Today, Quincy Jones is known as the guy who produced Michael Jackson’s Thriller , the first rap record (please forgive him, Lord), and did a ton of soundtracks for both TV (Roots) and movies (In The Heat of the Night). But, believe it or not, Jones was once a bona-fide starving jazz musician, in the same horn section as no less than Clifford Brown, and before he decided to actually make a living, he put together a handful of albums that are sizzling hot, represented on this essential 3 disc, 56 song set. And, hey, he also married Peggy Lipton, so the guy’s got taste as well!
His 1957 debut is sizzling hot, as Jones arranges charts with an orchestra that boasts Lucky Thompson/ts, Phil Woods/as and Art Farmer/tp for a cooking rendition of “ Walkin” and a sweet “A Sleepin’ Bee”, but the whole album burns with delight. The sophomore album includes LA session cats Pepper Adams/bs, Benny Carter/as, Buddy Collette/ts, Herb Geller/as, Red Mitchell/b, Shelly Manne/dr, Mel Lewis/dr, Lou Levy/p, Charlie Mariano/as and Harry “Sweets” Edison for a lovely medley of “What’s New/We’ll Be Together Again/Time On My Hands/You Go To My Head” and a couple of fun Johnny Mandel tunes like “London Derriere”.
In 1959, he heads a big band with Zoot Sims/ts, Clark Terry/fh, Woods and Edison that take on some Benny Golson tunes like “I Remember Clifford”, “Along Came Betty” and a haunting “Whisper Not”. The same year he conducts a band with Woods, Budd Johnson/ts, Les Spann/g-fl, Julius Watkins/fh, Art Farmer/tp and above all, guest Lee Morgan, who tears through “Lester Leaps In”, “Cherokee” and “Air Mail Special”. The next year he put together a dance album with the likes of a brass team that included Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Jimmy Cleveland, Benny Bailey, Roger Guerin and Wayne Andre for a rich take of “The Midnight Sun Will Never Set” and a swinging “Chinese Checkers”. Last but not least is a album themed with songs from different parts of the world, with boppers like Curtis Fuller/tb, Ernie Royal/tp, Benny Bailey/tp, Clark Terry/th, Sahib Shihab/bs and salsa master Tito Puente/perc going National Geographic on “Manolete”, “Baia” , “Come Back to Sorrento”, and “Africana”.
This set shows how a modern jazz orchestra could swing and still sound relevant. WHEW!