Personnel:
Ralph Burns (p, arr, dir), Sonny Berman, Conrad Gozzo, Joe Wilder (tp), Bill Harris, Ollie Wilson, Kai Winding (tb), Vince DeRosa, Jimmy Buffington (frh), Harry Klee (fl, cl), Herbie Mann (fl, ts), Hal McKusick, Lee Konitz (as), Herbie Steward, Lucky Thompson (ts), Chuck Gentry, Danny Bank (bs), Dodo Marmarosa (p), Arv Garrison, Billy Bauer (g), Red Callender, Ray Brown, Oscar Pettiford (b), Don Lamond, Jo Jones, Osie Johnson (d)
Reference: FSRCD 2215
Bar code: 8427328622158
When in 1946 Norman Granz decided to record Ralph Burns Introspection, a short mood piece with several changes in rhythm, the young Burns was already well-known thanks to his association as chief arranger and pianist with Woody Herman. For the next five years, this recording remained the only one he had done under his own name, being concentrated mostly in his work as a freelance and occasionally writing for Herman.
In 1951, again for Granz, Burns recorded Free Forms, a series of random thoughts, little melodies set down for a small chamber orchestra. Some of them are jazz tunes, some are not. All are representative of a wide range of music, from Bach and Verdi to Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker. The 1954 Leonard Feathers suite Winter Sequence is played by an eleven-piece band for which Ralph built the arrangements of each number as a miniature concerto tailored to the talents of the featured musician.
