Here’s a wonderful cameo appearance of a bassist; Trigger Alpert worked in Glenn Miller’s Orchestra and was a sideman for the likes of Armstrong, Ella and Roy Eldridge before hanging it all up to become a photographer in 1970. He must have been pretty well respected in the studios, as he was able to get together an impressive lineup of musicians and arrangers for this 1956 one-off which became half of his discography. The pianoless West Coast-sounding band of Joe Wilder/tp, Urbie Green/tb, Tony Scott/ts-cl, Zoot Sims/as-ts, Al Cohn/ts-bs and Ed Shaughnessy/dr make some marvelous sounds on a mix of originals and standards that are cleverly arranged by Scott, Marty Paich and Dick Hyman.
Smooth and sleek horns sway like sails on a breezy day on “Treat Me Rough” and “Looking at You,” the latter which includes a hip Four Brothers sound with Green’s trombone adding to the gravy. Any session with Scott’s rarely heard clarinet is a joy, and he’s all over the stick on “I Don’t Want to Be Alone Again,’ while he switches to tenor on “Tranquilizer” during a three sax chase with him, Cohn and Sims. Zoot and Cohn have a great time together on “Love Me Tomorrow” and “Trigger Fantasy” has Sims switch to alto; he sounds fantastic, while Cohn on bari is a rival to Harry Carney. The Spartan rhythm team does wonders with Paich’s charts on ”I Wish I Were in Love Again” and “Where’s That Rainbow” and is flexible hip. Look out for this one-it’s a gas!
Fresh Sound Records