Milt Jackson Ballads & Blues ( HQ 180g vinyl LP )

Release date: 030-06-2019 (original released in 1956)

2019 EU reissue HQ 180g vinyl LP -Remastered Using Pure Analogue Components Only from the Master Tapes Through to the Cutting Head

Whenever Milt Jackson could free himself from the 'bondage' of the Modern Jazz Quartet and its assertive leader John Lewis, he dedicated himself to his two great passions: ballads and the blues. That was precisely the case when he entered the famous Rudy van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1956 to record this excellent Nesuhi Ertegun-produced collection.

He was free to choose his sidemen, and money was no object, which is why various formations gathered in the studio for the three recording sessions. With Lucky Thompson on the tenor sax (unfortunately for only three numbers), Barry Galbraith, Barney Kessel or Skeeter Best on the guitar, Oscar Pettiford or Percy Heath on the bass, together with Kenny Clarke or Lawrence Marable on the drums, he set off on a journey through the history of jazz. And Lewis stayed unobtrusively in the background, offering Bags plenty of opportunities to glory in soloistic freedom. The themes were soon found: the musical composers Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern, as well as a work from The Duke Ellington Songbook, formed a basis upon which all the musicians could perform with confidence. Three compositions by Milt himself proved that he too was full of imagination.

Tracks:(HQ 180g vinyl LP )

A1 So In Love 3:11
A2 These Foolish Things 4:26
A3 Solitude 4:39
A4 The Song Is Ended 4:39
A5 They Didn't Believe Me 3:44
B1 How High The Moon 6:12
B2 Gerry's Blues 5:00
B3 Hello 3:44
B4 Bright Blues 6:11

Musicians:
Milt Jackson, vibraphone
Lucky Thompson, tenor saxophone
John Lewis, piano
Barney Kessel / Barry Galbraith / Skeeter Best, guitar
Oscar Pettiford / Percy Heath, bass
Kenny Clarke / Lawrence Marable, drums