland, Billy Byers, Kai Winding (trombones); Sam Marowitz, Phil Woods (alto saxes); Frank Socolow, Eddie Wasserman (tenor saxes); Danny Bank (baritone sax); Hank Jones (piano); Barry Galbraith (guitar); Jimmy Gannon (bass); Gene Krupa (drums). Gerry Mulligan (arranger & conductor).

Recorded at Fine Studio, New York City, October 20, 1958.

#4 to #11:

Al DeRisi, Marky Markowitz, Ernie Royal, Doc Severinsen, Al Stewart (trumpets); Jimmy Cleveland, Willie Dennis, Urbie Green, Kai Winding (trombones); unknow (tuba); Sam Marowitz, Phil Woods (alto saxes); Frank Socolow, Eddie Wasserman (tenor saxes); Danny Bank (baritone sax); Hank Jones (piano); Barry Galbraith (guitar); Jimmy Gannon (bass); Gene Krupa (drums). Gerry Mulligan (arranger & conductor).

Recorded at Fine Studio, New York City, October 21 and 22, 1958.

Gerry Mulligan - The Arranger / Mullenium

Everybody knows that Gerry Mulligan is a saxophonist —most often to be heard on the baritone sax— but he’s also a pianist, a composer, an arranger and a bandleader. This album focuses on two important stages in the course of his career as an arranger. The first aspect is exemplified by four items which are representative of his manner in the late 40's, when he was only twenty years and worked for Gene Krupa and Elliot Lawrence. The following four pieces, so far unissued except for "Thruway", were recorded in the late 50's. by a big band an together by Gerry in New York.

During the ten years between those two series, Gerry wrote and arranged for several bands, including the Miles Davis Nonet, Charlie Parker's strings and Claude Thornhill's orchestra. He also went to California where, in 1952, he gained worldwide recognition with his revolutionary piano-less Quartet. Later, in 1955, he put up his Sextet.

Big bands are scarce nowadays and a lot of people the whole world over certainly wish there were more of them on the jazz scene. Not only those who are old enough to have enjoyed on the hoof, so to speak, the music of the 40's and the 50's, but also the younger set, the people in their twenties and thirties who are now discovering it. Both age-groups should be happy with this album, which aptly illustrates one of the most authentic and specific aspects of a purely American musical world: the Big Band, with its seven brass, its five reeds and its rhythm section. One may well wonder how such a rigid formula can allow any latitude to original creativity. Because Gerry Mulligan is not only a brilliant soloist but also a superbly gifted composer and arranger, he has long known the answer to that question. This album makes it obvious. *Henri Renaud (from The Arranger's liner notes)*

Gerry Mulligan

Mullenium

In 1977, a long-lost Gerry Mulligan big-band session from 1957 was released for the first time. The four selections featured the baritonist's arrangements for a 15-piece group that included such notables as altoist Lee Konitz, Zoot Sims, and Charlie Rouse on tenors, and valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. To fill out the LP, two of Mulligan's vintage arrangements for the Gene Krupa Orchestra ("How High the Moon" and the hit "Disc Jockey Jump") from 1946-1947, and a pair of charts for Elliot Lawrence's big band ("Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" and "Elevation") were reissued. On those titles, Mulligan only plays one solo; he is not even on the Krupa recordings, since he was much better-known as an arranger than as a player at the time. In 1998, all of the music from the album (which was titled The Arranger) was reissued on this CD, along with two alternates from the 1957 set and a newly discovered alternate take of "Disc Jockey Jump." The music overall (even the early titles) definitely has the good humor and swinging flavor of usually found in Mulligan's music, and even if it is not quite as essential as his most significant work, this CD is easily recommended to the baritonist's fans. *Scott Yanow*

Here is a well-drawn portrait of a multitalented artist —first as a young man, then as a figure of international stature. We encounter Gerry Mulligan —arranger/composer/pianist/clarinetist/prime mover of the "West Coast Jazz" of the early 1950's (and, of course, the definitive modern baritone saxophonist) as an ambitious 19-year old whose arrangements caught the ear of Swing drumming demigod Gene Krupa.

Krupa's exciting swing-to-bop band is heard playing a pair of Mulligan's charts, "How High The Moon" (whose chords were the basis of Charlie Parker's bebop 

anthem, "Ornithology", and to whose line Mulligan’s pulsating arrangement alludes) and two takes of the "Four Brothers"-like "Disc Jockey Jump", a tune credited to Mulligan (1927-1996) and the leader. If you’ve ever seen Scorcese's wonderfully evocative but commercially-failed movie "New York, New York", these two cuts exemplify the kind of music favored by Robert DeNiro's selfabsorbed, tenor saxophone-playing main character.

Mullligan and bandleader-pianist Elliot Lawrence went back to their hometown days in Philadelphia. Like Krupa, Lawrence was impressed by Mulligan's ideas, but was more in tune with their modernist viewpoint. Significantly, it was during the period the two Lawrence selections ("Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea" and "Elevation") were recorded that Mulligan achieved his greatest successes up to that point. As a member of Miles Davis' nonet of young direction-setters, he wrote and arranged "Jeru", "Rocker", and "Venus De Milo" and arranged two other titles for the group’s watershed album, Birth Of The Cool.

Finally, we move forward to 1957, by which time Mulligan was almost a household name, thanks mostly to his pianoless early '50s quartet, featuring trumpeter Chet Baker. There are six performances by a 15-piece Mulligan-led orchestra, comprising a host of New York's first-call jazz and studio musicians. The corps of superb soloists includes tenor saxophonists Zoot Sims and Charlie Rouse, alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, the under-appreciated, lyrical trumpeters Don Joseph and Jerry Lloyd, plus the leader on baritone saxophone and piano.

Mulligan's masterly voicings and contrapuntal writing are evident throughout, with "Motel" issued for the first time in complete form and all of the material, save for "Thruway", released for the first time in stereo.

This newly remixed and remastered edition of Mullenium includes previously unpublished photographs from the sessions, as well as new liner notes by respected arranger (and Mulligan authority). *Bill Kirchner*

Here's baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan as big–band conductor/composer/arranger/player with his own ensemble and others led by Elliot Lawrence and Gene Krupa. These radiant sessions, recorded between 1946–57, show that Gerry was comfortably at home in any setting from pianoless quartet to full–fledged orchestra (big bands, in fact, were his early proving ground) and serve as a touching reminder of how much was lost when he left us in January 1996 at age 69. When Gerry arranged "How High the Moon" for drummer Krupa's big band in 1946, he was barely 19 years old. That chart is here with two takes of "Disc Jockey Jump", written and arranged by Mulligan for the Krupa orchestra; his own "Elevation" and the standard "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea", performed by Lawrence's ensemble; and six selections by Mulligan's orchestra from 1957 (not released until 1977) including three of Gerry's compositions, "Mullenium" and two takes each of "Thruway" and "Motel", alongside Jerome Kern's memorable standard, "All the Things You Are". The disc moves backward in time with the Mulligan ensemble first, followed by Lawrence (from 1949) and Krupa. Mulligan's orchestra, also for the most part pianoless (except for Gerry's occasional comping), was a platform for future superstars with names like Sims, Brookmeyer, Konitz, Rouse, McKusick and Rehak, all of whom are given solo space, with the irrepressible Zoot, at the top of his hard–swinging game, an exceptionally dynamic presence throughout (his shouting solo on track 6 is pure gold) while Konitz dances gracefully around Gerry's gruff baritone on "All the Things You Are" and Brookmeyer weighs in with several enterprising choruses. Drummer Bailey and bassist Benjamin aren't flashy but they get the job done. Sound quality on the Lawrence and Krupa tracks — none of which runs longer than 3:19 — is vastly inferior, with many a snap, crackle and pop, but there's more than enough wonderful music to counterbalance that shortcoming. I can still remember the impression "Disc Jockey Jump" made on me when I first heard it as a pre-teen (how's that for dating oneself?) and it's every bit as good as I remembered it to be. Mulligan was beyond question one of the finest big-band composer/arrangers of the modern era (bop and beyond), and this album definitely belongs in everyone's big-band library. *Jack Bowers*

1 - Thruway (take 6)

(Gerry Mulligan)

2 - Motel (take 5 )

(Gerry Mulligan)

3 - All The Things You Are

(O. Hammerstein II, J. Kern)

4 - Mullenium

(Gerry Mulligan)

5 - Thruway (take 7)

(Gerry Mulligan)

6 - Motel (take 4)

(Gerry Mulligan)

7 - Elevation

(Gerry Mulligan, Elliot Lawrence)

8 - Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

(H. Arlen, T. Koehler)

9 - Disc Jockey Jump

(Gerry Mulligan)

10 - How High The Moon

(M. Lewis, N. Hamilton)

11 - Disc Jockey Jump (alternate take 1)

(Gerry Mulligan)

#1 to #6:  Gerry Mulligan and His Orchestra

Gerry Mulligan (piano, baritone sax); Hal McKusic, Lee Konitz (alto saxophones); Zoot Sims, Charlie Rouse (tenor saxophones); Gene Allen (baritone sax); Phil Sumkel, Jerry Lloyd, Don Joseph, Don Ferrara (trumpets); Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone); Frank rehak, Jim Dahl (trombones); Joe Benjamin (bass); Dave Bailey (drums).

Recorded at Colombia 30th Street Studio, New York, April 19 (#1, #4, #5) and April 20 (#2, #3, #6), 1957.

[Note: Mullenium's version here has an intro by Gerry on piano that is not featured on the LP "The Arranger"]

#7: Elliot Lawrence and His Orchestra

John Dee, Joe Techner, Jimmy Padget, Bill Danzizen (trumpets); Vince Forrest, Sy Berger, Chuck Harris (trombones); Joe Soldo, Louis Giamo (alto saxophones); Phil Urso, Bruno Rondinelli (tenor saxophones); Merle Bredwell (baritone sax); Bob Karsh (piano); Tom O'Neil (bass); Howie Mann (drums).

Recorded in New York, April 13, 1949.

#8: Elliot Lawrence and His Orchestra

John Dee, Joe Techner, Jimmy Padget, Bill Danzizen (trumpets); Frank Hunter, Gene Hessler, Sy Berger (trombones); Gerry Mulligan (alto and baritone sax); Joe Soldo (alto sax); Phil Urso, Bruno Rondinelli (tenor saxophones); Merle Bredwell (baritone sax); Elliot Lawrence (piano); Tom O'Neil (bass); Howie Mann (drums).

Recorded in New York, October 10, 1949.

#9 and #11: Gene Krupa and His Orchestra

Ray Triscari, Al Porcino, Ed Badgley, Don Fagerquist (trumpets); Clay Hervey, Dick Taylor, Emil Mazanec, Jack Zimmerman (trombones); Harry Terrill, Charlie Kennedy (alto saxophones); Buddy Wise, Mitch Melnick (tenor saxophones); Jack Schwartz (baritone sax), Buddy Neal (piano); Bob Lesher (guitar); Bob Strahl (bass); Gene Krupa (drums).

Recorded in New York, January 22, 1947.

#10: Gene Krupa and His Orchestra

Ray Triscari, Joe Triscari, Tony Anelli, Red Rodney (trumpets); Warren Covington, Carl Ziggy Elmer, Dick Taylor, Ben Seaman (trombones); Harry Terrill, Charlie Kennedy (alto saxophones); Charlie Ventura, Buddy Wise (tenor saxophones); Jack Schwartz (baritone sax), Teddy Napoleon (piano); Mike Triscari (guitar); Bob Munoz (bass); Gene Krupa (drums).

Recorded in New York, May 27, 1946.

Lee Konitz • Warne Marsh - Lee Konitz With Warne Marsh

There is much, then, to listen for and to hear in this collection: tones and timing an moving solos, figures that show much craftsmanship in the planning and the execution but most of all, as I hope I have made clear, continuity. When you have had your fill ñ just plain listening for pleasure, play it all again, a track at a time, paying particular attention to the way each of the performances makes its way from the first measure to the last, adding variations and developments, repeating, changing, achieving either a balanced symmetry through repetition or a kind of wry asymmetry through changes, but almost always moving forward - like a train that must arrive on time or the mails in the old days - to its inevitable conclusion. This is the jazz thinking of the musicians of a brilliant contemporary school, and a most satisfactory kind of thinking it is, at least to those of us who are convinced that along with the show of feeling with which jazz and jazzmen have always been abundantly endowed a substantial amount of thought can go comfortably, fittingly, and pleasingly. *Barry Ulanov (liner notes)*

This release presents the complete original LP Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh (Atlantic LP1217), which received a 5-star rating in Down Beat magazine. Besides the splendid interaction between Konitz and Marsh, this album is also rewarding for the presence of Oscar Pettiford and Kenny Clarke. 

John Fordham of The Guardian said "if these two saxophonists play with an even, almost chilly undemonstrativeness, their melodic ingenuity is dazzling". 

Scott Yanow, writing for AllMusic, said they "always made for a perfect team". The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested Core Collection.

This album is remarkable not only for the superb modern musicianship of Konitz (on alto) and Marsh (on tenor), but for their successful use of varied old and new jazz sources. They open with Basie classic, "Topsy", and then romp thru several standards; there is a wonderful blues, "Don't Squark", by Oscar Pettiford, with the bassist himself solo, and Lennie Tristano's "Two Not one" and Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee".

The taste and versatility of the saxophonists give a stamp of quality to each of these variedítemss. Billy Bauer on guitar, Kenny Clarke on drums and Sal Mosca on piano also deserve praise. *Billboard, December 17, 1955*

Both saxophonists put in time with Lennie Tristano before becoming inextricably associated with the cool school, and as such were often criticised as being over cerebral or even worse, lacking in swing (a heinous crime indeed in the eyes of the jazzpólicee). No such complaints here, as support comes from the classic bop rhythm section of Kenny Clarke on drums and Oscar Pettiford on bass. Indeed from the opening "Topsy", a tune most associated with Count Basie, Clarke and Pettiford display an urgent, warmpropulsiónn which they maintain throughout thesesiónn. Sal Mosca on piano and guitarist Billy Bauer (long time Konitz/Marsh associates) provide subtle, occasionally oblique counterpoint, but it's Konitz and Marsh's show.

Both saxophonists had by this time evolved highly individual vocabularies; Konitz had somehow managed to avoid the influence of Charlie Parker, and Marsh had similarly developed a distinctive voice that owed little to the prevailing tenor tradition (except maybe late Lester Young). Moreover they had built up an almost telepathic rapport; when soloing together (as on "I Can't Get Started") it becomes quickly pretty impossible to tell who's who as their lines curl and fold in on each other. Marsh sticks mostly to the upper register of his horn, making differentiation even trickier. Tristano's "Two Not One" brings out the best in the duo, it's fractured, boppishMelodyy provoking a joyous solo from Konitz and an unusually gritty response from Marsh (one of his rare excursions to the lower frequencies).

It's fascinating to hear them dissect Parker's "Donna Lee"; Konitz resists the urge to grandstand and somehow his playing maintains its floating, aerated quality even at this high tempo; even Clarke's trademark Klook bomb drops don't faze him. Graceful, intelligent improvising that swings - what more could you want? Highly recommended. *Peter Marsh*

1 - Topsy

 (Durham, Battle)

2 - There Will Never Be Another You

 (Gordon, Warren)

3 - I Can't Get Started

 (Duke, Gershwin)

4 - Donna Lee

 (Charlie Parker)

5 - Two Not One

 (Lennie Tristano)

6 - Don't Squawk

 (Oscar Pettiford)

7 - Ronnie's Line

 (Ronnie Ball)

8 - Background Music

 (Warne Marsh)

Lee Konitz (alto sax); Warne Marsh (tenor sax); Sal Mosca, Ronnie Ball [#7] (pianos); Billy Bauer (guitar); Oscar Pettiford (bass); Kenny Clarke (drums). 
Recorded in New York City, June 14, 1955.

Lennie Tristano - Classics 1947–1951

When Lennie Tristano's enclosed Capitol recordings were reissued in the mid-eighties, Alun Morgan noted that the music "is still a most remarkable piece of mind-reading and it presaged the Free Form movement which was still several years away". 

Leonard Joseph Tristano was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 19 1919. He began playing piano as a child. At the age of nine, he lost his eyesight and spent the next ten years in a home for the blind. During these years Tristano took up the clarinet, saxophone and also practiced on cello. In addition, he played trumpet and could easily sit in as a drummer. 

Lennie Tristano received further musical education at the American Conservatory in Chicago from which he graduated as a Bachelor of Music (in piano and composition) in 1943. From the early forties on Tristano worked as a tenor saxophonist and clarinetist with various bands in his native city. In addition, he taught at the Christiansen School of Popular Music until 1945. Lee Konitz and Bill Russo were among his first and foremost students. The following year Tristano moved to New York where he appeared with a trio including another two of his pupils, Arnold Fishkin and Billy Bauer. In late 1946 Lennie Tristano also played on the West Coast before returning to New York. In 1947 he played in a band organized by critic Barry Ulanov alongside Charlie Parker. During the late forties Tristano mainly worked with his trio in New York but occasionally also played with Charlie Ventura and others. In addition, he continued to teach and a group of young musicians, including Warne Marsh and Ted Brown formed around him. In June 1951 he opened his own music school where Tristano and his circle were able to pratice and play their music, quite independently from any influences of more established institutions. After giving up his school in 1956, he taught disciples at his home on Long Island. After the mid-fifties Tristano only rarely appeared on stage or in clubs. In the late-sixties Tristano made trips to Britain and Canada for a number of solo concerts but then returned to the self-sought seclusion of his home. He died in New York, on November 18, 1978. *Anatol Schenker (liner notes)*

This anthology of Lennie Tristano from his Capitol and Prestige recordings is where the mature composer and improviser appears from his former skeleton. Beginning with the original version of "Dissonance", featuring guitarist Billy Bauer and bassist Arnold Fishkin, the set concentrates on Tristano's emerging and very complex ideas about melodic improvisation. The masters for early tracks here come from a session cut on New Year's Eve in 1947, and include clarinetist John LaPorta on such visionary compositions as "Through These Portals", with its dual melodic front line playing an extrapolated harmonic counterpoint via the piano and guitar, then being bridged by a common third line played by LaPorta, whose solo is almost a tag upon the two entwining solo lines played throughout. "Speculation" is pure chordal genius, with rhythms cascading in two directions against a nearly expressionistic melodic integration of variously shaded harmonics. The first sessions of both the quintet and quartet with Lee Konitz are here, too, with Konitz's unique phrasing on the shimmering bop of "Progression", "Tautology", and, of course, "Subconscious-Lee". Tristano was a giant of the intellect, and his knotty approach to deconstructing harmonics and creating new melodies from the ruins appealed to Konitz, who was, and remains, a melodist. Later that same year, in 1949, Tristano added second saxophonist Warne Marsh to the mix, and that magical pairing found its voice on the front lines of "Crosscurrent", "Intuition", and the stellar "Marionette". Finally, the 1951 trio sides with Roy Haynes and Peter Ind make clear that these new architectures Tristano was building could be erected by himself and a rhythm section, and in some ways were even bigger as a result of that. These ideas have never been fully integrated into the jazz canon as they should be, but nonetheless, with recordings like this abounding now, it cannot be long before they are. 

*Thom Jurek*

1 - Dissonance

(Tristano) 

2 - Through These Portals

(LaPorta)

3 - Speculation (Ear, Eyes)

 (Tristano)

4 - New Sound

(Tristano)

5 - Resemblance

(Tristano)

6 - Tautology

(Konitz)

8 - Retrospection

(Tristano)

9 - Subconscious-Lee

(Konitz)

10 - Judy

(Tristano)

11 - Wow

(Tristano)

12 - Crosscurrent

(Tristano)

13 - Yesterdays

(Tristano)

14 - Marionette

(Bauer)

15 - Sax Of A Kind

(Konitz, Marsh)

16 - Intuition

(Tristano)

17 - Digression (Intuition II)

(Tristano)

18 - Ju-Ju

(Tristano)

19 - Passtime

(Tristano)

#1 to #5:

Lennie Tristano (piano), John LaPorta (clarinet [#2 to #5]), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass).

Recorded in New York City, December 31, 1947.

#6 to #10:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Lee Konitz (alto sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).

Recorded in New York City, January 11, 1949.

#11, #12:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Lee Konitz (alto sax), Warne Marsh (tenor sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Harold Granowsky (drums).

Recorded in New York City, March 4, 1949.

#13:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Harold Granowsky (drums).

Recorded in New York City, March 14, 1949.

#14 to #17:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Lee Konitz (alto sax), Warne Marsh (tenor sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Denzil Best (drums).

Recorded in New York City, May 16, 1949.

#18, #19:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Peter Ind (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded in New York City, October 30, 1951. 

Lee Konitz - Subconscious-Lee

Of the Lennie Tristano "school" of music, which predated the Lennie Tristano School of Music, Lee Konitz is the outstanding "pupil". Naturally Lennie's music had a great influence on Lee. Other influences are lesser and have been more completely absorbed in to the mainstream of his playing. For instance, in his rhythmic figures you can hear Charlie Parker (Bird left very few untouched and unmoved) but whatever sources Lee has drawn on have been integrated beautifully into his personal expression. His style and sound are both highly personal. The point of excellence as an individual voice is a signal triumph for any artist.

The three sessions in this LP show Lee off in many different ways with quintet, quartet and duo. The interplay with Tristano, duetting with Billy Bauer and unisons and exchanges with Warne Marsh are all self-illuminating examples of Lee's early work in this graphic collection of Konitz.

Incidentally, the Subconscious-Lee session not only launched Lee's career but was the first recording date of this company. New Jazz was then the label. * Ira Gitler*

One of THE key records in the Konitz school – a full length Prestige album that brings together important material from sessions originally issued on 10" LPs! The lineup here is virtually the Konitz school – with shifting lineups that include Billy Bauer on guitar, Lenny Tristano or Sal Mosca on piano, and Warne Marsh on tenor – all working as airily and fluidly as Konitz himself! How Lee managed to achieve such unity with his groups here will forever be a mystery to us – as will the freshness of the work at the end of the 40s, especially given that it's still arguably more "modern" than much of the jazz it inspired in years to come! *dustygroove.com*

A debut for both Lee Konitz and the Prestige label, Subconscious-Lee brings together many of the students who came through Lennie Tristano's idiosyncratic "school" of jazz during the immediate postwar years. Forging a heady approach to Charlie Parker's innovations, full of lithe and at times super fast solo lines, Tristano and his favorite pupil Konitz in particular nurtured an introverted, wan, yet still swinging alternative to the frenetic muscle of bebop. Other students like tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh, pianist Sal Mosca, and bassist Arnold Fishkin staked claims as well and show up prominently here. And while Tristano's "Judy" and "Retrospection" get mired in somewhat tired contemplation, Konitz' "Subconscious-Lee" and Marsh's "Marshmallow" stand out with brisk tempos, cascading horn lines, and fetching head statements. Avoiding the meandering course of his originals, Tristano shines at the piano with a bevy of exciting and substantial solos; Mosca and guitarist Billy Bauer keep up the good work with fine contributions of their own. Good for both mind and feet and chock-full of groundbreaking work by Konitz and Marsh especially, this 1949-1950 recording makes for essential jazz listening. One bonus track, "Progression," is added to thisversiónn of  Subconscious-Lee. *Stephen Cook *

Recorded during the prime of bebop, between 1949 and 1950, Lee Konitz' Subconscious-Lee seems practically at odds with itself. It lacks the peculiarity and the exuberance that pours from the recordings of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and other post-swing experimentalists. It simultaneously seems old-fashioned and futuristic. Lee Konitz, who developed under the tutelage of pianist and pedagogue Lennie Tristano, was perhaps equally influenced by the technical fireworks of bebop, and Tristano's firm mindset. Tristano held that the rhythm section occupied a secondary role, and that improvisation should avoid overt sentimentality. Instead, Tristano and his students valued complexity andprecisiónn of harmony and rhythm. Their pursuit of pure musical devices, unaccompanied by emotional expression, is clearly evident on Subconscious-Lee, on which a sense of cool and detached concentration encircles the performances. The combination of impressive and inventive playing with a generally uncaring approach can be likened to the grunge rock movement of the late 1990s, when bands like Nirvana appeared to have no interest in winning over an audience, and all the while delivered powerful and deeply moving music. In other words, Konitz, Tristano, and frequent collaborator Warne Marsh, sound too cool for school. Tristano believed that a rhythm section's role was simply to provide the structure over which the improvisers could drape their melodies. He counseled drummers and bassists not to interact with soloists, and not to take the lead in musical events, such as swells in intensity. For this reason, much of this album, like others by Tristano, Marsh, and Konitz, sounds similar to antiquated practices of the hot jazz era, when the only instrumentalists given license to elaborate were the trumpeter and clarinetist. On the other hand, the rhythmic activity that Konitz and Marsh use to create winding and unpredictable lines sound as if they fit better into jazz from the 21st century. In fact, the contemporary jazz practice of disguising formal structure and steering clear of well-worn harmonic paths may have been in part influenced by this very school of improvisation.

Subconscious-Lee has one foot stubbornly planted in the past, and the other dangling in the capricious future. *Jacob Teichroew*

1 - Subconscious-Lee

(Lee Konitz)

2 - Judy

(Lennie Tristano)

3 - Progression

(Lee Konitz)

4 - Retrospection

(Lennie Tristano)

5 - Ice Cream Konitz

(Lee Konitz)

6 - You Go To My Head

(Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie)

7 - Marshmallow

(Warne Marsh)

8 - Fishin' Around

(Warne Marsh)

9 - Tautology

(Lee Konitz)

10 - Sound-Lee

(Lee Konitz)

11 - Palo Alto

(Lee Konitz)

12 - Rebecca

(Lee Konitz)

#1 to #4:
Lee Konitz (alto sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Lennie Tristano (piano), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Shelly Manne (drums [#2, #3 out]).
Recorded in New York City, January 11, 1949.
#7, #8:
Lee Konitz (alto sax), Warne Marsh (tenor sax), Sal Mosca (piano), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Denzil Best (drums).
Recorded in New York City, June 28, 1949.
#9, #10:
Lee Konitz (alto sax), Warne Marsh (tenor sax), Sal Mosca (piano), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Jeff Morton (drums).
Recorded in New York City, September 27, 1949.
#5, #6, #11, #12:
Lee Konitz (alto sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Sal Mosca (piano [#6 out]), Arnold Fishkin (bass [#12 out]), Jeff Morton (drums [#12 out]).
Recorded in New York City, April 7, 1950.